Day 74: Bali - start of our Indonesia journey

When planning the itinerary for Bali, we were concerned about staying near Kuta due to the terrorist bombings. We weren't interested in the club and pub scenes anyway, so we opted to stay in the quieter neighborhood of Legian. To ease our late arrival (10pm), we chose a nice hotel (Kusnadi) with airport pickup service. It all worked out smoothly.

Kusnadi was a pleasant hotel. At US$35, it was the most we ever spent on accommodation in our trip. Katy and I enjoyed our stay very much – good pool, beautiful garden, decent breakfast – except our chubby, middle-aged Australian neighbour who decided to watch CNBC at 2am. It was all about the AIG crisis and it was very loud. After an hour, I called the hotel staff about the noise disturbance. The security guard knocked on the door, but the guy was either sleeping or simply refused to answer. We tried to put up with the noise for another hour with ear plugs, but it was just too loud. After calling the hotel staff again (he was soundly asleep at the counter), the security guard knocked on the door again – more forcefully this time, and the neighbour turned off the TV immediately. The next morning the TV was on again at 8:30am – CNBC and the AIG crisis. Thank God, we were checking out that day.

living it large at Kusnadi hotel

strange design concept - the table is too far out, so had to bend my head

At the heart of Kuta, it was chaos with hundreds of vendors asking you to buy souvenirs while countless cars and scooters (some with surf boards) negotiating their way on a one-lane street. The so-called sidewalk was a 50cm wide uneven pavement filled with the same souvenir vendors – some napping with their legs fully extended, taking up most of the precious sidewalk.

One day we stopped by the memorial where the first bombing took place. We saw two Canadians and one Taiwanese on the memorial. It was such a tragic event. The next day a local funeral procession (for cremation) took place at the exact same spot. Judging by the number of people in the procession, the deceased must be a wealthy man (according to our taxi driver). Strangely not a single tear was shed during the procession. Perhaps it's the Balinese way to bid farewell.

local funeral procession

memorial

Can you believe it's Jalan Legian? Actually traffic was blocked off due to the funeral.

the real Jalan Legian!

One word of caution. Kuta and Legian are the tourist mecca for Bali. Naturally petty crimes tend to happen here. An elderly Dutch woman who stayed in Kusnadi was robbed one evening while walking back to the hotel from the beach. She was knocked down from behind by two boys on a bicycle. Fortunately she was OK and the only thing in her purse was 100,000 rupiah (US$10).

sunset at Kuta beach