First stop: kuta, Bali

So, I left Newcastle on an 18 hour journey on Saturday afternoon and arrived into Bali at 4pm Sunday. Not bad for someone who usually cries on planes and scrapes at the hand of the person I’m travelling with. I made it!! In one piece! No tears! So proud of myself. I got off the plane, got through passport control, picked up my bag then went to meet my ‘pick up’ who I was told would be holding a sign. Ha ha one thing no one told me is that at the airport exit there are hundreds of people holding signs. Advice if you ever come here would be to bring your glasses – I didn’t do that, so I spent about 15 minutes in sheer panic, trying not to cry, whilst squinting and trying to read all the signs to find my name!! Eventually I found it- phew!!

After about 15 mins in the car I got to my hotel and I soon realised that the sun sets early here- 6pm ish- so no time to sunbathe! I hadn’t slept since Friday night so I thought I’ll eat then have an early night. I didn’t realise that the mozzies had surrounded my ‘Casper’ legs already and had bitten me to shreds – silly first night mistake (and I had brought jungle spray with me too doh!) ?

The next day I woke up after a glorious 12 hour sleep to find my legs covered in bites- great! That was me not looking remotely sexy in my bikini for the rest of the week. Off I went for my breakfast mmmm maybe some toast , yogurt and cereal. No silly, in Indonesia we have noodles, chicken, vegetables and fried rice for breakfast – yummy!!

I then settled by the pool and stayed there watching the world pass by for the rest of the day! (Squeezed in some yoga practice too) It got me thinking though- I can’t just stay in the hotel for the whole time by myself I need to go and see this place! So I decided to venture out, alone to this new place and walked the 25 minutes to kuta. I don’t know if I got to kuta or not as I had a massive culture shock! I was tooted at, yelled at and harassed by market stall people. It’s so different when you’re alone as you have no back up when you say no! Then I got lost when I accidentally walked down a back alley. When the hyperventilation set in and my eyes started watering I remembered ‘I am an independent 31year old, I’m not a child’ so I pulled myself together, shoulders back and found my bearings. What could make me feel better now? Shopping? I went to a stall where I bought some great yoga trousers, 2 pairs of Pom Pom shorts (just what everyone needs) and some anklets for a grand total of £7 -BARGAIN!

Okay, so I’ve managed to get to kuta (I think) and buy some stuff, next challenge is eating , ALONE. Sh*t!

I found a place to eat, ordered chicken satay and rice (fiver) and sat and people watched. Do you know what? It was totally fine, no problem what so ever. I did it!! We all think that others are bothered about us and that they are judging, but just from that one experience I’ve realised no one cares ha no body was bothered I was alone, they were all thinking ‘what shall I eat?’

So my first 24 hours in Bali has come to an end and I didn’t expect all these new learnings so soon. Now I need to get through the next week by myself before travelling north to my yoga teacher training ?

Good night all!

Love

christie

xxx

First stop: kuta, Bali