Continuing with the 11 points:
8. DVDs: For me, the delight was in finding DVDs in roadside shops. Bali seems to have legalized piracy. The last time I bought $1 DVDs was in Beijing – surreptitiously on a side street. Here, the shops are there everywhere. 10,000 Rupiah per DVD, with bulk discounts. Almost every new movie is available.
9. Queen’s of India restaurant: The majority of our dinners were at this restaurant on the Kartika plaza road. We spoke to the chef on the first day, and he made excellent Jain food for us. That is something we have discovered as the trick to ensuring Jain food anywhere on the planet – find an Indian restaurant, speak to the chef and promise repeat business!
10. The Traffic: If there is one issue in Bali, it is the increasing traffic jams. Nusa Dua is far from everywhere, so any ride is about 30 minutes. With traffic, it can increase by 20 minutes. The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in traffic. Most of the arterial roads are 2-lanes each direction, and can get quickly congested.
11. The Currency: I have never made millions of any currency so often! One US dollar equals 8,500 Indonesian Rupiah, so you can imagine. I finally figured an easy way to do the conversion to Indian rupees – chop off the last 4 digits, and multiply by 50.
