Sitting here in O'Briens waiting for the airport shuttle what should I do but cry into a Bintang and log on to the Forum?
Today of course is a sad day but it could only be so in Bali because yesterday was so bagus and in Bali things always have opposites. As we have come to say to our taxi drivers,
'I know your wife is so beautiful! Cantic, cantic.'
'How do you know my wife Papa?'
'I do not know your wife but I know she is the most beautuful lady in all of Bali.'
'How do you know that Papa if you do not know my wife?'
'I know because we are in Bali, and in Bali there are the mountains and there is the sea. There are the Gods and there are the demons. There is the black and there is the white. There is the left hand and there is the right hand. Everything has an opposite. Am I not right?'
'You are indeed right Papa but how do you know my wife is so beautiful?'
'It is easy my friend. I know your wife is so beautiful because are so ugly!'
Silence -
- followed by howls of laughter and much slapping of the knees, both his and mine.
Never tell me that the Balinese don't have a wicked sense of humour.
But I digress from Haaris and the Negara kids.
Haris got involved because the laptop that we bought had a tendency to be a bit unstable and I remembered the Bali Cyber Cafe and Restaurant that Haaris runs, so we paid him a visit. A friend and Forumite described him to us in an e-mail as a good bloke. He proved to be that and more as he reloaded the HDD and tweaked things so that it would be reliable for the kids and then he offered to take us. He's not a pretty sight (I bet his wife is beautiful) but he's bilingual and he made our day and our vuisit most memorable.
Thanks, friend.
The shuttle calls. More later.
Sampai jumpa, Bali.