Are we there yet? Wait, where is "there"?: A date with a friend in Bali...

Talor: With much anticipation, we boarded a plane for Bali... after 7 weeks in Malaysia, we were excited about going to a different country, and for the first time on our trip, a friend was coming out to travel with us... woo hoo!

But somehow, I didn't get Bali, and why it's so popular. For one thing, it is overpriced... we were surprised to find everything more expensive than Malaysia, and less value for the money spent. For another, it is incredibly touristy... we saw just as many western tourists as locals, and the only locals being friendly were those trying to sell us something. And authentic Indonesian food was hard to find... there was a lot more Western food available than local food. Plus the beaches were nice, but crowded and we'd seen nicer. But, we decided to be tourists and just enjoy ourselves, and soon none of the above mattered.

Once Kappy arrived, we spent two days in Legian, two days in Ubud and two days in Amed, moving more rapidly than I would have liked, but we had a lot of ground to cover over a short period of time because Kappy only had 2½ weeks. It was a bit of an adjustment getting used to traveling with another person, but it was soooo nice to have someone else to talk to! And all things considered, Kappy turned out to be a great travel companion... adventurous, flexible and considerate. And, she can take the spice... perfect!

The two days in Legian were spent lazily... going to the beach, indulging in the Western foods (pizza, burgers, salads, etc.) we had been missing, and checking out touristy merchandise for sale, while Kappy got through the jetlag (a lot better than we did in Bangkok, which took us like a week!).

Kappy came prepared with an international drivers license so we rented a car to explore the east coast. About five minutes into the drive, we were pulled over for a traffic violation (running a red light), which was a total scam by the police, but after paying a light fine on the spot, we were on the road again. Another ten minutes later, we got a flat. Erik tried to fix it with the help of a very kind local, but found the tools were inadequate so we had to drive the car with a flat to an auto repair shop some five or so kilometers away, which ended up totally shredding the tire. Got the tire replaced, then wondered... should we continue? No spare, inadequate tools... what will happen if we get another flat??? After much deliberation, we decided onwards and upwards. Spent the next several harrowing hours in the car as Kappy got used to driving on the left side of the road, on somewhat paved roads that are way too narrow for two-way traffic, and then, it started to rain... hard!... d'oh! But made it... whew!

Spent the next couple days in the touristy, but artsy Ubud, exploring the many side streets, visiting the Sacred Monkey Park, chowing down on roast pork, and taking in a traditional show (pics of the show didn't come out, but Erik took this short video clip ).

Then we moved onto Amed, and by then, Kappy was driving like a pro! We were hoping for something a bit less touristy, but got there to find, it was in fact, over-developed and not as off-the-beaten track as we thought... o well. Kappy and Erik took a day to go diving, while I explored the one road in town and discovered there was absolutely nothing more to the town but resorts and restaurants. Ok, maybe it's time to explore another island...

Headed back to Legian to return the car, spend the night, then find transport to Senggigi and the Gilis off the island of Lombok, which would be much more remote, and hopefully, a lot less touristy...

Erik: It was exciting to be actually meeting up and traveling with someone else for a while. I was a little worried that T and I might be so set in our travel ways – like some cantankerous old married couple – that we wouldn't be able to adapt to any other way of doing things. I hope that wasn't the case – we had loads of fun, and hope Kappy did too. It was great to have an excuse to relax, forget the budget for a while, and just be tourists. Eating all the stuff we'd deprived ourselves of for so long (pizza, burgers, beer – OK, maybe I hadn't been depriving myself of beer!) We actually found a pizzeria in legian with NYC-worthy thin crust pizza, as well as the cheapest Bintang Beer in town – I was in heaven...

Kappy had been to Bali before, and so she was filled with great advice and ideas, such as the famous pork restaurant in Ubud (Bourdain's favorite), and the diving off Amed, which was great. It was nice to travel with a dive buddy as well. (I still haven't managed to tempt talor underwater...) The wreck dive there is definitely worth one's time.

The traffic ticket was annoying (it was a total scam), but not nearly so much as the flat tire. Ever try changing a tire with a faulty jack and a stripped lugwrench? In 98 degree heat and 100% humidity? I was drenched through with sweat after just a few minutes, and then laying on the ground under the car trying to get the jack to work – I succeeded in thoroughly covering my sweaty shirt and skin with a lovely layer of dust and grime. And to no avail. We ended up thrashing the tire to all hell driving the car to the service station (a small wooden booth by the side of the road where the guy did nothing but change tires for $4). I was nervous when we returned the car, thinking they'd try to charge us for a replacement, but they were rightly ashamed of having given us faulty equipment to begin with – phew.

After Ubud, Kappy wanted to visit a famous hindu temple on bali – Besakih (it is one of the oldest and largest Hindu temples in Bali) which was a nice, if a rainy experience. I was told that i'd need to wear a sarong to enter the temple, which may have been a scheme by kappy and talor to get me to wear a sarong (I found out later that I could've entered with long pants.) We were there just after one of their major festivals, and so got to see offerings left by the villagers, including a huge sculpture made entirely of flowers and another – about 20 feet high made entirely of pork. yes, pork. Meat, fat, tendon, it was all in there. It was disgusting and fascinating at the same the time.

Perhaps the best part of this day was our drive from the temple to amed, through the rain, when we got lost and traveled through some of the loveliest tiered rice paddies imaginable. (Oh, yeah, we also had to make several u-turns along the way, and what should have been a 2 hour drive turned into about 8 hours – kappy was very patient with my faulty navigation.)

After a week of bali's super-tourism, though, we were ready to escape to the much smaller gili islands off of lombok...

Our photos from Bali (albums for Legain, Ubud and Amed):