Week in review: 20 - 26 March
- Continued to do yoga every day.
- Finished the profiles study in chapter 3, and cleaned up most of the rest of the chapter; it's 4/5 done now.
- Spent 2 days in Uluwatu.
- Flew to Perth.
Flight from Bali Denpasar to Perth ✈
Made on
Leaving (Bandar Udara Internasional Ngurah Rai) at 3:30pm (+08:00) on Friday the 24th of March 2017 and arriving in Perth at 7:30pm (+08:00) on Friday the 24th of March 2017
Tour of South Kuta
Yesterday I got in on a car rental tour of South Kuta / Uluwatu area. Between 6 people it came to 85k each including parking/tolls. The driver was cool and easy going, took us to wherever people wanted to go. This ended up being a bunch of beachs, until the Uluwatu Temple for sunset.
We went to Dreamland beach, which was fairly busy, not particularly special. Plenty of places selling food; I had a coconut. Then Belawan beach where the sea was crystal clear blue/green, the rock formations were cool, and it wasn't so crowded. We chilled out here the longest. Bingin beach was down a long track and a lot of steps, busy and small. We at lunch at the Cashew Tree cafe.
Entrance to Uluwatu Temple is 30k, and this includes a mandatory sarong. We were there for sunset, but it was cloudy, so nothing interesting to report. There was a fire dance, but I didn't really see it. The stadium was full, and tickets were 100k. Which I would have paid, had the stadium not been full. Everyone else on the tour had seen this before. The tide was in, so we did not get to go in the cave underneath.
Review of Terrace Ampels Villa
I booked two nights in the dorm at Terrace Ampels Villa near Padang Padang beach, in Uluwatu. I stayed zero nights.
When I arrived the staff were kind of grumpy and didn't smile (which I normally wouldn't notice, but because of the attitude of all other Balinese, it stood out). I ate in the restaurant, and worked on my laptop there for a few hours. There's a really nice infinity pool overlooking trees. There were lots of bugs and bats and geckos, which I thought was cool, though some people might not like.
A locker in the dorm room was 50k non-refundable which is unusual but whatever.
Around 11pm I went into the dorm, changed into my pyjamas and climbed up to my bunk. I saw bedbugs crawling along the wood frame. I immediately got down, moved my stuff, and went out to find staff because no. fucking. way. was I staying in a bed with bedbugs again. Not after last time.
I found the kitchen staff, and they woke the desk staff. By this time a couple of other dorm occupants had come back and were sitting around/in the pool. One of them, H, had been badly bitten the night before and she was covered in bites and itchy like I had been a couple of weeks ago. A forth dorm occupant heard about the bugs, and collectively we asked to be moved to another room.
The staff offered us another dorm, downstairs, completely empty. We went to check it out, discovered more bugs and giant cockroaches in the beds. So we came back upstairs, and all the staff had disappeared.
Sooo... four of us packed our stuff and moved down the road to a hotel, to share twin rooms. We checked into the new place about 1am.
The next day we came back to Terrace Ampels to ask for our money back for the night we hadn't stayed (and for me, the next night which I'd pre-paid for).
The staff were to start with kind of unwilling and dithering, until eventually becoming outright rude. They kept saying the had to talk to the boss, we had to wait for the boss.. And meanwhile aggressively asking the other guests why they hadn't complained sooner, since they'd stayed there one or two nights already. The guy who had been there the longest was yelled at by the desk staff: "It's you, you are telling everyone, you are causing this" like he planted the bedbugs or something.. Eventually we had to say we had better things to do than wait around there all day, and we'd come back later.
We were back around 8pm. The boss wasn't there, obviously, and the staff had claimed to talk to the boss and he said no refund. I said no way am I paying 350k for five minutes in the room! The guy tried to say they had no money there, and then also said he'd checked the room and there were no bugs! Like we'd moved fucking hotels at 1 o'clock in the morning for fun. And of course ignoring the fact H was covered in itchy red bumps from head to toe (literally, they bit her face, even I wasn't that unlucky).
