Thank You Big Pineapple

Even with all the bullshit we were getting from Taxback.com,  and were stuck due to lack of cash we looked at the silver lining…We’re in Paradise!   It can’t be that bad!   The weather was amazing- except for the week it rained almost every day,  we could eat cheap; $10 or less a day for both of us to eat,  and really we had nothing to do but enjoy ourselves, so really life wasn’t bad, just frustrating. 

Dan’s cousin Beckie was in Bali so we spent time with her.  We enjoyed a day at a pool with a swim-up bar (my first one ever) where Dan lost his wedding ring and we had to rent a scuba mask for 5 minutes, it cost us $5.   We took a walk down to the black sand beach, which wasn’t as awesome as it sounds.  It was covered in garbage and there was sewage running along one side.  Even if it was clean a black sand beach just doesn’t have the same glow as white or golden sand beaches.

Most of our days were spent lounging around our pool, reading or watching tv.  We didn’t know what we were going to do with the whole money situation and had to come up with a plan.

One night the owners pulled Dan aside.  Axel, himself, is an ex-backpacker.  He asked Dan if we needed money for food or anything,  if we needed help paying for flights.  He said that he saw us struggling and he doesn’t like to see it as he understands the situation having experienced it before, if there is anything we needed to please ask him and Mia.  They were fantastic!  They were so good to us and really understood our situation.   We don’t have to pay them until our money comes in and then we can transfer it to them.   Axel and Mia are amazing and their hostel – Big Pineapple- has been voted best in Indonesia.  They love travellers!  They play cards with us,  they are an encyclopedia of information and they truly open up there hearts, and, once in awhile if you are lucky Mia has cooked something fantastic and lets everyone have some.  We really want to thank them for everything they have done for us.  We appreciate everything, you two are amazing people and I wish every hostel owner in the world were like you two. You two treat everyone like family and that’s why people stay longer than planned J

Well as I write this, we are on a plane to France.  Dan’s parents just moved back to France and paid for our flights for us to go and stay with them until our money comes in.   Angelic parents, just like mine.  So far we have been in transit for just over 29 hours!  We are exhausted and we still have  another 9 to go…but I guess you are going to have to read about that in the next blog.

http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Big-Pineapple-Backpackers-Bali/Sanur/52907

Misinformed

“Does the 6-8 weeks include the time it gets you to retrieve all my documents?”  “yes the whole process takes 6-8 weeks”  that was Dan’s initial conversation with the tax agent that had been assigned to him at taxback.com . Little did we know that she was misinforming us.

When our documents arrived at the offices of taxback.com we were both sent emails from our assigned tax agents (I had a different one from Dan) with information of what jobs at to be chased up and if we needed to get anything signed.

My tax agent was great.  She emailed me three times a day with information on the process and answered any questions that I had.  The only problem I had was that Club Med had shut down due to bankruptcy so I had to get a Statutory of Declaration signed by the police or the embassy basically confirming that I worked there and wasn’t lying.   Annoying but ok.  Rocking up to a police station with these papers and trying to explain the situation is not going to be easy.  One of the girls at the hostel had the same situation in Thailand and the police wouldn’t sign it because it was in English and not Thai.  Ok great!  Now what!  My embassy is in Jakarata which is on the Island of Java, a completely different Island from us, we’re in Bali!  This is just great.  I did some research – or rather I grabbed our Lonely Planet – the Australian Embassy here (in Bali)  shares a consulate with Canadian Embassy.  Perfect!  It was pretty easy to get the signature after we got checked for drugs and bombs.  We were in and out in less than ten minutes.  Oh ya I had to pay for a signature and a stamp!  And the cab driver ripped us off big time to get us there.  The whole thing cost me $50, so stupid and then the lady at the post office said she didn’t have any envelopes!?! 

Anyways while all this is going on Dan had heard nothing from his tax agent and there was no updates on his account.  She would go 7-10 days without updating him or replying to his emails.  I had to ask my tax agent (who was great)  twice to look at Dan’s file for him, and then and only then would his tax agent update his file and send him an email.

