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Tuesday 11 November 2014

First impressions, Bali... hmmm

Let's start positive and see where we end up... We returned to Kota Kinabalu in fine spirits and, for the first time, fine weather.  We took advantage of this with a boat trip to the little island of Sapi just off the coast where we snorkelled, walked and I got a great up close experience and video of a monitor lizard!  Top stuff! [Oh, and sunburnt] Then we flew to Bali...

We arrived late at night to 9,667,543 taxis trying to rip us off for a trip 1 min round the corner.  We escaped their clutches and proceeded to get entirely lost on foot while attempting to find our overnight hotel.  Once we'd found it we relaxed and slept in the most comfortable bed we'd experienced in a month.  In the morning we quickly realised we'd made no plans and Bali, it seemed, wasn't going to be as simple to travel as Malaysia had.

We decided to avoid Kuta beach and the lively areas of Bali for now and head inland to Ubud, Bali's spiritual home (allegedly).  Local buses don't exist.  Coach transfers don't exist.  Indonesia's primary travel options, it turns out, are only taxis and scooters... Or scooters that are taxis!  Add to this revelation other things you'll quickly learn here...

I'm sure 10-20 years ago Bali was awesome.  The years of tourism as a primary trade, however, has twisted the country into a vile beast. Everything is a ripoff and everyone is trying to rip you off.  Its not really their fault, it really is the result of the relentless influx of tourists with too much money.

Long story short, and a quick jaunt in to the future; a taxi (by whatever name or flavour it comes in) back from Ubud to the airport will be list price 60,000Rp, negotiable to half that.  A taxi from near the airport to Ubud, which we now had to arrange will cost an arranged 250,000Rp, with quotes in excess of double that AND you'll need to basically fight the taxi driver before and after the trip... And so it was we arrived in a hot and horribly modern/commercial looking Ubud, adrenaline pumping and swearing at our taxi driver on the main street.  Great times.

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