making up syllables: November 2011

my mom would describe this as the first part of my 'real' vacation, meaning the part where i get to sit around by the beach not doing much of anything. to be honest, after moving around since the family visit, i was ready for some good ole rest and relaxation. i arrived in denpasar, bali around 9pm and had to hop on the back of a bike to make the short trip to sanur, a quite beach area on the southern coast. by the time i got to my guesthouse it was well past kitchen hours and i was hard pressed to find anywhere still serving so i had to settle for a cup of noodles and tall beer from the convenience store. not a great way to start off but i was beat so it didn't really matter. aside from the lack of late-night snacks, the guesthouse, called flashbacks, was fantastic (★★★★★, yes that's right - a full five star rating. the rooms were beautiful and comfortable. there was a pool that i didn't use but it was a nice addition anyway. the outdoor area was in a lush garden with a nice gazebo sitting area. and the front part of the establishment was a little restaurant with a pretty good selection of food and coffee. the complimentary breakfast was incredible, with artisan baked breads, fresh fruits, legit coffee...it was probably enough food for two. all for an extremely reasonable price. had i been wiser i would have booked more days here but what's that they say about hindsight again?).

the next day was my first real beach day (thailand not counting because it rained the whole time). bali is, without a doubt, a tourist destination, especially for the nearby australians, and the beachfront is heavy with resorts and restaurants and shops and things to rent, but its still easy to feel laid back. i managed to find an absolutely ideal beach spot with a table and lounge chair tucked under the leaves of a palm tree and a group of colorful sea boats as my only close neighbors. the water there is incredibly shallow and not very swimmer friendly, especially at low tide, but its calm cerulean blue waters are perfect for wading in and cooling off for a bit. i lounged around the beach until the late afternoon before cleaning up a bit and getting dinner. i had some pizza, very non-traditional balinese but good, and made it an early night. i got some beers and read in the gazebo. it was perfectly relaxed.

the next day i decided to take the short trip over to nusa lembongan, an island off the coast of sanur known for its low key/laid back atmosphere. my big mistake here was not getting enough cash out before going over and it kind of screwed with my planning. i had planned on staying for 3 days and totally vegging out, and i even booked the room for that many nights, but i soon realized i didn't get enough money for the room and dining/recreation expenses. so instead of starving/not doing anything i just decided to stay 2 nights. i still ended up pushing it pretty close. my stay in nusa lembongan was at linda's bungalows (★★★, the area was really nice but its a beach on an island. a little hard to screw up. linda was an australian expat and her and her husband left me a little cold. also the lock on my door didn't work which i wasn't crazy about and everything just felt like i was being cheated - like no breakfast in the morning? everywhere else had breakfast, even if it was just toast and tea, but they would have you pay even for that) which felt like a downgrade after flashbacks but i guess most places would. the one thing i did manage to afford was a motorbike rental for the two days i would be staying there. to completely traverse the island's perimeter took about 4 hours, even getting lost quite a bit and navigating to all the little hidden beaches. i spent most of the first day just riding around and checking out the village and temples, scouting the beaches, and figuring out my money situation. the night was extremely boring. the island kind of shuts down around 10pm and there's not much to do when you're by yourself except drink and play cards on your balcony. i think it was on this island where i first felt tired of traveling by myself and being alone all the time. maybe there's some kind of metaphor about no man being an island or something like that to be made there...

rooster crows start around 4:30am on nusa lembongan and there's really no escaping them. i had earplugs but that unholy scream is enough to tear down walls. whats worse is there's no set interval so there's no pattern you can get used to. its an alarm you can't snooze. all you can do is lay in bed with your eyes closed silently cursing/weeping to yourself until you're ready to get up. after breakfast i filled up the bike and headed to the beaches. the tide was up at mushroom beach, making towel space almost non-existent, so i proceeded further to dream beach. on the way there's a fairly steep dip in the road that bends around a curve. i managed it fairly well the day before, coasting down and then turning at the bottom, but on this day i guess i just forgot what i was doing. i still coasted it at a crawl, but instead of turning at the bottom i started about half way down the slope. a grave mistake! (and annie, i have a feeling you'll like this next part) the bike slid out with me underneath it and i went down the rest of the hill like that. the first thing i thought was 'oh crap, i bet i tore my toe open again' but a quick inspection showed it was miraculously fine. my right knee, left elbow, shoulder, and palm weren't so lucky however. neither, surprise surprise, was my other (right) foot. i had cut my toe and i could tell the rest of it got banged up pretty well. to make matters even better there was a class of school children out and about that witnessed the entire thing. the teacher ran over to see if i was okay and then left to get some bandages, leaving the young students to hover around and gawk at my bleeding wounds. i got fixed up and still went ahead to the beach, broken and a little defeated at this point.