Eventually I pushed enough that they gave me the money back for the night that hadn't occurred yet, and the locker rental. So I was down 150k for the night I'd left for the hotel, but better than nothing.
In contrast, when I cut my stay short at Monkey House in Canggu because of bedbugs, they offered to take me to the doctor, cleaned all my stuff, and had no trouble when I wanted to leave. In related contrast, when two of our number changed their plans and wanted to leave the hotel we moved to down the road from Terrace Ampels after one night, they refunded the second night no questions asked and with a smile.
Local culture/traditions aside, this is such a shame. They should be in trees, in the wild, free.
Breakfast at warungs
There are two wee streetside nasi campur warungs next to each other a few minutes from where I'm staying, on Jalan Nelayan. They don't look inviting, but a couple of days ago I braved one of them and of course, because Balinese people are super friendly and accommodating, I was welcomed and fed.. so if you're ever in two minds about whether somewhere that is obvious extremely local, probably just go in anyway.
In the first one, they didn't really speak any English, and I don't speak Bahasar except for key food-related words, but pointing at food is all you need to navigate. And "kopi" of course. I was too late to ask for without rice, so I had a plateful, including several kinds of green vegetables, alfalfa sprouts, tofu and tempeh, with a sambal so spicy it made my eyes water. The coffee came black, but sugared up. This cost me 10k IDR (60p). Inside is pretty grimy and myself and the food were constantly under siege from very persistent unwaftable flies. But the lady was smiley.
This morning I went to the other one. The people inside were younger and spoke some English include "oh my god is your hair real?!" The overall food selection was smaller but the number and type of veggie things was about the same. I had more or less the same food as before, and it tasted as good. The sambal was less spicy but I also had peanut sauce, and managed to opt out of rice. I asked for no sugar in the coffee, but it was sweet anyway; I think part of the instant mix. This time it was 18k IDR.
The second place was even smaller, and didn't seem to be set up for actually accommodating people, but place was quickly cleared at a table so I could sit down. There were fewer flies, but it was also less hot today. Half way through my meal, an old lady came out from the back, topped up the food in the counter and then stopped to chat. In Bahasar. I understood at one point that she was commenting on the fact I didn't have rice so I was like 'yep, no rice, lots of tofu' and then she rubbed my arms and kept talking and I lost the thread. I nodded and smiled and said terima kasih when she left. I think that went well.
Week in review: 13 - 19 March
- Moved from Monkey House to Surfer House, then back to Serenity.
- Continued work on chapter 3.
- Walked to Seminyak and back.
I bought a mobile wifi hotspot with enough data to watch Netflix even if hostel wifi was bad and Netflix is blocked by mobile carriers in in Indonesia *splutters*
The fact that it took me til my last week to find this out shows you how productive I've been though!
Seminyak
Today I wandered from Canggu to Seminyak and back again. It takes about an hour and a half and for some reason people think that's crazy. I stopped several times for food obviously and planned my route around vegan restaurants also obviously.
Roads here are narrow and fairly busy so not super fun to walk down. Sometimes it seems like it's about to come to a choice between being hit by a van and being up to my knees in rice paddy mud. Fortunately I didn't have to make that choice yet. Here's the route.
I had a breakfast burrito and juice (and later coffee) at Peloton, a vegan cafe not far from Canggu, and stayed there to work for a few hours. I walked to Seminyak partly by way of the beach, and visited Seminyak Square and a market. Not really much of interest. I enjoyed the air conditioning in a mall for a while. Seminyak seems to be mostly fancy villas and tourist shops. It feels a bit less chill than Canggu even, though more going on. Didn't feel bursting with exciting vegan food like Canggu is! Maybe more upmarket, less hippie.