At about the 6 week point  I had just got my Statutory of Declaration signed and posted but Dan was still waiting.   He broke his leg last year and was on work cover for a few months.  “ Work cover has no documents of you ever working for them”  was the reply Dan got from his tax agent  “I didn’t work for them I was getting work cover because I broke my leg.” A few days later “we still can’t find anything saying you worked for them”  This went on a few times.  He had to keep telling them that he didn’t work for them that he was receiving work cover.  Then he is told that work cover is currently putting together a payslip for him (this is week 7 they started chasing up work cover week 4,  it was Dan’s only job that needed to be chased) .   Then once again no reply to his emails.  Then he gets an email saying,” we are having a difficult time getting the final payslip, maybe you can call them yourself and retrieve it?”  He was getting so mad!  He was paying taxback.com to retrieve this information,  it had been three weeks and they still hadn’t accomplished anything and now they were asking him to retrieve it himself.  Then once again no emails from his tax agent.  He looks at his online file “can not retrieve file it will be easier if we retrieve it after the tax year.”   Meaning,  they have stopped the process all together!  Why?  Because it was too difficult for them.  Please keep in mind this is an early tax return,  the key word here being EARLY.   So now we are being told that A.  they are being lazy and because its difficult they have stopped the process  B.  we are being told that there is a deadline for early tax returns that we were never informed of from the beginning and because they are not capable to do something that takes two minutes they have decided to put it on hold C.  They have also told us once the documents are in at the ATO it takes another 6-8 weeks. The last  7 weeks of them “apparently” trying to chase up Dan’s paperwork is not included in  the 6-8 weeks of getting an early tax return.  Their website states that “ and early tax refund takes 6-8 weeks and you can follow the process by logging into your online file”  this statement is misleading.  It doesn’t state that “an early tax refund is a 6-8 week process once all your documents have been retrieved and sent into the ATO”  when it comes to business you need to write your explanations and statements as if people don’t have the knowledge of your business that way no mistakes can be made or to make it easier “Lamens terms”  From reading that I think the whole process of retrieval and ATO time is 6-8 weeks all together.

We try to apply for Priority Processing but because we are not a medical emergency we don’t qualify.  We budgeted for 8 weeks!  We are down to our last dollar and we can not work in Indonesia.  Plus our embassies are in Jakarta.  Now because of misinformation, lack of information, lack of communication and lazyness from a company representative we are suffering.

Still no email from Dan’s tax agent.

Dan is fuming.

He writes the company a letter stating how disgusted he is with the company and then goes to their Facebook page and leaves a big message on their wall:

 I am absolutely amazed at how bad the service is from Taxback.com. My wife and I applied for an "early" Australian tax refund back in March after being (wrongly) told that the entire tax refund process from start to finish would only take 2 months. It also rather ambiguously states on their website that the refund only takes 8 weeks (no mention of the fact they don't take into account time spent processing paperwork or retrieving lost payslips). We were only informed just the other day that it will take 2 months from when my application is filed with the Australian tax office. Amazing. It has taken Taxback.com over 6 weeks to retrieve one payslip and they still haven't even been able to do that, I would have done it myself in an hour (like I did last year when I used Taxback.com and they couldn't retrieve a payslip from the same company) if I had telephone access where I am in Indonesia. My "early" tax refund will now take at least 4 months to arrive due to sheer incompetence, misleading statements and terrible service.

My file also now says that "it is easier to wait until the end of the tax year to retrieve the final payslip document". Easier for who exactly? The Taxback agents? Because it sure as hell isn't easier for my wife and I. Why did I bother filing 4 months early for an "early" tax refund only to now find that Taxback.com won't even bother filing it until the end of the Australian tax year anyway. I bet I will also have to pay them extra for this service as well, despite the fact that my tax refund won't even be filed until the end of the tax year anyway.

