Day 32: Kuta

The Bali Dialogue is officially over, which has sparked a fair number of contradictory emotions.

I would happily return to Boston now and start my ‘real life,’ but I’m really excited to see Thailand and Cambodia, and think that I’ll get into it when I’m there. Nevertheless right now I’m concerned the next 5 weeks may be just a touch too long! We shall see when I fly off to Thailand tomorrow.
But for today I hitched a ride with the group to the airport and then took a taxi by myself to my hostel. We had already left a group of 6 back in Ubud, as they are staying a few weeks extra but will be hanging in Ubud until then. I split from everyone as they entered the gate, making plans to send postcards and see each other later in the semester. Preeta then helped me get a taxi and I went to my very first solo hostel called Granny’s!

I knew this before booking, but Granny’s is actually a fair distance from the city center. After dropping off my bag I decided to walk to the beach for a relaxing afternoon. I had been going for about 20 minutes when I found Carrefour, a mall that I’d read about in my guide book. Because I wanted something to drink and the top floor is a humongous supermarket I went in, and passed floors and floors of crazy stuff. Once in I got an apple for tomorrow as well as strawberry milk which I am using to satisfy my desire for a cold drink and ice cream.
I continued walking but then a taxi pulled over and asked if I wanted a ride. I showed him my map and asked where I was, and since I’m actually really tired and was still pretty far, I took him up on the offer and off we went to the beach. The driver was a nice fellow from Sumatra who is going to take me to the airport tomorrow morning! This is useful because I think it’d be hard to hail a cab out by my hostel, and while I’m sure you can have someone called I think this will work out fine.
On the beach I read for a while and watched fully clothed Muslims splash in the waves next to surfing Australians. Interesting mix. I got offered a surfing lesson by a man who thought I was Russian, but ended up just having a nice conversation with him when he accepted that I didn’t have a swim suit on and wasn’t going to give him any business. I realized this was my first time alone at a beach, which was pretty interesting, but I think now I expect to go snorkeling when I’m near water, so it was a tad boring and I moved on after a while.

More wandering past tourist shops before I found a nice chair outside some convenience store from which I was able to work on a few cover letters from. Tonight I shall find some dinner, Internet to Skype with dad and then return to Granny’s to see which interesting people I am sharing a bunk bed with tonight.Since the school portion of this blog is over I am reclaiming it as my own! I’ll post when I can but doubt I’ll be getting online everyday. I’m looking forward to sharing more cool pictures and awesome stories from the Land of Smiles!