"The Big Durian" has a reputation for not being a great place. I've heard it's an ugly city, there's nothing to do, and it's only purpose should be to transfer from the airport.

But overall, I like Jakarta more than Bali. It has some cool stuff, transportation is easy with Grab, and the people are actually (gasp) friendly.

Which, for everyone who says Jakarta's traffic is bad... please. Go take a drive on Lad Phrao road at rush hour and get back to me. Jakarta's isn't great, but pales in comparison to Bangkok.

So the first day we started at the Jakarta National Museum. I always like starting at National Museums if I can, just to get a feel for what to expect. If a country takes care of their national museum, it's usually a good sign they care about what their city has to do. This one was average, but probably because they had half of it closed for renovation. One thing I did enjoy were the several thousand year old skeletons from the area. That's kind of crazy to think about, how these random folks just died before ever knowing anything about the world their bones, at lease, would eventually be in. They wouldn't have even been able to imagine it. Anyway the museum was alright, lots of stone writing and models. Not the worst national museum, not the best. (BTW, the worst is Laos, the best is China).

Next we took a walk through National Monument Park to well, see that. A giant obelisk-ish thing on top of a base, it's honestly pretty similar to the Washington Monument. The basement has a bunch of dioramas about their independence, and then you can take a lift to the top. But to be honest it's not really worth it, because Jakarta doesn't really have a skyline in that part of town. It's cheap I suppose, only about $1 each, so there's that. But as a tourist you could skip it.

After walking for way too long to find the exit (and seeing a bunch of deer in a fenced off area, for some reason) we were getting pretty hungry. There was a train station nearby, and this was my chance to try the local McDonald's food. Because I like doing that, and I'm a simple guy. The Rendang burger is... complicated. It's sort of like a burger covered with onions and a sweet and spicy curry, but very hard to put into words how it tastes. I kind of liked it though, and if for some reason it ever appears outside the country, I'd order it again.

Anyway we were really over there to see Indonesia's National Gallery. Obligatory, "I don't get art" pic here. But their "art art" section may be the first gallery ever, outside of D.C., to actually impress me. They've got some really talented folks in Indonesia. After a guy hanging out with a bunch of amateur artists asked to sketch Ella and our faces for practice. That was neat. Very nice guy, look for TotoBS on YouTube and Instagram.

At this point, we were near Ragusa, an ice cream place started by an Italian family 100 or so years ago, by a family with probably the most stereotypical names possible - Luigi and Vincenzo. I read online that it was not just good ice cream for Jakarta, it was worldwide good. Ehh. .. It was good, but I wouldn't put it that high. Still great though, so it's worth a stop if not for the shop which hasn't been updated in 100 years, probably. Anyway we pushed on to the Istiqal Mosque, the largest in the country and one of the largest in the world. When we got there, some kids were selling plastic bags for your shoes. They said "up to you" for the price, but showed us a 5000 rupiah note. (~35 cents). I think "up to you" doesn't mean what you think it means. Ella pointed out that it was a weekday afternoon, so maybe if those kids stayed in school they would know. Darn kids. Get off my lawn too. Anyway mosque was big but not much to see. After we crossed the street to the Jakarta Cathedral. It's a cathedral. Pretty.



That was about it for day one. We took a Grab to Grand Indonesia, the largest mall in the country. It was good to be back in familiar "civilization", if you want to call it that, after a few weeks of not seeing much that was clean, air conditioned, or familiar. I ate some stuff at the food court which I think was black pepper chicken, Chinese cabbage, and green beans covered with... something. But we mostly just walked around browsing, so on to day two.