I read about and pinpointed on Google Maps a tofu-specialist cafe. I didn't find it, but around the corner was a street cart selling tofu, so that seemed close enough. I chatted with the vendor as he fried tofu, liberally applied a pile of beansprouts and coated the whole thing in a huge layer of peanut sauce with some chopped chillis and a drizzle of soya sauce. It was super tasty, and 20k IDR. I ate it on the roadside, and while I was doing so, his friend came along with a cart of brightly coloured liquids in jars. They looked sugary, and neither of them were able to explain to me what it was apart from "ice" so I declined. But then I watched someone else get served - he spooned some of each jar into one cup - and my interest was piqued that this was more than just syrupy drinks. It turned out to be es daluman, a cincau grass jelly, coconut milk, and coconut sugar syrup dessert which is on the whole pretty nutritious. A cup was 10k, and very refreshing if a bit sweet. And so far the thing that has reminded me most of Malaysia!
I wrapped up my day with tempeh tacos and iced coconut milk mocha at the Spicy Coconut, another vegan cafe. Totally delicious.
I walked back in time for a yin yoga class at Serenity, and during the class a giant rainstorm hit. The yoga studio is on a third floor, and the sides are fairly open, and the roof is metal. So the noise was so great that we couldn't hear the teacher for most of the class, and leaves and rain were sweeping in. I enjoyed it. It had subsided by the time the class was over, and I sat in the pool for a while.
Now it's bedtime and the cockerals are going fucking mental for some reason. It's not even light! Shut uuuupppp!
Love and Coconuts
Last week N and I walked past a cafe in Canggu called Love and Coconuts. We checked out the menu, but didn't stop to eat because we had our stomachs set on elsewhere that night. But while we were there, we were both given a free matcha coconut bliss ball :)
I went past by myself a few days later in the evening intending to eat, but they close at 6. I said hi to the staff who were just closing up, anyway.
Today I finally made it at lunch time. I plugged my laptop in and got comfy in the nice surroundings. I was brought a free turmeric and betel leaf shot before the menu even made it. I ordered and ate a veggie burger and moringa tea, which was seriously filling and delicious. Later I got a free refill in my tea.
I've been here for over 4 hours now. I'm still too full to move..
Nothing here is disposable, except the toilet paper. Even the hand towels in the toilet are normal small towels. The bamboo straw in the tea, I get to keep, and if I bring it back I get 5k off my next drink :)
And the music is really nice. It's good covers of lots of songs I know really well.
Most of the food is vegetarian, lots is vegan, and it's all well labelled.
Yeah I like it here.
Update: Free vegan chocolate cake! They were experimenting last night. It's so good! They've been open a week!
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I held a headstand for a few seconds by myself today. I don't think it's an unreasonable goal to be getting all the way up by myself before I leave Bali..
So I'm back in the dorm with bedbugs until the dorm at the yoga retreat becomes available on Thursday.
But in a fit of itching and feeling like bugs were crawling all over me in the wee hours of this morning, I grabbed my phone and booked the next three nights in the hostel next door. I didn't need to be logged into booking.com, or put my card information in xD Technology is amazing.
In the cold* light of day I feel like I must have been imagining it and I'm crazy, and moving seems like an overreaction... but I do have new bites. And even if it is all in my head, it'll just be like that again tonight, and I can't go on like this.
It's a shame, because everything else about this hostel is lovely. Hopefully the one next door is just as lovely, minus bedbugs.
However, since I got back on Saturday, I haven't seen any of the owners or staff... So I'd like to like, pay for the two nights I just stayed, and tell them I'm not coming back, but it's proving difficult.
* Not really, it's 31 degrees c
In reply to: https://rhiaro.co.uk/2017/03/argh-rash
Omg imagine if I was allergic to mosquito repellent.
In reply to: https://rhiaro.co.uk/2017/03/suppose-pertinent
Argh, I have definitely broken out in a weird itchy rash, all over my arms, hands and feet. Probably not insect related. Heat/humidity I guess?
In reply to: https://rhiaro.co.uk/2017/03/does-mosquito
I suppose a pertinent question is: does mosquito repellent work on mosquitoes?
Does mosquito repellent work on bedbugs?