Seminyak and Padang bai

hello hello I write today from the cute little port city of Padang Bai, located on the east coast of Bali. The past week has been jam packed of relaxation, shopping, people watching and beer drinking. Sunday night was a real night out, Sarah and I made friends with some salsa dancers at a bar called bahiana after dinner, then moved on to club cosmo. figures we would find the only club hosting nightly drag shows and flaming drinks in Seminyak... and just around the corner from our hotel. there was a great rhianna drag queen and some very talented dancers and Sarah and I definitely danced the night away watchingthe fantastic show. after making some friends there we were directed to a club on the beach called la vida loca. a live band playing American top 40 hits as well as hits from the 90s. all of the balinese love playing American music. after stumbling our way home at some ungodly hour, we were pretty much wastes of space the next day until sunset when I walked down to the beach. my god you've never seen a sun like it. dinner at the Zula vegetarian paradise was delicious as ever and we went to bed awfully early. Tuesday we did a bit of shopping around and ended at the beach with our friend Made (the nice long chair rental guy who plays a flute like instrument) and read and swam and sunned for the rest of the day until sunset when we got ourselves some young coconuts and enjoyed them on the beach watching kids play and the sun be awesome. dined at this place called JPs warungclub... i mean I couldnt not go to a JPs in Bali haha.. our food was delicious and the waiter just plopped right down to sit with us and we chatted away the night with him. He introduced himself as "your man" which he thought was hilarious and we never learned hisreal name. He was as happy as can be chatting laughing and teaching us about Bali. there was a band playing more American songs. the keyboard player was great. after that we went down to this other bar on the beach road and saw the most fantastic beetles cover band. age range : 19-60. abilities: intermediate- advanced. english: poor- mediocre. energy and effort: through the damn roof. the 'John Lennon' if the group was definitely the youngest and had a great voice, also tried to speak in a british accent when speaking to the crowd. he would frequently call his band mates by the beatles' names and then 'George' would tell us that this was a very special song for us ( before every song) and then proceed to announce which song they were about the play. the bassman was the oldest and when we talked with them after we learned that his daughter lives in Kansas and just graduated uni and showed us her picture on his blackberry. that was a lovely night. Wednesday came and went very tired. We spent the morning searching around Seminyak ( which is far more vast than we had thought) for a designer clothing shop belonging to a contact of ours here. it's called Mister Zimi, the clothing is gorgeous. We sat down to lunch and read and get out of the heat because we had just walked for about two hours but we saw the coolest handmade furniture shops and nice boutiques and restaurants. we were definitely in the part of the city where you want to buy and try everything but its just too expensive. alas, we took this gorgeous road bordered in flowers and palm trees and beautiful villas to walk back to our area of town where we got ready to hit the beach for our last Seminyak sunset before heading east. we shared a large Bintang and read our book ( ive started reading the game of thrones... I cannot be bothered to put it down..) we dined on appetizers at a fancy little place on the beach street with nice lantern lighting and cool little hand towelettes that expand and moisten when you put them in water, then strolled back to bed. Thursday I got up early and went and had breakfast across the street at our usual spot called warung ocha, where lots of toast with butter and vegetate is only IR 10,000 and a cup of "coffee Bali" is only IR 7000. it's the best place for people watching. not many tourists are out before nine or ninethirty so we would watch the Balinese day begin, people off to work and school, and the women putting out the offerings (small handwoven reed baskets with flowers, rice, incense, and anything else thought to please the gods). These are on the ground in front of every store, restaurant, hotel, everything, everywhere, and the temples are covered with them. I like to sit and watch the kids grabbing on to their parents as they zoom by on motor bikes... following the Balinese driving rules.... whiiiich don't exist.. anywho then we waited for our driver Andreas and he drove us the two ish hrs to Padang Bai and get this - just told us to pay him however much we wanted.. which we decided on our equivalent of $20 and then found out that was way too much... can you beleive it? taking a NYC taxi for like ten minutes might be $20. this place is seriously cheap. we settled into our cute little place called the Marco inn. theres a hammock and a rooftop overlooking the sea, and our sheets are bright green! and only $5.50 each a night! we spent all day at a white sand beach with the clearest blue waters and quietest beach surrounded by palm trees. now THIS is paradise like we imagine it. the way of life here is so laid back, and quiet and friendly. apparently when the waves roll in at the beaches you can see giant turtles swept up in the waves! we will be looking today! to get to the beach you have to hike up and over this rocky hill (daily workout..) and then down to the glorious beach below. we made two friends on the beach, africano and victor; a Balinese and a Dutch. they are really nice and so we chatted with them a bit and got some tips about the area. Had dinner at cafe alola ( very nice place) where we sat on cushions and lounged. there are 3 bars here, all very small and we went to the Sunshine bar last night on the suggestion of victor and africano. what an awesome place. theres one big long wooden table outside that everyone sits at and the inside is teeny tiny. we met some Swiss german speaking people on vacation, a Swiss French speaking guy who teaches diving here, the locals who frequent the bar and those who run it, and a couple from germany here on holiday. we just talked and talked with the background of live reggae music mixed in with some queen and pink Floyd and we have found ourselves some great friends on this island! now it's beach time xx