My first favorite is nasi campur, basically rice and a variety of side dishes, some spicy, not always identifiable.
The congestion of tourists, traffic and gamelan music has been the most consistent soundtrack to the month I have just spent here, in a stupor of various stages of adjustment. I leave in a few hours and in fact the traffic has been almost as oppressive as the various financial fiascos that have accompanied me in the journey. My small world here has been shockingly literal from the traffic to the monkeys to the bouts of illness...which started on the long haul flight between Vancouver and Taipei. I might have already blogged about how the very nice flight attendant brought me a massive plastic shopping bag when I discreetly informed her that I thought I was going to be sick. You should have seen the passengers around me.
This weird trend continued my first night in Bali, which I spent in Ubud. The aesthetically pleasing home stay was a lot less so when I realized my room faced the noise of the very busy Hanoman street.
That noise-filled first night of jet lag and fatigue met with a strong adversary in Paypal which suspended my account because, well I am not really sure why. I have sent PP three emails and have received three form letters in response. I even messaged PP because I thought that the company site had been hacked.
There are bits of beauty everywhere here, even if and despite the irritating constant drone of horn honking and engines. I never tire of this, for example:
I move forward to train some more, replace my lost i.d. and credit cards and even reset some goals. I have a 20k race in Toronto in about a week and a half marathon in Montreal in September. The triathlon was a bit of a bust and that swim saltwatered the life out of me (never again, I say now), but try I did; screw you bike rental.
Location:Kuta Bali Indonesia
