The Taksi ride from Tanah Lot was pleasant and longer than it should be, same thing as getting anywhere in Bali, close on the map but an age to get to in the car. At least the driver was friendly in a genuine kind of way and it gave me a good last chance to take in the landscape of Bali and commit what I could to memory.
I wasn't going to visit Kuta, having heard a few things about it I had kind of decided that it wasn't for me, being to Australians what Magaluf is to the British. But then again, I've never been to Magaluf.
I booked a small room in a place that was located just a couple of streets away from the Airport for 2 nights, and when I arrived I was shortly reminded of the scene in the Blue Brothers where the Elwoods apartment was rattling from the trains on the tracks located outside and Jake enquired how often the trains go by. "So often that you won't even notice it" and this indeed rang true for the airplanes nearby, but not so much for the 10 dogs or so that were kept by the apartment owner, who would often start arguing amongst themselves, usually in the dead of night for maximum disturbance,
The owner was really friendly though, as were the people staying there and the first night was sat around with a few of his friends and couple of fellow travellers around a barbecue, chatting, eating and drinking beer, along with occasionally telling the dogs to shut up.
In the morning I walked up to the nearest mall on a quest to find new shorts and "easy-dri" t-shirts to replace some of my dying items. With this a failure I wandered up to the next one and this is where things started to get a little more uncomfortable. Stepping onto the road to avoid a crowd of Masseuses that were gathered on the pavement in front of me I responded to my usual, very polite "No thankyou" upon hearing the familiar call of "Massaaa". However this obviously caused the older lady to take some kind of exception where she carried on "Ah, why you like that Mr, Why you like that?". The other thing I didn't really like here was the word "Sexy" that had been put in front of "Massaaa". For me that gives he whole thing a much darker tone, and one I'm really not all that comfortable with.
Leaving the Next Mall again empty handed I walked up again towards the main front strip in Kuta where the bigger hotels were and the last of the local shopping centres lay, but instead of walking along the front I decided to cut through some of streets that ran behind. It was one of the toughest walks I have ever undertaken.
It was impossible to take more that 3 or 4 steps before the next person would grab you to try and get you into their roadside shop, or a madam would either try to pull you over or rub you on the side before offering you a "Sexy Massage" or "Young Sexy Girl". I found myself muttering a few choice words under my breath on several occasions on the way through, mostly to other tourists who had that same exasperated look on their face. "You look tired sir" was met with a simple "I'm not". In that heat, for that period of time in those conditions, you don't waste time on witty responses. You're breath is important and after nearly an hour in the draining heat and powerful sun getting pushed, pulled, grabbed and stroked I was more than ready to get irked. Luckily at the right moment, the mall I was looking for came into view.
I think it's probably a sign your in bad shape when you get 3 "ice cream" headaches in quick succession, each as painful as the one before it, but even time one faded, my next sip of my Mango Smoothie unleashed another. I decided at this point that I was probably dehydrated or something and decided to abandon the quest for clothes and sloped into the closest decent looking diner to get a grip on things. "Tary" the waitress on the door led me to the coolest place in the restaurant and got me a litre bottle of chilled water a cooling towel and left me alone with the menu for some quiet time. Over the next hour or so whilst I had some food and took more liquid she came over a few times to ask how I was feeling. Christ I must have looked rough, but the food was great and the service from Tary and the rest of the staff there helped numb my built up angst from the hour or so before. I think I titled my trip adviser review "Cafe Sardinia - The best thing about Kuta" or words to that effect and that's still the kind of way I feel. I was glad to have only booked for a 2 night stay.
On the way back to the hotel I wandered along the long sands for which Kuta is known, with surfers the water, people sunbathing nearby and a bit further away beer being guzzled under the tropical shade all under the watchful gaze of Mount Batu in the distance behind. If you didn't know what led in the streets behind, it would be easy to fall for the perfect image this almost portrayed.
You see, I can 't say that Kuta is a bad place. I was only there just over a day so that would be a tough judgement to make on a place after such a short period. I also have enough photo's to back up the argument there is enough to like about it life in Kuta, But for me, personally, after a 2 night here, on this occasion I'm just glad I didn't book a 3rd.
not quite it.....
I should also note here that I had 2 amazing meals at "Batan Waru", a restaurant that lay just a few minutes walk away from my hotel. The manager there made a point of coming over on the second visit and shaking my hand for coming back, but with staff like "Ayu" who dealt with me on both nights why wouldn't I? The second night in there I just had to nod to the suggestion of beer and for dessert she knew all I would want would be an expresso, christ I must have looked rough. She was also good enough to go through several options on the extensive menu I had shortlisted in order for me to make the correct choice. I just get the funny feeling that there wouldn't have been a bad one whatever I had picked.
No comments:
Post a Comment