You guys haven't even bothered responding to my complaint emails (no surprises there as I don't even get updates from my advisor, or responses to emails that I send her). It's completely unprofessional (also considering the fees you charge), very poor service and I could never recommend Taxback.com to anybody. My wife and I will not be using you guys again once our refunds eventually reach us. I will also be looking into taking my complaint further with regards to complaining to financial regulators and possibly taking legal advice as this is totally unacceptable.

Within an hour they had responded with a reply on their wall and an email.  Wouldn’t you know it? The documents that couldn’t be located miraculously appeared and he had an estimation – all after office hours.  He emailed them back with a few questions but they replied to him by saying that they had to make the deadline so he had to affirm it ASAP, once again no questions offered.  Plus he is only getting half of his money back!  They are a complete ripoff. 

According to a message left on their wall,  a  fee of $75 is taken for a Canadiann tax return of $150!  That’s outrageous.

I looked at my online file.  My documents had been received but I hadn’t been  contacted by my agent for 3 days.  I know that my agent is out of the office on a course but shouldn’t someone be looking after my file when she is gone.  Plus there is a deadline I have never been informed about.

I post on their wall:

Wow! It's funny how after my husband -Dan Willis- rights a complaint on your wall and his documents (which 4 the past 5 weeks could not be received) miraculously show up within an hour... After business hours! And now he is being told that he is getting less then half is taxes back?!? How can that be? It doesn't seem right! It's a little un kosher! You dont work to get us the best amount back that you can get for us. He wrote an email asking for calculations and he was told that it was illegal to claim money paid for flights to get to a job and that he had to approve everything right away as they had to get his documents in to the ATO before the deadline and none of what he requested in the email was answered. Deadline? What deadline? I was never informed of any deadline and My

documents still are not in the ATO (because I had to post something and u guys were waiting) but according to me file it has now been received! So why have I not been contacted? You guys were in quite a rush to ship Dans off without giving him a breakdown of what he asked for so you could meet the deadline. When is this so-called deadline an what happen if my stuff doesn't make the deadline? Who's fault is that going to be. My agent - who has been great and the only good thing about your company- has not repliedto my emails for the past three days (she could be out of te office) so shouldn't somebody be looking after me when she is not around? I am absolutely disgusted with your company, because of misleading information we are now stuck in a country with no embassies and broke and not only being ripped off but told we have to wait do another 8 weeks! Because of your companies mistake we are now suffering ! We should've gone with Taxback Australia like last year!

 Wow!  Miraculously I get an email and my stuff is sent to the ATO office in less than 24 hours!

Though it doesn’t help because we are still in Bali, with no money and still have to wait another 6 –weeks. We are down to our last dollars.  They got their stuff done yes, but they can't rectify the fact that they misiformed us, so now we have to suffer for their incompetance.  Thanks taxback.com!!! 

I Do!

After a week in Sanur we decided to go to Ubud -  where the Bali part of Eat Pray Love was filmed – for a nice quiet few days.   There was another couple from the hostel going so we shared a Taxi with them.

We got dropped off in the parking lot of the Monkey Forest (which is a big attraction in Ubud); and of course there were monkeys everywhere but with our backpacks and the heat we wanted to find a place to stay before we started looking around.  Within two minutes we had a guy ask us if we were looking for a place to stay and with not having made reservations anywhere we followed him a little ways along the street and up some stairs where we ended up on this rooftop terrace!  It was like a little paradise!  It was a garden with little paths going through it, a big pool with fountain statues,  a little pool with fish in it and the rooms (that we chose)  were massive with bamboo ceilings one wall made out of bamboo and the rest out of brick,  our own bathroom, a king size bed and our own personal balcony for $20 a night!   And for no extra cost; monkeys everywhere! They were on the roof, on our balcony, it was great.  The monkeys would go through our garbage every day and eat our left over crisps, our steal our Coke bottles we left on the table and finish them off, though they never touched the vodka.  One day I even looked out the window and one came and sat on one of the chairs on our balcony and looked at me.   If we came up the stairs and they were in our garbage they would just look at us with these cute little eyes and go on with their business, they never ran away.  Because of all the monkeys at our hostel, we didn’t even go to the monkey forest, there was no need, plus they can be quite aggressive.  They steal things from people going through the forest and nip at you, they even stole somone’s bikini bottoms from one of the balconies at the hostel and put it on their head.  They were on the sidewalks, they were in the shops, electrical lines…they really were everywhere.

