Bali (Indonesia)

Bali!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beautiful island, and amazing people, but ive come along way since getting here. My first day was pretty rough, money changer slipped off 50$ and found out afterwords, taxi from the airport ripped me off, then he took me to only $$$ hotels with all my shit in tow so i succumbed (hot/humid, disorientated with place/people, and tired (overnight flight)), it was a nice place but 40$(!?), bought a European carry-all and it broke in the first 5 min, thought a good meal would help but I think they over charged me on some taxes, tried to ask about where to find a map/lonely planet and everybody said they knew but they just pointed me into 3rd floor when i was on the 1st, and 1st floor when on the 3rd, literally (I dont think they can say "I dont know" so they just give it their best guess, or most just default to "yes" or point to a distant direction), and worst of all the beer isnt all that cheap, and that was just the first day!

Well I got a good nights sleep in my 60 degree room, took off the "sucker" sign from my forehead and started fresh in the morn. Made alot of ground the following days after learning the essential rule: everybody wants to become your "friend" and by friend i mean take you to a hotel/restaurant/motorbike hire of their friends so they can get a cut'o'cash. In Kuta this is the way of life for most locals a tourist comes in contact with, althou I did meet alot of cool Balinese people. This old guy, who i bought lunch from, showed me around a bit, to cheap hotel rooms down mushroom road, he said he'd make me majik mushroom soup if i want, he says he takes some when feeling down and makes him feel better :) REAL people, they seem happy too, and i found a lonely planet for SE Asia, finally! Its still difficult cause there are no maps with all the street names and, from what i can tell, the straight streets sometimes change names randomly, multiple streets by the same name! Crazy, so basically you just keep your general scence of direction and ask for help, but not just once, because they will just point you in a direction even if they dont understand you, so you need to get a popular majority (at least 3 or more) to get anywhere. Found a cheap hotel (8$/night), so I spent some time in the same area so I could learn the ropes and get my feet back under me. Kuta has all you could want (and some you dont want), full body massages (heh) for about 5$, discos open all night, cheap beer specials, great sea food, cheap internet, cheap hotels (if you find them yourself), the beach within walking distance with great surfing. There are hawkers on the beach under the trees that sell cold beer with a chair for you to sit and enjoy (as long as they can have the beer bottle back for return). The bad: you will hear "hey boss" at least 50 times on your walk to the beach, some along with "you want massage?" some with "what you looking for?" and some with " you want transport?" which is probably the best way to get away from the harassment. Renting a motor bike is about 3.5$/day and the easiest way to zoom past all this and into the crazy seemingly disorganized world of scooter swarming but it all works, somehow.

More to come............