Thang Tang: Bali

The dogs were coming.

Barking madly, chasing some foreigner down the street, rabies practically dripping off their flashing teeth. It was nighttime, and it was just me and Michael, plus the other foreigner, running for dear life. Despite the recent outbreak of rabies on the island, we had no vaccination, and they were coming towards us. Our hotel was still a good 20m ahead. Could we make it there safely before the dogs reached us?

We ran.

And not without an edginess that later turned into laughter did we round the corner just in time, and watch the dogs and their target fly past. You know, I'll always wonder what became of that fella.

This was Bali, our holiday destination from April 29th to May 6th, and ultimately what Michael and I had been counting down for 64 days prior: Thang Tang! It was an interesting land, where every 2m someone is trying to force you to spend money. We got this message pretty quick on our first night. It was 2am and we were looking around our hotel, getting a feel for the place, when some guy stopped his moped to offer us a few things.

"You guys want transport?" "No, thanks, we're good."
"Marijuana?" "No thanks."
"...Mushrooms?" "...No!!"



That was the story of the week. But apart from that, we had a really good time, helped along by the excess of banana: banana pancakes, banana smoothies, banana splits, banana juice... It was our mission to have our daily banana supplement, and we did it with ease, and then some.

More photos here.

We didn't rush around like I do most of my holidays; this was our chance to take it easy and just relax. We did move around a bit though, staying 2 days in Kuta, Sanur and Ubud in turn, and went on a tour that took us up as far north as Mt Batur, an active volcano with scars of burnt destruction all down its side. That was pretty awesome. Not to mention all the temples and other places inbetween. I must reserve a special mention to the guy at the spice field (where they harvest and refine everything from coffee to chocolate to cinnamon). I got the impression he was a little nuts, but he had a great fun personality and was the only person on the whole damn island who gave us something for free - the best mocha I think I've ever had - and didn't pressure us to buy something. Props, dude.



I'll never forget the memory (and even guilt) of visiting a small, impoverished village. An elderly lady named Anyu took us - completele foreigners and strangers - into her home and showed us how her family got by. And she didn't ask anything of us until the end, where she showed us her "small business", a collection of humble, handmade souvenirs, and hoped for us to buy something for her efforts. She was a genuinely good person, and it bloody hurt us to say "no". But we just couldn't do it - even aside from the fact that we didn't have much money on us, our bags were small and we couldn't just buy random things and lug them around. So we just left. After some consideration though, we returned and handed her a small donation for her business, and said goodbye.



That was Thang Tang; that was Bali. That was our memorable, enjoyable, and extremely interesting experience.



A few days after I arrived back in Japan, I attended my first Sumo tournament, and it was bloody incredible. Okay, maybe a little too much arse for my liking, but it was so much fun. I took a video of the match of the day, between champion Asashoryu (starts on the right) and Kakuryu. It was really close - check it out.