Saturday, September 13th, 2003 – Day 207
I was up at 8.00am and had a cup of tea. It was a three stage journey to Negara. I had to get a brown beano (public transport mini-bus) to Batubtilan. This was easy and it was ready outside the local market. The price was 5,000 IR. Usually they jack up prices for foreigners but I had checked it with a local. It took an hour.
I then transferred at Batubtilan for Ubung. I was overcharged. It should be 3,000 IR but I paid 5,000 IR. No big deal. We had to wait 40 minutes before it filled up. It was very hot and stuffy. It took only 25 minutes. I then walked to the local bus station and paid 20,000 IR for the 3 hour journey to Negara. It was a fairly pleasant journey on a big bus but half of the people were smoking. I got there around 1.00pm.
It is a small town and only one hotel is available called the Wari. Its really a one street town and I walked the 15 minutes from the bus station to the hotel. It was 65,000 IR for their most basic room. I booked in and walked around. It was stuffy and hot and my room only had a tiny electric fan that plugged into a socket.
Negara in West Bali is the capital of Jembrana district, and the home of
the famous buffalo races, which run between July and October.
It was a quite boring day. There is little to do in the town. I was there for a bull race that the tourist office in Ubud mentioned. When I got here, it turns out that there is no practice here tomorrow and the next races will not be held until September 21st.
They get few tourists in this town. They were only 2 restaurants on the main street and no bars etc. I spend the day saying Hello to people. Every 20 yards, someone would say Hello Mister, Hello etc. Due to my good upbringing :), I had to respond with a Hello. It was OK at first but you soon get fed up with it.
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Ubud – Bali – Indonesia – Negara – look how strong we are (13-09-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Ubud – Bali – Indonesia – Negara – kids (13-09-2003)
I walked around quite a lot. It was nice to see the horse and cart taxis and there is a major indoor market here as well. Too many HELLOS drove me out.
I ate in a local restaurant. I got chicken curry and rice for 5,000 IR. I had Dinner in the hotel restaurant. I had fried chicken for a change and a beer. Full meal came to 25,000 IR. I spoke with the hotel owner for a while. He said the practice was on at 8.00am tomorrow and he would drive me out there at 7.20am. I agreed. Nice guy!