In Reply to: Bali Blast from the Past Challenge posted by suew on Saturday, 19. February 2005 at 22:11 Bali Time:
We first went to Bali March 1979, left from Sydney.. it was our (delayed by 2 yrs) honeymoon. The Malaysian airways flight left two days late (blacklisted/strike action)and everyone "camped" out at the airport. Arriving at the Denpassar airport,tiny compared to now,we walked from the plane past an old Air Merpati plane burnt out at the edge of the runway and caught a bemo to kuta. Spent a great month travelling round,on bemos, esp loved Lovina where we stayed in Homestay Agung run by Londoner Bill Pearce. Whilst in Kuta my husband came down with Denghi fever and Bill's Balinese wife Anom nursed him back to health using local medicines that tasted of mud...In Ubud we couldn't afford the Champuan Hotel but the doorman snuck us in each afternoon to swim in the 1930s style pool.We saw Mick Jagger in a bar in Kuta and walked along mud track to Legian.
Since then have returned twice,2001,2002 bit of a change! esp when driving to Sanur from the airport to find the rice paddies we remembered bicycling past in 1979 had become a highway with industrial estates along side. However we still found the old Bali peeping through the concrete and even returned to the North and stayed at the same homestay now run by an American Gus and just as lovely. We even managed a few nights at the Champuan Hotel, but the highlight was Honeymoon guest houseand CasaLuna bakery and staying in Amed.
Since then our lives have been turned upside down with the death of our lovely 17yr old son. We would like to return to Bali again,but I am nervous about whether we can cope with all the bustle and hustle of it in our fragile state.I would like to think we could.And that it would be a restorative place to be.