Indonesia - Day 4 - Seminyak

Today was an interesting day.

We got the hotel shuttle bus to Bemo Corner in Kuta. We walked down a street and went into the first shop, where Matt found a couple of Billabong shirts that he sort of liked. The price the guy was asking was too high. I bartered him down a bit but it was still a bit much. Matt decided he didn't want them so we went to leave. He kept dropping the price as we were walking out, but he wouldn't let up and got between Matt and the exit, he kept getting more & more aggressive. Matt ended up paying when he'd dropped his price by about 70%. I think his options were buy the shirts or deck the guy.

We walked along the street but there wasn't anything jumping out as stuff we should buy and all of the vendors were very aggressive and in your face. We were starting to get hungry and were just around the corner from the Hard Rock, so we decided to go there for lunch. We had a lovely meal in the aircon and of course we went into the shop so we could add to Matt's Hard Rock t-shirt collection.

Silverchair guitar behind Matts giant head!

After lunch we started to head back towards the pick up point for our shuttle back to the hotel. We browsed a few shops on the way back but were tired, hot, & annoyed. It took us walking out of 2 shops and a lot of bartering to get shoes at a reasonable price like we promised Lauren.

Once we got back to the meeting place the harassment continued. Unlike Thailand, Matt was the target of their attention. Our shuttle was late so we had to stand in the sun, being annoyed until it showed up.

We finally got back to the hotel and decided a drink in the pool would be just what we needed. We had a lovely swim, just being silly in the cool water, before we decided it was time to think about dinner.

For dinner we decided to walk along the ally between the beach and our hotel. There are heaps of little bars and restaurants along there, we looked at a few before deciding on Bali Juice Park. It was more like what I have been expecting of Bali dining, decent food, cheap, & basically just a shack on the beach. We notice an Asian mother cutting up her kids dinner with a pair of scissors. There was a woman smoking at the table next to us, which I get is legal here, but it is still super inconsiderate. Anyway, after our meal, while we were finishing our drinks and waiting for our bill, we spotted a dirty great mouse scurrying in the rafters. Won't be eating there again.

The lights of the lane way separating hotels from the beach

We went for a little walk down to the convenience store to get some ice cream (it was 30*C at 9pm with 80% humidity) and came back to our room to enjoy some aircon and listen to a storm roll in.