Meeting Asya from St. Petersburg Russia

Friday night I met Asya from Russia, who is at the end of a 2 week trip to Bali. Asya is from St. Petersburg Russia, and having graduated university earlier this year, scored a job with a travel agency, writing some content about Bali.

Her travels have taken her to Kuta / Seminyak, Bedugal, Lovina, Kintamani / Besakih. Asya told me visiting the tropics for the first time was completely new sensation. She said that you can read about visiting places like Bali, but experiencing the climate, culture, people etc. is another thing altogether.

We met at Take Japanese restaurant on Jl. Padma, close to Stadium Cafe (closed). A friend of mine from England, and another long-time expat from Louisiana accompanied. Take is a step up from Ryoshi and their private rooms are spacious. I ordered a sushi boat with big pieces for 125,000rp. Very good!

Asya said that Balinese people are very friendly and its a bit surprsing to be asked ‘Where are you going?” by a complete stranger. ‘Where are you going?’ is a form of greeting, like saying ‘What’s up?’, or “Howdy’, and to many westerners seems funny. Asya wants to return, I advised her that east Bali should be on her list of places to check out.