One lazy week and a half

So, where was I? Thursday (Aug 30) woke up with many bites! All basically on my left leg and buttcheek for some reason. I forgot that if you see little bloodstains on the bed sheet, means bedbugs!! Anyhow, I think they mainly got my butt. My legs I believe were mosquito bites, though who really knows. Thank god I moved out of this place!

So on to Ayu Beach Inn! A treasure really... Screens on the windows (though I still got bitten), a circulating fan above the bed, nice sheets, a double bed, two pools, bar/restaurant, breakfast included and really fun people to hang out with (both fellow surfers/backpackers and the Balinese staff) ((okay 15min warning from the computer guy - feel like I'm back in college - but not quite! :) ))

So dropped my stuff off in my room, said hello to Tim in the room across from me. The Ayu is shaped so it makes interacting with others really easy which is cool, it's kinda like a long u-shape with little pockets for those that want rooms away from the main drag. I was right there in the center which was perfect!

Anyway, TIm is from New Hampshire, though he moved to New York, and comes down to Bali for a couple months every year, like a few of the surfers I met. Cheap enough around here! First day also met Komang, really nice Bali guy who helped teach me Indonesian along with Sami and Wayang, the receptionists. THere are also a lot of other Bali guys which hang around the Ayu, I guess it's like their hang-out.

By the way, they have this thing here where the first son is named Wayang, the second is Made, the third Komang, and the fourth Kutat. Neuman sometimes is substituted for one of those depending on who you talk to. So as a result, remembering people's names is easy!

Most of the girls are also named Made. It's funny they are often impressed when I remember their names but really it's easy!

Thursday afternoon met some girls and then at dinner a guy they were traveling with, all from London area. Lucy and I talked the most, then there was Zara who's b-day it was monday which the gang had celebrated by drinking cobra blood at King Cobra Palace and having fried python. Pazz and Mish had been traveling for over two years and met Lucy and Zara along the way, I think at Gili Meno off the coast of Lombok, where they all met up with Nick as well.

So I hung out with them mostly, though Lucy and Zara left Thurs night, Paz and Mish Sat around 12, and then Nick just left Wed. I was totally bummed out Thursday, 'cause I had gotten used to having someone to hang with. I thought I'd just ride it through and sure enough Friday was feeling better.

Let's see, a quick run through...

Did a lot of sleeping, shopping (didn't buy anything but a sarong and a clasp sort of thing for it), talking, eating, and drinking (juice!). Fruit juice, freshly made in a blender is like 50 cents a pop if even! Food is real cheap too, though Nick treated me to Mexican at TJ's which was bit more like the prices at home. But the food was great and he was like, this may be the last real meal you have besides rice! So I let him treat me to enchiladas, guacamole dip and chips and an ice-cream sundae for desert.

I also met some really cool guys from France living in Bali. All older than me, but really interesting to talk to. One of them, Laurent, lives in Bali now and is married to a Balinese woman and they have a couple kids. He's been living here 2 years or so. When I asked him if he really liked Bali or something, he seemed really nonchalant about it, saying kinda like what's the difference? So him and his wife run a little warung or restaurant next to Ayu which I eat at a lot. At night, I visit him and his French friends.

Oh, Sunday went to Uluwatu and Wed to Taneh Lot... That was my sight-seeing! They are temples by the sea. I really love animals I think! I loved seeing the monkeys at Ulu and a blue python at Taneh! Got to hold a python at King Cobra Palace on Tuesday night and went back there tonight to have cobra soup (Hong Kong soup) with Komang. Komang ordered fried Salvador, a type of lizard, which I also tasted. Bye!