Hey, what's up guys? I'm writing this from the laptop in the hotel lobby of where we're staying in Kuta, on the island of Bali, in Indonesia. It's our 3rd day here, so I figured I'd give you an update on what's happened so far.
The Flight
We left Perth on Saturday morning, despite staying up till 4AM, I had to wake up at 8 in the morning to clean my flat and send out some post cards. I put on my backpack, met the others, and we got a cab to the airport. Needless to say feelings were mixed. We were all very excited to start on this adventure, but everyone was sad that they were leaving behind people for 3 months (or in my case, forever).
We got through security (Jess and Tamlee were suspected of drugs, and were held back for further search), while I somehow made it through without even a funny look when I brought 30 yards of hemp for making friendship bracelets... but whatever!
We boarded our flight, and got an entire three rows to ourselves, so lots of room to spread out. I ended up trying to lie on the floor at one point, because I thought it would be comfortable... It's not. But the pictures are entertaining none the less.
Anyways, the flight took off, and went right over Curtin as I've seen so many planes do. We got an awesome view of the city and our home as we left, and it left me with this strange feeling. Though I've completed everything at Curtin and won't be coming back, I don't think I'm done with Perth just yet. I have the feeling that in a number of years I'll probably return; something about that city has got me hooked.
Anyways, the flight was fun, we made friendship bracelets, and found a 12 year old girl's love note book in the seat pocket in front of us, so we had fun reading the anxsty poetry. The 4 hour flight was the quickest thing in the world, thanks to the 3 day journey to Australia... I couldn't believe we could go a different place in the world so fast.
Day One (Really from 5PM onwards)
We arrived in the airport, and were greeted with signs that said "drug smugglers receive the death penalty", though none of us were carrying drugs, there was a level of fear I would say (mainly from me, due to the large number of hemp bracelets that I currently wear), but there were no problems at all. We caught two cabs for 20 bucks for the 20 minute journey into the town and all the way there were completely terrified of the roads. They drive on the same side of the road as Australia / England, but there are scooters and motorbikes EVERYWHERE. They were wizzing past us, doing crazy stuff, and there's constant honking. There's also lines in the road, but nobody seems to follow them. I'm absolutely amazed that I haven't seen a car accident yet, but I guess it works for them.
We arrived at our hotel, and discovered that I have a king sized bed to myself (score, may as well enjoy it before we start staying in hostels). We put all our stuff down, went for a swim in the hotel pool, and went out.
Crossing the hotel road for the first time was the most terrifying thing in the world, it literally took us 5 minutes to do, and it's less than 5 meters. We got a cab into town and enjoyed the sights at the first night.
I was offered drugs in excess of 30 times. People literally come up to you and say "Magic mushroom?" (which are apparently legal here...) "Hashish" and my personal favorite "do you want to buy some drugs?". Apparently a lot of them are undercover cops, who if you agree to buy from, will require a bribe so that you aren't thrown in prison / get the death penalty. Freaky.
There are shops everywhere, people constantly yell at you to try and get you to go in your shops, and you're constantly being touched, so you have to watch yourself. The sidewalk had numerous huge holes in it (ones you can fall in) and some of the streets had open sewers... I was pretty culture shocked.
Anyways, we went out, got some food, and chilled for a bit. It was a nice quiet night. Everyone went to a shisha bar and had some, but I wasn't feeling the tobacco, so I held off - I don't really understand why you would do something like that with out any, return? I guess, if you know what I mean, which my mother and Melissa probably do.
Day Two
I woke up feeling a lot better, more rested, and more adapt to dealing with the culture shock, instead of getting a cab we walked into town, which wasn't too far, so it gave us a cool experience. We were harassed into buying things all the same, but I was more adapt to dealing with it because I was much more comfortable with the situation - I felt safer, even though lots of stuff was dodgy.
Some of us got massages (I'm gonna get one today instead), and a few of us got to check out this Children's music group, which we happened onto by accident. It was the most creepy / interesting thing in the world, but I left feeling cool because it is something that gives the children something to do, which it doesn't seem like they have a lot of here.
We spent most of the day on the beach. A few of us learned to surf (I couldn't be too bothered, because surf school was expensive, like 300,000 rupiahs,) and we had quite a bit of fun, fighting off the hoards of people trying to sell us towels, and head rests, bracelets, and even one man trying to sell us a bow and arrow (horrifying, I know...).
After the beach, we got some food, went back to the hotel, went for a swim (where I taught Rachael to swim underwater, lots of fun!). And then we went out again. The night was a little bit crazy. I chose not to drink, while everyone else except one decided to. Long story short, I held a snake, we ended up in a Pirate Ship, that was clearly built as a strip club, but we were dancing in it. I got into a cage, and onto the stage, and it was pretty cool. I had to fight off some creepy guys, being the only one with the girls at the time, but I got used to having to do that in Canada anyways.
Rachael and I (due to not drinking) weren't feeling staying out until 5AM, so we got a cab back to the hotel at 2 and had some cool life chats.
Now I'm just sitting here at 1PM writing this, and we're figuring out what we're going to do today. I'll try to update again later this week! See ya!
We arrived in the airport, and were greeted with signs that said "drug smugglers receive the death penalty", though none of us were carrying drugs, there was a level of fear I would say (mainly from me, due to the large number of hemp bracelets that I currently wear), but there were no problems at all. We caught two cabs for 20 bucks for the 20 minute journey into the town and all the way there were completely terrified of the roads. They drive on the same side of the road as Australia / England, but there are scooters and motorbikes EVERYWHERE. They were wizzing past us, doing crazy stuff, and there's constant honking. There's also lines in the road, but nobody seems to follow them. I'm absolutely amazed that I haven't seen a car accident yet, but I guess it works for them.
We arrived at our hotel, and discovered that I have a king sized bed to myself (score, may as well enjoy it before we start staying in hostels). We put all our stuff down, went for a swim in the hotel pool, and went out.
Crossing the hotel road for the first time was the most terrifying thing in the world, it literally took us 5 minutes to do, and it's less than 5 meters. We got a cab into town and enjoyed the sights at the first night.
There are shops everywhere, people constantly yell at you to try and get you to go in your shops, and you're constantly being touched, so you have to watch yourself. The sidewalk had numerous huge holes in it (ones you can fall in) and some of the streets had open sewers... I was pretty culture shocked.
Anyways, we went out, got some food, and chilled for a bit. It was a nice quiet night. Everyone went to a shisha bar and had some, but I wasn't feeling the tobacco, so I held off - I don't really understand why you would do something like that with out any, return? I guess, if you know what I mean, which my mother and Melissa probably do.
Some of us got massages (I'm gonna get one today instead), and a few of us got to check out this Children's music group, which we happened onto by accident. It was the most creepy / interesting thing in the world, but I left feeling cool because it is something that gives the children something to do, which it doesn't seem like they have a lot of here.