Day 11 - Friday July 9, 2010 - Bali, Indonesia

Day 11 of my Around-the World Adventure - "Take 4"!

To the left: Hindu temple in Kuta City.

I didn't allow enough time in Bali - so I'll have to plan a trip back. Anyone want to come back with me?

Yesterday wore me out - don't know if it was the pace we kept or the very relaxing massage at the end of the day. I slept so soundly and like a baby. Good night's sleep. Today will be spent exploring Kuta - in the south of Bali and the main tourist destination for the island.

Had my morning coffee and actually started thinking about repacking again for my travels tomorrow to Chaing Mai, Thailand. I arranged my return trip to the airport with the hotel and got a postcard for Lauren and Lillian - a pretty card with a Balinese dancer. Hope they will like that.

Then I took a taxi into Kuta - just north of Jambaran. Taxis are pretty inexpensive. While the charge is 50,000 rupiahs, that is less than $10 US. So it is easy to get around.

I had the taxi drop me at the Discovery Mall - a large Balinese mall with a variety of shops. I found a Bali T-shirt (a must have) and then just went looking.

So now don't laugh at me - but I splurged and bought some Lopi Luwak coffee - yep - the "cat poop" coffee. Can't wait to try it. I'm so excited about it. Anyone want to come over and try a cup of "cat poop" coffee with me?

The packaging description is so, so funny, and I quote . . . "Kopi Luwak is regarded as the world's most expensive coffee taste is subjective" (Wonder what that means?). "Kopi Luwak is coffee made from coffee cherries which have bean (yep, bean, not been) eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the asian palm civit (they look like a small cat) . . . Kopi Luwak had the texture of the feeling that was soft with the strong bitter feeling that was soft with the strong bitter feeling but some what veiled, not until disrupted the sense on tonque, his aroma was then very fragnant (yep, fragnant, not fragrant!). However that most became the Luwak coffee expertise was after taste available his match".

Now did that make any sense at all? Let's hope it lives up to its hype. I personally can't wait to try it.

I roamed the streets of Kuta - lots of crafts - paintings, wood carvings, massages, touristy things, and propositions of various kinds! Had fun looking. Lots of British and Germans here.

Kuta is right on the Indian Ocean and the view is beautiful. I found a restaurant with an open table with a view of the ocean and had a great lunch - grilled salmon with bintang beer. The salmon was so, so good. Fresh.

After lunch it was mid-afternoon so I hailed a taxi and headed back to the Intercontinental. I'm very glad that I'm staying where I am and the amenities are great at the property. But these taxi drivers. Both of them today were trying to fix me up - "pretty girl", "young girl", etc, etc, etc. I think all of the taxi drivers in Bali must pimp!!!! Nevertheless, I returned to the hotel.

Got to relax out by the ocean - it was an absolutely beautiful day - not too hot, not too humid - just right. Great napping after a large lunch. About 5:30, I came in and showered for sunset. Went back to Sunset bar and to my surprise, it was Happy Hour and 2-4-1! YEAH! So the cosmos started flowing. Sunset was pretty. Shared it with some Aussies at the bar.

Them went to Jimbaran Grille for dinner. They had a quartet playing and singing. Actually they were good, but hearing 4 Balinese sing Beatles songs just wasn't right! I had fresh mahi-mahi for dinner and it was superb. The seafood here was spectacular. They had lobster that I started to get for only $35 - a real deal.

Then the excitement of the night. You may have heard me describe the Brad Pitt sighting in London several years ago. Well, tonight was a Tiger Woods sighting. A spitting image sitting at the table next to me. They both jumped when I took a picture of the quartet which made me first notice them. I really wasn't taking a picture of them but they both spun around which made me notice them. I spent the rest of my dinner trying to figure out if it was him or not. He had a Nike hat on and it sure looked by him. But the woman with him wasn't his Swedish wife (not a surprise) and she wasn't that pretty (also not a surprise). So I ended up not sure if it was him or not. Maybe - maybe not! Fun to speculate! That was fun.

Enjoyed the music for a while and then headed back to the room to start packing. Wish I had several more days here. But looking forward to my return trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand tomorrow evening.

BALI - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!