Ahhh, Bali!!!

Up at 6:45, showered, packed everything together and left the hostel about 7:15, walked to the train station and caught the train to the airport. Got there about 7:40, and had to wait half an hour before baggage check-in for my flight was open.

As I was sitting waiting, a giu sitting beside me said, "So, how did you like Australia, Todd?" I was startled, this guy knew my name, I turned and looked at him to see if I recognized him, I didn't. Then it clued in, he saw my name when I was writing up my Australia departure card.

As I was going through customs, the customs guy was telling me how awesome the surf is in Bali right now, it's "full on" he tells me, huge breaks, the best time of year for surfing, but it might be a little dangerous unless you're experienced. I told him I might take some lessons.

When I got to my gate, I was browsing through a shop there, and heard my name paged over the intercom, to come to the desk at gate 57. I was kind of concerned, what could they want with me?? Is something wrong? I walked over to the desk, and he asked for my passport. At that point, I knew something wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I handed my passport over to him, and he looked at it, then remarked that I had dropped my boarding pass, that was all. That's what was wrong...I had my boarding pass in my passport, and when I handed him my passport, the boarding pass wasn't there anymore. I walked back into the crowd, and a guy remarked where I had dropped it, he picked it up for me and gave it to the desk people.

The flight was about 6 hours long. They showed two moview, "Interstate 60" and "The Italian Job" (the new one). I was going to see that in the theatres, good thing I didn't!

I'm sooo happy, back in SE Asia. It's great! Lots of shops selling everything from "F*CK Terrorists" t-shirts, necklaces, pirate DVD and CD's, massages, postcards, and everything else we've become accustomed to in SE Asia. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Restaurants showing pirate DVD's, millions of motorcycles (with no helmets!), sand, sun, run-down infrastructure, lots of tourists, just everything about SE Asia is soooooo amazing!! I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish you were here, Court! I'm so happy right now! I'm not going to want to go back to Australia in a months time, I know it!!

I was sitting beside a guy from Melbourne on the flight, we shared a taxi from the airport to Kuta, the beachside town where the Bali bombings happened last year. They are redeveloping "ground zero" now. Actually, this Aussie guy paid for the taxi ride. He had a reservation at a hotel, and he had a twin room, and he offered for me to stay at his hotel, I was going to find my own place, but decided it was getting late (5:00ish), so decided, and asked him how much it is, and he tells me not to worry, he's paying. So, I'll leach off of him for as long as I can before Kristin and Scott get here. He's rich, he bets on sporting events for a living, and he made over $100,000 last year. Yes, it's all legal betting (or so he tells me).

And once again, I'm a millionaire!! I withdrew 1,000,000 rupee (sp?), which is a little less than $200CDN, or thereabouts.

So, we're at a pretty nice hotel, I have no idea how much the room is, but that's ok, we've got a TV, satellite, pool, etc. Not a bad place. It's nice to back in SE Asia, and not have dorms too. I do suspect it's more than I can afford, though, if I were staying here myself. It seems more swanky than other places.

We walked through ground zero, and down Poppy II street, which runs to the beach, and checked out the beach, nice beach, and tons and tons of surfers catching waves. Even for late in the day, the beach was packed.

We headed to a restaurant for supper, I had chicken fried rice, while watching a pirate copy of Final Destination II.

Then internet!