Bali

Arriving in Bali was about the most relaxed border experience we've had yet. The Visa guys flirted with us, and the xray guy was writting a text message on his phone as my bag (and 2 pounds of Hash...kidding) went thru the machine. Although it would have been that easy. I handed the last guy at the door my customs card, not really giving him a chance to look at it and walked out...not that he would have bothered asking any questions anyway. I though to myself, Bali is so relaxed, this is what I need....and then I arrived in Kuta.

Kuta Beach is insane, filled to the brim with holiday travellers, 90% under 23 years old, and the beach filed with amatuer surfers. We found a guest house off PoppiesII , an alley off an alley. We spent most of our nights with the rest of the inhabitants chilling on the GOYA steps drinking 8,000 rupiah (1$) beer:Bintang. When the party shifted to the clubs...well we tried to join...but it didn't quite fit. The bars are so cheesy, we started at Raggea bar for little dancing and 1L "tropical" drinks, meaning we have no idea what was in it. Then on to Bounty which starts off as a kareoke club and then you enter a giant makeshift ship, where the staff is all dressed as sailors, and the dancefloor is packed with Aussi teens on vacation. It goes on and on. the worst part is, these clubs I found out the next night either don't allow locals in, or they charge the locals a huge cover and let the tourists in for free! Now how does that make sense? Everyone comes to Kuta to blow cash and so why not make us pay (ok, not us, the backpackers, but us, the package tours). That pissed me off a tad and after trying to get one of our local friends in thinking they must bend the rules a bit to make the tourists happy, and it failed, we went back to our favorite haunt, The Secret Garden for cheap Balinese wine...love it!

So after four days of debauchery and attempting to drag our hung-over asses down to the beach everyday before sunset, so sad, we left for Ubud and here we are now.

Ubud is north and located in the interior of Bali. It is surounded by gorgeous ricefields and mountains and exudes culture. The religion here encompases every aspect of daily life and is so colorful and inviting. We went to the Kecak and Fire Dance two nights ago. Which is composed of a chorus of about 100 men seated in a circle around a large candelabra chanting various rythms of song and "chukit, chukit", with coresponding arm flailing and such. As the kidnapping scene from the Ramayana is played out through song and dance in the middle of the circle around the fire. The dancing is so beautiful, so ornate and specific, using eye and small finger gestures as moves. Then there was the trance dance where two young girls performed a long dance in unison with their eyes closed to a chorus of men and women signing with a bowl of insense burning to bring the Gods down to the earth. Then another man in a trance dances around on a wooden horse walking through and kicking burning coconuts in bare feet. It was amazing. After they are finished they are brought out of their trance by being blessed by a priest.

Yesterday we rented bikes and toured the city. Visiting the Elephant cave, and Royal Palace, and watched young girls practice their dancing in the square, so adorable. The Palace was quite different. It is all open air, with few closed rooms. All are simply raised and under roofs with stone pillars, kind of like gazebos with garden in between. I will try to post pictures to better explain. We finished the day by watching a full moon ceremony in the temple on our street where all the women in the neighborhood brought large offerings of fruit and incence in large baskets they cary on their heads then place on an alter. There was singing and music and it was all really inviting. And today we attempted to take a tour of some temples in the mountains, although got rained out and the mist was too thick to see the view. Gorgeous landscape none the less. The architecture is very different here compared to the rest of Asia so far. All the homes have inner courtyards and their own mini temples. We are staying with a family, as here it is more a homestay syle, versus hotels and guest houses. It's very nice.

So tomorrow we are moving on to Kintamani to hopefully climb a volcanoe, weather permitting...we'll let you know how it goes.

-R