I woke up to the roaring of motorcycles and rumbling of heavy traffic outside the dorm walls. It is ridiculous how loud and hectic this traffic is; all the mopeds and motorcycles have extremely loud and high pitched exhausts, depriving even the comatosed of sleep. I was thinking that I had slept into the afternoon because of the traffic, but it was only 6:30am; it starts early and never stops. I don't know if I could ever work the front desk of this place and have to listen to the two wheeled vehicles that scream past this place minute by minute.
I didn't do much today, just relaxed by the pool and read. I met two guys from Quebec, Canada and we talked for a bit about the differences between Quebec (French speaking part of Canada) and the rest (predominantly English speaking). It turns out they also keep a blog through Blogger, so I will be interested to follow their travels as they move forward in the next couple months.
Later that evening, I walked down to the beach to see what was all the buzz is about. The walk to the beach was all you would expect from a touristy surfer town. The streets are overcrowded with Rip Curl, Hurley, and other board shops, reminding me of the unnecessary over-presence of Starbucks in America. Where there isn't a board shop there is little knock-off product shops, trying to sell you everything from a Kobe Bryant basketball jersey to Dr. Dre Beats headphones, or a Western style restaurant (Mama's German Food is a popular spot), or locals whispering in your ear, "marijuana? viagra? magic mushrooms? coke?" I am not sure who would accept any of these offers from a local; first off, when I entered the country, there were signs everywhere that said If you are caught with Marijuana, you could face the DEATH PENALTY. With this type of zero tolerance I am scared to even spit on the ground for fear of having my tongue cut out!
Not much was special about the Kuta beach. Lots of tourists and locals selling things and no real waves. What brings people here? There are other beaches around the area that are better know for the surf and many people travel from Kuta to those beaches to surf then come back... Why not just stay there? I dunno, I've never surfed before so what do I know anyway?
That night I met back up with Mira and we took a car to a popular beach, Uluwatu, to go to a bar/club, Single Fin, for the Oakley Pro Bali afterparty. The set up was really cool with a large stage at the end of a huge endless pool overlooking the ocean. However, the band was terrible, an old man, way past his prime, croaking out Led Zeppelin and other American classics. Afterwards, a terrible DJ took the stage and played soft music that could easily rock me to sleep. A huge crowd of people who were barely wearing clothes, amazing set up, and terrible music. So much potential. Not all can be a homerun.
I didn't do much today, just relaxed by the pool and read. I met two guys from Quebec, Canada and we talked for a bit about the differences between Quebec (French speaking part of Canada) and the rest (predominantly English speaking). It turns out they also keep a blog through Blogger, so I will be interested to follow their travels as they move forward in the next couple months.
Later that evening, I walked down to the beach to see what was all the buzz is about. The walk to the beach was all you would expect from a touristy surfer town. The streets are overcrowded with Rip Curl, Hurley, and other board shops, reminding me of the unnecessary over-presence of Starbucks in America. Where there isn't a board shop there is little knock-off product shops, trying to sell you everything from a Kobe Bryant basketball jersey to Dr. Dre Beats headphones, or a Western style restaurant (Mama's German Food is a popular spot), or locals whispering in your ear, "marijuana? viagra? magic mushrooms? coke?" I am not sure who would accept any of these offers from a local; first off, when I entered the country, there were signs everywhere that said If you are caught with Marijuana, you could face the DEATH PENALTY. With this type of zero tolerance I am scared to even spit on the ground for fear of having my tongue cut out!
Not much was special about the Kuta beach. Lots of tourists and locals selling things and no real waves. What brings people here? There are other beaches around the area that are better know for the surf and many people travel from Kuta to those beaches to surf then come back... Why not just stay there? I dunno, I've never surfed before so what do I know anyway?
That night I met back up with Mira and we took a car to a popular beach, Uluwatu, to go to a bar/club, Single Fin, for the Oakley Pro Bali afterparty. The set up was really cool with a large stage at the end of a huge endless pool overlooking the ocean. However, the band was terrible, an old man, way past his prime, croaking out Led Zeppelin and other American classics. Afterwards, a terrible DJ took the stage and played soft music that could easily rock me to sleep. A huge crowd of people who were barely wearing clothes, amazing set up, and terrible music. So much potential. Not all can be a homerun.
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