I had a great first day in Bali, and I'm happy that I decided to come here - hopefully this translates into progress on the writing front, although today was pretty messed up due to jetlag (which is to be expected). Shockingly, I slept for nine hours last night - I woke up a couple of times, but I didn't fall into middle-of-the-night insomnia like I usually do when I make a trip that's this long. I suspect that tonight won't be quite as smooth, since I accidentally took two naps...but we'll see.
When I woke up, I took a leisurely shower (water pressure was great, which makes me happier than you can know), got dressed, verified that the travel hair dryer I bought actually works on this voltage (success!), and checked out the facilities around me. There's a cafe on the roof, and they let me charge stuff to my room, which was great since I had no cash and was desperate to eat something. The tea was great; the eggs were good, but not enough eggs to fill me up, especially since I can't eat toast. But as far as having an option upstairs for when I need it, I'll take it...although I should probably get the stuff necessary to make my own eggs, since I like to live off them in the mornings.
I then forced myself to leave the comfort of my surroundings and go out in search of a supermarket - and, more importantly, an ATM, so that I can pay for things. There's a supermarket about fifteen minutes walking from the hotel, which was perfect - I bought a couple of random toiletries and some milk, and I got cash, so I can be a real member of society again. I doubt that I'll cook much while I'm here since the restaurant food is relatively cheap and way easier, but we'll see.
Then I had lunch at Elephant Cafe. It's entirely vegetarian, but I didn't mind - I had the laksa, which is like a yellow curry with rice noodles, and it was so fucking good. The view of the jungles and rice paddies beyond the restaurant was pretty lovely as well. Then I took a taxi home, and when I got here I swore I would only lie down for fifteen minutes...and that turned into a two hour nap. Oops.
But I rallied and dragged myself out of my room, and ran into one of the community managers - she gave me a tour of the whole place, and also introduced me to a girl who appears to be somewhere around my age and is from London. We hit it off, although I'm too tired to go to drinks tonight - I'm trying to keep in the forefront of my mind that the purpose of this trip is to write, not to meet people and be a wastrel, which meant I didn't want to add a hangover to tomorrow's jetlag problems. But meeting people is good, and it was just enough of a social jolt after a couple of days of traveling that I immediately felt happier about my surroundings...
Then I spent three or four hours working - not writing, yet, but taking care of some tax stuff and some email stuff. I had an iced latte at the cafe upstairs (I'm going full-throttle on figuring out if the tourist places have decent ice, since I had ice at both Elephant and the cafe here - will report back in twenty-four hours), and later I had dinner - nasi goreng, which was fried rice with a fried egg on top. It was excellent, and a way better value than the eggs I had this morning. But then, everything is going to feel like a good value here, I suspect - the nasi goreng was less than $3, which probably tells you everything you need to know about why I am guessing I'll eat out way more than I cook here...
But after supper, I was really struggling to stay awake (and didn't succeed entirely - there was a half hour nap somewhere in there, although I was lulled into it by sudden rain outside), so I didn't get much else done. And now I'm going to sleep and hope that these naps didn't wreck my chance overcoming my jetlag...goodnight!
When I woke up, I took a leisurely shower (water pressure was great, which makes me happier than you can know), got dressed, verified that the travel hair dryer I bought actually works on this voltage (success!), and checked out the facilities around me. There's a cafe on the roof, and they let me charge stuff to my room, which was great since I had no cash and was desperate to eat something. The tea was great; the eggs were good, but not enough eggs to fill me up, especially since I can't eat toast. But as far as having an option upstairs for when I need it, I'll take it...although I should probably get the stuff necessary to make my own eggs, since I like to live off them in the mornings.
I then forced myself to leave the comfort of my surroundings and go out in search of a supermarket - and, more importantly, an ATM, so that I can pay for things. There's a supermarket about fifteen minutes walking from the hotel, which was perfect - I bought a couple of random toiletries and some milk, and I got cash, so I can be a real member of society again. I doubt that I'll cook much while I'm here since the restaurant food is relatively cheap and way easier, but we'll see.
Then I had lunch at Elephant Cafe. It's entirely vegetarian, but I didn't mind - I had the laksa, which is like a yellow curry with rice noodles, and it was so fucking good. The view of the jungles and rice paddies beyond the restaurant was pretty lovely as well. Then I took a taxi home, and when I got here I swore I would only lie down for fifteen minutes...and that turned into a two hour nap. Oops.
But I rallied and dragged myself out of my room, and ran into one of the community managers - she gave me a tour of the whole place, and also introduced me to a girl who appears to be somewhere around my age and is from London. We hit it off, although I'm too tired to go to drinks tonight - I'm trying to keep in the forefront of my mind that the purpose of this trip is to write, not to meet people and be a wastrel, which meant I didn't want to add a hangover to tomorrow's jetlag problems. But meeting people is good, and it was just enough of a social jolt after a couple of days of traveling that I immediately felt happier about my surroundings...
Then I spent three or four hours working - not writing, yet, but taking care of some tax stuff and some email stuff. I had an iced latte at the cafe upstairs (I'm going full-throttle on figuring out if the tourist places have decent ice, since I had ice at both Elephant and the cafe here - will report back in twenty-four hours), and later I had dinner - nasi goreng, which was fried rice with a fried egg on top. It was excellent, and a way better value than the eggs I had this morning. But then, everything is going to feel like a good value here, I suspect - the nasi goreng was less than $3, which probably tells you everything you need to know about why I am guessing I'll eat out way more than I cook here...
But after supper, I was really struggling to stay awake (and didn't succeed entirely - there was a half hour nap somewhere in there, although I was lulled into it by sudden rain outside), so I didn't get much else done. And now I'm going to sleep and hope that these naps didn't wreck my chance overcoming my jetlag...goodnight!
1 comment:
would also recommend: mee goreng (fried noodles) and nasi lemak (coconut rice with a bunch of sides like fried chicken, dried anchovies, been rendang, etc). the green colored rice cakes are also a nice, usually-not-too-sweet dessert.
enjoy yourself, friend!
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