Hut on a beach and first impressions of Bali

Step one of Head to Bali action plan: overnight boat from Koh Tao to Surat Thani

A much better way to travel than the fast boat.  There was no puking on this part of the travel, just sound, sweet, snuggling and sleeping.

 As we got off the boat from our 6 hour boat ride at 5:30 am, the "transporters" as I like to call them, to wait for sleepy travelers like us.  We needed to get to a bus station to catch a bus at 7am to Phuket.  The transporters had a different plan for us, using our language barrier to their benefit.

We at least were able to get a cup of Nescafe, thank you jeebus.

The bus we were herded on did not leave at 7 am as promised or planned, but left at 10 am, which meant there was hours of waiting and wondering "what the fuck is happening here?"

Fairly early on we realize that our bus attendant was coming down from something. Either a long night of doing something or just a long night in general.  It was very obvious he was not happy he was where he was.  As the bus trucked on he was increasingly agitated by everyone and would yell and curse at people.  This is a sneak shot of him arguing with someone.  Not that I blame him.  I wouldn't want to be working in a crowded bus with a bunch of people that don't understand what I'm saying. This is the moment I realize we'd been hustled onto a private bus line, rather than the reliable public bus line.  Oh and did I mention that it took 7 hours to get to Phuket with one breakdown on the side of the road, instead of the 4. Yeah, worse bus trip yet.

In Phuket finally.  Shai tried to pull a princess card and was going to pay for one night of bourgeois in a fancy hotel.  Ends up that in Phuket a bourgey night of luxury costs about $300 US dollars. HA! So instead we started looking for anyplace that had room.  We ended up in a hut right on the beach, with nothing but a thin pad and mosquito net.  The mosquito net that I took with me is what we ended up using for a sheet in the middle of the night.

The bathroom

More foooood

and as wonderful as the food, the scenery.

Look at this cute pirate.

Le sigh.

We had to be at the airport by 4am to catch our 6am flight, which is a little over 24 hours of moving and not the best sleep.  Waiting in line I'm feeling the fatigue just a little.

Dazzled by the bedazzled.  If anybody wants a jewel globe, tiger, peacock, bunny, purse, fish or horse the Phuket airport is the place to get it.

Does it match my outfit?

And finally Bali, 3pm.

 So the picture above might be the only picture you'll see of me smiling about being in Bali, at least for the first few days or so.
We landed in Denpasar Bali, not having much of a plan after that.  I have a plan to get a hold of our good friend Edie to get the in on where to be in Bali, but we figure, "whatever, where ever we go will be great. We're in Bali after all".
Wrong. Dead wrong.
First we made the mistake of trying to save a little bit of money (ha!) and get a taxi to a city close by.  After asking a girl at a cafe where she recommend us going, we hop in a taxi to Kuta.  It was only a 5 min drive to Kuta and already theres a looming feeling in my gut, and as we turn down the main road we see: KFC, McDonald's, Billabong, Coffee Bean and Tealeaves, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Sunglasses Hut, Levi, Gap, and various other stores of recognizable orientation. I turn to Shai and his eyes are wide and popped like a dear in head lights, and we realize we're going to the fucking mall.  Not just any mall, but a mall for westerners, a mall for Americans. Panic pumps through my veins.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep and the amount to traveling in the past 24 hours, I tell myself, and try to breath through it, but it's too late, I'm shutting down. All I want to do is curl up somewhere with the door closed and dream of a place not touched by America, the fucking empire of consumerism, consumption and colonization.
We get to the hotel we going to stay at, get showed to our room, set down our stuff, and then the breathing doesn't help anymore. Panic and fatigue has taken over. I need to find wifi or Internet something to contact Edie to figure out where to go, so we can get the fuck out of where we are.  Shai goes one way, to get his barrings, and I go another in search of free Internet.  I finally find a Japanese restaurant, sit down, open my computer, and Edie's there, on gchat (thank you thank you thank you), and I pounce in panic.
Edie's amazing. Tells me where to go. Sends out an email to everybody she knows there and her father who used to live in Bali, and gives me hope.  Whew, I can breath again.  There's a plan out.  I have hope that not all of Bali is ruined by western influence and corruption.  I'm able to see things I hadn't.  While I'm finishing up my iced tea, I get a panicked chat from Shai, he's by our hotel and freaked out and needs me to get there.  I pay and leave.  I find Shai sitting on a curb around the corner from out hotel.  He sees me and runs and grabs me, squeezing, hugging me like a life raft. We've got to get out of here.
We make a plan, we're going to locate the bus station to know where to go the morning we are to check out, which is two evenings away, to catch a bus from Kuta to Ubud.
We head back to our room to get out of the muggy heat, use a private bathroom, maybe watch a movie, and rest.  We get to our room and meet the biggest, reddest, cockroach I've ever seen.  Most of you that know Shai, knows that he's not a fan of bugs, and most things with wings, with the exception of butterflies, birds and Pegasus. And most of you who know me, know that I'm somewhat fascinated by bugs and generally leave them be, for more reasons than karmic-ly, but femme-daddy stepped up to the plate with a flip flop and smashed the finger sized winged roach for my panicked sweetie. Evidence below.

 After roach experience, staying in and resting doesn't feel quite right, and our stomachs are reminding us that all we did in Thailand was eat, so we decided to leave for some food.  We tried to walk to an area that a "street market" was but instead almost got physically pulled into shops to shop.  On the way there I burst into tears. Hello culture shock.  So we retreated to the Japanese restaurant I was at earlier to have some soul comforting Udon noodles and a lime shake, which I specifically asked Shai, "when I get sick later remind me that I finished this shake, ice and all". This, dear friends, is what you call foreshadowing.

 The next morning, after a night of the most fitful, unrest-full sleep ever, we head out in search of a bus station.  Trying to see some good things about the place we're in instead of just the western influence and trigger-some things.  These are a few pictures we we're able to get.

The daily offering. The air always has a faint pleasant smell of incense.

A bird pic for my dad.

An alleyway.

Costume shop! Too bad most things are too small for me in Asia.

Breakfast

A temple.

A street.

A small peak into what all of Ubud looks like.

We walk for about an hour looking for the bus station, and we find nothing.  During our walk Shai starts to get light headed and and nauseous and almost passes out. Hello humid heat and culture shock. We b-line towards the ocean, knowing water will cool us down be grounding.  We get there and see this.

 No swimming. Fuck this.  We sit and calm our selves down, and quickly come to the decision, we need to get the fuck out of Kuta as soon as possible.  We're going to ask if we can get a refund on our paid night that we don't want.  Refund or no, we decide to leave that afternoon, rather than sticking it out for the next day.  We take a picture in the moment we decide to get the fuck out. And here it is folks.  The final word on Kuta Bali. Peace. Ubud here we come.

xoxo