Ubud is quiet compared to Sanur (which is quieter then Kuta),  it’s really artsy and there is less traffic and it’s somehow greener in a way that I can’t explain.  There is not much of a nightlife but that’s what we wanted and with waking up every morning around 9 and spending the day outside in the hot sun we were usually sleeping by 10.   We did got to a Fire and Trance dance which was interesting but other than that we didn’t do much but enjoy days lazing around the pool and enjoying a few Bintang’s.  Our last night though, we did come across this hippie like bar that was done up with ferry lights, Bob Marley posters and small tables low to the ground so you sat on a pillow instead of a chair; and the band was awesome, the lead singer sounded like Jim Morrison.  It had an awesome vibe!

Back in Sanur we counted down the days until Jared and David (our mates from Darwin) were coming out to Bali to see us get married. To kill some of the waiting time, we went out with some friends we had met, for a day around Bali where we went out to Ulu Watu Temple which is on the coastline of the Bukit Pennninsula and has absolutely fantastic views and heaps of monkeys, and we also went to  Ulu Watu beach where we decided to have the wedding!  We knew it would be perfect and that the guys would love it!

Meeting up with the guys was a whole other story.  It’s really difficult meeting up with friends in a country when you don’t have cell phones and they are a little Facebook retarded.  The night they were arriving we went into Kuta to meet up with them; Dan ended up getting so drunk I pretty much had to carry him out of the club and put him in a cab (he fell asleep in the club on the couch).  The next night we were too hungover to do anything.  I was starting to get anxious,  we were counting down the days to our wedding and we still hadn’t been able to meet up with the guys,  plus I still didn’t have a dress, Dan didn’t have anything to wear for the wedding and we were friendless L   But, lucky, finally, with some Facebook communication we were able to find a meeting point!  We, of course, drank our faces off and had an absolute blast until we got to this one club where Jared and David went on the stage to dance and next thing you know the stage collapsed with them on it and we never saw them again that night!  The next day, thank god,  they were on Facebook and we made a meeting point again for that night.  Our friend Kristine (my Little Lamb)  was coming with us because she really wanted to meet the guys.  Unfortunately, we ended up with this cab driver who decided to drive us the wrong way to Kuta, claiming it was the only way to get there “don’t lie.  We go into Kuta all the time and we never come this way.”  “no no it’s the only way”  “alright then, well the price is going up beyond what we usually pay so you can turn the meter off.  Yup that’s right.  No no don’t stop.  You want to rip us off then you can drive the rest of the way with your meter off!”  We ended up walking, only due to the fact that the way he took us was backed up so much with traffic walking the rest of the way was faster.  It’s quite a common thing here, cab drivers trying to rip of foreigners, they try it with us all the time, especially after a night in Kuta when we are coming back to Sanur they always try a flat rate of 100-150 thousand rupiah ($10-$15),  which is a major rip off!  It takes us forever to find a cab that will actually put us on the meter which is usually under 60 thousand rupiah ($6), and they think you are stupid and laugh at you if you argue with them, though there is always one willing to go on the meter but you have to look for them.

Finally, we arrive (an hour late) at our meeting point!  We all grabbed a drink and then it was time for me to find a wedding dress.  Dan went with David (as that was his man of honour) for more drinks and I went with Jared (my man of honour)and Kristine.  We couldn’t find anything relatively wedding nice and all the tailors said that they couldn’t make me anything within 48 hours.  We had one more tailors to check out and then we were out of options.  The place was packed with girls.  My heart sunk.  This was our last place to look and it didn’t look promising.  “I’m sorry but these girls are ahead of you.  No time”   Now what?  “Excuse me, but are you girls from Norway” Kristine asked to a couple girls sitting beside me (she herself is from Norway)  “Yes.”  Next Jared and I know Kristine is talking in Norwegian to these girls. “Perfect she said!  Ummm excuse me” she continues to one of the tailors “these girls here said that you can postbone there order so my friend can have her wedding dress for Sunday morning, so you can have it done for then”  How amazing is she!  So I then get fitted for my dress, tell them what I want and what material.  It was quite exciting, I never thought I would get fitted for a wedding dress!  How much?   Well he originally said $25 but because it was a fast order it was $30!  Amazing right! 

