January 29, 2018 – February 27, 2018

And now beach time in Bali, Indonesia! We got a good deal on a 1 bedroom apartment in Kuta on Poppies 2 that was a 5 minute walk to the beach with daily cleaning and breakfast. We were in the middle of the craziness of Kuta but the hotel was on a little alley so it was quiet. February is part of Bali’s rainy season and the first few days were cloudy with some passing rain and thunderstorms.  On the first sunny day we headed to the beach.

The first trip to the beach was disappointing, there was plastic garbage all over! We found out that this was also Kuta’s garbage season. My heart sank and thought we made a bad decision coming here and committing to 1 month. Locals were cleaning the beach daily and putting the garbage in big piles but the water was still covered with plastic debris and it seemed like a losing battle. It was so shocking and sad to see. On top of that we were bombarded by hawkers persistently trying to sell us things. You had to say no numerous times and on our walk to the beach we passed at least 20 shops asking us. After a couple of days, even the baby was saying “No thank you.”

Things started turning around after the first week. We found some local inexpensive warungs (restaurants) that served delicious Indonesian food with friendly staff that loved John. The hawkers stopped hassling us because they knew us, the rain stopped so the beach and water started to clear of garbage, and we made some friends on the beach who we rented chairs, umbrellas and surf board from. We got into a schedule of going to the beach every day, eating lunch next door at Warung Nusantara, nap, then dinner at one of our favorite warungs.  Here and there we had some rainy days with crazy thunderstorms.  Sometimes the power would go out but our hotel generator quickly started up.  John also got to train jujitsu at a local gym a few times but the traffic to get there was herendous!  It took him 1 1/2 hours each way to go 7 miles!

Beyond the garbage, swimming in the Indian Ocean was awesome. It was so warm!  Given the time of year we were in Kuta, the waves were also not that big. The baby had fun too and everyone loved him. People were constantly walking up to him to say hi, touch him, and get a picture with him. Sometimes we had a bunch of people waiting to take their pictures with him! In the evenings the beach would be so crowded and for good reason, the sunsets were amazing! The sun set behind the ocean and the sky would get bright red.

We went on a little vacation in Ubud for a couple of nights. On the drive we passed so many shops selling beautiful wood carved furniture and stone carved statues. Each piece had such intricate designs and looked as if it took many hours to make. Ubud is a small, quiet town that is surrounded by rainforest and rice paddy fields. When we were walking around town we saw a sign that said “Ubud’s magical rice fields” so we followed it. We went down a narrow alley between 2 buildings then it popped out to large open rice paddy fields. It was so beautiful! For about 45 minutes, we followed a narrow dirt path that had a man made stream along it which was the irrigation system for the rice fields. We saw a snake in one of the rice paddy fields, birds, farmers working, butterflies, and only a couple other tourists. Although it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere there was a couple of warungs so on our way back we stopped at Sweet Orange Warung for some drinks and quick wifi access. Before we went home we stopped at Ubud Palace for some quick pictures. As we entered it I was shocked to see Starbucks within the compound. All of a sudden I didn’t feel far from home again!

The food in Ubud was really good. One restaurant that really stuck out for me was a small inexpensive restaurant near our hotel that was also next to a rice paddy field. The atmosphere was so quiet and unique with delicious food that we ate there twice.

Since we went to Kuta Beach so many times we wanted to at least check out one other beach before we left so we went to Nusa Dua. This part of Bali was designed for expensive resorts, many of them all inclusive. The area was clean, landscaped, no locals (except for the workers) and the beach had no garbage. It had beautiful turquoise water with white sand that was so hot. We rented a couple of chairs with an umbrella for a few hours and had lunch. Everything was so much more expensive, more than double what we paid in Kuta.

I am really happy that we stayed a month in Kuta. This gave me time to see through the fallacy of my initial reaction. Indonesian’s are very outgoing, happy people that love kids. Garbage is a world problem that is not isolated to Bali, it is something that every country is dealing with and the locals are trying to keep the beach clean. Yes Kuta has crazy traffic with lots of bars, shops, restaurants, hawkers, spas, and tattoo parlors but there are pluses to these conveniences. You can easily have full service without walking far, talk to friendly people if you open up to them, eat some good Indonesian food and watch glowing, bright red sunsets that you will never forget.