Bali, part the First

We arrived in Bali, Indonesia. Fun Fact: the word "Bali" in Chinese means "Paris". Everyone we told where we were going for vacation gave us these crazy looks until we explained it was Indonesia, not France. Where was I...?

Ah, right. We arrived in Bali just before dinner. The flight was uneventful and not worth mentioning. We gathered our bags, got through customs (yay, for another Visa in my Passport!) and headed outside. We were immediately greeted with an onslaught of men yelling "Transport?", "Where you go? I take you!" The thing about Bali is this: Everyone on the street is willing to drive you anywhere you want to go or sell you anything they might have -- or knows of someone willing to sell you anything -- provided you pay "foreign prices". Obviously, foreign prices are a lot higher than costs for natives. White = Rich in their minds. Ergo, there was a lot of bargaining and haggling that ensued, because, while I'm white, I am certainly not rich.

Another thing in Bali: You can haggle over (almost) anything. Everything from taxi rates, to rooms, to the cost of dinner. Silly and eventually very frustrating, but that's how it goes in Bali.

The taxi driver took us to a quaint little inn slightly removed off the main strip in Kuta -- the Tourist Capital of Bali. It was incredibly westernized with Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, they even had an A&W Burger place...those are hard to find in the states!

After getting our room, we set off down the main strip and encountered some locals that were willing to take us anywhere. We told them we were hungry and they walked with us to show where to get some tasty Balinese food. Post-eating, we made our way out to the beach and relaxed for a bit. The waves were awesome. I wish I was able to spend a day surfing here, but sadly our time was too short.

We did some brief local shopping and called it a day. The next morning after breakfast we made our way to Ubud...