The next morning we were off to Ulu Watu.  What a place this is.  It’s got some of the most famous surf breaks in the world.  To get there you walk down these massive steps and you end up in this little surf village which is actually built into the cliffs.  There are winding stairs going up and down everywhere,  each one leading you to a little cliffside, warrung or surf shop.  We rented to cabins with an adjoining patio that had a view of the village and the beach.  The views (pretty much from everywhere) are absolutely incredible, with bluey green water that just goes out forever and all the waves are inhabited by surfers (sometimes 60 at a time) that look like little black dots.  We would just sit and watch them enjoying a beer and listening to the waves. 

To get down to the beach you walk all the way down until you get to a cave-like rock covering (no railings so it is kind of sketchy).  The whole area is just surrounded by the high tide, and really unsafe to get into the water,  which, was really different then last time because last time the water was quite far out and we could go swimming.   How are we to get married on the beach?  We crossed a little dilapidated wooden walk way over to a wooden sketchy staircase –which I swear could collapse at any minute- and up to a warrung on one of the cliffs and enjoyed the view, a massage and a beer.  By the time we were finished the tide had gone out and once again the beach was engulfed by people and we could enjoy a swim.  There are quite a few little inlets where you can climb through openings in the rocks and get to different parts of the beach, each on looking different to the last one.  The tide goes out at about 4 pm (which was great news for us.) It goes out  so far that the reef is exposed and you can actually walk out, you could literally walk on the water.  It was perfect!  Not only were we going to have a beach wedding but we were going to get married on the water!  

That night, Dan went to bed early and the boys decided it was going to be my bachelorette party (they took Dan out the night before).  Unfortunately there is no night life.  The bar closed at 10p.  Luckily we met an American and then 4 Finnish girls who were up for some drinking, so we cabbed it to Padang Padang for margaritas but that place closed at midnight, so we went to another place and then that place closed at 1am.  We decided to get some takeaway drinks and go drink on our balcony till the wee hours of the morning.

Wedding day.  I’m guessing being stressed out on my wedding day is a normal thing?  All I wanted to do was relax, get a massage, have a  couple drinks get ready and get married, but that was not how the days events played out.

Kristine was picking up my dress from Kuta at 10am and then she was coming straight to Ulu Watu and we were to meet her at 11am, easy right? By 1pm we still hadn’t met up with her and to make matters work nowhere had wifi except the resort and they would not let us use it.  We walked all along the road until we finally found a resort that let us use there wifi.  They were running a bit late because the dress took a bit longer but they would be here in an hour, but Jared’s time was off on his phone so I had no idea what time that had been sent.

We went back to wait for them (another mate- Ollie- from the hostel was coming with her). Another hour, half an hour, still we didn’t see them.  “Emmie go for a massage and relax I will wait for them, there is no need for you to be stressing”  I decided on a glass of wine so Jared and I went to the bar for a drink.  I thought I saw Ollie out of the corner of my eye!  Jared ran all over the village looking for them but there was still no sign of them.   David and Dan were back from shopping and they were trying to keep us serparated from seeing eachother, Jared wasn’t even letting them go through the village to our cabin in case they ran into Kristine with the dress,  4:30 was coming fast and with not knowing how long the tide would stay out for our time was limited. 

