My advice to anyone going on a holiday is to lose their handphone. Sure, it is somewhat inconvenient. But you will be free! Though I didn’t plan to do it. I left my phone at the X-Ray machine. After the initial grief of losing my so-called lifeline everything turned out OK. Plus I was determined not to let it ruin a perfectly awesome holiday. Potentially.
Bali is awesome and Matahari Bungalow was a lucky break for me. It had an awesome pool and bar. The first night (Saturday) was just relaxing at the hotel. I mistakenly thought that I had surfing lessons on the next day (Sunday) at 11am. So, I waited and waited until 1030am. Good thing I called Bali Learn to Surf to confirm.
In the end, I hanged at Kuta beach. There were way too many tourists. But everything was new. And you know how much I love new things. My hotel was at Legian. The most touristy part of Bali. Luckily with my tan and passable Jakarta Bahasa, I blended right in with the locals. So, no one really harassed me to buy their tour packages and trinkets.
It was just like Phuket except I actually knew what the locals were saying. I refused to buy anything in town. Instead I went shopping outside of the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak area. Having nothing to do on Saturday I just once again lazed around at the bar-pool. It makes me wish I had one of those at home. Sigh! I was also rather concerned that I won’t have enough Rupiah to last me the 8 days. So, I racked up the credit card bills on souvenirs and the like. I figured I could hire a driver for 3 days. And spend 3 days surfing. That afternoon, I actually went looking for a mosque in the most Hindu part of Indonesia. Ironic.
Sunday 1030am my scooter driver Adil arrived to pick me up for my first surfing lesson. Good thing I watched some YouTube videos. Arif started with some basics on the do’s and donts. Then all of the sudden we were in the water. It wasn’t too deep. Thank goodness. I had visions of drowning. It was supposed to be a 2.5 hour lesson. But I was exhausted within the hour. I didn’t want to have a sunstroke on the first day.
Monday 830am I meet Ketut, my driver, who I managed to grow attached to in a week. Sigh! Our first stop was the Barong dance. The costumes were amazing. But it became rather x-rated near the end. Which I found disturbing. Then to a Batik making place which I was mildly intrigued by. I bought a ton of over-priced sarongs. But it was a relief to be able to charge it to my credit card. Then, a silver and gold smith village. I got a nice pendant for T. I had lunch at the lookout point of Mount Kintamani. It was very nice and cooling: a welcome change from yesterday’s hot day the beach.
Then off to a coffee grower. We had fresh coffee, ginseng coffee, cocoa and ginseng tea. I was worried that I would not be able to go to bed tonight. I could not afford to buy the kopi luwok. Apparently the coffee is harvested from the luwok, a muscrat of some such mammal who eats the coffee fruit and poops the bean out. It is then cleaned and processed into the most expensive coffee. USD45, methinks. Ketut rolled me a cigarette, which was too strong for words. Two unfiltered puffs, and I felt dizzy. I hardly made it a quarter way through and had to concede defeat before the seventh drag.
When Ketut and I finished our day, it was almost 6pm. Man! Holidaying is hard work.
Next day, Tuesday 830am, we were off to a market in Bedegul. Very near Lake Bratan. I got a discount at the entrance because they assumed I was Indonesian. Ketut and I had cheap bakso ayam by the lakeside. But not before climbing 3 stories to a hillside mosque. Apparently, there is a strong Muslim community in the mountains. Our next stop was Jati Luwih, with its unique terraced paddy fields. A couple more Sampoerna on this slope overlooking the rice fields. Suddenly, a strange white man parked next to Ketut’s taxi, jumped out and snapped a picture then took off in his car again.
The main event for the day was the famous Pura Tanah Lot. It was low tide when I arrived. Though we could not go into the temple itself. Obviously, I was too early for the sunset. In any case, it was rather cloudy and I was somewhat tired.
Wednesday 830am was more surfing. I overcame my fear somewhat of drowning. And actually enjoyed my second lesson. I was rather pleased with myself as I didn’t fall as much. I was actually riding a couple of waves. The waves were bigger somewhat. I was really tired and fell asleep at the hotel. Later that night, I went to have drinks in Seminyak. Couldn’t decide on a taxi for fear of not having enough money. Walked along the beach again to the hotel.
Ketut came a bit late on Thursday: after 9am. Went to Nusa Dua. Lots of watersports but no beach. It was a bit of a disappointment. Because I thought I could lepak as I didn’t want to be rushing all over the place on my holiday.
Worried that I didn’t have enough souvenirs for people, the previous night, I called up my sister who arranged for Maybank to call me so that I can activate my ATM card for use overseas. Now that I have some mullah, we went to Ubud. I did more shopping. Sheesh! It is an amazing place. Quite touristy but I kinda liked it. I am always fascinated by markets. After, we went to see the Tegalalang waterfalls. Had a smoke overlooking the falls. It was terribly relaxing. Then off to Uluwatu. It was this cliffside temple. They made you wear a sarong if you were not decently coverered. They even gave me a sash to put around my waist. The significance of which I cant recall. The monkeys were trained hostage takers: warned my guide Ketut. So no valuables like sunglasses etc. They would snatch em and trade you for snacks. Apart from that the monkeys were pretty adorable. I walked around the Kecak dance theatre. Alas, I was too early: the show starts at 6pm.
Went to a club that night and had drinks.
The following day, I was going surfing. I planned to spend the last day just lounging by the pool some more or get a massage. So, it was my last day with Ketut. I grew pretty attached to him. It was very Shakespearean parting. I was starting to miss him and Bali. I went to withdraw more cash and change currency so that I could pay Ketut. That was when I ran into Abbie and her mum Yvonne. They were about to have dinner and invited me too. Dinner was spicy Indonesian chicken. After dinner, I had to practise my play. I asked Abbie to join me at the pool to run my lines. I realized that I really need to work on my lines. Sigh!
Friday was more surfing. They said I would be using the hard board. But that didn’t happen. I still used the soft board. Sigh! I was getting the hang of it. But as I said, I feared drowning and I didn’t catch much waves because I was plain tired. Afterwards, I went to bed. Didn’t do much until night time. Went to another club that night and tried to finish my rupiah. That turned out to be a bad idea because I forgot all about excess baggage and airport tax etc.
It was a nice break. Now I am worried about my play. Also that I may not be have a job at the end of the year. Sigh.
