Volcano, rice, temples and wave surfers – part I

Watching through small airplane window before landing was horrifying: “Are we making a water landing.” The landing strip of the only airport on the island, namely, runs out to the sea. Thus there were many strange sensations in stomachs, wide open eyes, and many confused faces. But few moments later it was all over and in a blink of an eye you’re on the beach with most visitors on Bali - Kuta. Some go there on foot, especially since the price of a taxi depends on your negotiating abilities. The obligatory stop, which is the first and for some also the last stop on Bali, is the shoppers paradise with good food and budget friendly accommodations, that has been developing ever since before WWII. For a two bedded room with a modest breakfast you will spend just 7€ per night. If you visit Kuta outside the main season (which is from April to September – dry period), the price can get even much lower. Narrow streets hide numerous accommodations and since there are no price lists, the prices can jump sky high. Why? The August rush of Aussies fills up even the most hidden hotels, so the usual answer of a hostel owner is “take it or leave it.” Low prices don’t always mean low quality, but usually they do. Hence you can expect a few unwanted guests, such as roaches, red ants, geckos… which seem to be part of the furniture. But the endless sand beaches, surrounded by palms and noises of the Indian ocean are what you get in return. Never ceasing waves, breaking on the shores of Kuta make this place a surfer’s paradise – especially for beginners.

The beach at Kuta is always full. Natives are lending out surf boards for beginners and professionals, women are offering massages, jewellery, fruit, ice-cream, various pictures and other tit-bits. They’ll bring you everything to your feet at the beach, but you’ll have to haggle for every single thing. The merchants, who walk around the beach, love to chat. Kiki, who rents surfboards in the shade of a palm tree, told me his life story. You can see the yearning for home in his eyes, which lies on the Indonesian side of Borneo. Like other men of his tribe, he was a hunter in a village with not electricity or plumbing, where people gathered fruit and hunted for survival. He was carving arrows and covering them with the poison of a green frog, so the hit animal surely died. One day he got “a chance of a lifetime” when his uncle took him to Java. »You can’t imagine, what kind of a shock the plane was for me. So big and it flies! I was shaking with fear. Arriving to Jakarta I couldn’t believe my eyes. I kept asking my uncle about everything – what it was. It was my first time I saw a car, electricity, television, telephone, radio, computer… Here a lot of people have cell phones. If I wanted to talk ot my mother over the phone, she had to go from the village to the city – first rowing a boat and then by bus – just so she could call me,“ said Kiki, throwing a stare over the waves of the ocan, with a hint of regret: „it’s been a long time I left home and I haven’t the money to visit my relatives – plane tickets are just too expensive.«