3:30pm, still nothing.  Jared had checked the village three times.  “oh well, I’m gonna start getting ready”   I into my cabin.  Shaved, did my makeup and sat down almost in tears.  It’s my wedding day,  I’m freaking out, I’m getting ready by myself, I should be excited, it’s almost time and I don’t have a wedding dress.  If they don’t turn up I’m not gonna get married I need my dress.   I went out for a cigarette while Jared was still running around looking for them. Dan and the guys were waiting on the other side at a little warrung.  I kept trying to steal glances at him to see if I could see his outfit. “Emmie”  I hear Kristine’s voice, it sounded like an angel.  They had been waiting where we told them but we just kept passing eachother,  they had been waiting since 12!  Yay my dress!  It wasn’t fitting, it didn’t look right, it was nothing what I wanted.  “I need some sort of belt!”  Jared – my fabulous Man of Honour was out the door and was back in less then 5 minutes with a blue scarf “they over charged me for it but you are worth it”  Him and Kristine start cutting and folding it.  I put it around my waste and another piece on as a headband.  Perfect!  Now my wedding nerves had kicked in!  I was so incredibly nervous!  Too the point I wanted to cry.  My stomach was fluttering with butterflies and I couldn’t stop shaking. 

Kristine went out to tell the guys to start heading down to the reef and then was gonna wave over at us to tell us when to head down.  Five minutes later they were still sitting there.  Once again my Man of Honour was out the door over to them to tell them to get there butts moving and run all the way back.  While in the process of doing this he ripped his shirt, so it was  a quick change when he got back.

We walked down the stairs.  I felt almost like a princess.  Jared held his hand out for me as I walked down the stairs is my pretty dress.  Being a bride is a really amazing feeling,  some of the women were saying “congratulations”.  I loved it.   We get down the steep steps into the cave-like rock covering, walked through an opening in the rocks and out onto the beach.

They were all waiting out on the reef.  “Ready?!” asked Jared as he linked his arm in mine.  I was so nervous.  I honestly in the past months did not realize how nervous and excited I was to get married. 

We walked across the reef, in barefoot, not the smartest or easiest isle to walk down.  Jared kept patting my hand to relax me because I wouldn’t stop shaking. 

Dan looked so handsome!  Jared kissed me on the cheek and said “here you go Dan”.  Then we stood there looking at eachother smiling and saying nothing.  What now.  – With all the legalities and paper work we were having a very hard time having a legal wedding in Bali so the legalities are going to be done in Thailand, but we really wanted to have our ceremony in Bali so it was a little un-traditional. No reverend, no bouquet, just us two and four friends. -The guys brought out our rings.  “Emmie here is Dan’s ring”  I was so nervous I didn’t know what to say “could Dan go first please”  His vows were beautiful,  I started crying right away.  “You are my life, my everything.  I have loved you since the day we met.  I am so proud to call you my wife and I promise I will do everything in this world to keep you safe and be there for you forever.”  My turn “I don’t know what to say but I love you so much” except my voice went up an octave with every word from love and on because I couldn’t stop crying.  I continued “  I am so proud to be your wife and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with you.”  “May I kiss my bride now”  “ no not yet.  Do you take her to be your wafully wedded wife”  yes he did say waffully “do you take him to be your wafully wedded husband.  By the power vested you may now kiss… no wait…I know pronounce you man and wife.  You may kiss your bride”   I don’t think I have ever glowed the way I did at the five minutes of our wedding ceremony.  I don’t think I have ever been happier.  

We could not have done this without David and Jared and Kristine.  They were such a backbone to our wedding and we are so lucky to have friends like them.  David for being Dan’s best ban, Jared for being my Man-of-Honour-Supre, you are definitely a girls dream Person-of Honour.  You did what you did with my stress and did what you could to make my day perfect and it was.  Kristine, my Little Lamb if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have had a wedding dress.  Thank you for sharing our special day with us.

The rest of the day we took pictures, had an awful dinner at one of the little warrungs and then went to the party at the main bar for a few drinks and then fell asleep.  Not much of a wedding night but we were so tired and just happy enough to finally be married.

I am a Mrs!!!

Bali - Island of the Gods

Hello, apa kabar (how are you)?  That’s Bahasa Indonesia, though there are heaps of other languages this is the main one and it is quite easy to pick up so we are trying to learn a new phrase or word every day.  Aku baik – I’m good, or you can just baik baik; maaf means sorry;, mabuk means drunk (which I’ve used);  terimakaseh means thank you, or to make it shorter makaseh and suma suma means your welcome. Anyways enough about that lets talk about Bali- The Island of the Gods.