We started by going up to the port, which supposedly has some interesting stuff. Not that you would know it, because it looks like and is an active port. We were walking around, thinking we were definitely in the wrong place when a man ran over to us, and immediately launched into a tour. He was very nice, telling us the whole history of the place, and even taking us across the river in a boat to an old fishing village. It was at this point he had been with us long enough that it was "Hm. This guy is going to want money." He asked for 300k, ($20), but we eventually talked him down to 200k. He also took us through the Maritime Museum (small, not all that interesting), the Dutch Bridge (nice, but only worth a photo), and arranged local transport into the old town square. Along the way he was constantly showing off all these local buildings, and honestly was worth the money for the 2 hours or so we had him. I just wish he wasn't so schemey with the price, because it really soured my opinion of him.

Jakarta Old Town is basically what the entire city should hope to be. Colonial era buildings that were pretty well maintained, and now converted to museums and other public use. The Jakarta History Museum has... Colonial things, I guess? Old furniture and paintings that looked like they were from 100 years ago, but it was in a nice building. Still, worth a quick walk through. After lunch we went to the Ceramics Museum, which was maybe 1/3rd ceramics and 2/3rds art. Both not my thing, but the building was beautiful, the museum was set up nicely, and I surprisingly found it be worth it. Minus the ceramics.

And then I was really in for a shock. The next place was the Bank of Indonesia Museum, which, was unexpectedly one of the coolest museums I've ever been to. Super high tech with interactive exhibits, plus you could go down into their vaults. They had a big pile of gold bars (I think it was fake, but the sign and security implied it was real), and large sliding displays of old currency from all over the world. We spent a surprising amount of time here, not only because there was a lot of super interesting stuff to see, but because the building was beautiful - sort of art deco meets gothic. And on the way out, their canteen has some of the cheapest food I've seen in Jakarta, on par with street prices. Unfortunately we just ate, because otherwise it would be icing on the cake (or durian). Seriously, this was one of the best places in Jakarta for me. Who knew? If you ever find yourself here, definitely check it out. And come hungry.

Apparently Jakarta loves bank museums, because next door is the Mandiri Bank Museum. This is basically an art deco style bank from the 50s that they just locked the doors on and didn't touch, with lots of old beat up safes, typewriters, and ledgers. Odd place, if a bit dusty. It's double the price and not as good as the other banking museum, but we're talking 50 cents a person as opposed to 25 cents. Worth it if you're in the area, but not for a special trip.

And that was mostly it for our day. We cut it a little shorter, but we did stop at Jakarta Station to see the trains. They're actually pretty modern in comparison to Thailand's, but their station is nothing too special.

At this point, we had pretty much done Jakarta, or at least the things we were really interested in. When I made the flight booking out almost a month ago, I really was taking a guess how long it would take us to do five destinations, and I think I nailed it - we had two days left, so we decided to make those "half day" trips just to get out of the hotel. Mostly we just slept a lot, which I know Ella is always appreciative of, especially coming off a month of hard work and fast traveling. But we did see the Taman Prasat Museum, which is basically a Dutch graveyard. I guess because western style cemeteries are unique in Asia, they had some interesting graves, but nothing that would be out of place anywhere in the US. After, we tried to go to the Merdeka Palace, sort of Indonesia's "White House". We had heard you can go inside, but despite circling the whole place we never found an entrance - just a lot of guards and barbed wire. Speaking of, walking around this place caused me to realize Jakarta is a super unfriendly city for pedestrians. There are often no sidewalks, fences preventing you from crossing the road at all, and 6 lane roads with no crosswalk or pedestrian bridge. If they want to solve their traffic problems, maybe they could start there.

Anyway they were setting up for some sort of event, so I guess that they were closed for a that. Giving up, we took a Grab to the Mandarin Oriental, because they have some free art galleries inside. I really liked their collection of old maps, but they also had some other really nice paintings. Point of note for future Weg, Ella likes art. Apparently luxury hotels like to display good art. You're a white dude in Asia, nobody is going to stop you from just walking in and looking around.

