We landed in Denpasar, Bali, at midnight. Then it took an entire hour to get an ATM to work! I called all my cards, but for some reason it wasn't recognizing the banks or something. ATM after ATM failed. Time after time. We were getting really frustrated. It was so late and how are we supposed to get to our guest house? Finally, it worked! prayers of thanks. We went to find a taxi driver and the rates were quadruple what we were told they should be. " it is the morning rate!" Was the response. O boy. The temperature was 82 degrees Fahrenheit when we landed, but it really has been quite pleasant. They were get goes all over the guest house chasing each other. Austin was amazed! They are bigger than the geckos in Hawaii. Our room had a fan and hot water, 2 things we now have learned are not in every hotel... I woke up at 6 a.m. To the most amazing view The Sun rising behind watus, balinese temples.
Breakfast was included, as well as a drunken serinade from 3 barely clothed smoking Russians! When we finally got our act together and figured out what we wanted to do, we rented a scooter for 5 bucks! The roads are nuts. Scooters and cars all weaving all over the place. Did I mention that everyone drives on the left side of the road? That is, except for us :-) there is definitely someone watching out for us above.
We decided to find a cheaper guest house, and looked one up on TripAdvisor, only to find that we could not find it! Hours went by, and we got super frustrated. All of this to save $2.00?! We never really found one, and ended up going to another guest housel, which ended up being just as expensive. Overcome by our jet lagged stupor, we booked it. Worst decision ever.
Check out this beauty. No sheet, no blankets, no closing bathroom door, no toilet paper, no tolls, no soap, super noisy, next to the smoking area, next to the reception desk, next to the owners TV, in a crappy area, dirty floors, newspaper lined dresser, hole in the ceiling , and some lovely crown molding. We were so tired. I just wanted to sit down and cry. I don't think I have ever been as tired in my whole life.
(Looking back, this wasn't all this bad. It was just a bad moment for us. It was pretty crappy though, and yes, that is a massive hole in the ceiling.)
I was feeling a bit dramatic at this time. Like maybe we had made a big mistake traveling here for 4 months, that our trip is going to be awful, that this horror would never end, that I wasn't fun and adventurous anymore, that bali sucked. We feel much better now. But that first day was pretty pretty rough :-)
