Bali, Indonesia (1 of 3)

Our thoughts are to stay in one place and live for 1 month straight.  We've about reached the half way point for our trip and feel like a "break" from packing up and moving every 3-4 days.  Just some rest, really taking in an area and chilling.

We spent our 1st night in the Kuta area on Bali, about 20 minutes from the airport.  (Keep in mind Bali is an island maybe slightly smaller than KY.)   Kuta is a world-famous party, beginner-surfer, westernized area.  Well driving through it to find a back-packers hotel, we found out immediately why the guide-books warned of how the bad affects of tourism can spread.  Kuta was packed, packed, packed with people, taxis, traffic, shops, McD's, Hardrock Cafe, KFC, growth, malls, developments, etc.  A basic rat-race on steroids.  We knew immediately this was not going to work for us.  We grabbed a Bemo (goofy little mini-bus) and got the hell out of their the very next morning. 

size of a Bemo, basically a suzuki with 4 wheels.  but for about $4, you can get a ride to somewhere almost an hour away.

We chose to try Sanur, about 45 minutes away on the south-eastern coast of Bali to explore and escape to.  Keep in mind, we're looking for a place to rent for 1 month, but we also need to find a way to get our next Visas to China, so gotta fit that in somehow.  Sanur was nice, we found a real friendly, clean, spacious room for cheap about 10 minutes walk from the beach.  We stayed there about 3 days, just exploring around, eating the night food market, walking the beach, but mostly trying to figure out how to obtain China Visas.  We found out we couldn't get a Chinese Visa in Bali---oh noooooo?!@#%>

night snack in Sanur, take an entire loaf of fresh bread, split it 4 times, slather jam and butter in it, toast every side and corner, the douse with sweet milk....ughhh, goodness, get in my belly

So we book a flight to Surabaya, Java to get to the closest China consulate, but have 5 days to kill until our flight.  Next stop Ulu Wata and Padang Padang Beaches on the Southern Tip of Bali.

Now this is what I'm talking about.  Bali at some of it's finest.  What a view.  Ulu Watu is world-famous for it's surf, views, and Ulu Watu temple over-looking the ocean and cliffs.   Padang Padang Beach is 10 minutes away by motorbike and just a beautiful, but small beach to relax and kill a day.
We actually saw a small tornado out on the ocean here as well, it was sucking up the water and was a very impressive sight.  We loved it here.  Had a great handful of days, a good little guest-house, cheap and quiet as well, although cold water shower :(    I couldn't try surfing here, it's a Pros-only type beach, with rock and coral only 5-6 ft under the water, so I could only watch.  It was really awesome to watch them go though, I respect their skills much more now.  Fun to see the sky, ocean and all the green-ness around.

view from Ulu Watu temple.  picture doesn't even do it justice.

Next Stop it appears we have to fly to Surabaya, Indonesia in Java, the island (the size of oklahoma) to the west of Bali.  There's a Chinese Consulate there we were told who could possibly help us, fingers crossed.  So we get a ride back to the airport after 5 days in Ulu Watu area. 

Wow, Surabaya is a big big city.  Grabbed a taxi, headed towards a hotel area and grabbed a room for the night.  Lucky Us, it is the best room we've stayed in our whole trip.  So we're happy about that. A Little boutique style chain hotel.  A bit pricey at $30 per night but we were out of options.  We spent 4 days in Surabaya exploring a bit, taking in the nice malls, movie theatres, eating Java style spicy fried rice and yes Pizza Hut Pan Pizza :)    We were the only westerners we saw the entire 4 days here.  It was a bit odd to say the least.  We really liked Java style food though, delicious & spicey.
After a full day excursion trying to find the China Consulate.  Our taxi driver did not speak English and he got us lost for about 2 hours trying to find the place.  We found out that the Consulate would only give us 20 day visas to China instead of 60 days, and they were 5x the normal price for a US Citizen vs almost all other countries.  About $250 each for 20 days in China.  We were disappointed and perturbed.  We said No Thanks and our entire trip to Surabaya on this quest has proved a bust.  CRAP!
Indonesia, we're not loving you so far :)

What to do, what to do.....
We said screw it, we're gonna make this great and figure it out.  We flew back to Bali and booked a lush hotel right on the beach in Kuta, until we could find a long-term place.  We're gonna enjoy this if it hair-lips the governor.  The hotel was great and I got a chance to try surfing several days (I suck by the way, it's hard). 

proof it's hard to surf.  not sure I have a picture of me successfully riding a wave all the way out :)

We also took in a local water park, slides, rides, etc. and had a grand time there.  We rented a motorbike and took off looking for a long-term rental house/etc.  After a half day of driving around, asking, taking down numbers to call, we found the place.  In Canggu about 30-40 minutes from Kuta on the South-West coast. 
YEAHHHH!  great price, lots of amenities, we're pumped.  We wanted to visit Ubud, a famous cultural city/area first before settling in to the long-stay but went ahead and book the stay that would be coming up.
We are going to have to extend our visas another 30 days for Bali, since we've spent almost 15 days on the visa quest and some exploring.  We stayed in Kuta 5 more days while our visas were being processed and made the most of it and the fine hotel.

my lovely bride Christina, happy enjoying a Bali sunset, ain't she a doll! :)

Now, off to Ubud and central Bali for 1 week to take in some culture, nature, and art.  Then, finally, back to Canggu where we'll be spending one entire month in a long-stay studio apartment.  More to come.