Wednesday October 20th 2004 in Kuta Bali

Today I revisited the Hyatt hotel in Sanur to gather more info for my review which will be online by ther time you read this.

The quality of hotels I see really varies and so does he size. One of my recent reviews was the Green Garden in Tuban. This ‘tourist class’ hotel is friendly but cramped, while the Hyatt is expansive as well as expensive.

Meeting Barrie and Candika again was great and I think Barrie is geting used to the Bali water.

I myself have a touch of the Bali Belly for some reason, nothing seroius but enough to delay some of my information gathering sorties. I was talking to a lady in the bodybuilding nutrition industry at the dinner in Jimbaran. She reckoned that Bali Belly is all about acid imbalance, I reckon its bacterial. She also said the Indonesian food was awful, greasy and full of oil. I agree nasi goreng is like that but nasi padang style doesn’t have to be. If you want to eat healthy check out the padang style places and include Warung Gossip in Kerobokan, Warung Batavia on Jl. Raya Kerobokan, Warung Mimpi on Jl. Dhyana Pura and Warung Nikmat on Jl. Bakung Sari in Kuta / Tuban.

The other night Ika and I rode back from Jimbaran and at a junction on Jl. Raya Kuta I could see the pollution from the cars and bikes going through the intersection. It was like a toxic fog and since that night I have been wearing my pollution mask with a Kleenex jammed inside it. I can’t believe people breathe that stuff in everyday and manage to live.

I had another moment to remind myself we live in a global society now. Late the other night I was riding home down a fairly quiet Poppies II and heard some noise coming from a bar. The noise sounded strangely familiar and riding past I saw a soccer game was on the TV. I could hear the crowd chanting ‘We’re the Northbank, we’re the Northbank, we’re the Northbank Highbury’ the same chant the home fans at Arsenal used to sing when I stood on the Northbank terrace back in 1978 when I was a kid.

We’re having lovely weather. If you are thinking of coming to Bali come on out now before the rainy season.