Arriving Bali

After about 2 hour flight from Jakarta we’re landing in Bali. All of us have huge smiles on our faces although we don’t know what to expect and how these next several months are going to be like. It’s very hot-much hotter than in Jakarta. We call a taxi and check in at our hotel. Not wanting to stay in the most popular tourists’ area to avoid crowds, we chose a hotel on the outskirts of Denpasar. All very well, but as soon as we’ve arrived at the hotel we realized we needed to rent a car. The receptionist told us that there was a car rental not far from the hotel-15 minute walk but she couldn’t name the street. So we walked in search of the car rental. And we walked. And we walked. And when we finally found it, the owner said he didn’t rent out cars to foreigners. He advised to go to the nearby tourist town Sanur. While we waited for a taxi to get there, a small, very, very old mini bus/van/I don’t know what stopped and the driver asked if we needed a ride. Although, I was very tired and hot and not trusting that form of transportation, my husband already agreed on the price for the man to get us to Sanur. When we got into this vehicle (the taxi that took us to Taman Mini in Jakarta was a luxury compared to this one, so imagine that) there was a young local girl inside. She must have been going somewhere but unfortunately in the opposite direction to us because the driver simply threw her out (!!!) (the prospect of better money-us) Like majority of Indonesians, the driver was very curious about us-in his broken English he asked us all sorts of questions. He was around 35 years old and as every Balinese was smiling and wanted to show off his knowledge about the world. We were rather impressed when he asked us about Polish former president Lech Walesa. When we say to people that we are Polish, men usually know the names of Polish football players (Lato is the most popular-although I’ve no idea why (?) then there is Boniek and today even Artur Boruc:-) ) but Lech Walesa? Ok, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Anyway, the driver asked my husband what car we wanted to rent. Krzysiek replied: something small and cheap. So he took us to Sanur to a car rental that only had jeeps. We were quite surprised since we wanted a small punto or something alike but the driver said: “you wanted small jeep”. We negotiated the price and rented out a ‘small jeep’. The driver stayed with us in the car rental, negotiated with us, then was checking the car, the oil-EVERYTHING. I found that hilarious especially when Amelia rather surprised asked who this man was. When my husband went with the owner’s son to photocopy his documents, the driver asked me what I did for living. I said I was a theatre director but they didn’t understand so I found in my little Indonesian book the word theatre (komidi) and started to explain further. After a moment the driver said: so, you’re like Mr Bean, yes? Now, I had a blast. When my husband returned, we got into the car, paid our helpful companion-the driver not only for the ride but for his- how should I say it-care? and drove off ready to explore the island. Driving in Indonesia is rather difficult, risky endeavour-hardly any traffic lights, limited signs (nobody cares for it, anyway), direction of traffic depends on where one is going-left side of the road, right side of the road-whatever, however…my husband is doing very well, I have to admit. Especially considering we drive based on intuition, occasional signs and asking people by the road, rather than using map-since these are not very accurate. Besides, streets’ names are invisible most of the time. And no GPS (good exercise for my husband). Driving in Bali is fun. Tiring, risky but fun. What can be seen on the roads is a different matter but rather than writing about it, I will soon take some pictures.