dream beach lives up to its name fairly well. its not very large but well secluded with just a small resort and restaurant next to it but the beach sits down a little ways from the buildings. tide was still high but i managed to find a pretty decent area, which wasn't too difficult because there was literally no one else there. later a couple groups joined me but it never became crowded. I mostly laid out and read but eventually i decided to hop in the ocean and clean out my cuts with some salt water. it stung like crazy which i'm sure means it helped. i ate lunch at the restaurant, laid out for a bit more, then went back to the bungalows to better clean things and take a nap. i'll tell ya, motorbike accidents really take it out of ya! after resting i went and got some dinner at a thai restaurant. walking around post-dinner i noticed some kids playing ping pong at a bar. turned out to be a family visiting from australia (bali is stinkin with aussies) and we played ping pong and pool for the better part of the night.

the next morning i had to hurry to catch the boat back to sanur. the crew at linda's said there was a ticket guy that walked around in the morning but apparently that was a lie so one of the workers had to ride me over on a bike so i wouldn't miss it. back on the mainland i had to find a new place to stay. before i left for nusa lembongan i had tried to book a room at flashbacks again but they were completely filled up the rest of the week. a real bummer. after unsuccessfully trying a few places i managed to find a room at yulia's homestay (★★★★, definitely not as nice as flashbacks, particularly the room, but it was better than linda's. it had a huge garden, free breakfast, a nice porch for each room...and the staff seemed friendlier, but the roosters! to hell with the roosters! its like they were right next door regardless of where i stayed, haunting me). after a bite for lunch i went back to the main beach and found another chair...not quite as nice as the last one but still a decent spot. actually, it was a little later in the day and it was supposed to be reserved for guests of a specific resort but they let me use it anyways. nice folks. i was there again until about 4 and then headed back to the homestay. sitting outside of their room was an older dutch couple who greeted me kindly but made the mistake of thinking i was a fellow dutchman. obviously i had no idea what they were saying and they soon realized the error and switched to english. apparently they were seasoned veterans (pun definitely intended) of indonesia and regaled me with tales of the country's past - changes in business, tourism, environmental travesties and deforestation, lamentations of times never to be had again. but then they also told me about a lovely little night market that many of the tourists often miss, so i went there for dinner, elbow to elbow with the locals...and still many tourists but what sort of hypocrite would i be to complain? the food was good and cheap which was the idea. after dinner i found a bar with an open pool table down a little side alley and spent most of the night playing with one of the bartenders. he was far better but it stayed close so i stayed til close.

my last beach day and the third day in sanur. my foot was swelling up and turning blue at this point, never a great sign, and i debated long and hard about visiting a doctor but in the end i decided not to, for better or worse. i didn't have any travelers insurance after all. so back to the beach for a full day of reading (finished my 5th book: mason & dixon, tinkerers, visit from the goon squad, a town like alice, and norwegian wood), writing (best man's speech), and playing cards (variations on solitaire). later, after beach bumming, i took a walk to look for some dinner. along the way a curious german guy started chatting me up. he looked like a cartoon character - lanky with a curly puff of hair on top of his dome - and was quite the world traveler. he was also quite forthcoming about his bowel issues and talked at length about some recent food related digestion problem. fearing an entire dinner of poop talk i kept walking until he decided to dive into a restaurant. that left me to walk the strip until i found something to munch on of my own. after dinner i went back to the same bar as the previous night and played pool again with the bartender. i ended up doing a little better and maybe even won more games than i lost. in between games he told me how he was studying hospitality so he might join a luxury cruise liner. it sounded like a pretty decent gig for someone from the island and i hope he gets it. i went back to the homestay, not exactly walking a straight line, and hit the sack. the next day i would be heading back inland.