I have finally arrived to Bali. The warm humid air took me into its brace and I like it. I managed to book a hotel room from the airport and got a taxi that took me through the small alleys to my hotel. It is nice to see a place with life in the streets after 10 pm again. The hotel is ok, actually quite nice from outside. It has a pool and the breakfast is included but the room looks more like a big bathroom with its tile floors and walls. Everything smells wet regardless of the nice flowers on the pillow. I’m dead tired after the 6 hour flight and hardly slept last night in Sydney. I shall sleep like a rock and won’t notice that that’s exactly how hard the bed is.
I wake up at 6.15. Woken not by the alarm I had set but by the rooster who is on a mission to make sure no one over sleeps. I check the time and try to go back to sleep but this rooster obviously has a snooze mode and it wakes me every fifteen minutes. Finally I give up and get up at 7.30. I have my breakfast which includes some fruit and white toast with butter and honey. I miss cheese. I think about the breakfast I had yesterday morning in Sydney and suddenly I feel lost. I have no idea where to go or what to do. The wifi connection in the hotel is not working which makes planning a bit harder. I have never gone travelling this unprepared but this time I was so busy with other stuff that I didn’t have the time to do my homework.
Yesterday at the airport when I arrived I realized that I had no idea about the exchange rates. So instead of exchanging money I got some from atm. Would I like 100 000 300 000 or 500 000 rupees? I had no Idea. I get confused with too many zeros on the notes and tried to pay 24 000 bill with 10 000 note. The cashier at the local convenience store is not amused by my explanation of too many zeros when I notice my mistake.
After breakfast I go exploring. I need to get some money and a local sim card. I get a map from the reception but soon notice that it's useless. The small alleys are not on it and the bigger streets that are don't have signs to tell the street name. I try to memorise some shops and signs so that I can find back but soon I see that every alley looks about the same. Somehow I manage not to get lost too badly and I find my way back to the hotel, without money and local sim card. I'm still tired, I miss my life in Sydney and I don't have the energy to get these things sorted straight away so I decide to stay another night in the same hotel. The wifi starts working and I can start planning. While sitting on my terrace writing this the cutest little Balinese boy maybe 2 years old dances along some Balinese music and I slowly start to realize that I am really here and somehow I know I'm going to love it.
