I would begrudge me a day in bed yesterday, and regret it.

So I forced a liter of water down me in the AM at 5AM, and went back to sleep for 1 hour, then woke up and had a coffee, the local coffee is nice even though it has been excreted by a little furry creature. (Kopi Luwak.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak

I then headed to McDonald and had a mcflurry and an apple pie for $2. The apple pie is what I call Bali portion, tiny compared to the rest of the world.
I had a large burger meal 2 days ago with ice-cream for $3/£2.80. So large I could not finish the fries or coke.

To understand my relief at being able to eat you would have to see my previous post.

Not content and wanting to make sure I had made a breakthrough with eating, I found this superb place with excellent food.

The next 2 photos are from my phone, the staff were very amused with me taking photos of the food, as am I when someone does it in Poland, but I was doing a google review for them, not facebook.

Trying to re-hydrate I started off with this rainbow juice at 90pence or $1.

Then had beef steak in black pepper sauce with chips and mixed veg, it was sublime and only cost £4. (200gr and super soft.)
Then I finished up with a 1 dollar shake.

Speaking of food my free breakfast just arrived, I declined the banana pancake and had fruit instead, I will finish this article after eating it on my porch before the ants find it.

I digress.

Understanding Bali.

I took a stroll down the beach here in Singaraja last night.

I noted most hotels are still closed, some may never open again, and then came across the one in my first photo that was open, so I decided to sit and have a beer, they charge way over the price compared to a bar just for the view. (still only £2 a bottle.) And I got talking to the young barman and had a great chat about the rona, and his disbelief in any form of government.
Now as always happens here, and I mean always, after not even finishing 1 beer the conversation turned to money and how he was going to work on a cruise but cannot afford a passport, at 1,200,000 ($60.)

I tend to either switch off or pay the bill and walk away at this point.
Everywhere I go, no matter if it is a resort and talking to the owner, or just someone on the street or in a bar, the conversation always turns to money and what they need within an hour. Sometimes like at this bar, within 20 mins.

Now to understand why and not to judge, you have to read some of my previous posts about the 2 and a half year lockdown here with the airport closed that has devastated the locals, hotels and small businesses.

Everyone here needs money due to that, so do not judge them as they have had a very tough time for an island that relies on tourists.

This abandoned hotel was next to the open one, the only open one, with 1 customer as in ME.
The keys were in the door, on the outside, I could have gone in but chose not to.

That was also empty inside with the keys in the door, can you imagine what these were once worth and how they thrived, well that is no more, and all the jobs that went with running these places are gone too, so put yourself in these peoples places, people like me are their last hope, for now.

If we put it another way, this place was full of tourists 3 years ago, now there is only ME.

I walked the beach for miles and everyone says hello, so happy to see us coming back, but the inflow is not enough, there is hardly anyone here and with the cost of living crisis the world over, I see it hardly likely to change anytime soon.

Over there in the distance is a place called Lovina Beach (Pantai Lovina) which I will visit in an hour with a stroll a few miles down the beach, there are a handful of tourists there at least, for the locals to sell to.

Understanding not hate.

It would be easy to get into the mindset of "everyone wants my money" they do, but the above explains why, just smile and enjoy the moment, hate is a negative trait, not one to carry around as it will only ruin the experience, I can only imagine what these people have been through, losing everything they owned, and the banks have no interest in selling the hotels, which means people will likely not come back. R.I.P. the Bali of old.
I still enjoyed coming here and this is now my last month before I move on to see what happened to Thailand, as they suffered the same.

Have a superb day, I am off to buy pearls from my security guard, why not, at least he will have money and me something to show for it, win, win.

Have a superb day, peace and out.