Night out in Kuta, Bali!

After a hard day of playing with corals, me and my friend Gili decided to head out to town - the town of Kuta Bali. This is one of the most popular tourist areas around. This is the place of the famous Kuta Beach. For more info on this area, check out my earlier post, "Kuta, Bali".

But first let's go back to a coral from the last post. I forgot to mention the name of it!

This is an Austalomussa rowleyensis, it only has one genus and species.

This is an exceptional large piece and to this date, I've only seen this color morph. A beautiful LPS from Makassar, Sulawessi!

Now let's get back to Kuta, Bali. So we ended up in Kuta square in the late afternoon. It was Sunday and the sun was starting to set.

Kuta is a shopper's dream come true. From high end clothing brands to local beachwear, these outlets have something to offer for everyone.

It was crowded that evening. The main strip was packed. It was good though, we got to check out all the stores and the activities.

There are many night clubs in this area. This one just happened to be called "the club".

So the sun was setting, and I wanted to take some pictures of the sunset. We got lucky and found a parking spot as soon as we turned onto the beach road.


It was Sunday afternoon and the beach was packed. Not only the tourists , but locals as well as nonlocals. People that live far up the mountains frequently come down to Kuta and enjoy the day or the weekend on the beach. There was a nice breeze and it felt like a warm summer night back at home in the Bay Area. Note the picturesque mountain in the background.

Beautiful Bali sunset! It was low tide, and it seem to add to the serenity and calmness to the scenery.

And here I am. I think I lost some weight after the dengue fever.

Another shot of the Bali sunset. It looked like the horizon was on fire and the clouds looked like smoke. I wished my wife was there to enjoy the moment with me!

Another night club, make sense since it is on the beach. Notice the sign for the surfing school. Kuta is world famous for surfing. When it is calm, perfect for beginners. The waves start way out and you can ride it in for a long time. It is relatively shallow in Kuta beach too, adding to the safety. Then there are those days that have monster waves, usually during storms, and the beach gets shut down.

A hard reminder of back at home, Starbucks coffee! Notice not too many people in there. Coffee here is nearly as expensive as in the US. Note the sign for a Hard Rock Cafe megastore. It is next to Starbucks.

Another shot of the main road of Kuta square. Notice the KFC even has dining area upstairs.

These horse carriages are a common site in Kuta. For a little bit of money, you can ride around and get stuck in traffic with cars and motorbikes. When my wife comes to Bali, I want to take her a ride in it.

Check out these scary things. These are called "leyak" masks. I was intrigued by them and I ended up buying one for a friend back at home as a suvenier. Tomorrow, I will discuss this Balinese folklore in detail.

A cute little display of Balinese figurines and sorts.

Check out these two puppets. Puppet shows are very popular, especially among the kids.

This was the coolest thing that night in Kuta. We walked into a puka shell jewelery shop and this was on display. The first thing that came to my mind was, "nice butt!". She was carved out of from a large piece of wood. The board that she is leaning against is the same piece with herself! Now that is talent! The Balinese are extremely talented when it comes to wood carvings. Only if she was real hm..... :)

When I say very talented in wood carving, I mean very talented! Also that night I found some wood carvings of male reproductive organs that was in the shape of an ashtray and a bottle opener! I don't think I could post the pictures here, but if you send me a private e-mail at spsexteme@yahoo.com, I will send you the photos. I guarantee you, you will laugh!

Last but now least, a shot of the golden arches of McDonald's. I took this blurry picture as we were driving out of Kuta. The Mickey D's sign stood out like a sore thumb!

The next post is on the story of the Bali folklore "Leyak".

cheers,
Eddie