Bali day 1

I've been both too jetlagged and too busy relaxing to write any more in here!! Catchup time :)

So we landed early in the morning at Bali's airport (Denpasar). It wasn't too bad, it reminded me of Chennai's airport but really clean.

It was pretty nice and clean and customs was crazy quick. They had a ton of scary looking drug sniffing dogs and police, but our luggage got out without a problem and getting a visa and customs was quicker than buying something at a supermarket :) There were a lot of porters who wanted to help us walk our bags the 50M or so to the customs counter (for a few dollars american of course!). Come on, who's that lazy they can't handle it?

So, we walk out and start looking for the "prepaid taxi counter." See, everyone loves ripping off tourists, so your best bet is to go with the official published fares rather than roll the dice on a random taxi driver. But, as we're walking we see a sign for the westin! Turns out, they don't tell you but they have a shuttle driver. We get into a minivan (for those of you who don't know, minivans in asia look a little bit more like vw buses than american minivans. They're thin and boxy, but long.

So we get in, get our names checked off a big list of names he had, and start off. A lot of Bali reminds me a bit of chennai, but with 1/10th of the people and clean. The traffic was slightly crazy (stoplight? who saw that stoplight?) but there was so much less of it that it wasn't heart-attack worthy.

So I just looked up why Indonesia drives on the left instead of the right. Very interesting. Short history - A lot of europe drove on the left hand side as a holdover from feudal days. Reason 1 was that most people were right handed, so if a swordfight was to break out, their right hand would be towards the opponent. Reason 2 is that for horse riding people mounton the left-hand side, so if you had to pull off and stop, you could easily rejoin traffic. Bali was colonized by the dutch back in the 1600's, when they still drove on the left.

So the US and France started using large wagons for agricultural purposes, driven by teams of horses. The horsemen would want to both keep their right arm free for whipping the team, so they would sit on the left, and then they would want to make sure that their wheels didn't crash into another large wagon passing, so they would drive on the right. In france also, the aristocracy would ride on the left and the peasants on the right, so during the revolution it was almost a source of pride. Napoleonic times drove most of the rest of Europe to drive on the right.

History lesson over :) Anywas the shuttle driver was interesting in that he hated hotels and white people. Especially Americans (hence why I am "Canadian" out here. I love Toronto!). And he was driving for a hotel filled mostly with Westerners. Sort of weird.

We get to the hotel, and the building itself here is gorgeous. Spectacular even. The grounds here are 5+ star. Gigantic pool (no really, you need it, i'll get to that in a sec), lots of waterfalls, lots of marble and wood, carvings, art all over the place.... Just 100% gorgeous. The staff here is really nice, but not quite up to speed. Due to plan changes and weirdness, I had to make two reservations - 1 for the first day and add that to the 1 for the next 5 days. It's really common when I do that travelling on business. They were really flustered and confused and had to call a manager. Also yesterday we wanted to go out for Indonesian food for dinner (the food here is so bland and real indonesian food is so yummy). They sent us out to quite possibly the blandest place ever. When getting drinks I ask what they are and it takes the bartender to come out and tell me what's in them! Ok, so I am spoiled and picky, but come on, W's and Westins have spoiled me!

So the first day we spent out on the beach. The beach here is interesting, for a few hundred yards it's all very shallow (like 2 feet deep max) and sandy and seaweedy. Perfect for little kids (they can go out far without getting into the deep) but pretty bad for full sized adults wanting to splash in the ocean. The sand is also different here, more like very very tiny rounded pebbles. The weather is surprisingly perfect. 80s (F) and low humidity, with only little fluffy clouds in the sky, not blocking the sun, just making the sky more picturesque. Flowers grow everywhere out here. 100% gorgeous! They have lots of nice cabanas and couches overlooking the beach around here. You couldnt imagine a prettier place :) I now understand why so many of my friends who have been here have begged me to take them with me!

Crashed out early the first day. Jetlagged! Then started day 2, even more awesomeness!!!