So, we're back in Bali. It's different than last time - we're staying in Sanur, which seems to be more ex-pats from the UK and Holland than tourists from Japan and Australia. I'm missing the beach soccer matches, but we'll be back on that part of the island at the end of the trip. The food here is surprising in its quality. There is authentic cuisine from all over the world, but at prices that allow you to eat out every meal.
I had forgotten the street vendors and beach masseuses who run after every foreigner. Trying to sell you t-shirts and sunglasses or a massage on the sand. And most of all, the amount of guys ready to offer "transport" - and if you don't need it today, how they're ready to book you for a ride all over the island "tomorrow." After a day or 2, it settles down, as you're no longer fresh foreigner meat and they settle back into their lovely, calm, Balinese selves. They really are, as a whole, the most friendly people i've ever met.
We arrived as a giant conference on Global Warming was just finishing up - leaders from all over the world. I don't remember reading about it before we left, but maybe I was too busy packing. It seemed like a fairly big deal. No place better to discuss global warming than an island where's it's scorching for 16 hours a day with humidity that seems to reach towards 150%. (That being said, once you're past the shock of the heat, it's quite a comfortable climate - especially inside a swimming pool!)
okay, off to eat - more to share soon.
(this picture was actually in Taipei's airport - after 4 different stores gave us samples of their whiskey and I saw this Hello Kitty beckoning, I knew I wasn't in America anymore)
