Beautiful Bali

After a painless flight from Bangkok to Bali, we shared a taxi with a European backpacker couple to the city of Kuta, the central tourist beach closest to the airport. Jordi told me the first time he came to Indonesia, Kuta seemed crazy and overwhelming. I think after being in Saigon, everything seems tame, and Kuta was great because it was right by the beach! We walked around for a while with our huge backpacks and our new friends until we finally found a place. It was a room with a bathroom for $8 a night, including breakfast. The only bummers were that there were two twin beds instead of a double, the mattresses were way too soft (I think I got used to Thailand's version of mattresses which are made of cardboard), and there was a beetle on my pillow. So I spent the two nights in Kuta sleeping on the tile.
But cheap lodging means more shopping! And Kuta is the place to be for that. The first day we rented boards for the 2 weeks that we will be here, and a moto for the day. We drove out to a surf spot called Uluwatu, and went out. It was soo much fun! Small enough for me to have a lot of fun, and good enough for Jord to have a lot of fun also. We were both so happy to be back in the ocean and surfing! After surfing, we attempted to eat lunch at this place on the cliff overlooking the waves. Although the view was amazing, the lady running the place was nuts, and I waited for over an hour for my pineapple juice!! Oh well... after Uluwatu, we drove to a Hindu temple nearby known as the Monkey Temple. It's located on top of huge cliffs overlooking the ocean - amazing views! And there are TONS of monkeys. They sit on the posts and dangle in the trees, eating, running, giving tourists the evil eye...
As I was walking down the path, I was suddenly aware of a horrible stench. Before I could say, "What's that smell?" I realized my sunglasses were gone! A big stinky monkey had reached right over and grabbed them from off my head! The Indonesian boys tried to get them from him, but he ran away down the cliff! Amazingly, one of the boys did get them back for me, complete with monkey bites! :)
Another time we were standing there getting our picture taken by the cliff when a monkey landed on Jordi's head, and refused to get off of him! They are such little devils - incredibly impertinent, yet so funny you can't help but like them anyways.
After the temple, we returned to Kuta for a beautiful sunset, cheap food, and sweet tile floored dreams.
Oh ya, we also got massages, but the girls were so busy texting on their cell phones, Jord and I both got mostly one handed massages by uninterested adolescent girls, but what can you expect for $5 an hour?
Since we liked Uluwatu so much when we were there, we had found a great little bungalow/ villa place to stay at, and the next morning we packed up our things and got a taxi to take us there. By the time we arrived it was noon, Jord went to go surf for a bit and I got to relax and read and write. That afternoon we got delicious lunch at another restaurant (that was actually functioning) overlooking the waves, hung out by the pool, played ping pong, and then we both went to go surf again. This time it was really low tide, and I didn't bring by booties down to the water, so I surfed in my bare feet, which really hurt on the coral. We got dinner at yet another primo location on the cliff. I could really get used to $5 meals with epic views of famous surf spots. It's pretty amazing!
Anyways, we are still in Uluwatu and loving it. We aren't sure where we'll go next...but that's the way we like it :)
Until next time...