Does paradise exist...?

Breath in, breath out. Close your eyes. Repeat after me, "I am in Bali, I am in Denpasar, I am in a remote village in Hindu Indonesia on the other side of the world." Yes mom, I'm here and I'm safe, now let me relay our amazing journey here.
We woke up this morning at 6:30 on the beach in Mui Wo, Lantau Island in Hong Kong, not having made it to the touristy area with the Buddha and hiking, etc. So the peak there and the buddha will have to wait for next trip. It's not so disappointing when you get stranded in what I can only describe as the perfect get-away beach with the locals, eating authentic cuisine and drinking 24 oz. beers on the beach in front of your hotel until midnight, shooting the shit about future plans, impossible dreams, and beautiful women - we overpayed this time, 17 dollars each for the night.
So the ride to the airport for our 10am flight took us up and over the hills and mountains of Lantau, through beachtowns and finally to the ugly airport in Tung Chung that has encroached on the serene landscape of monasteries and protected parkland. The flight was great, I watched Ray, which you really should see, Jamie Foxx plays him perfectly. I also enjoyed the red wine immensely, Cathay is officially not banned.
We arrived in southern Bali around 2:30pm, and immediately decided to take a bus to Lovina, a smaller, quieter beach town on the north side, about 3 hours away. The idea is to skip Kuta beach for now and just get somewhere where we can literally do nothing for a day, before climbing waterfalls and scuba diving, of course. After the hassle of visas, luggage, and money (I love how citibank is everywhere, even though I'll quit them on principal when I return for their mistakes with my accounts), we landed a fixed-price taxi to the bus station in Denpasar to link up to a bus to Lovina. This place reminds me of Morocco a lot, especially how everyone is so helpful and smiling all the time. Even the scenery, with flat farmland and rolling hills of lush green colors. The taxi was fine, and the bus ride was an exprience.
We have arrived on some sort of festival day, where everyone dresses up in costumes and erects huge monster statues in the streets - sort of a kids holiday/halloween type thing I think. Anyway, for 3 hours, picture the biggest parade-type situation ever, with the entire island lining the main roads, even up through the mountains. I think perhaps we've already seen the entire population out on the streets at this point. The ride was also a journey through the different stages of humidity possible in a minibus, not to mention when we had to switch buses because the driver didn't want to go any further and talked some other dude into finishing the job. But seriously, when we stepped off the plane it was 90 degrees, the kind of heat where the pants you've been wearing for 3 days now start to stick to your butt. Then you only feel better when there's wind, but each time we stopped for a procession of monsters the wind stops and you get hot. Thank god bottled water is about 18 cents. Then as we drove up into the mountains and it started to rain, and the temperature dropped. The driver didn't seem to mind the wall of mountain mist surrounding the car and limiting vision to about 10 feet, because he still took some of those turns at around 35mph I think. By the time we descended the mountain to the north and stopped for gas, we had cooled off and then our skin just felt nasty again. The amazing thing is, I barely noticed that it took 3 hours, the sights and sounds and incredible motor vehicle skills of the locals has left me astounded. Doyle, you'd love the selection of bikes here, we may have to rent some and drive around in a couple days. So the end of the story is, we got here and found a place to stay even though our first destination was closed. We're paying about 9 bucks for a room with 2 beds with a real bathroom and toilet!about 30 seconds walk from the Balinese Sea. And curry chicken dinner with beers just now was about $5.50 for the two of us, including tip. Sorry for the lengthy post, I get excited.

"I took off my shoes, my feet they took root,
I've got, Bali in my eyes"
-Perry Ferrell