April 21st: Ubud to Kuta – 35 km
Day 190
If we thought that Ubud was crowded, then we were little prepared for Kuta. The little 2 lane country road soon became a 4 lane highway when we got close to Kuta. But in some ways it was better. The highway is divided so there is less chance of cars and motorbikes swerving head on into traffic and for much of the road there is a shoulder. For the first time we were seeing fast food restaurants, big grocery stores, and shopping centers advertising name brand surf ware. Many of the streets are lines with bars, massage parlors and restaurants catering to westerners. Just like that, 30kms away, we were in a different world.
Searching for a hotel near the hospital where we would get chest x-ray for Australia visa and the immigration office for our Indonesia visa extension, we stopped at a couple of places that also catered to western surfing clientel and found that they were overpriced fan rooms. Wandering a bit farther into a maze of streets off the main drag, we wandered into a hotel called Zuk, with mainly local guests. Since we were staying for 4 days, we got a room with air-conditioning, hot-water, very good wi-fi and buffet breakfast for 250,000 IDR (about 21 USD). We also have a little pool. Some healthy competition really drives the price down.
Star fruit tree
One of the difficult things about cycle touring in a vacation spot is that most things you would love to have become too expensive for the tight budget. Burgers, beers, and drinks are only a couple dollars each and people are wolfing them down. They are on vacation, throwing caution to wind, worrying about their diets and wallets another day. It’s a lot of temptation. We broke down and splurged on some pizza today, 2 USD for a 30 cm pie. We got two pizzas, plus 2 sodas for 60,000 IDR, 3 times as much as our regular meal from local warung. After all, we can’t watch Game of Thrones where grizzly men wolfing down legs of lamb with mugs of ale and flagons of wine, while we eat fried noodles and sip hot green tea.
Ready for GoT