For our final day, we kept the art train going by checking out the weekend art market at Pasar Seni. We soon learned that Pasar Seni is located inside Ancol, a sort of Sentosa/Disneyland sort of place walled off from the rest of Jakarta. It was 25,000 rupiah to get in ($1.70), but at least they took that money to make the place somewhat clean and walkable. We checked out the beach while we were there, which I would swim in if I had to, but otherwise it was pretty dirty water. Kinda surprised so many people were actually swimming in it, but at least the sand and boardwalk were pretty nice.

Pasar Seni itself is more like a park with some local stalls of art set up. Overall though I really liked it, and it was filled with cats - a double win for Ella. We had a surprisingly cheap lunch there, and this nice lady talked to me while we were waiting for the food. Her name is Nana, she wants to practice English, is a single mom, and wants an foreign husband. So, single guys, if you want an Indonesian wife, hit me up. She seems nice.

After Pasar Seni, we went to a mall to grab dinner, and that was it for Jakarta. The next day we just woke up and went to the airport. Overall I'd say Jakarta is... so so. I think a dozen times we commented just how difficult it is to walk around. It's pretty much the most pedestrian unfriendly city I've ever been to, almost to the point where it has to be intentional. But what I can say, is that the people were among the friendliest I've ever met in a capital, including Bangkok. Honestly people here are just chill and happy to see you. Maybe this is just my impression after Bali set my bar so, so low, but you could do worse than Jakarta.

That being said, I do not want to move here. I even browsed for jobs here years ago, and I'm glad I didn't find any. It's not a nice looking city, and most importantly, no alcohol to be found outside of fancy hotel bars (or pork, but that's less of a big deal).

But for Indonesia as a whole... It's sort of like Malaysia mixed with The Philippines. The people outside of Bali are really kind, and most can speak a little English. Religion seems to be a more relevant, but not necessarily more important part of their lives. Like, most women wear head scarves, there are mosques all over, and I kind of got used to hearing the call of prayer wake me up at 5:30. But nobody seems to beat you over the head with it, ya know? Sort of a low key, live and let live kind of attitude. It's hard to explain, but I never felt I was "religioused at" here, which I can't say for Malaysia or The Philippines. If nothing else, people could learn from their attitude on that.

Overall I liked Indonesia, although I admit it was more same samey SE Asia than I expected. The only criticism I would have of them is that they seriously need to consider transportation countrywide, as it's a mess. Also, there seems to be a lack of care for public facilities. I'm not saying you need to go to Japan level of care, but even much poorer countries like Laos will at least go to some effort to make the area around their home or business be somewhat clean and look nice. Here, people seem to be comfortable with spray paint on plywood being their shop's sign. But at the end of the day, nice people, interesting things, what more could you ask for?

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A beer. A beer is what I could ask for.

Turns out Yogyakarta is pronounced "Jogjakarta", or "Jogja" for short. So instead of sounding like a frozen yogurt truck, it sounds like Filipinos going for a run.

Jogja is on Java, a big island where most Indonesians live. It's the "cultural capital", famous for its art and food. Unfortunately, they don't have all that much to do that I was interested in, save a few famous temples. But for the first half day we had there, we went to the Water Palace. Sort of like the one in Ubud, except this was more like an Aladdin's palace than a pretty pond. Lots of corridors connecting pools with underground tunnels, I'm sure it looked amazing in its heyday. Now it's mostly in disrepair, which sort of adds to its charm, but I wish it was taken care of better.

Aside from a trip to a local market, the rest of the day we just spent making arrangements for our trip. The main attraction for this excursion was a tour of Borobudur Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and sort of the "Eiffel Tower" of Indonesia. Besides, you know how I'm a sucker for worlds blankiest blank. It was sort of like Angkor Wat, but more like a damn big pyramid, because it was a damn big pyramid. It's very symmetrical, as pyramids are, because of something about everything being divisible by 8, since that's a special number. The entire thing is made with interlocking stones, and no mortar, which makes it pretty darn impressive considering how tall it is. It's also incredibly old, like thousands of years old. It was lost to time until sort of recently, so that made it kind of interesting. The excavation was undertaken by Sir Raffles, who I know from all the stuff he did for Singapore. Also the Rafflesia flower was named after him, which makes sense but I never put the two together before.

