Bali Hai: Part Two of My Three Week Vacation

One of the most frequently asked questions I have encountered when talking to Indonesians about traveling is "have you been to Bali?"- even mentioning Bali in my classes inevitably brings up a chorus of "ooooohs." While no one I talked to had ever been to Bali themselves, they all insisted that it was a beautiful place, paradise even. It is with these high hopes and pictures of white sand beaches in my head that I boarded the ferry from Banuywangi to Bali. From the ferry we drove through picturesque rice fields backed by mountains; by crumbling Hindu temples; and along the coast where the ocean seemed to call my name. Driving into Ubud was like driving into a small artsy town on the east coast- not only was there was a Starbucks on the cute main street, but the place was crawling with bulehs (white people)! Starved from our trip we chose a restaurant for dinner and were greeted by a menu that contained not only salads but a variety of western food and alcohol- we could only hope that we had somehow taken the boat back to America. Our three days in Ubud were spent relaxing in Starbucks, spending way too much money at the bookstores which sold English books, learning about the rich Hindu culture of the area, and eating all of the cuisines we had missed so much. Even though we could have easily have stayed in Ubud we booked tickets to take us to Kuta where we would meet a group of friends to celebrate the new year. Unfortunately, somehow in the three days that we were there, none of us realized that there was an hour time difference, so we missed our bus (don't ask me how the three of us were granted Fulbrights). Luckily we were able to get on another bus about an hour later and make the two hour drive to Kuta.

While Ubud surprised us with it's charm and small town America feel, Kuta surprised us with shirtless Australians, crass souvenirs, pushy salespeople, and offers of ephedrine on the street. It reminded me of the Jersey shore during senior week. From that time on our group of three began expanding as more of our ETA friends made it to Kuta to ring in the New Year. We spent a lot of our time on the beach- which was sadly far from white sand- appreciating the fantastic restaurants and bars, and just enjoying each others company. New Year's Eve was a blast in one of the many clubs in downtown Kuta which turned into an ETA reunion as the night wore on. I was supposed to leave the next day to return to Pekanbaru, but due to a flight miscommunication I couldn't leave until Tuesday which I happily endured. All in all it was an excellent trip and I returned to Pekanbaru a little tanner, a little poorer, and a whole lot happier.