Bali alone. Part 1.
We went to Bali without a tour operator. It is a special pleasure to plan a trip on your own, connect flights, choose hotels, play solitaire of sights and knit the lace of your adventures with your own hands, understanding the risks and anticipating the delights.
Bali was the third stop on our eventful, first solo trip. And not at all the main thing in my dreams. But he sunk into my soul more than anything. More chic Singapore, more relaxed Lombok, more fast-paced Bangkok. And more than my previous trips to wonderful places on the planet.
Probably there are no people indifferent to Bali. There are those who are fascinated and those who are disappointed. But definitely no one is indifferent. What makes people disappointed in Bali? Perhaps dirt, perhaps their own ambitions, perhaps the wrong location. But, it seems to me, in any disappointment, high expectations are involved. And at the heart of veiled expectations lies the lies of tour operators. Snow-white beaches, palm trees leaning over the water - isn't that how Bali is presented in advertising brochures? We see ourselves in dreams "drinking juice without leaving the pool", and around the revived picture of the Bounty Island. In fact, Bali is different. He is no worse, we just expect from him what he cannot give. Being offended by Bali for not being a Bounty is like being offended by a dolphin for not flying or an eagle for not diving.
But I didn't want to rest in Bali, I wanted to feel Bali. And it succeeded. If I get a chance, I will definitely visit there again. But I'll be back for a longer time.
This time I had three full days and two small tails - the evening upon arrival and the morning on the day of departure. The plans were a little different, but the problem with the airline, which managed to go bankrupt under my nose, cut my arrival day to an impossible level and I had to fit into the realities along the way.
Just five days ago, we flew to Lombok via Bali and the first acquaintance, one might say, had already taken place at the transfer. Then we left the international terminal and moved to the local flights terminal. The airport in Bali is called Ngurah Rai. This Paradise was a little dirty, a little goofy, but very relaxed and soulful. Everywhere there were offerings to the gods, I saw them for the first time and they looked like a salad on a plate. The gods of Ngurah Rai airport are full and happy, so everyone was happy. I was also happy, although it was then that I found out that there was nothing to fly with, that no one would return any money to me, that I needed to take a new ticket and quickly, quickly run to the landing because it was about to be announced. I was happy, even though everyone did not announce the landing and the departure time had passed. I was just sitting in the departure hall of a strange, dirty airport and felt that the word Paradise in the name of this miracle did not appear by chance. ) Well, so that you do not doubt my sanity, I will say, nevertheless, that even before the trip I knew that with domestic flights in this country, there is an eternal ambush and nothing flies on time, but when I was already in Singapore, I found out that Merpati, from whom I took tickets for $ 17-19 one way, is on the verge of ruin. Therefore, the situation did not bring me any special surprises.
And here I am again in Bali. The flight with the Garuda Indonesia airline lasted only 22 minutes, they were fed on the flight, it was quite funny - the flight attendants ran through the cabin, distributing bags of food and almost immediately rushed back, collecting garbage.
In the flight we met the sunset, I even tried to photograph it, we landed in thick twilight, and went out into the street already at night. On a hot, humid, fragrant, breathtaking Bali night. Taxis were taken at the counter. I don’t know why I didn’t even ask how much the private traders wanted, but this taxi took us to Jimbaran for 100.000 rupees, which seemed like a robbery to me) But we drove, however, for a long time, somehow with a twist, and while we were looking for our hotel, I regretted it enough that did not book a transfer from the hotel. But, finally, we arrived, a young girl who came out to meet us, briskly grabbed our 20-kilogram suitcases and carried them to the room. I babbled dumbfounded that it would be nice to call some “men”, but the girl, smiling, perforated our suitcases and told me that all the men of this house were at work and that there was no work in these suitcases so that I wouldn’t even worry. I’m telling you so smoothly, but in fact I don’t know so many English words, and she, in my opinion, too) We chatted merrily, waved our limbs, practically became friends, and then it started to rain and the day came to an end so quickly... In general, we did not have time to look back as we ended up in a restaurant lobbied by this girl.
The road looked terrible. As a child, I saw how they demolished a house in Odessa, and so, the road to the restaurant was completely strewn with the rubble of this house) Household garbage quickly sticks to such places with us, and in Bali everything that lies badly turns into a trash can, with the speed of the wind. We drove and drove, headlights snatched out sections of a strange road, darkness swirled around the beam and it was the biggest phantasmagoria that I had seen before in my life. Strong emotions are very useful for consciousness, I think that's why we went to that restaurant, which turned out to be not quite a restaurant, and we were taken there by a girl who turned out to be not quite a girl...
To be continued: )
