Arrival:
We flew from Singapore to Bali. Within a couple of minutes he was hitting it off with the lady sitting next to him.
And after a couple more minutes he fell asleep
Our time here in Bali started by us arriving on the evening of New Year’s Eve at the airport in Denpassar Bali, about 5km south of Kuta, the city with all the hotels and beaches and stuff. On the plane ride over, I was expecting for it to be filled with tourists and foreigners flocking to the beaches of Bali for a vacation. To my surprise, I was lucky enough to be seated next to a local from Bali (Denpasar). Her name was Vanessa. She spoke great English, and was extremely friendly. She taught me some useful phrases, and told me the prices I should pay for fruits and services in the island to avoid getting ripped off. She said that new years eve would be quite busy at the airport and the taxi ride would be expensive, so she offered to ask her husband which was picking her up to drive us part of the way to Kuta.
We thanked her and agreed, and after going through customs, Latane and I got on her minivan and her husband dropped us off at a moto-taxi station, in which we took a moto-taxi the rest of the 3-4km into our hotel in Kuta. The streets were extremely crowded at this point – about 9pm on new year’s eve. Many of the streets were also one-way. We would have been stuck for an hour or so by taking a traditional taxi. Taking a Moto-Taxi was much cheaper, faster, and more fun. Another option was to just walk to Kuta from the airport. It’s about 4-5km away, and would probably take about 40 mins or so. We could also see the city this way. However, we were too tired from the flight and the travelling that we decided the moto-taxi was the best way to get there.
Kuta:
We stayed in the Maha Bharata Kuta Hotel, which we reserved in Agoda about a week in advance (normally we would just book the hostels the day of and get good prices, but in this case everything was in higher demnad during new year’s eve so we booked in advance). In Spanish, Barata means cheap, which this hotel was. Cold water only, no AC, but a nice fan to give you a nice breeze while you sleep. However, it was in a great location close to the beach and it included free breakfast. It was also on a street wiht a ton of night-clubs, but it was retreated through a smaller street away so it was quiet at night.
After arriving at Kuta the night of new year’s eve, we took a fat nap, and then walked to the beach to see the fireworks for new years celebration. Seeing all the fireworks launched from the beachfront was quite beautiful. Getting close to the shore, we got some room away from the huge crowd of people, and saw fireworks blowing up on the beach.
We walked down the beach, and found a DJ playing music. It seemed like a paid event since there was gates. But it also seemed quite empty, and they decided to open the gates to allow other people in. The DJ had a premix going. All she did was hit play, and mute the sound every once in a while to let people sing the phrases of the song. She would also dance around and clap her hands. It was quite interesting as it was mostly locals there, not many foreigners. She enjoyed doing a countdown, “one, two, one two three let’s go”, and she would often mess it up and only get the one and two before the drop, but regardless, it got the entire crowd excited.
In kuta, we went to the fruit market to buy fruits. The first day we went around 9 or 10am and the market was completely empty and closed. We were confused. The next day we went earlier, around 7am, and it was full with fresh produce and fruits. And great prices too.
Young coconut at the beach, 50k IDR, about $3.50 USD.
Young cocount at the market, 10k IDR, about $0.71 USD
Dragonfruit – 10k IDR / kilo, so about $0.30 USD for each fruit
Mangostine – 20k IDR / kilo (tourist price), about $1.43 / kilo
Going to a local market is always quite fun. You get the best prices for fruit there, and most of the locals don’t speak English so it’s really fun to try and communicate in local ways.
Surfing
Kuta is well known for surfing. We went to the beach and paid a guy about $5 each to rent a surfboard for a couple hours. When low-tide came in, the small waves were perfect for learning to surf. With Latane’s professional advice, I was able to ride the smaller waves for a couple of seconds before falling off or the wave dying. We surfed for about 2 hours and I learned a lot. I am curious what it would be like after taking a break after a couple of days and trying it again before we leave, to see if I can improve at all by just letting my body take it in internally.
Kuta impressions: the tourism business
Kuta was filled with tourists – which also means that naturally, most of the locals make a living by selling things to tourists. The first time you’re here, it’s not that bad. You get a lot of attention from the tourists, and might even feel that they care about you having a good time and want you to travel with ease, which they do to a certain extent. But after a couple of days, it can get quite exhausting. It’s difficult to walk down any street in Kuta without people offering their goods or services – Transport, transport? Massage, Massage? Shopping? Surfing? Hair Braiding? (This was actually offered to me a lot, and I got scared), and other things as well.
After a while, you realize that these type of locals (the type that offer you things with no mercy, which isn’t all of them) aren’t quite interested in getting to know you or even providing you with a taste or perspective of their own culture, and only see you as a big dollar sign walking around. The streets feel like a strip mall.
On the flip side, there are nice locals selling things too. Those that don’t inflate their prices to tourists, and quietly wait around for you to show interest first. We met a couple of guys at the beach where we rented our surfboards that were like this. They gave us a good rate for renting and even gave us some local food recommendations.
In another way, falling into a trap of accepting offers from everyone that makes you one might leave you unable to craft your own experience. A ton of travel packages were offered to us to go and fly to different islands, or take day trips to different parts of Bali. While in a way it’s nice that all the logistics are worked out for you, and you know everything will go smoothly, it’s often the things that don’t go smoothly that you end up remembering, and make your experience memorable and fun. It might be that accepting every offer people throw at you for transport, travel packages to other parts of Bali, etc. would leave you unable to adventure out on your own and take away from the fun (and it’s also more expensive).
There’s nothing wrong with tourism and people making a living from it, but if it is overdone, the experience of going to a place will be defined by the services that you paid for and the worthless things that you bought. Rather, I think the important things are the people that you meet and what you learn about the way the locals live. You can take this knowledge and apply it to your own life and broaden your perspective. You could either connect with the locals in different ways, or you could come back home with a bunch of cheap stuff you’re going to throw away later.
After feeling tired from the tourism in Kuta, Latane and I decided it was time to head north on the island.