May 12th: Padangbai to Kuta – 52.6km
Day 211
Indonesia receives regular rainstorms normally in the envening. Ensuring that we had the full experience, we got dumped on today. The rain was a great release from the heat, but I had just cleaned and oiled our drive train in preparation for our journey in Australia. All the oil was gone and replaced with grit and sand from the road.
We road quickly and were once again rushed on by the surge of vehicles that makes it impossible to stop.
We made our way straight to our favourite warung just as the heat of the day was setting in. Parched and hungry we each drained 2 mugs of home made ice tea and scarfed down two large plates of local delights. We would miss the copious amounts of cheap delicious food, but it will be nice to get out of the heat and crowds.
Marco went in search of his budget hotel and Cher and I went back to our high end bugdet hotel with airconditiiong. We would later meet for dinner and agreed to meet one last time before heading to Australia. We both had contacted a local host from Warm Showers, a cycle hosting network.
It is humbling that there is very little original in this world. If life were a tree we are more like a branch and less like seed. Which is one peculiar aspect of being on this trip. The longer we are away the more we think about being a part. At the risk at getting in too deep in philosophical waters I will stop there. Just know that we do think about life outside of this trip and we realize the importance of fulfillment of being part of something.