Scootin'

K: The northeastern coast of Bali, generally called Amed, is made up of several small villages. The beaches are rocky and black sand due to the proximity of the still active volcanoes. We decided to venture to Amed to see a less touristy area of Bali. It was only a 2.5 hour journey via minivan from Ubud ($25.00). The jungle seems to reach nearly to the sea, and with the backdrop of the volcanoes, it is a stunning landscape. There is definitely tourism, but each village is quite small, and the general amenities of a larger tourist center are lacking. Yes, it is right up my alley.

As we walked around, we were constantly greeted by smiling local folk, yelling out, "What's your name, where you from?" Or, as everywhere in Indonesia, "Transport, sir?" And transport can mean such a variety of things: motor scooter, car, minivan or even horse-drawn carriage.



Amed scenery








V: Now I thought it was a blast renting the scooter, for $5 for the day--unbelievable!, and it took a little bit to get accustomed to a) driving on the left-hand side of the road, b) that is, the left-hand side of the rather narrow road, c) staying close enough to the right edge of my left-hand side part of the road so I wouldn't drive into the ditch with water running through it on the shoulder of my left-hand side of the road, and d) just hoping large trucks wouldn't blow us over, or off the left-hand side of the road into the aforementioned water-filled ditch.

Got it going pretty well, and only laid it down once, as we both leaned off the scooter to the right, as I lost the tire on some gravel on a too-wide righthand turn (from the left side of the road!). It poured on us towards the end of the ride, and we got soaked.

But Karen was just charming with those village kids, and I liked much the little guy who topped off our tank with "Bensin", you read that right, my Norsk friends! He laughed and we high-fived as we sped off.

I must share my impressions that there is indeed poverty in these Indonesian villages, yet these children were smiling, laughing, curious to see us, as I could sense not a whole lot of us 'white people' are tearing up their road on a scooter. Daily life is tough for some of them, yes, but daily there are smiles on their faces, and laughs echoing in the mountain air. Life's not all that bad when you can smile and laugh.


Sips: Pretty much limited to Bintang beer or our new discovery Hattan (THE Balinese wine). Hattan comes in three varieties: white, red or rose. We have been sticking to the rose as it is chilled. It does bring back memories of our parents drinking Lancers!

Bites: Fish, fish and more fish. We sampled delicous grilled mahi mahi, tuna and barracuda. Our favorite is probably the barracuda. It is a somewhat thick steak with almost a sweet flavor.