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 :)
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