Tobias travels to South-East Asia and beyond!

Because the ticking you hear is your life passing you by!

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Location: London, United Kingdom

In my thirty's and slowly loosing my misanthropic streak!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Birthday in Bali

Hurried to get to Singapore airport only tho find that the flight I was supposed to take to Bali had been delayed by an hour and a half. I dind't mind too much though, gave me more time to check out the huge varitety of shopping in the tax free area. Can't say I bought anything apart from a magazine but to see the the Japanese tourists running rampant in the Gucci shop was worth the wait alone.
After a five hur flight I landed in Bali and took a taxi in to Kuta which is the main tourist area. Had been a bit slack on checking out the hotels and ended up in a pretty dire hotel but it was alright since I was quite tired.
Kuta in itself was just crazy. Due to the bombings that happened there during the last five years the tourist industry has fallen into quite a decline since there's more people trying to sell you stuff than there are people buying it. You get hounded the first few days to say the least, luckily for me I had been well trained in Vietnam and managed to brush of most of them with a smile and a "No thank you". I guess the worst thing was the so called "Massage" places where they try to grab you to come in. Took a lot time persuading them that "No, I was not interested in a cheeky, cheeky massage".
Bali felt a bit strange at first I must admit and it took me a while to get into. There are a lot of quite cklicky groups and then loads of couples going for a romantic holiday and it became quite clear that Bali was a place where people go for their holidays not to travel.
Where it previously had been a benefit to travel by myself I now to some extent felt like a weirdo for being on my own (but still, I rather be alone than feel alone).
Spent my 35 birthday without anyone about apart from the locals who took me out to the jungle and got me drunk on palm wine which tasted horribly but got me well clobbered (well, it was my 35th so I was entitled to it). They had even made me a little cake and sang for me soin the end I got a birthday I'll soon forget.
The day after I felt it was time for a change. So what's a boy to do you might ask, well the answer is obviously to go for the cheapest hotel in town to find like minded people.
Said and done, did my research and found a decent place with a pool that was about half the price of the one I previously had (that's 5 pounds a night) and I was proven right.
Pretty much instantly met a whole bunch of travelers who shared the same thoughts about Bali as myself and we were pretty soon comparing war stories from previous contries.
The following week was spent in the following maner, morning; go for a trip to check out the amzing temples that exist around Bali (that includes monkey temple, Bat temple, Lion temple and lots of other animal temples) and then get back to find the most of the group still laying by the pool trying to cure their hangovers before it was time to party again.
A really nice canadian guy called Troy had tried to leave for the last week but for some peculiar reason ended up getting so drunk every night that he couldn't move the following morning (that's the time he usally got back from Bounty, the main club) until evening time when he started drinking again. School boy error if you ask me but it was quite funny to see though.
Went out to a couple of really nice beaches and checked out the surfers doing their thing. I really wanted to try it but the waves were a bit too erratic and I was told that it almost was impossible to learn during those condistions. Real shame but maybe next time.
Overall I had a great time in Bali. The first few days were a bit of a drag but that was mainly due to my own wrong doings. The following ones were fantastic, met such nice people and it almost felt like a shame to leave them. Will without doubt keep in contact though so not too worried.

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