KUTA BEACH

It was our longest 7 kilometers from the overrated GWK Cultural Park where we paid IDR 125,000 each to gawk at huge monuments under a sweltering heat, to the Harris Hotel and Residences at Sunset Boulevard as we inched our way in a monstrous traffic jam of the horde that descended upon Bali for the New Year celebrations.  

7 kilometers in 3 hours.

Fortunately, our post-diarrhea lunch at Nasi Ayam Ibu Oki in Nusa Dua settled well but we missed the sunset at Kuta Beach and ended up with a sate babi dinner after exploring the evening atmosphere of the Kuta Market and exchanging our last $100 for IRD 14,500,000 that partly paid for the next day's Padang breakfast. 

4 kilometers in 54 minutes.

We have been warned of the horrendous traffic to the Ngurah Rai International Airport which means we will really miss the famous Kuta sunset so we walked to the market instead the morning before our flight, had that Padang breakfast, went through the list of the dead etched at the Bali Bombing Memorial, haggled for Balong's souvenir key chains, hydrated with coconuts at Kuta Beach while watching surfers clash with the waves before Grabbing back to the hotel. 

3 kilometers in 31 minutes.

By then, we realized that we just want to go home and decided to Grab a sate feast for lunch to honor the memory of our excellent dinner at Pasar Desa Adat Legian, a surprising breakfast at Pura Lempuyang, the regular babi guling for lunch after Tirta Gingga, and that amazing dinner outside Bobocabin. 

We headed to the airport by 7 pm although our flight is at 1 am the next day just to be sure that we will survive yesterday's carmageddon, and ended up killing 2.5 hours at the airport's High Tide Bar where we blew our remaining IDR 900,000 while waiting for our check-in gate to open.

6.7 kilometers in 30 minutes.

10 hours after PR 538 took off from Bali, we arrived in Bakal 2 to new bedroom doors being installed and my annual hosting of the Thursday Group's traditional New Year's party before submitting my sleepless self to the mercy of San Miguel Beer pale pilsen 30 minutes before the fireworks welcomed 2024...