Bali, Indonesia and Kuta

There isn't a whole lot to say about Kuta, so far at any rate.  I may spend another day or so there before I leave Bali, but my first impressions are that it is a tourist town that is quite busy, that it's more expensive than Jakarta, and that it has the unfortunate claim to fame of being the place where terrorism came to Bali.  Kuta is the where the nightclub that was suicide bombed in 2002.  There is a shrine to the incident and the victims somewhere, but I was unable to find it during a half-hearted attempt on my first day in town.  But overall, aside from the beach, there isn't really much to recommend Kuta.  It's one of those places where you want to get out of rather quickly, so that you can find more interesting things to do and experience.  But they had a nice beach, and I went and sat on a beach chair for a while (before the torrential rain started), reading a book and having the chair tender offer to send a woman to my room later that night.  That day there was a fairly heavy surf and it made a lot of soothing noise and made for some nice photos.  At least I think so.

Given the weather, there wasn't a lot of people on the beach.

And once I had gotten my laundry done, it was a good place to leave behind.