After lunch, we went to the other big site, Prambanan. Despite being Hindu, this was more like Angkor Wat, complete with crumbled pieces that are now piles of decorated bricks. While not flooded with tourists, it being a lot smaller made it difficult to get photos without people in them. We went to a few of the "satellite temples" and got better results, but still, hard not to compare things to Angkor Wat, even if they followed a different religion. Each was $20, which gave us a sticker shock at first - Indonesians money is so large, it cost a million rupiah. And yeah, they're probably worth $20. But given how Jogja doesn't have much else to do, when you think about a hotel and flight... go to Angkor Wat instead. Unless you're like me, and get excited about the idea of seeing "The most ___ in the world." Still, the photos are pretty, and they'll give you a sense of this place better than I could. Frankly it was hot and crazy sunny that day, it's something I can appreciate much more now than when I was sweaty and miserable. Despite that, on the way out, they had a place where you could shoot a bow for 20,000 rupiah ($1.30). Not able to pass it up, I gave it a go. I'm actually pretty happy with how well I did, by the end of it I was getting pretty accurate. I'm not ready for the Hunger Games or anything, but I think I could take down a zombie or two.

Should the need arise, ya know.

Tomorrow morning, we're finally going to the capital, Jakarta. I've heard it's not nice, but people said the same about Manilla - and I got to hit a golf ball into a volcano there. So we'll see.

Strap in for this one. Sanur may as well be on a different planet from the rest of Bali. It's basically everything Bali should be, but is not. Nice people, nice beach, affordable, easy to walk around - it's the perfect community to sit on the beach and do nothing. It reminds me a lot of Hua Hin in Thailand, actually.

We only had one day there, because although I like the beach, I get bored after a few hours. And it's actually pretty close to the capital of Bali, Denpesar. Since it was still morning, we took a taxi into the city to see the Bali Museum, which by itself is pretty unimpressive. But in a way, Denpesar is pretty unimpressive. I'm glad we went, just to see how regular Balinese outside of the tourist circuit live. But honestly, there's nothing to do there. We even tried to go to the Denpesar "Palace", but it looked closed and we were greeted by a very angry stray dog. We found a local that said we were in the right place, but it looked more like someone's home. And that dog, which will become larger and angrier every time I tell this story, was wanting to tear our faces off if we came closer. I've already had one close brush with rabies. I'll pass. So, Denpesar... give it a pass.

Back in Sanur, we finally got a beach experience we wanted. We just walked up and down the boardwalk, drinking a beer and admiring the view. I will give the beach one thing - it can get boring, but something about the waves, music, and people there make you forgot about everything that's bothering you.

Which didn't last long.

We were eating pizza at a restaurant (sidenote - we have eaten pizza for I think half our meals on this trip. I guess Ella is not a fan of Indonesian food). Anyway, suddenly I get that feeling like I'm dizzy, which makes me wonder if I am drunk. But then I look at a light and it's shaking.

Oh, we're having an earthquake.

Right, remember Taiwan. It's not the shaking, it's the stuff that falls from the shaking. So I look around. We're on a patio, there's nothing above us. If the roof nearby fell, it wouldn't reach us in a worst case scenario. And by this time, the ten second quake was already pretty much over. Now we can continue to eat our pizza, and have a laugh about our little tremor, right?

Right?

No. Everyone else wanted to freak out, and there was a stampede to get out of the restaurant. I can understand being a bit frightened if it was your first earthquake, but honesty it was pretty mild and already over. But we were near the "exit", of this patio, and I thought "Well, won't I look stupid if I'm the only person to not leave." So I stand up, and gesture to Ella to make our way outside. As we're in the crowd, I turn around and Ella was grabbing the last slice of her pizza and scarf. Hey, priorities.

