I don't know if you can tell, but I am pretty excited about finally being in Bali! I've dreamed about coming here (quite literally...remember my Krakatoa dream during finals Bevan?) for such a long time! I just arrived this morning and have spent most of the day just walking around Kuta beach, getting to know the area and looking for a good surf shop to book a lesson with. I'm only going to be here for another 4 days, so I want to make the most of it. The weather is gorgeous and the town is actually quite more touristy than I expected. I know what they say about Bali being tourist central and flashy, and it's really true. I have already seen two Starbucks in Kuta Beach alone!
I got into Jakarta the other day and stayed with a new friend, Anna, whose from Jakarta. I met her through this wicked site called couchsurfing.com where travelers can basically search for people's houses to crash at while going from city to city. I realize how sketchy that sounds, but it's really not, there are many ways to verify who a person is and check whether they have references from other people and the like. Anna was hosting another guy from Switzerland, and we all went out for dinner, drinks and ice cream with some of her other friends. It was really interesting being able to stay with an Indonesian family and see how she lives as opposed to just staying in another hostel. I'll be crashing with her again when I get into Jakarta on Saturday night, not sure if we'll go out or not though!
Hmm, what else have I missed talking about over the past few days? Ah yes, Penang! Penang was just ok to be honest. It may have been because I was tired and didn't really venture out too far from where me and the girls were staying, but it just didn't seem like there was a lot very interesting going on. I really preferred Kecil and after having the most hellish day trying to book a train ticket out of Penang, I realized I should have just went to KL directly from the Perhentians. Oh well, good to see a different place I guess!
Well, I have barely slept the last couple of days (combo of overnight train with no sleeper and ridiculously early flight to Bali) so I am going to nap so I can thoroughly enjoy the rest of my night! I'll let you know how surfing goes!
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