Bali

Melanie had booked us a room at the Home @ 36 Hotel in Kuta for our first night on Bali since we wouldn’t arrive there until 11:30 at night. So far every new place we get to we arrive at nighttime. Technically we arrived around 4:00 in Yogyakarta but by the time we actually got to where we wanted to be it was dark out. Getting a taxi proved to be much more expensive here on Bali than it was on Java. Melanie had read that the taxis were cheaper if you left the airport than if you were to get one inside it so we decided to walk a bit before hailing one. Well we walked most of the way out and decided to just grab a cab to get to the hotel, the driver wanted Rp. 200,000 but we knew the hotel wasn’t that far so we haggled him down. It was more of a car service than a taxi and you bargained the price before the ride. So we got him down to Rp. 60,000 and we probably could have gone lower but it was a lesson for us. The drive was 10-15 minutes long and would have cost us under Rp. 20,000 on Java.  

The room was nice, a little dirty here and there but nothing major. It didn’t feel unclean it was just if you were really looking you could see some stuff. The shower was definitely the best part! I would describe it as space age for Indo; it had wall jets, FM radio, a built-in fan, a mirror, and lots of shelves and a place to sit. Oh and it had water pressure, I really miss water pressure, and super hot water which was really nice as well. The only set back of it was that the doors were difficult to close and they didn’t stay closed so I had to keep adjusting it. Also, the drain was closed when I got in so the water level kept rising and I didn’t notice until the bathroom started flooding. But honestly, who make a shower where you can plug the drain? Its not like I could have a bath in there. I got to watch “2 Broke Girls”, which was really nice because I love that show. 

When we went downstairs for breakfast we discovered that it was a resort we were staying in, not a hotel. The breakfast area was outside on a large terrace and there was a restaurant as well. Going down the steps, there was a pool on both sides and a great view of Kuta Beach.

We once again packed up and checked out, hoping in a taxi to Padang Padang. A little surfing town about 45 minutes south of Kuta. We hadn’t booked a room there yet but we asked the driver to take us to the Padang Padang Inn and luckily they had space available for us. The Inn had a choice of four different kinds of rooms: 1) Bamboo rooms, you couldn’t get much more basic than these; 2) concrete rooms without air conditioning, but they did have en-suite bathrooms; 3) concrete rooms with air-conditioning, these were also bigger and we’re staying in this type of room; 4) an even larger concrete room with air-conditioning.  We chose the third room type because it was the cheapest with air-conditioning and I’m really happy with our choice. It’s really hot here.

I wasn’t feeling well so I decided to stay in the room while Melanie went to the beach. I did, however, walk to the beach with her so I would know where to go if I started to feel better before she got back. It’s about a five-minute walk down the road and a lot of stairs to get there. The beach access is amazing, the stairs are built in the fashion of an old temple (it may very well have been one back when it was built) and they actually lead down this little crevice in the cliff. It’s a tight walk and a one-way road when going down those steps but it’s pretty neat. Anyway, once we got to the beach I turned around and walked all the way back up, which, when your not feeling well is horrible! By the time I got all the way back up I was about to pass out. Sweat was little running down my face and I was feeling a little dizzy. Luckily about half way up the little hill back to the Inn there was a store and I had brought money with me so I bought some water there and sat down for minute. I also stopped at the Internet shop and purchased three hours of usage for Rp. 36,000. When I got back to the room I was shaking I was so sick and exhausted. I laid down on the bed with every intention of watching one of my shows when I discovered the Wi-Fi did not reach out room. There was however, an Inn next door who’s Wi-Fi my computer did pick up. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to crack their password and still have not figured it out. So instead I turned on a movie and used my computer as a hot pack. When Mel got back we went for an early supper at a little Mexican restaurant next to the Inn. It wasn’t bad, more of an Indonesian Mexican than actual Mexican, even though a Mexican man owns it. Mel had decided to go for a walk with the computer and find out where the Internet access started and learned that it starts at the stairs about ten steps from our door. That really sucked in my opinion; I didn’t purchase Internet so that I could use it on the stairs outside our room. I wanted to be able to Skype and watch TV. LOL. I know that seems silly but sometimes all you want to do is sit in the cool room and have something to do and our TV in our room is not working. We made one more trip to the beach and swam until for about ten minutes before the lifeguard blew his whistle and had everyone come in (you can’t swim here after dark). After that we just came back to the room and read until we got tired and went to sleep.