I'd a lazy day today - heat rash left me disinclined to move much (anyone know a sure-fire cure for the thing? Showers and hydrocortisone don't seem to be making a huge difference), so I read a book and dozed. Anyway - miscellanea:
Excitement: The one question everyone asked me before leaving was "are you excited". The answer was no, and still no. Elated, happy, fascinated, interested, sure, but not excited.
Photos: There will probably not be any photos. Instead we get my perceptions of places - edited, filtered, frequent, verbose, and possibly entirely inaccurate since memory is. If you need to see what a rice paddy in Ubud looks like, search for one on the web and pretend I took it, or even better, see for yourself!
Dogs: I am not a dog person. Dogs I saw in Kuta were small-medium - not so scary. Dogs in Ubud are generally medium+. And they roam the streets, which are dark at night. And the lane my homestay is on is even darker. Got growled at by one there last night. Not fun.
Guidebook: I've the previous edition of SE Asia on a Shoestring. It still lists the Sari Club, and many prices are 100-150% too low due to the increases in petrol and lower tourist numbers since it was published (eg: standard rate of taxi from Denpasar-Kuta was 45000 rather than 15000).
Water: The footpaths of Ubud consist of cement blocks covered by square red tiles, which are stamped with a hexagonal motif. In sections, the blocks have collapsed, revealing square-channelled channels a couple of feet below - some dry, others wet. Water channels are everywhere. There's an open one on the lane outside my homestay that's filled with fast-flowing water. Here and there you see smaller ones, with barely half a centimeter of water flowing down them. Narrow aqueducts cross roads, and everywhere there is a rice paddy there's control of water - irrigation has allowed two rice harvests a year.
Salesmanship: Everything flows - a hotel stay leads to a tour offer; an acceptance of a guide at a temple leads to an attempted sale at his house or shop. I've been getting better at asking "Berapa?" - how much; it's harder to negotiate once you've already accepted.
Language: I'm trying to use Bahasa Indonesia where possible (It would be nicer but less useful to be using Basa Bali). Unlike English, the stress is consistently on the last syllable - so baLI rather than BAli. Still getting the hang of it.
Sugar: The Balinese (and perhaps the Indonesians generally) appear to have a sweet tooth! If your tea comes already sugared, it will be very sweet. There's no Diet Coke, much less Sprite Zero. The only sugar-free juice I could find were cartons of Just Juice imported from Australia. Bottles of Apple Juice are sugared!! In the supermarket, there were a couple of large displays of products with "Diabetes" in the name. Thankfully there's always water.
Singlets: Should have brought lots.
Freezer Bags: Document pouch might be moistureproof, but the zipper isn't...
Thermal Underwear: Should have bought in Beijing.
Extra long shorts: Another pair would have been good.
Extra 8 kg in pack: Would be nice not to have.
Extra 8 kg on body: Would be nicer thermally not to have.
