Note: When I find a decent connection, I will be adding pictures from Coolangatta and Cairns to the “Australia: Up the East Coast” album; I will also create two new albums, “Australia: Darwin Adventures” and “Indonesia: Three Weeks in Bali.” Captions forthcoming…
- Saturday, 19 March: Wandered around Darwin, walking around and viewing historical buildings, pedestrian pathways and the waterfront; nice Indian lunch at the waterfront; wandered back to Chilli’s backpackers and booked a trip to Litchfield National Park on Sunday, $120; helped roommate dye her hair; internetted; got a new used book to read; kebab from next door for dinner with lime and bitters soda.
Sunday, 20 March: Up very early for tour bus and breakfast; first part of tour after a long drive was a boat cruise up the Adelaide River to see the jumping crocodiles and whistling kites; another bit of driving and then we were in Litchfield, viewing the termite mounds and spear grasses; magnetic termine mounds 
were cool and strange; we reached first waterfalls amidst lots of rain; I swam in second falls, which was exhausting but awesome, warm water; final swimming hole was flooded too much to swim, but very pretty; finally, watched sunset over champagne and prawns and crackers and cheese; went out afterwards with Philippino girls; checked out, took 11pm shuttle to the airport, napped at airport until flight left at 4:45am. - Monday, 21 March: Arrived Bali 30 min early; caught taxi to Dwi’s before she left for work; napped, walked around, napped again, walked around again; bought an umbrella, a SIM card and baby powder; went out to dinner with Dwi to a seafood place on the beach: fabulous and cheap!
Today I arrived in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. It was not a bad flight, although the timing of it was awful: 4:45am and I could choose between two shuttles to the airport: 11pm or 2:30am. The latter seemed to be cutting things a bit close, plus Darwin was not a hopping place on a Sunday night, so I took the 11pm shuttle and hung out at the airport. This was not, as you may suspect, and exciting time. I managed to snooze a bit here and there, checked in and got my ticket, then snoozed a bit more. By the time the plane boarded, I was exhausted and blinking furiously in the airport glow of fluorescent lighting.
Two hours later, I was in Bali, almost half an hour ahead of schedule. The adventures began: for a Visa on Arrival, I had to pay $25 USD, which I didn’t have, or $27 AUD, which is odd because the Australian dollar is stronger than the US dollar. Also, I only had $25 AUD in paper money and they didn’t accept coins for the additional $2. This put me in an awkward position and I ended up giving a grumpy immigration officer my passport while I wandered beyond the immigration booths to find a working ATM. Luckily, there was another guy wandering about doing the same thing, so together we figured things out. Eventually, I paid for the visa and got through immigration and customs fairly easily.
This put me outside the airport in the wall of humidity already coalescing at 6am. I had been instructed by my Couchsurfing hostess, along with some travelers I’d met during a tour of Litchfield Park the previous day, not to buy anything at the airport: SIM card for my phone, taxi ride, etc. Apparently the overcharging and tourist-abuse is fairly severe. So I walked around until I found a Starbucks my hostess had mentioned, then caught a Bali Taxi (they’re bright blue) to Dwi’s place.
Dwi, pronounced, as she told me, like dweeb without the ‘b,’ is a thirty year old Muslim dentist. (I’m not sure if this made you blink, but it sure did me.) She’s funny and energetic and terribly kind. She is sharing her tiny studio apartment with me and has already given me some great advice. Also, she gave me a spare key and let me crash when she left for work this morning. I waved good-bye to her as she went, admiring the rising sun glowing golden red beyond the clouds (and pollution?), before going inside, locking the door and letting my head hit the pillow.
After a two and a half hour nap, I was completely disoriented, but it was time to venture out. Off I went, wandering down the main street outside Dwi’s apartment complex. It felt oddly comfortable walking along the street buzzing with an equal number of cars and motorbikes, sweating profusely and carefully navigating the broken sidewalks and dirty lanes. I admit to feeling a bit of apprehension and taking hold of one of my day pack’s straps, but nothing untoward happened. Not that it couldn’t, but to be honest, the people I passed were all absorbed in their own lives. It’s funny how self-centered a traveler can be, paranoid that everyone is out to get their stuff.
Anyway, I found an empty stall with a nice-looking woman serving food, and we communicated with broken English and pointing well enough to get me a good lunch. She taught me “suksimo,” which means thank you in Balinese. I’ve used it at least thirty times since lunchtime. Practice makes perfect and people get a kick out of hearing the foreigner say her one local word.
Crossing the street was an interesting affair. I waited for ten minutes as traffic zoomed back and forth, frowning with concentration and wondering if the Hanoi shuffle would work here. Luckily, another foreigner passed me on his motorbike and pointed up the street, shouting, “Crosswalk!” Sadly, it didn’t occur to me to use the crosswalk, since in other Asian countries it was merely a line, painted on the pavement and completely ignored by all drivers. Here it seems to mean “lighten up on the accelerator,” which allows pedestrians to cross, if they’re cagey (dodging the motorbikes) and quick (running in front of the slightly slowed cars).
As I wandered back down the street to Dwi’s building, I smiled. It was nice to be back in a non-English speaking, dirty, poor, scary-traffic filled foreign country. A young man passing me on his motorbike hollered, “Hello!” and seemed gratified that I responded with a smile, a wave and a “Hi!” in return.
My first day in Bali, while hot and disconcerting and new, has changed my general attitude. It’s good to be feeling like a traveler again!
--Z
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