Day 2: Denpasar Rally

After a solid sleep, I woke to a steady hum outside the window.  When I went to inspect, I saw a stretch of road about  300 metres long packed with motorbikes and scooters jostling alongside each other.



Non-stop traffic, absolute chaos on the roads of Denpasar.

 I spent around 24 hours in Denpasar and the whole time I was there, the buzzing of motorbikes and whizzing of scooters never once threatened to let up.
  So walking along the street, felt like we were involved in 'The Denpasar Scooter Rally'.  It is also became clear that not many foreigners passed by the streets we walked, which was easily expressed in the surprised gaze of many of the locals. 

Turning off the main street, we explored with the enthusiasm of two travellers - delighted with the unfamiliarity of a very foreign country.

Denpasar: A typical shop/store

Denpasar Cinema (It's not a joke!!)

Walking further we stumbled upon a market selling local produce which also provided some respite from the sweltering heat.  We also found another friend who was only too happy to escort us around the market...

Our 'tour guide' : Like shopping with a gun to your head.

and take us to her sister's shop

Little need to buy dried fish, we live in Korea.

and her friends stall

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and then just assume that every time we stopped we got the hard sell.  This is my Aunt's/Brother's/Father's/Cousin's Store and their Fruit/Spices/Clothing/Jewelery is by far the best you will ever see or taste. 

Health and safety would have a field day here.

Fresh? Tuna

Market produce

Fruit and Veg

Whilst our 'guide' was friendly and amusing, it would have been far more fun if we weren't constantly being pressurised to buy something so we bought some rambutans to shut her up.

Service with a smile.

Rambutan

  They are very similar to a lychee  - really sweet and very tasty.

Our guide spoke good enough English to have a pretty interesting conversation and said that we could ask her any questions we had.  The only one that came to mind was how much was this little tour going to end up costing us (the answer came a little later = 15000IDR).

Back out onto the streets we walked a little further noticing that the traffic was slowing to a halt because of a ceremony.

Hindu Ceremony

We came across countless Hindu Ceremonies whilst in Bali.  They can happen for numerous different events and sometimes consist of hundreds of people.

Houses on the river.

Bathing

It'll Fit.

Time out

Forever blowing bubbles.

Siesta: Not dead, just sleeping.

While Denpasar is memorable for little other than it's constant flow of traffic, it was so much fun to explore more authentic areas. So after a day it was time to get packed up and move on.