Benoa Harbour, Bali

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. |