Today was our first full day in Bali!
We woke up at 8 feeling a lot better and somewhat refreshed. Our room was slightly dinky, but it wasn't too bad. There was mosquito net in our bed, which was a bit weird to use because it was small and only covered our top half of our body. There was some small gardeny areas and a pool at the hotel too, which was pretty small, I think 17 rooms in total? Breakfast was either some kind of egg or some kind of pancake, plus tea or coffee and fruits. Aaron and I got scrambled egg with toast and pineapple pancakes.
After that, we explored our town, Sanur. We were walking down, looking for a swimsuit for me, since my bikini strap broke. We ended up going to Hardys, this multistory discount store looking place. I actually did find a denim looking bikini which looked nice. I also found a nice sundress, much better than any of the dresses I found in Korea. Aaron bought 3 shirts and 1 undershirt and a pair of sunglasses. There was a lot of salespeople though, they were also pretty pushy, sorta like the stores in China. There was also a little supermarket type store in the building so we went in and bought some snacks and drinks, as well as some shampoo and body wash and such. We had to buy some sun screen but unfortunately that was one of the pricier things in Bali (apparently Balinese don't sunburn) for like 18 bucks.
After that, it was around noonish so we were ready for lunch. We started walking back to our hotel, since we passed lots of restaurants. It was very hot by then, and very very humid, and the sun, since we were near the Equator, was coming down pretty strong. We were sweating like no tomorrow by then, since we non-Balinese people aren't used to the sun and humidity. We found a little restaurant soon enough, and ordered some Satay and a pizza and a mixed fruit drink. It was all about 8 bucks, and the pizza was pretty big. Satay was a bunch of stick with meat on it, dipped in a peanut sauce.
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a short break before we went to meet our driver for the rest of the day. First we headed towards Kuta, which was a big touristy beach town. We walked along the beach a bit, but there wasn't too interesting, a few stores here and there, some people sitting here and there. Kuta had a lot of stores, and we found another supermarket, where we bought a drink and a few other small things. And then we found this huge multistory building that was filled with stores. We headed in and looked thorugh some some swimsuits and dresses and souvenirs, but we didn't end up buying anything there.
After Kuta we headed to Uluwatu for the temple and the Kecak dance. There was monkeys in that area as well, which we took some pictures with. There was a few fat monkeys there as well. The temple itself was on a cliff overseeing the water, which was a nice shade of blue and very pretty. Then we headed to the Kecak dance. It was a bunch of stone benches in a circle, and they really packed us in, because it was filled with people, barely had any room for the performers. There was this guy next to me who was annoying - first he was pretty large, and then he had a huge camera which he click clicked and tested the flash many times, and then he had a huge bag between his legs so that his legs were way on my side. And lastly, near the end of the performance, he asked the girl in front of him to switch places with him (although he was taller than she was) because he just HAD to take pictures. Anyway, the performance itself- there was a ton of half naked men chanting to the fire, and occasionally other characters will come up and tell the story. The basic story is that some demon guy wants this woman, so he told his advisor to be a deer and have the woman's husband and brother chase it, and then he pretends to be some old guy and when the woman brings him water, he kidnaps him. And then this white monkey helps the woman by causing disorder in the demon god's palace, and then giants come and capture him and try to burn him, but he has powers so he can't die and gets them back. At the fire part, the fire was pretty hot and intense, but it burned pretty fast and before you know it, it was over. It was a pretty interesting performance.
After this show, we headed to Jimbaran for some seafood dinner. It was pretty nice because the tables were on the beach and we can choose from their fresh seafood, but unfortunately I felt duped because I thought the price was supposed to be a lot cheaper than it was. I thought it woul be 25, but it was 68. So.... yeah. At least the food was pretty good - we got clams, lobster, and prawns. Also had some rice, soup, and some greens which might be collard greens. We also ordered a melon juice and cocnut juice, which gave me an actual coconut. Of course, as soon as we got our drinks the first time, the guy dropped our coconut all over the table and Aaron's left leg, so we had to change tables and they gave us another coconut, of course. After this dinner, we headed back to our hotel. We tried to find the night market, but after walking for quite a bit and not finding it, we just decided to go back and just relax the rest of the night.
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