Bali 2

My first full day was pretty uneventful. I almost caught a bemo (minibus) into Denpasar (capital of Bali), but decided against it, instead renting a boogie board. As soon as I hit the water, I wished I had gone for a surfboard instead, but the waves were kind of ok and I had good fun. I came back to the beach a bit later to rent a proper longboard, but at this point the already-mediocre swell had gone as flat as an anorexic fourth grader. Not that there weren't waves; they just essentially amounted to glorified shorebreak, and each ride would last maybe five exhilarating seconds before the board literally hit bottom. Compounding the general suckiness of the conditions was the trash floating absolutely everywhere, wrapping itself around my leash or bumping ominously into my foot like a synthetic jellyfish. So it wasn't exactly a banner day for surfing, but still some fun. That evening, I walked all the way to Seminyak trying to find an outdoor food court that turned out to be right next to my street corner, although this was more pleasant than frustrating. After dinner, I resolved to actually go in to a club, and so, after psyching myself up on Fela Kuti and Public Enemy, I walked on over to the Bounty Discotheque. And boy, did I have a great time! I spent approximately the first forty-five minutes sitting in a bar out front of the place, nursing a beer and splitting my attention between soccer highlights and a flashing light on the dance floor whilst composing, in my head, a cynical essay regarding modern dance music. When the fun got to be too much, I strolled inside, pausing briefly to watch a bunch of drunk Australians mangle "Bohemian Rhapsody" as two poor Balinese musicians tried desperately to save it. I then armed myself with a cocktail and proceeded upstairs to the main dancefloor. This was insane. There were hundreds of people, the majority of them Australians in their uniform (Guys: Bintang or VonZipper tank top, boardshorts, flip flops, backwards ballcap (optional). Girls: ridiculously short cutoffs, ridiculously small/tattered/altered in some way top, backwards ballcap, preferably stolen from cute guy (optional)). I don't need to tell you that half of the guys were shirtless, regardless of body type and composition; nor do I need to describe the general amount of writhing, grinding, and fist-pumping going on. Basically, it was a giant, clothed orgy, and I've never really known what to make of that kind of situation. I decided to hit the floor after I looked around my table and realized that I was sitting with two middle-aged, clumsily bobbing Japanese dudes, but I basically spent the night moving around, trying to divine if any girl was at all interested in me and, if so, what I should do about it. I had fun observing all the mini-dramas that unfolded, and ultimately it was a pretty good time, but it was still excruciatingly awkward, and the line of hookers and drug dealers outside the club as I left didn't help things. So this morning I moved over to the calmer town of Sanur, where the surf was supposed to be better. It wasn't; it was actually worse, with maybe a foot of swell waaay offshore. I then decided to go into Denpasar, for real this time. The bemo ride in was fun and cheap, but it turned out that everything was closed for a Hindu holiday. All I managed to do was get swindled out of 50,000 rupiah by a "tour guide" who walked me around the exterior of the Bali Museum and explained some rudimentary facts in poor English. So, another fun day. There were a few highlights, however; the homestay I found is amazingly cheap and beautifully atmospheric, and I had a nice evening swim on the pristine Sanur beach. Tomorrow, I plan to set off for the countryside; hopefully, a little bit of rural life will do me good. LYA