Tag 7: In giro in scooter

Surprise! The muscle soreness from trekking was minimal, so we rented a scooter. Luckily, Padi is an experienced scooter driver and is already accustomed to driving on the left. We had a 125cc scooter, which allowed us to adapt well to the traffic here, as people usually drive around 80 km/h in town. 

We visited the famous rice terraces and checked them out. We had no motivation to walk around. But the rice terraces are quite touristy and everywhere you are expected to buy something, which is rather annoying. 

In the evening, we watched a procession for Nyepi (New Year’s festival on March 28) in a small town outside. However, we left early because we unfortunately have very little patience. The locals had been waiting by the roadside since 5 PM, which was when the procession was supposed to start. We quickly went for dinner at 7 PM, thinking that since it was already two hours delayed, we wouldn’t mind waiting further. When we returned at 10 PM (according to the schedule, this was supposed to be the end of the festival, where everything is burned), everyone was still waiting. Just before 11 PM, we finally saw the performers. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel because the fire pit was still about 1 km away (and people walk really slowly).

Otherwise, we picked up our laundry from the laundry service, washed and ironed for €8.

In the restaurant, we met two backpackers, one of whom had her 5-month-old baby with her. She is using her parental leave to travel (we have already seen this several times), and the babies are all very relaxed, really cool. As so often, we spoke about the rubbish problem here. Meanwhile, Australians have already implemented waste separation and a garbage collection service here. Additionally, they are showing that recycling is possible. But as long as plastic is so cheap here, everything continues to be packaged in bags. It is also taken for granted that people just throw their trash on the roadside. And since plastic doesn’t decompose, a fire is made from it in the evening when it gets dark. Truly shocking; this is something the world community’s politics should address.