Bali, Indonesia

I spent 10 wonderful days in Bali. That island is so beautiful. I absolutely loved it. I arrived to Kuta beach on Friday night. Kuta is a very commercialized touristy place, but I kind of like places like that. It is the surfer's paradise. Evidently it is one of the best places to surf in the World. It was very hot and all the surfers were walking around half naked on the street. I thought it was kind of weird first, but then I got used to the sight. Overall, it was not too bad... I spent 2 days in Kuta. I made friends with all the Italian surfers in the hotel and I hanged out with them afterwards. Evidently, all the surfers I met were lifeguards back in their homes. So, I felt like I was in Baywatch a little bit.

After 2 days I left for Ubud. Ubud is famous for art and the island culture. It is a beautiful place and I would have enjoyed the 3 days I spent there very much, if I didnt meet a 48 years old crazy single Canadian lady. She lived in the bungalow next door from me and she was following me everywhere I went from the minute I woke up until the minute I went back to my bungalow to sleep. Once I tried to get rid of her and ran away and she found me in the restaurant where I was eating. The lady was suffering from a serious verbal diarrhea. But in the end, I dont know if I was suffering more than she was... I am always trying to be nice to people, so I didnt want to offend her by telling here to leave me alone. Anyway, Ubud was very beautiful. I had a beautiful little bungalow and I was surrounded by nature and flowers. I visited the market and the Monkey Forest. There were many many monkeys there and I was feeding them with bananas. They were really funny. I took some nice pictures of them. I visited many many temples while I was there. On the last day I booked a trip to see a volcano. It is called Kinthamani. It was a nice scenery. Then I went to Besakih to visit the biggest temple of the island. It is called the Mother Temple. It was beautiful. See picture:

After Ubud, I went back to Kuta Beach for a night. I hanged out with my surfer friends again. I took a very early bus the next morning to Tulamben. Tulamben is the most famous diving spot on Bali island. It was 3 hours away from Kuta beach by tourist bus. I got an initial shock when I arrived to Tulamben, because there was absolutely nothing at that place at all. Tulamben is a village with a population of about 200 people and there are no facilities of any kinds there. All you get is your bungalow by the beach a little local restaurant on the beach, two dive shops and a couple of little huts around your hotel where the locals live. At one point we needed some cash and we had to take the bemo (the local bus) to the nearest town. Amlapura was about half an hour away and had one single ATM machine. Overall, I enjoyed the 3 days I spent in Tulamben. I hanged out with other divers. We had a good time. Although, you could not do anything there after the sun went down. We would sit in front of our bungalows and chat or read and listen to the geckos making noises. The geckos were really loud. They woke me up several times at night. I liked them. They were so cute.You could see the stars in the sky and hear the ocean. It was very beautiful. Diving in Tulamben was also amazing. There is a giant ship wreck (US cargo ship Liberty sank in WW2) on the bottom of the see. It is totally taken over by corals of different kinds. The sand was black, volcanic , and the visibility was great. After 3 days I left Tulamben and I had to take the local transportation back to Kuta Beach, because there was nothing else I could take. It took me 6 hours and I had to take about 7 bemos (mini vans) to get back to Kuta. It was certainly an adventure. When the bemo dropped me off, I found the memorial that was erected in honor of the 202 victims of the 2002 bombings. Terrorists bombed night clubs and killed all those young people. It really shook me to see all the pictures of all the young girls and boys who died. After this, in 2005 suicide bombers killed another 21 tourist. It is totally unbelievable to me how can anyone do such an evil thing.