We landed at the Denpassar airport after 2.5 hour flight with a sign greeting us saying “ Anyone who brings drugs into Bali receives the death penalty” how welcoming is that lol, and yet magic mushrooms are legal here they have signs outside bars “Magic Mushroom Shakes”  so weird.

Our hostel is about a half hour from the airport.  We were told first to get our bags and not let anyone touch them or we would have to give them money, which lucky for us they were on the conveyer belt as soon as we got to baggage claim and we grabbed them before anyone could get to them.  Then, we were to proceed outside to the right and get a taxi at a flat rate of 95,000 rupiah which converts to about $9.50 AUD.  

It was mayhem outside, people with signs for arrivals, people offering rides, there were people standing sitting, smoking, there were people everywhere we could barely move.   We found the taxi stand and paid and then showed the driver our map and directions.  In Bali you actually have to help the driver where to go as they don’t know where anything is which is difficult because we didn’t know where anything was and he didn’t speak English.  Once he spoke to some of the other drivers he started walking us to towards the taxi.  The first thing we see was a parking lot full of mopeds and I mean full, they were everywhere “gee babe, I hope that’s not what they consider a taxi here!”   We get to this covered area with white tile floors which almost looked like a hotel reception and waited there while the driver went inside for a few minutes, then we get to a parking lot full of taxi’s - or taksi as they spell it- where the driver had difficulty finding the right car.  Finally finding the right car we were on our way to Sanur.

The driving here is insane!  There are more mopeds on the street then cars, there are no speed limits, no traffic lights and the lines down the centre of the roads might as well be non-existant!  Vehicles drive where ever there is a space to drive; down the centre on the shoulder, if need be on the sidewalk to pass, the mopeds just drive everywhere in and out of cars, nobody uses their flashers but they do honk to let others no to move or that they are coming up behind them or around a corner.   Dan and I just looking out the window in amazement , I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I am not talking about the scenery, I’m talking about what was taking place on the mopeds.   There was a mother or father on a moped (wearing a helmet) with a 5 year old holding on behind them (without a helmet) and a newborn on their lap (obviously with no helmet) being held my one arm and they drove with one hand!!! Insane.  The construction sites are just as insane. All the workers walk around in thongs (flip flops), the scaffolds are made of bamboo which is fine as bamboo is extremely strong but they just have pieces of wood laying across the walk area and the workers don’t even wear harnesses!!!  The sidewalks in Sanur are broken in some area’s creating big holes that are not even roped off so you basically walk at your own risk. 

Sanur is where we are staying, its relaxed with a bit of a nightlife and the beach is about a 10 minute walk, though every two minutes “do you need taxi?”  “do you need transport”  “do you need taxi? No? How bout new tattoo?!?”  Everytime we say no to something we are getting offered tattoos, its so funny.  When we first got here it seemed a little dodgy; not just the driving but everything I mean it’s so beautiful but run down at the same time.  There are dilapidated buildings, portable food wagons, sometimes there is garbage spattered around but yet beside that there are brand new restaurants or resorts, and it is so green here like when I was in Fiji , though in Fiji there wasn’t heaps of civilization but here its everywhere.   Our hostel is down this dodgy alley way so when we got here I was like “oh dear. Ok; we are not in a 1^st world country anymore.”  The hostel itself is quite small and the owners live in the apartment upstairs.  The whole thing is open concept with a really great pool in the centre of all the rooms and you can watch movies from the pool and there is a nice common area in the kitchen.  Everything is on account, you don’t pay until you leave and the internet is only 0.50 for three hours.  To get to all the shops, bars and resorts we were told “cross the highway to the other street and keep walking, it’s about 5 minutes”  Boy, they really meant cross the highway!  Crazy Bali traffic!  We have to cross two lanes to get to a middle island that is up to my butt and then we have to cross another to lanes to get the other side where everything is plus we have to make sure there are not other mopeds coming off the street we are getting to because they will run you over or drive the wrong way on the highway…like I said, insane

There is a strip of bars, shops and hotels which is really cute and just comes alive at night with live music and the aromatic smell of food and incense  ( there is incense everywhere, even at the airport.) -  Everyday the Balinese put out little baskets made out of banana leaves the size of your hand with a cracker and rice with some incense, we believe it’s an offering to the gods.  Sometimes they are put in big huge shrines, outside their shops, on the sidewalks.

