Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

We've been spending our first few days in Indonesia on the island of Bali at Kuta Beach. Accommodatons and food are slightly more expensive than in Bangkok, but still incredible bargains compared to the U.S. So we've been treating ourselves to beautiful seafood caught fresh in Indonesian waters.

Kuta is a very westernized beach town with surf shops, bars, and restaurants reminiscent of Hunington Beach. The locals aggressively hustle to sell their goods and services, which gets a little annoying. And every price is negotiable, usually starting price is more than double the actual price. Scooters drive recklessly up and down streets and tight alleys, narrowly missing pedestrians. You have to be on your toes at all times.


















The beaches are a quarter block from where we stay, with
Waikiki style waves good for beginners. They rent surfboards, bodyboards, and give lessons up and down the beach. Yesterday, we rented a bodyboard and Pam and I had some fun catching waves. Today we rented a surfboard and I gave Pam some lessons. I helped push her into waves and she was able to get up and get some nice long rides. We like to stick around at the beach for the sunsets along with quite a few others. It's an intersting mix of people. Some like to watch quietly with a can of beer, religious groups gather and seem to pray to the sunset, and many locals are fully clothed taking lots of pictures and posing for each other with the ocean and sky, or other foreign tourists as a backdrop. Some would sneakily get us into their shots.