Seraya to Kuta, Bali

The start of the long journey back. A farewell to island life.

A boat, hours of sitting in cafes, eying up rats the size of a small cat, and eventually a plane to Bali.

We walked into this one knowingly: the heart of tacky Bali, Kuta, near the airport. We've managed to book a hotel in its heartland and gaze, innocents with gaping jaws, at the commercial tack of it all. We knew where we were going and what it'd be like - but nothing quite prepared for this. Ul describes it as the pleasure planet in a bad 70's science fiction. There is something deeply wrong about it all.

We eat fittingly tasteless frozen deep-fried seafood and try to spot interesting looking people. Half the passers-by look lost. I can see it could be fun, but it has no soul. So much for Bali and the Hindi culture, although it is definitely a worthy cultural experience.

We did find the beach as it got dark. Mollified by cold beer and bats.