Tuesday March 24 - Bali

Our bodies are still accustomed to waking up before the sun, and today is no different. We awake around 4:30 AM and lounge around the room (well, I spent 45 minutes in the gym) before heading down for breakfast at 6:30 AM. Our flight is not until 11:30, and our driver will pick us up at 8:30. We take two cars to the airport - one for the luggage, one for the people. Turns out we should have split the people between the two cars. The trip to the airport utilizes roads that require three passengers. The car with the people arrived at the airport 20 minutes earlier than the car with the luggage.

With 7 bags and a 2 year old, I have not been interested in carrying my own luggage - though I typically do. So, we asked one of the dozens of men awaiting arrivals to assist with our bags. They helped us through the initial security - you have to go through security before they even let you make it to a ticket counter here - took it to the check-in, loaded everything, helped tag the bags, etc. In the US, I would tip $1 per bag. I had no idea what to tip here, so I tried tipping 10,000 IDR (about $1). He wouldn't take it. At first, I thought he was trying to tell me there was no charge. I had seen money changing hands with the airline representatives, so I figured maybe they paid the carriers. Not so. When I tried tipping him 10,000 IDR again, he again refused, but this time laid out his expecations: "7 bags, 100,000". $10 USD. So much for cheap labor in Indonesia. I'm sure I got the 'white guy' price.

Geographically, Bali would be on the eastern most coast of Java (the island that holds Jakarta), if Bali were not on its own island. For the flight, this meant we flew over the island of Java. For such a small island, Java has a lot of rivers. Estimating ground distance from 30,000 feet in the air is not my strength, so I'm guessing when I say there was a large river every 20 miles (38 KM). They ran like long, brown tree roots from the inland island to the sea. Many of them appeared to just spring from nowhere - no lake, no smaller tributaries. I look down, I see a river emptying silty brown water into the sea, I try to trace it back to its beginning and find that it starts in the middle of an open field, as if fed by an underground spring. I'm sure there is a hydrologist or geographer who knows the answer.

We arrive in Bali and met by a representative of my company to once again help us traverse the airport and find our way safely onto transportation to the hotel. Once again, I pay 100,000 IDR for some guys to bring our luggage to the car. Even statues on every corner. We drive past familiar restaurants - McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks - and several nice-looking restaurants obviously targeting the English-speaking tourists. The street is close enough to the beach that we can smell the salt in the air. Before long, we are turning onto the drive to our hotel, which is nestled closely against the Hard Rock Hotel. Directly across from the entrance of our hotel is the beach.

The first thing I notice when we pull into the hotel is the absence of a parking lot. I guess most of the visitors to this hotel are not arriving with their own - or rented - cars. The front desk is small and in the open air. I provide the clerk the hotel certificate I bought from the travel agency in Jakarta. He gives me three sets of keys attached to large brown pieces of wood with three different numbers on them: 604, 605 and 605A. I'm surprised as I thought we were staying in a private villa on the hotel grounds, not three different rooms. The hotel porters bring our luggage to our room (this time, I tip 70,000 IDR; $1 USD per bag), and we follow them down a long, elevated, winding path to the end of the property. There are 2 meter high walls on either side of us and we stop at short wooden doors with the name "Mawar" engraved on a piece of wood above the entrance. The porters open the door, and the first reaction from everyone in my group is "wow".

The pictures don't do the beauty of our accomodations justice. To our immediate left is the pool available for our private use complete with two lounge chairs and umbrella, and an elevated gazebo with two other chairs. In front of us is our villa. A large veranda with a table for four, a couch, two chairs and a coffee table, and a winding staircase to the second floor. There are doors to three rooms: 604, 605 and our kitchen. The two, ground-floor rooms have their own bathrooms attached, and there is a third bathroom - though I'm not sure of its purpose - at the rear of the house. Each room contains a canopy bed with mosquito netting, two chairs, a TV stand with a fridge, and a desk. There is a closet in the bathrooms. Upstairs is 605A and is clearly intended to be the kid's room. Two, twin beds, also canopy with mosquito netting, and a large, open floor for playing with kids toys. In a word, the place is "spectacular".

It is still only mid-afternoon by the time we unpack, take in the beauty of our surroundings, and discover we are sharing our villa with two kittens and a mother cat, so we walk across the street to Kuta Beach, the most popular beach in Bali. I am expecting crowds of tourists, surfers, and locals. We find a nearly deserted beach. On the plus side, finding a place to plant ourselves was easy. On the minus side, we were the only targets for the local "merchants", and my mother-in-law's bright red outfit and hat pegged us quite easily as bule tourists eager to spend money. I learned long ago to dismiss unwanted soliciters with a wave of my hand and an obvious disinterest. My mother-in-law decides to strike up conversations with everyone, which only encourages them to stay. Eventually, she was surrounded by four merchants all trying to sell something - jewelry made of shells, beach wraps, henna tattoos, an odd little contraption that you are supposed to rest your head on while laying on the beach, and even a massage. We end up leaving the beach with beach mats, a few beach wraps, and two of the head-rest contraptions. I didn't dare ask how much money she parted with. I got the impression there was no haggling, so I'm sure she overpaid.

We end the evening with a quiet dinner in the empty hotel restaurant. I'm not sure how many people are staying here - it does not seem to be a lot. Either we picked a time of year that no-one travels - which, with kids in school, is a very likely scenario - or everyone is avoiding the upcoming Nyepi holiday (the Balinese New Year). Time will tell. All I can say is we are happy to be here - and, the hotel does not have any internet, so I'm writing my blog in Notepad until I find an opportunity (ie, an internet connection) when I can post it.