Drop It Like It's Hot

There's something very exciting, very inspiring about cracking open a fresh, brand new Lonely Planet guide book and reading through the adventures that lay upon you. Bali is a tiny island filled with more culture and activities, surfing and beach bumming, and hiking and mountain climbing than you could shake a stick at (who thought of that saying?). There's even an active volcano on the island. So, I'm really looking forward to getting into all of it.

I have spent the last couple of days on Kuta Beach, Bali's main tourist town and backpacker area. It's where everyone spends their short holiday or the beginning of their long Bali expedition. There's descent waves to surf, although the best are more south, and the nightlife is definitely towards the top of my list. I'm happy that I can go out wearing my bathing suit and sandals again!

Kuta is a really groovy, interesting town. It's definitely built up, but somehow it has managed to maintain its authenticity and original style. There's dozens of quirky alleyways filled with shops and little homes. Some of the alley ways lead to main streets and some little alley ways lead to more little alley ways, sprayed all around in no particular direction and with no particular lay out. The beach is fantastic, and for some reason, fantastic for the exact opposite reasons of why I love beaches. The sand is grainy and tan and the water is nothing near an interesting hue of any sort. It is acutally kind of murky. But the beach just has tons of personality and great vibes. It's great for reasons I can't describe... it just is.

Two days agon, I was sitting on a random side street when I ran into two Brazilians I was hanging with back in Ko Phangan, Thailand. That was over two months ago. We never said good bye to eachother and we never talked about future travel plans, so it was really cool to see eachother again. The Brazilians, myself, and two Italian dudes have been hanging the last few nights, dancing to some good 'ol hip hop... FINALLY!