It’s a great time for visitors to Bali with fabulous sunshine and very warm and humid days. Actually, it makes a nice change from the downpours we had four days ago. Tourism has increased both internationally and domestically and the main shopping centres of Kuta Square and Centro Discovery in Tuban reporting great trade. With the domestic tourists in town there has been the ubiquitous macet (traffic jams) on Jalan Pantai Kuta with the local tourist buses blocking off one lane so the buses can park to eventually collect their passengers. The problem with this is that the traffic (kendaraan) travelling along Jalan Legian ‘banks up’ and those people travelling down to the beach have also to tackle the problem of traffic entering Jalan Pantai Kuta from Kuta Square. Add to that the ‘bank up’ of traffic on Jalan Kartika Plaza wishing to enter Kuta Square, and you have one heck of a traffic congestion on four main roads! Usually after sunset everything is quieter and back to normal. But heck, during the traffic mania it is one very big headache for the police posted at crossroads and not a time for any person without patience (sabar).
As for yours truly, I am getting out of the craziness that is Kuta and tomorrow I will be heading up country for a few days on a road trip to the north-east coast to do a bit of exploring. The plan, although I hate planning anything, is to head up to the Dusa turn-off on the road to Singaraja to the north of Kintamani and head down to the coast. After that I will drive down the north-east coast road exploring and eventually end up at Amed. From there it will be a matter of wherever travel takes me.
If you are coming to Bali in the next few days then pack your sunscreen as the UV rating is at Extreme. This is a fabulous time to visit Bali right now as the surf is good, the shopping even better than ever and the sunsets even more glorious.
