Red Necks of the Indian Ocean

I’m having trouble getting time to write this blog everyday.  Right now I’m writing this back in Surabaya from notes I left myself on my phone.  It really has been a non-stop trip, and I’m very fortunate that I haven’t gotten sick yet.  I’ve been careful what I eat (up to a point – I’m not eating Pizza Hut and McDonalds everyday – just eating what’s put in front of me), and washing my hands a lot.  It seems to be working so far.

Anyway, after I went for my mountain run, I had another massage (just as an experiment to see if it helped my muscles – and it does seem to help) had breakfast and packed up to head down to Denpasar and Mimpi Jimbaran.  Along the way we had a few stops, the first being Ubud, the artistic capital of Bali.  We didn’t stop into any galleries, but did have lunch there at a local restaurant. I ate everything but the fried chicken blood, Bing Bing grabbed that off my plate before I could eat it (thank goodness).  Moving along we ended up at Tanah Lot, a Balinese temple build out of a rock out cropping in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  It’s a neat place, but after a few visits, it gets kinda boring.  But the actual reason for the visit wasn’t the temple, but the stores that line the road down to the water.  I picked up a few things for people, including a nice handmade wooden portable chess set for Kate for $5.  With the economy here hurting like everywhere else, deals are easy to find.

After an hour shopping (and getting a nice red neck in the process – no sunscreen), we finally made it back to Mimpi Jimbaran.  Jimbaran is in a state of reconstruction right now.  It was originally built in the early 1980s and was getting quite dated.  The new main building is about twice the size of the original and it’s white walls can be seen all the way from the airport 5km away.  There is some debate about the design of the building.  There is a new style of building here called “minimas”, or minimalist.  It basically is applying Ikea design to buildings.  I like the style for the most part, but the local driver doesn’t.  He thinks the traditional Balinese styles should still be used.

For dinner we went to an Italian place in Kuta (the main tourist area).  My lasagne dinner was about $4 (including tip and drink).  Food (even Western food) is cheap in Indonesia.