Anyway it was no big deal, and the owner came out and said, "It's okay, this is Bali, it happens all the time!" And it wasn't for us. And we didn't know it at the time, but it was a big deal in Lombok, about 80km away. Since about 300 locals died, it made front page news around the world - which should be the only thing anyone cares about.

This event was interesting for me, because I got to see how the media reported a story I had "first" hand knowledge about. And it taught me a lot. First, they really don't check sources as much as they should. I saw this one Australian celebrity's tweets (plural!) plastered on a bunch of news about how they were clearly about to die. In other words, "Please pay attention to me, guys." The earthquake was over in a flash. By the time she tweeted it was long over. The only headline for that should be, "Celebrity desperate to stay relevant"

Second, saying things like "Bali Rocked By Earthquake" is technically true, but me being a published writer is also, in the loosest sense. I'm not going to go full "fake news" crazy and say media is the enemy of the people, but it has caused me to realize sensationalism and yellow journalism is more prevelant than I thought. In fact, Bali is a non-story completely, here. And I think somewhat insulting to Lombok.

Third, and the most upsetting to me personally, is how they were reporting "Tsunami possible". Technically running into Bill Gates on the street and us rocking out on guitar while he gives me a billion dollars is "possible". But as I'm sitting in my hotel room on the beach, the official Indonesian agency says "No tsunami", and the BBC says "tsunami possible", it causes one to get a bit worried.

I thought it was kind of a moot point since we're so close, if there was a tsunami it would have been there in minutes, and people would be getting out of Dodge. But still, partially to calm myself I asked Ella to go for a walk with me to see if things were normal. And they were, so much so Ella decided to look at this little jewelry store. She got a bracelet, so now we have a constant reminder of that dumb earthquake.

Anyway the next morning we get off of this island, to go see Yogyakarta. Which sounds like a frozen yogurt truck, but actually has Indonesia's most famous attraction.

Ubud is a city of highs and lows. When we arrived, we were delighted. It's sort of like Thailand's Pai, a sleepy town up in the mountains with small streets, weird shops, and basically a backpacker / hippie paradise. With lots to keep us busy, and a lovely hotel, it was a massive improvement over Kuta. (though honestly that's not difficult to do)

We got lunch in a super cute cafe, and I'm starting to get a feel for Indonesian food. It's sort of like Thai, but without the spiciness. The satay in particular is just awesome. Anyway we walked down the road to the Agung Rai Art Museum. A little pricey, but it's much more than just an art museum - it's a beautiful hotel with a garden, and includes a free coffee to enjoy on bean bag chairs next to guitar players. I like this place a lot, and we took about a million photos here. Super nice looking place, which you wouldn't expect from the outside.

Next, we went to a cat cafe, because Ella. But after we walked over to the Peliatan Palace. This was another nice place, full of two kind people that showed us around and even offered to take our photos. Their photo taking skill leaves much to be desired, but it was really cool of them regardless.

Day two of Ubud started out great. We got a Grab from a driver that warned us private taxis are pretty angry at Grab for pushing them out, and we need to be careful where we call them. We also had trouble in Kuta with Grab, so this was a welcome explanation.

It would also be an omen.

We first went to the Sukarno Center, a museum dedicated to the former President. Apparently he's from this area, so they built a little dealie for him. It was packed full of stuff, but overall kind of hard to appreciate without... well, an appreciation for him. It was a quite regal looking building, more for a king than president. They actually said no photos were allowed, but I've mentioned before my thoughts on that - I'm paying for the ticket, so too bad, I'm taking photos.

It was a short hop up the road to the next place, a temple called Pura Mengening. Now this is cool. It's sort of like you discovered an ancient fountain in the forest. It was straight out of a video game, and one of the coolest places I've visited, full stop. It happened to rain that day, and was still drizzling a little - which just made it seem even more special and mysterious. It's pretty far out off the path, so I wouldn't normally recommend it, but it's definitely worth it.

