Today we traveled from Tulamben to Sanur. We will only be in Sanur overnight as we wait to catch the ferry to Nusa Lembongan tomorrow morning. Sanur is a heavily touristed area and it is obvious once you arrive here. You are accosted every minute by someone trying to sell you something. It feels a bit uneasy knowing everyone is looking at you like a walking ATM and trying to figure out how they can extract a few rupiah from you.

The ride from Tulamben to here was very enlightening. We hired a car to take us here rather than spend half the day on bemos having to change 3-4 times along the way and haggling prices with each one. Having 'TOURIST' tattooed across your head has its disadvantages sometimes.

We left Tulamben around 9:30 and didn't make it 1 kilometer outside of town when we came to a police roadblock. Our driver just waved at the cops and went around it. He started to tell us that one of the cops was his friend when we hit a second block and he had to stop. He quickly asked us for 5,000 rupiah (about $0.60) which we gave him. He got out of the car and walked back to meet the officer. He spoke to him for all of about 10 seconds and quietly slipped the rupiah to the cop and we drove off without any more discussion.

Once we had gotten out of earshot, he explained that they were the 'corruption' police and that the money does not go to the government, but to their own fund for parties and the like. We had heard this existed here, but this was our first time seeing it. He told us that the first stop he knew the officer and didn't need to stop, but the second one was someone he didn't know and therefore he felt he needed to stop.

A little while later he asked us to roll up the windows for a few minutes. We were coming into another area where police are known to set up roadblocks and he explained that with the windows rolled up they couldn't see into the vehicle. I can only surmise that he didn't want them seeing in for one of two reasons. If they saw us, they would know there were tourists in the car and stop us to extract rupiah. Or, he didn't want them to be able to see his face when he didn't stop. I'm more inclined toward the first reason:)

We finally arrived in Sanur and said good-by and thanked him for the entertaining ride. We also told him to keep the 5,000 extra rupiah we had used to pay the fine for him. It was worth the $0.60 to have the experience!

So here we are in Sanur and we can't wait to get out. Nusa Lembongan is a tiny island with electricity only part of the day, but there are beautiful beaches and great diving. We will be there for 4-5 days before heading back through here on our way to the airport in Kuta. The maps will tell you that the airport is in Denpasar, and that's what it is called, but Kuta is actually the town it is located in.

Kuta was the site of the October 2002 nightclub bombing here and the economy of Bali has never fully recovered. Tourism has been down ever since which has really hurt the locals. We will only be overnighting in Kuta and don't plan to go out and hit the discos anytime soon:)

For now, it's off to find a cold beer and a place for dinner. Such is the life of the traveler.

Until next time, don't let 'the man' get you down:)

Val and Eric