This is the fifth time I’ve been to bali…yup, five times…the first time I came here, I never dreamed I would return, let alone four more times…I was here first in 2005, three years after the first bali bombing…in 2007, two years after the second bali bombing…and twice in 2009, during my asia trip…and yet, I haven’t really seen much of the island…when I first booked this ticket out of Korea, my plan was to be here for a week, then go visit a friend in aussie…those plans changed but I still had the ticket to bali…fortunately, my friend angie is here…I played rugby with her in seoul in 2007…she’s half Indonesian, but was raised almost entirely in Montana…now she spends a good portion of each year here…I saw on her facebook page that she would be here, so we emailed, and she said she would pick me up at the airport when I arrived…the only condition was that I bring a bottle of whiskey…liquor is crazy expensive here…seeing a familiar face after coming through an airport isn’t something I get to experience very often, it was nice…especially because it was almost midnight, and my other option was to sleep at the airport…(trying to find a place at that hour and paying for an airport taxi is craziness)…she took me to her family house/compound and we caught up along the way…it’s always great to catch up with a friend…she put me in one of their rooms, and everyone slept for the night…
Somewhere around lunch ang took me to go hire a bike…renting a motorbike for a month is ridiculously cheap here, only $60USD…having one allowed me to come and go as I please, and not be on anyone’s schedule…why have I not rented a motorbike on my previous visits? Granted, traffic is a bit crazy much of the time, buuuut…
Dinner was good, and the whole family watched the most recent episode of American idol…I think there were 3 people left in the season at that point? They all sang three songs…since I haven’t watched American idol since the 2nd season, it was interesting to see how it goes…I don’t think anything has changed since that second season…lol…
The next day was relaxing as well…working on the bracelets in the morning…it’s fun to be a bit creative every now and again…and it felt like I was a little productiveJ
I went with anna and willie to the beach in the afternoon…even though I knew where the beach was, and I recognized the roads on which we drove, I knew that when I went to the beach by myself, I’d end up getting lost…and I did, the very next day…not all the roads lead to the beach, so I ended up doing quite the tour of the area when I tried to go by myself…lol…I had on suncream, and we didn’t get to the beach until almost 1500, so I got no colour…I know it isn’t healthy, but I love being tan…
During the evening all of us walked across the street to watch the family housekeeper as she played in a gamelon orchestra…normally only men are in gamelon orchestras, so this was neat to see…plus, it’s the only time I’ve seen a performance where the audience is made up of locals, not tourists…ang has quite a lot of experience with these performances, and doesn’t generally like the sound of a gamelon orchestra from bali…I think she says they sound like a long, never ending train wreck…apparently the gamelon orchestras on java sound much better…a gamelon is a traditional Indonesian instrument, somewhat like a xylophone…individual instruments are tuned to the orchestra in which they play, not to a specific note…so you can’t switch instruments in between orchestras…it takes a lot of practice to get the whole group to sound good…and when they do, it’s really impressive…
The next day I read for a while, and went to the beach…(this is when I got somewhat lost)…I also spent time online, which I hadn’t done for a few days…there are a lot of cafes around here with free wifi…of course, you have to order something to eat or drink in order to access the wifi…depending on how long you want to spend online, its usually worth it…at one point in the afternoon angie sat me down with a map of bali and showed me a few places I should go…she said bali has too much to see and do to spend all my time at the beach…for a little island, it really does have a lot to see and do…and if I wanted to stay here for a while, it would be fairly easy to get a teaching job…I think…maybe…it’s a possibility…
That night angie and I went grocery shopping…there is a huge Carrefour not far away…it’s a bit crazy, but fun too…after only having seen Korean grocery stores for over a year, I had forgotten how many other food products are available…(there is plenty of foreign food available in Korean supermarkets, but never as much as I see in other countries)…
The next day, I drove to ubud…
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