Singapore Airport & Kuta, Bali

After a night in Nai Yang Beach, Phuket, we took a flight from Phuket to Singapore, Singapore to Denpassar, Bali, but not without having a 4.5 hour layover in the amazing Singapore Airport. 

Arriving at the Phuket Airport via rebar tuk tuk:

The airport was ridiculous. From what we saw in just a small potion of the entire airport, the airport was home to the following: a movie theater, a sunflower rooftop garden, a Tiffany's store, 100,000,000 restaurants, temples, a coy fish pond with a glass overlook thing, a 7/11 where we bought beers and drank them in some lounge area, touch screens in the bathrooms to rate your bathroom experience and just about 1000 more fantastic, weird things you can think of. Oh and my mom send me a pic of my diploma when we arrived to Singapore! 

We finally arrived in Denpassar at 9pm that night and checked into Waringin Homestay in Kuta, only after being shafted by a cab driver and walking in circles for 30 minutes trying to find our hotel. 

Our hotel:

In the morning we ventured out of the hotel to the infamous Kuta Beach. Along the way we were bombarded by hundreds of hawkers who had shops set up along every square inch of poppies I and II. We noticed a dramatic change in the overall vibe, culture and dynamic in that of the Balinese people in Kuta, compared to the Thai. Everyone was still nice and friendly, maybe even friendlier, but they were using new words like "darling and honey" and acted more desperate to sell items. We also noticed an increased amount of offerings all over the streets, sidewalks and beach, which was interesting. 

We finally found Kuta Beach, which was the opposite of what we had expected. The water was dirty and there was trash everywhere I'm guessing because of the monsoon season, but it was extremely refreshing to see surfers and waves!!! 

Kuta Beach: 

An offering on the sand: 

We walked around town that afternoon and passed tons of brand name stores and restaurants like Zara, Coffee Bean, Mango, Fossil... you name it.  Right off the bat we knew that Kuta wasn't our scene, but we were glad that we could enjoy it aside from the intense hawking and commercialization. 

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Bali?!:

Havaianas vending machine:

We ate our first amazing Balanese meal at a little restaurant on a side street and dined on Nasi Campur, Nasi Goreng, Bintang beer and nachos haha. 

Nasi Campur: 

Nasi Goreng:

Nachos and beer: 

Afterwards we headed to the Bali Bombing Memorial Sight, then (Katie) got a pedicure for $2.50 usd. 

Memorial:

Later in the day we sat at a beach side restaurant and eagerly waited for the infamous Kuta Beach sunset. Cocktails were buy one, get one free so we bought three and got three free....

The sunset never really happened that night because of cloud coverage and a light rain sprinkle, but it was interesting to see the immense amount of people both tourists and locals sitting on the beach together, waiting for and watching the daily sunset. 

 

And later that night Aidan found this...