Road Rules for Bali.

(Note: these rules DO NOT apply for most other countries!)

• The aim of the game is to keep the traffic flowing at all times.

• The emergency lane is acceptable as another lane.

• Driving on the wrong side of the road is acceptable, especially when overtaking 10 cars.

• Look out for the hundreds of scooters that will be driving all around you.

• Don’t be afraid to get nice and close to the other cars when you’re in heavy traffic – even if this means there’s like 6 cars on all sides of you, you’ll get through eventually.

• Driving on the dotted line between two lanes is acceptable – particularly if you’re a taxi driver. Why is it that taxi drivers drive like crazy people?

• Need to park? Driving onto the wrong side of the road to park your car is okay. Make everybody’s day by parking in a tiny lane so you clog up the traffic. (Sarcasm!!!)

• Use your horn liberally to let other people know you’re coming up beside them.

• There isn’t a lot of road rage here, everybody seems pretty happy to let others in to keep everybody moving. Leave your fury at home!

• As a passenger, closing your eyes when the driving gets particularly hairy is definitely advised.

• Driving a scooter with a small child on your lap, while not advised, is practiced here. I even saw one man with his wife, toddler and their puppy, all on one scooter.

• If you get motion sickness, the roads in Bali are probably not going to be great for you. Pot holes and tiny winding roads galore!

• As a pedestrian, you’ve got to be brave when crossing the road or you’ll never get to where you’re going. Walk slowly, because the cars will stop but the scooters will just go around you. By the end of your trip you’ll be walking out into incoming traffic like a local :) (Probably not a good idea to try this at home, though.)

More to come about the rest of my trip later :)

BALI DAYS 3 & 4: Bliss!

We’ve had a pretty busy past two days, with a little bit of shopping and a lot of eating and pampering! (Pretty tough to endure, but I survived :P ) Yesterday started with breakfast at the hotel again – our accommodation includes a buffet breakfast everyday with pretty much any kind of food you could want. They’ve got the usual things like cereal, fruit, eggs, bacon and toast, but there’s also waffles, little pastries and croissants as well as fried rice, miso soup and curry. The beef fried rice today and the waffles yesterday are my definite favourites so far -- if only my breakfast could be made for me everyday when I’m at home!

After breakfast, mum and I headed back to Discovery shopping centre on a shoe-hunting expedition. She ended up buying two pairs and I bought a pair of THE HOTTEST snakeskin shoes I have everrrrr seen!

We lazed around the room for most of the afternoon, but left at 4pm for a sunset dinner at La Lucciola – a very swanky restaurant with amazing food and gorgeous views over the beach. The cocktails also were really delicious, and I had my first pina colada. Tasty! The restaurant had a nice atmosphere and it was a wonderful evening all up :)

I got seriously pampered today; I went with sister number 1 and her husband to Febri’s Hotel and Spa and had a full body Balinese massage, full pedicure package and a manicure – all for only $50!! The massage was so amazing, I don’t have the right words to describe how fantastic it felt, but I zoned out into this deeply relaxed state of bliss for most of it, if that’s any indication? Will definitely go again if there’s time, I loved it!

Next was the deluxe pedicure, with a foot scrub and paraffin wax treatment. The wax treatment was a bit weird; they heat up the wax and kind of slather it onto each foot in a thick layer with a paint brush. Once the wax sets, they slip the whole thing off your foot like a sock! Apparently it’s to make your feet “soft like a baby”, and I can definitely say they were really smooth afterwards! (It’s “like having new feet”, according to the girl who did my treatment.) The whole thing reminded me of the horror movie House of Wax though, where the crazy guy kills people by pouring wax on them so he can put them in his museum...

Later on we had a hair appointment with the lady who’s coming to do everyone’s hair for mum and dad’s vow-renewal ceremony tomorrow. Cannot BELIEVE the traffic, it took us over 90 mins for what should have been a 20 min drive! It’s the end of Ramadan today/tomorrow, so heaps of people have come to Bali to visit or be with their families for the end of the festival. The traffic was so bad that even the little scooters weren’t able to nip around the cars because the roads were so congested! Hopefully it will clear up soon. Had bacon cabonara for dinner and the Pantai restaurant, and now it’s time to hop into bed with a book so I can rest up for the big ceremony tomorrow. Can’t wait! :)

PS: Here's proof that I rocked a maxi dress ... and loved it!!

BALI DAY 2: Sore feet, globalisation and lobster thermidor.

Phew what a day!! Totally exhausted and with such sore feet, but it was totally worth it! If the consumerist part of me was an animal, it would be stretched out and purring right now because I’ve had some serious retail therapy today. After breakfast, the fam and I hopped in a few taxis (it takes either 3 normal taxis, or one taxi and a van to transport all NINE of us!) and headed to Discovery shopping centre in Kuta. We shopped like CRAZY for most of the day, stopping for lunch at Pizza Hut in between. I bought two pairs of shoes, a couple of maxi dresses, two fancy scarves and lots of cute bits and pieces from an accessories shop called Shine that’s kind of like a cooler Asian version of Gloss.

I can’t wait to wear the maxi dresses; I think I’m falling in love with them! While I’ve always shied away from them because I thought they’d make me look pregnant, the ones I bought today were pulled in at the waist and are soooo comfy (with cool floral patterns)… and cover up my ghosty legs as well, its win-win!

I actually had to turn off the TV so I could sit down and write this, damn you E! Entertainment channel, I know I shouldn’t care about the Kardashian wedding but I can’t tear my eyes away!! After wandering around the markets for a bit, we came back to the hotel for a swim, showers and a rest, and headed out again to the Blue Planet seafood restaurant and had a delicious dinner! I had the seafood platter which was really nice, but I also tried some of mum’s AMAZING lobster thermidor --- it’s actually making me drool a little bit thinking back to it :)

It’s kind of crazy to see how many ‘Western’ brands are here -- I’m in a completely different country yet I can go into KFC or McDonalds and get the exact same meals I would at home. They even have ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank, not to mention all the retail brands they stock in the shopping centres (Polo, Guess and Topshop being just a few!). My lecturer for the globalisation unit I’m taking at the moment will be pleased to know that I’ve taken note of the overwhelming presence of trans-national companies here even though my brain is in holiday mode. Because Bali caters for the tourists, I can see why its so popular to have a Burger King or Starbucks around the main tourist spots, but it’s interesting to see it juxtaposed with the old-world culture of traditional Bali (temples, offerings, statues etc).

Another thing I noticed in the taxi on the way home tonight is even though the drivers here are like maniacs on the road, with cars and scooters going in all different directions at the same time, it really seems to work. They just take it slow and manage not to skittle any passing pedestrians while avoiding the 50 million scooters nipping around --- and yet we in Perth are such terrible drivers?? It could just be that you don’t really hear of road accidents as commonly here, but it seems like even though the roads here are seriously hectic, everybody eventually gets to where they want to go without being killed. And while traffic accidents are really no laughing matter, it did amuse me to think that even though we live in such a privileged, Western country with superior roads and stricter driving rules, the people here in Bali really seem to have got it down-pat.

Looking forward to a long sleep and a more relaxing day tomorrow :)