We awoke in the morning eager for breakfast but after wandering around for a bit couldn’t locate the dining room. We saw one of the bungalow boys who helped us check in and inquired about breakfast. He asked us for our order and said he’d bring it straight to our door. Are you kidding? Haha, too much! A prompt 15 minutes later and here comes bungalow boy with our omelettes, banana pancakes, fruit bowls, and coffee. Room service for $10/night. Craziness!
After breakfast Jo and I went out to get a good price on scooters so we could head up the road a ways and explore the surrounding areas. C’mon, how hard can it be to drive on the left-hand side of the road, right? We negotiated two scooters for $40,000 RP each, which is about $4 for the day. We threw on our ill-fitting helmets, hopped on, and away we went!
These scooters are a blast! They’re just little 125cc scoots, so not much power or suspension. They sure are squirrelly compared to my Aprilia back home. Jo did great for her first time riding a scooter and now that I’ve been here a few days the left-hand driving doesn’t freak me out quite as much as it did before. I still take extra time when pulling out and making turns to make sure I’m actually on the right side of the road… or left I should say!
Scootering was loads of fun and a great way to get out and see the neighboring areas. The wind also feels great during the hottest part of the day. In no time at all we got comfortable squeezing around cars, getting within millimeters of passing vehicles, and generally driving like a Indonesian. You just close your eyes and go for it. The drivers here are all very skilled, which is not at all what I can say about drivers in the US.
My only near miss was coming back into town when I had to make a right-hand turn. Making a right-hand turn from the left lane is more than a little strange, especially when there is a big statue in the middle of the road. It was a round about but in the wrong direction and I couldn’t figure out which side of the statue I was supposed to be on. Somehow I decided to try ALL the lanes and then quickly realized I was in the wrong turn lane and on the wrong side of the road, but corrected and luckily no one died. Jo was behind me laughing hysterically.
After a refreshing swim break I convinced Joya to hop on the back of my scooter and we all scooted down the road for dinner, laughing hilariously the whole way as I tried to handle this little tiny scooter with Joya on the back behind me. We had another fabulous dinner of fresh grilled barracuda and one of the local warungs and then returned to the bungalow for a relaxing evening on the porch. We even discovered that our bungalow has a built-in bathroom snake. Hopefully he’s the non-poisonous kind.
