Kuta: Conta Part II

Rice terraces near Ubud

Day escape from Kuta

A visit to Ubud for a cat-poo-ccino seems to help me get over the previous night. Cat coffee, or Coffee Luwak is akin to the weasel coffee of Vietnam. However it's far more common to find the organically grown coffee where the cats are allowed to roam the trees freely. Try the first floor of the craft markets in Ubud for a little history and a nice chat with the nice Balinese fellow selling it for 30,000 a cup. I spend some time talking to monkeys and gods at cliff top temple Pura Luhur Uluwatu, seemingly to enlighten me to the genuine culture here. Even if it is over-run with other tourists, and seems a little bit of a shame that the whole island and it's traditions have become a selling point. I love temples. They are mainly Hindu here and really interesting to look at in comparison to those I am used to seeing in places like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Structurally they are much more simple and take on the look of a simple thatch tiered pagoda. I am yet to find a Buddhist temple, for which I am most keen to investigate. I don't know what I'm really doing here (pah, after all that planning) but maybe Buddha can help show me the way. 

End of week II

The job is going well and I am getting good feedback from my students. Until I can find a Kost (a cheap self contained one bed unit) I have moved temporarily to a nice hostel, with friendly backpackers and far friendlier Indonesians than you could ever find. Indonesians will do anything for you and expect nothing in return, a concept pretty hard to get your head around coming from England. They don't make them like this at home. 

It's rainy season, which brings nightly downpours and a much needed breeze to this humid island. The wind blows against the rattan blinds and attempts to make its' way through the thatched roof. It's not having any of it. I am on the outskirts of the city, and I can see the sunrise on my daily walk to work where I have the great honour of sitting in a strobe lit office at a Formica desk talking to students thousands of miles from me through a head set. Surrounded by other teachers with Stockholm Syndrome, my 'teaching-call-centre' job affords me two lovely bonuses. The first being that I can order all sorts of wonderful Balinese lunches for the Princely sum of about 50p without leaving the desk I am chained to. The second being that for all my middle class white girl gripes, I am so happy to help someone to talk my L1, to tap in to that side of my personality and the world's incidental 'lingua franca'. And I can appreciate, not only how lucky I am to do this, but that life is easy for us in England and we should really stop moaning about, well, pretty much everything that we moan about. Especially tipping waiters, prices of bus tickets, queues and whether the word 'selfie' deserves to be in the dictionary. Hey, it's all relative. Although slightly less when your new Indonesian friend tells you his salary is a third of your already fractal wage, and you wonder exactly how he can afford to live. 

The Four Face Buddha shrine at Vihara Buddha, Kuta

 You're ok Princess. If he can smile, and live a life where money is not priority number one, you certainly can. Talk to Bhudda, he knows. Whether I do, only time will tell.

To get around Bali for as little money as possible, rent a bike for the equivalent of £2 a day. Learn some basic Bahasa and enjoy the best of Bali by endearing yourself to the locals. Most importantly, try the street food, Coffee Luwak (the afore-mentioned cat coffee) and get out of Kuta and in to the North to the rice terraces, fishing villages and mountains. There is more to paradise than beaches.