Yesterday was my last morning in Ubud, before taking the shuttle to the airport for my flight to Kuala Lumpur.
I spent longer then I planned in Ubud, Bali-and I can't figure out what drew me to the city. It is overrun with tourists-largely Australian but also a lot of Americans. There we're all of the souvenir stores, plus lots of stores selling largely known brands like Polo Ralph Lauren. The hostel wasn't great-there was no air conditioning, and it was always very hot-just a fan to keep cool-and everybody in the room was hot. Plus one bathroom for the six of us, with the toilet, shower, and sink behind a single door-so when one was using one of those nobody else could.
Besides all that, though, there we're also Muslim Temples, with incense burning and little plates given to the gods, plus Balinese music playing all over which consists primarily of bells (accompanied by the cocka a dooing of roosters). The traditional Balinese architecture, with wooden slanted roofs and open-air buildings we're everywhere. There were also lots of yoga places and vegetarian restaurants, spread over a tropical landscape. The Balinese people, for the most part, are very friendly-although they tend to only talk to you to when they want something, vs in Java, where I was before, where they talked to you to say hello. The hostel I stayed at, despite flaws, had a swimming pool and a real "chill" vibe. Almost everyone there did yoga, it seems. I found out that the yoga place I went to wasn't an "in" yoga place-and there are better ones further into town.
Anyway, the van picked me up at 12:30 for an 8:40 pm flight (the shuttle was only around $4.00, vs about $24 if I waited for a taxi closer to the time of flight). There was lots of extra time-so rather then just go to the airport I went to a beach town next to the airport that had a reputation called Kuta. Kuta is everything that pictures of Bali aren't. It's reputation is just a drunken, lawless place where Australians come to party, and that is what it looks like-an ugly strip of beach with lots of vendors. Behind the beach is a strip that is Fort Lauderdale beach and the Jersey Shore combined, with souvenir shops, Mcdonalds, etc. After having lunch and walking around a while, I took a cab to the airport, and read my book and worked on the computer as I waited for my flight. I watched a pretty sunset over the airport and boarded my flight at around 8:00 pm.
The flight was on an airline called Malido Air, and the 3 hour flight was actually nice. The 737 was quite modern and had lots of legroom, a screen at each seat, and a small snack of crackers.
Once landing in Kuala Lumpur, I went through customs, which was quick, and got my bag, which took a while. Then I tried to get money out of an ATM, as I didn't have any Malaysian currency. Finally the third one worked. I also tried to go downtown, which was roughly an hour by bus. I asked a cab driver where the bus stops and he told me the buses had stopped running, but I didn't believe him. Anyway, I couldn't find the bus but took a train which took 1/2 an hour-(the bus supposedly takes an hour). I took a cab to the hostel, and after having a drink at the rooftop bar, I went to bed.