After a local lunch that was also delicious, I was a happy camper. But then, luck sort of ran out. We were too far out to use Grab, or at least we'd have to wait and try our luck if any cars would pass through. We instead negotiated with some locals to take us to the next place. It was a lengthy but fun motorbike ride, through villages and a bamboo forest. We were going to Pura Kehen, in Bangli, the supposed "mother of temples", and a top ranked tourist destination.

Well, this mother is an abusive one. The temple itself is.. meh. Okay if you're in the area, but it deserves 10% of the praise it gets. Aside from the gate it's really not all that beautiful. And then, we were in another bad situation. We tried to get transport back to the next area, and were delighted that there were tons of Grabs around. Turns out no. They all canceled a few minutes after accepting, and I speculate that this was because they're trying to frustrate people to not use Grab at all. We gave up after about an hour and many cars that "arrived" but were nowhere to be seen. I was so frustrated by it I just wanted to go back to Guangzhou. Ridesharing apps can't take over the world fast enough. At the time of writing, Indonesia ranks dead last on countries I have visited. Even North Korea is more fun than you are.

You're a dying industry, taxis, and I am happy to see you die. Your silly war against progress will only buy you a short amount of time. I realized that I sound like a super villain saying that, but I'm going to stick with it. Shut up and take my money, Uber/Grab/Didi.

Anyway, nothing a few beers and a pizza can't fix.

The next day I was in no mood to pay any taxi driver a single rupiah. Fortunately all of the things we wanted to see were all in walking distance. We went up a few pedestrian streets, looking at the "same same but not different" things until we got to a local market. To me, this is what Asia is all about. Stray dogs everywhere, locals just doing their regular shopping, a kid peeing in a ditch, and not a word of English to be heard. Maybe it's weird I prefer that. Part of it is the price of everything is 1/5th what it is elsewhere. But the bigger part is just that it's so different, I feel like I'm part of the community instead of some tourist watching it like a zoo. Definitely stop by the market across from the palace, get lost in the alleys, and buy a snack you can't identify - it's worth it.

The first stop was Ubud Palace, which isn't much to see. A few photos, you're done. After lunch and getting lost in more of Ubud's small streets, we came out near the Water Palace. This was really cool, but more like a pond with a palace next to it. It was really pretty though, and we had a nice time walking around taking photos. There was even a wedding photo shoot going on, so yeah, it was pretty legit. The one thing I didn't like was that in a room of the palace, or one constructed to look like one, was a Starbucks. Maybe that bothered me more than it should, but there's just something about a global megachain that just sucks all of the uniqueness out of somewhere. I like to travel to see interesting things and experience as many cultures as possible for the life that I have. And, not going to lie, feel good about myself that I have been somewhere that few have. Starbucks being there might as well be a sign that says "You are so on the tourist path, you might as well be taking selfies in front of The Statue of Liberty, eating a hot dog, and wearing a I <3 New York T-shirt." So Starbucks, I'd prefer if you went back to malls and airports.

The next stop was the Puri Lukisan Museum. It has a lot of really weird, somewhat disturbing artwork, which seems to be what Balinese people go for. However, they also give you a free coffee when you're done. I started thinking more about this, and it's such a good idea I can't believe more places don't do it.

1) The actual cost of a coffee is nothing.
2) It makes you feel good, so you leave with a positive impression that will lead you to recommend it.
3) It gets you into their restaurant, so there's a good chance you will spend more money there instead of outside.
4) It makes your ticket seem like a better deal.

So, other museums. Get on it.

By this point, it was getting kind of late and we were getting tired. We pressed on to Pura Dalem, or "The Death Temple". Apparently dying is a very beautiful process with lots of neat sculptures. It's very small, but worth a look. And the last final stop was a surprise, a very deep ravine with a stream in it. It was a suddenly very calm place in the heart of the city, with a neat bridge over it.

And that was it for Ubud. Next morning we're heading for a "real" beach, Sanur. I'll miss this place's hippy vibe. There was more we didn't do simply because of the lack of easy transport. So, Ubud - get on that, and we'll be back.

