beach cowboys
kuta has got some unexpectedly quaint touches; startling balinese dragon heads peering out from behind the neon signs, flower offerings to hindu gods placed outside every roadside stall, and haircuts for considerably less than the obscene amount i paid in mumbai. it remains however little more than a package holiday resort, and not really my kind of place.i did however spend a hilarious afternoon lazing on kuta beach yesterday. wherever i go in south east asia, i'm an object of interminable curiousity to the locals... whatever i choose to respond to the inevitable 'mister, where you from' is never fully believed: i don't talk like an indian, but don't look like i'm english ('you english? you spend too long in sun?') it does mean that i get involved in quite a bit of banter with people as they work me out, and yesterday i got adopted by a gang of the young indonesian lads that work the beach. these guys are legends, spending all day lying on the beach, surfing, and hitting on the ladies. they think that western tourists are the easiest in the world, and with good reason. it's amazing how many middle aged ladies are so easily convinced that some perfectly formed twenty one year old youth has fallen in love with them after a couple of hours of formulaic flattery. i spent a cracking afternoon comparing notes on different nationalities (these boys have got pretty much the complete set between them), watching them brazenly hit on anything that moved ('younger ones pretty but older ones more money'), kicking a football about on the beach, and generally taking it easy whie admiring the audacity of the guys.
all good fun but off to lombok tomorrow, hopefully to find some more inspiration and get back on the proper travelling trail.
posted by bicrom @ 4:12 am
<< Home