8:44S, 115:12E

Benoa Harbour, Bali, 30 October

Our arrival in Bali was made very easy with our cruising agent Ruth meeting us at the airport to ensure that we got our 2 bags of boat spare parts through customs without any problems.  The whole process through immigration and customs only took 40 mins – a record!

Since we were last here there is a massive amount of construction taking place – apartments, retail shops, hotels and roads which also means constant dirty traffic jams.  My daily walk from the marina is now a through a highway construction zone – not very pleasant and must be done before 7am or it is the equivalent of walking down the medium strip of the Pacific Highway. The construction work goes 24 hours a day and the workers sleep in rough wooden and tin shacks. Apparently Bali is hosting an APEC meeting next year so everything must be completed in time.

Nothing can really prepare you for the heat – 30c by 7am and reaching 40c during the day – yesterday was the first day of the rainy season – so hopefully that will bring some relief. Even with the air conditioning on in the boat it can still be 29 – 34c. Forget makeup – both lipsticks melted the first day.

The other thing you quickly forget is the amount of rubbish everywhere – when I stepped onto the deck after arriving I was greeted by a dead rat in the water, rotting food and rubbish. You see this every day and the marina staff never clear any of the debris (add extreme heat and it is filthy).

On the plus side Dadang has done a fantastic job on the boat and is such a good help – his English and sense of humour is great.  We have had to have the freezer, microwave and bow thruster repaired and we couldn’t have done this without his local knowledge or language. He is now visiting his family for a week before he sets sail with us to Singapore.

Now on the plus side I have managed to do 2 yoga classes (2 hours and very tough), have 2 $10 massages and had some great meals for $7 – now that’s the Bali on the postcards!  Bottles of water are 20c each and mangoes roughly the same. But they love sugar with everything – it is even hard to find bread without sugar.

Tonight is the full moon and the Balinese celebrate this every month with offerings and prayers.  Dadang celebrated a Muslim holy day on Friday that encourages sharing with others and where goats and cows are slaughtered as offerings.  The price of goats went up last week to be approx. $177US for a male goat – female goats are cheaper.