Everything is so cheap here, beer is about $1.50, smokes are about the same, you can have a lobster dinner for $8.00,  our first night we went for Panang – the food sits out and you choose what you want and it is eaten cold. For 2 feeds, 2 beers and a pack of smokes are total was $8 and the food is so lush.  It is so good here, there is so much flavour and you get so much of it.  The restaurants are gorgeous with awesome service and yet we still only pay $5 a meal.   Our favourite place to eat is at the beach, $1 a meal and we are full after we eat it.   The beach is so cute.  The water is really blue and it is speckled with little fishing boats along the shoreline.  To the right you have to big gazebo like huts that you can sit and have a little picnic and enjoy a quiet lunch on the water.  If you go to the right (which is where we like to eat) there is a long row of beach beds all covered by umbrellas and right behind them is a long row of huts – each with a few tables and chairs out the front – where you can buy snacks, drinks and beer, smokes, clothes and food.  This is where we get our $1.00 lunches and the food is so good.  My new favourite dish is cap cay (chap chai) which is sticky rice, chicken veg and an amazing sauce. Yum yum.

The other day we went into Kuta which is about a half hour from where we are with our new friends MJ and Christine.  Kuta is a party town if your looking for a crazy night out Kuta is where you go.  It’s got a real buzz to it!  The streets are small with a cozy upbeat vibe and they are lined with discotheque’s, restaurants, and shops galore.  There is this street (well there is a few of them) called Poppies 1, Poppies 2…which are small side streets just lined with shops.  We are not down the street more then 10 seconds and we here “long hair big dick?” “oh you? Long hair big dick”  “oh look at you, you must have big dick” “shit fuck shit fuck”  honestly it was so funny and at the end of the street guess what we saw?  A shop with hanging wooden dildos!  No joke.  We even got offered to buy a box of Cialis at lunch! 

The rest of the afternoon was to be spent at a beach bar on Kuta Beach which is just covered in people.  People getting massages, people drinking, people surfing and of course people selling stuff.  We end up stopping at this umbrella with a few plastic crates of Bintang (Indonesian beer), this was the bar, the beach was scattered with them.  We just sat there all afternoon drinking with the young locals, watching the crazy waves and the surfers.  At 4pm they set up a table with spirits!  This is what I call a beach bar!  They had music and the locals were so nice.  Everyone here is really nice and everything is pretty much done on a trust code.  You don’t pay till the end, tabs are automatic, if you don’t finish your meal they are worried you didn’t enjoy it, you can leave with your drinks, you can smoke everywhere and they love Western World love songs!  We had so much fun! 

Getting a taxi back was a little difficult.  You want them to turn the meter on or they try to rip you off and over charge.  Drivers were refusing to drive us with the meter but we finally found one that would go on the meter.  We finished off the night with a free dinner and drinks at a new bar that just opened and then drinks at the local bar Linga Longa.

It is so amazing here! We love it! We spend days by the pool relaxing and hanging out with our new friends.  The temperature is cooler then Darwin, there is no humidity or dry it so it is just hot with a bit of a breeze so it is perfect, I have a nice tan already.  It really is amazing here, though we haven’t seen much yet but of course it still is a culture shock especially the toilet situation.  They have toilets but most toilets are not equipped for toilet paper so once you use it you have to dispose of it in the toilet…what do you do with poopy ones you ask?  The butt sprayer.  Every toilet has a hose beside it so you just spray yourself down and you are good to go.  I don’t use them I still use paper but Dan thinks they are fun!  Like they say “When in Rome…”