Hello Thailand!

We just finished a month of work in Bangkok, which seems like an odd way to spend a "holiday". Like I mentioned last time, the main point of going back there was for Ella to get her CELTA. And for some reason, a flight to Thailand is cheaper than one to Shanghai - not to mention the CELTA is about $600 cheaper there. Weird. Anyway, Ella finished with a Pass B, which is not an easy thing to do. About 80% get a regular Pass, and only the top 1% pull off a Pass A, so it's a pretty big deal. Proud of her.

And what did I do with myself? I am now a Google Certified Educator (which is not a huge deal - just a few hours of study and $10 to take a test), but it should like nice on a CV. I also took my hopefully final exam for my US Teaching License. The results come about a month later, so as of time of writing, I have no idea if I passed or not. It was pretty difficult, and one of the longest tests I've ever taken - about 3.5 hours. So I'd rather to not do it again.

The project which is far more interesting, that I hinted about last time, is that I am writing a book. I debated if I should mention it at all on this blog, because if it becomes a project that goes nowhere, I would just feel silly. But at the same time, it's not like anyone really reads this, and maybe putting it down on "paper" will attach some obligation for me to finish it. It's sort of like an "Teaching English Abroad for Dummies" book, with how to get started, countries to work in, how to teach, how to cope, things like that. Right now it's around 150 pages, but I still have more work to do - mostly on countries I have never worked in. If for some reason you are desperate (how?) some of the content is adapted from my other "professional" blog - link on the right side. I actually was a lot busier than I thought this month, so I wasn't able to work on it as much as I would like. I don't really have any high aspirations, even if a few friends read it that would be great. My hope is to one day Amazon e-publish it, and if 20 people read it, I would be thrilled. I have no idea when it will be done, or if it will be done.

Anyway, always nice to see Bangkok again, especially old friends. It really is an amazing city to be in, but being there reminded me of just how bad my work-life balance was while there. Everything costs about the same as it does in China, I was making about 1/3rd as much, and working twice as hard. So for a holiday, it's great. As a place to live, I don't know... I would like to feel less poor. But after our busy month of cramming, we wanted our proper holiday. So hello, Indonesia. It's one of the few countries in the region I've never been to, so let's see what it has to offer.

We started in Bali, and so would begin our constant displeasure with transport. We arrived around 1am, and agreed to pay a high amount (well, $7, which is a kings ransom in some parts of the world) to go 5km. But without much of a choice, we turned in ready to start the next day at Kuta, a place we had repeatedly been told is a shitty place Australians have ruined.

Well, they're not wrong. It's sort of like Pattaya without the adult entertainment, just bar after bar and old men who are definitely not pulling off... whatever it is they are trying to pull off. It's a crowded place, but at the same time we were in "holiday mode" and were fine with eating pizza and sleeping all day. But one day we gathered the strength and went south to the Bukit, which might as well be a different country. Suddenly things are super rural, chickens everywhere, with not a KFC in sight - not that there's anything wrong with that. The first place of interest was Gunung Payung, a small beach so far off the tourist path even our driver went and took photos. It's a very secluded cove, too rocky to swim but was cool for some photos.

We had a late start, so the only other place we had time for was Uluwatu Temple. This place was really cool. Set on top of a high cliff overlooking the sea, it had some great views. Unfortunately you couldn't go all the way in the temple, but still it was impressive. We had a nice walk, got some great photos, and saw a monkey opening a Sprite - clever little guy.

After dinner at the very nice Poppies restaurant (thanks for the tip, Joe), that was about it for Kuta. Yeah, short one this time. Partially because we mostly just slept and ate the first few days, and partially because I have few nice things to say about Kuta. If you're 22 and have never left your hometown, it is probably interesting. If you have been to any tourist trap of a beach ever, you know what to expect. So the next stop is Ubud, up north in the "mountains". Hopefully it has more to offer, without all the frat boys.