First days in Bali – Anastasia's Bali

After all the preparation and nervousness before my travel, my journey finally began last Thursday! My friend Anna, who visited me just before I left to the airport, said that this will be the journey of my lifetime… So I decided to give it a name on my own and I chose “WorldLust”. It is a combination of “wanderlust”, which is actually a German word and means the “passion for hiking”. As I don’t want to go just hiking, but to experience the world, I decided on the name “WorldLust” for my travels. ☺ What do you think of the name?

Staying 20 hours in an airplane or in the airport can get annoying but thank God I love to watch movies and I can sleep anywhere. Afterwards I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia. I have read today that after a heavy monsoon rain, parts of the city are flooded… Last week there was no problem to fly in or out. I got my “Visa free visit” without any problems, I also didn’t need to show any flight out of Indonesia or any pass photos. I had to get my luggage though and check it in again as I changed the airplane company from Turkish Airlines to Garuda Indonesia. It takes you about 1 hour to get your luggage, change the terminal from 2 (International Terminal) to 3 (National Terminal) with the free shuttle bus and check the luggage at the other terminal in again. During this process, I met Felix, a German guy from Munich, who is 19 and is travelling around the world for 6 months after finishing high school. He thought I would be studying and would be around 21 years old. Thanks so much again, I feel a lot younger already! ^^ I also became a millionaire in Indonesia although I am travelling as a backpacker. The reason is because 1 € equals about 15.000 IDR!!!

When I arrived in Bali, Indonesia, my couchsurfer, Anastasia, was already waiting for me with a big smile! ☺ I was sooo happy to finally meet her there after just talking on WhatsApp. We took her motorcycle and the three of us: her, me and my backpack fitted perfectly on it ^^ I got my first impression of Kuta: a chaotic and colorful place.

A place you have to go on a motorcycle – sunshine or rain – at least once for the city of the 1000 smells which changes about every 10 seconds: food, flowers, cleaning, animals, ocean, grass, gas, dirt, rain and so much more… I would never drive by myself in such a big city though because of two reasons: 1) it is just too crowded and crazy! And 2) they drive on the left side, so it gets even more confusing for me! ^^

Anastasia and me ready to drive on her motorcycle while it is raining

Where I try to get less confused is with the Indonesian language though. I already learned that “air” means a completely different element: it is the Indonesian word for “water”.

Water you can find everywhere, also for cleaning up after you had been on the toilet. So paper is used here. At least I can use mostly the toilets where I can sit down and don’t have to stand above a hole. ^^ At the public toilets you will find different prices for doing different actions: peeing (“kecil”), pooping (“besar”) or taking a shower (“mandi”). ^^

Toilet fees for your different actions: peeing, pooping or taking a shower

Anastasia taught me so many things about Indonesian people and Bali. She is originally from Surabaya in Java but already lives and works in Bali for about 2 years. She is such a happy bubbly woman full of joy and energy! I had so many good conversations with her and the last three days never got boring around her. Just listening to her already puts a smile on your face!

One of my favorite quotes of her is: “When you are happy, you are healthy!” She totally lives that life!

She also told me that “Australians come to Bali to party (so they stay in Kuta) and Europeans come here to relax.” I guess there are some exceptions as I came to experience the culture and both of the above. 😉

Anastasia and I also talked about life and marriage and she told me in her words that “The ‘Western style’ is to travel a lot and to be very open minded. In contrast the ‘Eastern style’ is that the family has about 70 % to say what you can do and what you have to think.” Therefore, she is also happy to live on another island a bit further away from her family so that she can be a bit more independent.

We went to Taman Ayun Temple, which is located next to a river and is kind of “floating” in a lake. It is beautiful to see! When we passed some men, who were fishing in the dirty river I asked Anastasia: “Do you think that there is some healthy fish in it?” Ana replied: “Well, it depends how you put it… probably it is not healthier than the chemical food from Mc Donald’s or other fast food restaurants. But also, not worse.”