Note: For those who may not have read my previous JBR's I would like to explain that I write about my time spent in Bali as a story. To gain an insight as to where this story began,to the conclusion which is below, please check either the current forum of look in the January archives for 2006 for the other 4 installments.
Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to continue these JBR's and have subsequently read and enjoyed them. The road to perdition may be long and winding, however I know I will never walk alone and will always be in the company of good friends...
My final day ...
I actually awoke this morning refreshed from having an early night and instead of lying like a sloth in bed I took affirmative action and hauled my bag onto the bed and began the particularly painful task of packing. I surprised myself somewhat, and had a reasonable amount of it done quickly. As the villa is 2 storey there is also stuff still downstairs so I make a few trips down and back up trying to get as much done before I have to get ready to go back to the Garuda office.
Check, check one, check, check one, two... I have even managed to write myself a check list as my mind often goes to mush on my last day...hey who am I trying to kid, there aren't sufficient brain cells working to capacity after these last few weeks ..LOL
Mid morning Katak arrives and we head off down to Tuban to the Paradiso hotel. On the way I stop at a Proxl shop to put 200,000rp credit on my sim card to ensure it will remain valid for 6 months. I also ask about registering my sim card to fall in with the new regulations which will come into effect sometime in April. [Unregistered sim cards will become invalid under new telecommunication guidelines]. I fill out forms and produce my passport etc and am told that in a few days I will receive an sms giving me my pin number which will confirm my registration. Great check that off the list!
Onto the Paradiso hotel to the Garuda office to collect my boarding pass. I have to wait about 15 minutes and while there am informed the flight will be departing 25 minutes later than the original schedule. They also give me the operations phone number at the airport so I can check before heading to the airport in the event that there is a further delay. Great check that off the list!!
Next stop is at Circle K to pick up some goodies for Richard and then we are off to the hospital for a final visit. Today Richard is looking much better though the I.V. drip in his arm is leaking profusely and the nurse had been gone some 30 minutes after he requested it be removed and re-inserted. Most of it was leaking all over the bed and his patience was wearing thin. To cheer him up I have brought with me orange juice, sprite, heaps of water, chips, chocolate, cookies and even breakfast cereal in it's own little bowl. I help him connect his portable dvd player to the larger screen tv so he doesn't have to watch movies sideways and by the time we leave he is in much higher spirits. He even poses for a couple of photos with his leaking drip. I hug him goodbye and he thanks me for taking the time to visit him each day. It was nothing really, and I do know what it is to be sick in another country and on your own. I wasn't the only person visiting him, Kerry and Milton had also been in daily to check on him along with a couple of other people he knew. You look after your own when you travel. It is an unwritten law.
We return to the villa where I go about packing all the stuff that Katak stores for me when I am not in Bali. I then go about emptying the fridge giving him any foodstuffs he wants that have not been used. He loads up the car and heads back to his house to dump all this stuff while I continue to pack. Linda has invited us to lunch at her villa, albeit a late lunch, the villa she is staying in cooks what ever your heart desires. We head off down there around 2.00pm.
I quickly stop off to change money and go buy some gemstones at the store by the Bintang supermarket. For 300,000rp I pick up an enormous Citrine and some cornflower blue Citrines which I intend to have made into jewellery on my next trip. As we drive down Jalan Raya Seminyak black clouds roll in and Bali's mood darkens. Just as we arrive at the villa a spectacular thunder storm begins and the heavens open up. The noise is deafening and the rain continues to bucket down for a good hour. It is a torrential downpour.
We have a beautiful lunch of noodles and a chicken and vegetable dish served with rice. I have taken 2 bottles of champagne with me which Linda and I are taking great delight in drinking. I hate the last day. I hate packing. I hate the waiting. I hate that pitted feeling in my gut, a mix of emotions that I can't explain.
On the stereo the new unplugged cd by Alicia Keyes is playing and a cover one of my all time favourite songs is on. It suits the mood of the day, dark and sorrowful...Wild Horses, a Rolling Stones classic.
At 5.45pm I reluctantly leave Linda and return to the Pickled Gecko [Hidden Garden Villa]. I run upstairs to shower and pack the last of my belongings so I can sit and have a drink with Nyoman and Katak. All of the staff from the villa have stayed on or returned to wish me farewell. They are lovely people. I have grown fond of them all. So, it is time to leave all this behind. I have arranged to meet with friends at Indo for last drinks. Kermy, Meredith, Bruce, Alex and Sam also leave Bali tonight. The last hours really are the pits, like treading water and going nowhere. Kermy is at Indo and is the first to leave as her flight is earlier than mine. She hops into a taksi and drives off into the night. Goodbye Frog... : -)
Of course I have to make a stop at Billy's to say goodbye to everyone in there. It's a tradition that the Last Stand is in Billy's Bar, and hell who am I to break with tradition. Beepa and Ayu are waiting to say farewell. It is then that Beepa tells me he and Ayu will be married in the next week! I slap him...and say ...'hey what?? Why didn't you get married while I was still here ??..' I am of course laughing while I berate him. Katak and Wayan mosey on in for a couple of drinks before we haul ass into the car for that final journey.
At the airport, for the first time ever, I have porters assist me with my luggage because of the packaging and awkward size of the paintings I have with me. Linda, Katak and Wayan wait outside or me. Check-in is a breeze and takes about a minute to tag all the luggage. I am then informed my flight has been delayed until midnight. I head back outside and we go find a place selling Bintang and settle back to kill sometime. At around 11.30pm I bite the bullet and call time. I don't prolong it, 3 big hugs and I turn and go through the doors. As I put my daypack down to go through x-ray I glance back to 3 forlorn faces.
My flight was delayed a further 2 hours, eventually departing at 2.00am. Thank god for the Garuda executive lounge, mobile phones and a huge thanks to Linda [Aminkila], who very kindly contacted my friends in Australia to advise them my flight was delayed by 3 hours in total. As I boarded my flight I was handed a glass of champagne by the ever-obliging Garuda staff. Start as you mean to finish, go hard or go home. I did, I had and I was...
As I look out of the window of the plane while we taxi down the runway for take off I recall those last few hours spent with Linda and Ty and Katak at the Dyana Villas. We were all totally chilled, perfectly relaxed, almost as if time had stopped and we had forever end a day. I knew I didn't want to leave. As Katak and I headed back to my villa for the last time, it was still spitting with rain and playing on the stereo is Rod Stewart's I don't wanna talk about it. As I looked out the window of the car I bit my lip... The plane is picking up speed and I close my eyes and recall what Katak had said ...'you know why is raining today?' I shake my head ...'Bali is crying because you leave tonight..'
I smile to myself and laugh out loud as we rise upward into the night sky...