Legian – 
My Mi Goreng-breakfast gets overshadowed my some serious sore throat (the airconditions fault) . We pack our bags and leave them in the storage room of Grandmas Hotel. We get picked up shortly after by Toni, our driver for today to start our customized tour…
Tanah Lot –
First stop: Tanah Lot. Wow. This temple sure is impressing – though he is crowded by tourists. It is located a few meters from the shore on a rock which is connected by a promontory. The access to the temple is tough flooded at the time of our arrival, so I decide (like some other tourists here) to walk along the rocky coastside.
You get a little more “personal space” here than on the paved area. Right after I decided to walk up to the edge of the rocks to take some pictures without all the people in my viewfinder I notice a huge wave approaching quite fast. This spectacular falling on my ass was sponsored by “damn wave” in cooperation with “fucking slippery rock”. Fuck. The few scratches and getting soaked isn’t that bad compared to the dropped camera which spurts a fair amount of saltwater as I pick it up. This sure isnt healthy for all the electronics inside. Fuck . Well… at least a silver lining: Some chubby kid also fell a few meters from me and is crying . I wasn’t the only idiot to face plant it. Hmm, R.I.P camera it seems, the lens is also broken – at least it was a cheap compact one…
Nusa Dua –
Next Stop: Nusa Dua. I expected this beach here to be good for swimming or snorkeling, but it seems it is more suited for surfing. Alright then. The fins will have to stay in the car. I don’t really want to have to dry the diverboots after a little swimming. There seem to be lots of resorts in this area… quite luxury but also a little crowded. Since there are also some other beaches here, we take a walk to find a more quiet one. There is a United Nations memorial on a rocky hill nearby which is surrounded by lots of different kinds of trees – one tree for every nation, it seems… There is a cliff – shaped by the waves – a few meters further with a viewing platform which gets showered by almost every arriving wave. Perfect to cool down. Since we wanted to go swimming and hanging out at the beach we descend on the other side of the cliffs to a less-visited shore. Just as we get out of the water again, some resort-employee tells us that the beach isn’t free for non-resort guests. You have to order beverages or food for 100000 IDR (6.94 USD) / h to stay here. Alright. I order a (rather expensive) pineapple-juice (which is quite as good as the one in the Warung yesterday )
Uluwatu –
On our way to Uluwatu the conversation topic with Toni changes (obligatory) to traffic. It really seems to me that everyone here is driving like maniacs – I guess the curvy roads and all the potholes are at least forcing people to drive a maximum of 60-70 km/h. The continuous honking isn’t uncommon here. You can sound your horn here to signal almost everything: Overtaking, turning, leaving through a property-exit… Just to signal other drivers “Hey, I’m here”. There isn’t any actual driving school here. Sure, there is a driving test, but riding a vehicle without a license is quite common here. Most of the times the police has to settle things in an accident, since many drivers do not know about the actual traffic regulations… they just take care of each other while in traffic. Combined with left-hand traffic this gives me a much much safer feeling By the way: You’ll rarely see nay gas stations here – if any just in bigger cities. You usually buy gas in bottles at the roadside. A booth with shelves full of Absolut Vodka bottles having a “BENSIN”-sign on top is quite usual here.
Uluwatu is quite impressive. And I’m not that much talking about the temple itself, but the surroundings. The cliff on which the temple was built is a few km long and lots of monkeys romp around in the nearby forest. Some daring surfers usually try to ride the waves on the bottom of the cliff here… and a lot of them have died failing…
As the sun begins to slowly set you can see lots of fishing boats heading out. An awesome image.
We head back to the car to ride back to Legian. We had agreed about 550000 IDR (38.16 USD) for the payment and we round up to 600000 IDR (41.63 USD), add a tip and go to the nearest supermarket to get us some icecream for “dinner”… Hmm, icecream is quite expensive here.
We check in at Grandmas Hotel. The room has some chemical smell, so we open the tiny windows. This is how I imagine these miniature-like japanese hotelrooms. Modern-stylish, but way too tiny.
We have a walk later in the evening at the beach of Legian and stop at one of the bars. Now I get, why most of the bars are further away from the beach: You get sucked dry by mosquitoes here
