One sunny day in March as the wheels and cogs of industry turned I sat at my desk, disgruntled. To the left of me, innate stupidity, and to the right, underachievers with anally retentive tendencies. One of them can whip a keyboard into submission. Whilst feverishly thrashing the keys, I sometimes hear a soft moaning, more often grunting, groaning and gasping. I am loathe to go check out what these noises represent but I am fearful that possibly this individual is getting some sort of sick sexual pleasure from abusing their keyboard. It could however be sheer frustration using inadequate, outmoded and outdated equipment. The last of our colleagues to use a stone tablet, hammer & chisel was updated with parchment and a feather quill only last month. Due to cutbacks at this stage the company is unable to supply ink...
Anyway back to me and my hostile feelings. Easter is drawing near and for the first time in 4 years I will not be in Bali. I sit and consider my options, Queensland, Central coast, or Perth. Invitations to visit have been forthcoming and I would love to catch up with some of my mates. Niggling in the back of my mind is the Garuda flight schedule and their telephone number. So what is a girl do.... phone and make an enquiry of course.
Five minutes later the grimace has gone from my face and I am beaming, brimming with good news that on Easter Friday I am going to BALI....yeaaah, cheering, dancing, woohoo...yeeeeha!!!...
Hmmmn what is wrong with this picture...me happy, smiling, laughing. My work colleagues......Not Happy [Jan] Jill !!!!.. Seems they can't share my joy and their stony faces rather make me feel as if I have just given them a jolly good rodgering ...haha!!
That was 6 weeks ago ...
So, who is also of the belief that the build up prior to departure is almost as exhilarating as when you plant your ass in your seat on the plane...[Put your hand up if you agree as I am doing a head count] Ok so most of you feel that old adrenalin rush a few days before leaving. Yeah well, I am over it let me tell you. Packing is a pain in the posterior.
At 1.30am on Friday morning I crawl into bed, packing is at last complete. The early morning wake-up call is for 3.30am. At 5.30am my mate Tony is knocking on the door. We load up my 5 pieces of luggage.. Yeah you read it right 5 pieces of luggage, 4 days, 3 nights in Bali. A girl has to take the essentials.
Upon arrival at our new multi-million dollar international airport the dawn is breaking and it is cold. There is no queue for Garuda and I upgrade my ticket to Business class. Regrettably, Garuda are yet to complete their executive lounge in Adelaide I.A. so I sit and wait for the boarding call. As the aircraft taxis down the runway and I look out the window I note it is beginning to rain....I smile...what a perfect day...
Some 45 minutes and 2 glasses of champagne later we touchdown in Melbourne...Bugger.. Another hour passes, 2 more glasses of champagne in the Qantas club lounge [the only benefit of having to stop in Melbourne], and we take off again. I wave hello to Adelaide as we practically pass directly over it again.
The flight is uneventful but the service in Business class is excellent and the crew on this particular day are jovial and very forthcoming with drinks. Business class is full and the couple sitting in the front row, sample every drink imaginable, champagne, bourbon, scotch, gin, cognac red & white wine, then repeat the sampling all over again.
About 45 minutes out of Bali I go to the loo and as I pass by the front row I note that the woman who has been imbibing in all in sundry alcoholic bevies is beetroot red in the face. Oh dear I think she will suffer the consequences once landing.
As this visit is only 4 days I haven't bothered with the 60 day visa. It seemed rather silly to pay $60 when I had U.S. dollars so I do the VOA. Payment was quick and easy, but the queue for immigration was slow and after close to 45 minutes I was ready to kill someone. Eventually making it to the front I smile and think to myself, I will NEVER, EVER do VOA again !!!
My friend Katak is waiting outside for me and my trolley is loaded to the brim with bags.
My frustration and anger abate as soon as I see his smiling face and feel his embrace...as he says welcome home... I missed you.
Now I have always been in awe of someone like Le [Tuberose] who can travel to Bali for 4 days and pack so many activities in her brief stay. I thought I would try to emulate her previous efforts and have a list of 6 things to do. So, I have said it before, start as you mean to finish. Leaving the airport we head straight to the Bali Hai hotel to go to Toko First jeweler to see if I can get a ring made within 3 days. They are shut. Not a good start but it wasn't a must do so I figure it will wait until later in the year. That's one off the list....
Next stop is the hotel - Suri Wathi on Jalan Sahadewa in Legian. I gave an overview in my first JBR - A quickie in Bali, however I will say again, this hotel is impressive to say the least. If you want a budget - standard property, do yourselves a favor and check it out. Rooms have been fully renovated and are immaculately clean, beautiful brand new bathrooms, bar fridge and 51cm TV, great air-con. The gardens are neat, tidy and very well maintained. I didn't eat at the hotel as I was up too late for breakfast but the restaurant area adjacent to the pool looks stylish with bright orange tablecloths and black chairs. It makes a statement. The staff is friendly and Sate the dog is always hanging around. New sun-lounges around the pool, and a recently erected bar.
The contact details for Suri Wathi are as follows :
Manager & owner [ Balinese family owned property] is Antoni
Email : suriwathi@yahoo.com
Phone : 0361 753162
Fax : 0361 758393
Room rates as quoted in their brochure :
Twin [2 person in room]
Standard - fan or AC, shower, bathtub, twin bed - 190,000rp
Superior - AC, TV, hot shower, bathtub, twin spring bed - 250,000rp
Deluxe - AC, TV, fridge, hot shower, luxury double bed - 350,000rp
Single [1 person in room]
Standard - 150,000rp
Superior - 210,000rp
Deluxe - 310,000rp
The prices are negotiable however, and depending on your length of stay you will get a good rate. For 3 nights I was being charged 220,000 rupiah for a deluxe room. Email Antoni for a booking and price. Mention that you have heard about the hotel through the Bali Travel Forum. I am sure he will give you a good deal. [My thanks again to Leonie and Tina for booking my room when they stayed at the hotel in March.]
My mobile is ringing and there is no time to unpack as I am being summoned to Billy's bar a little further up the road....my Bourbon is waiting ....
A quick change of clothes are in order and I arrange to meet with Katak later. The bar is dead only about 6 people in there drinking but hell it only takes a couple of people to make a party and so we begin. Jack [Ketut] is working and as usual in his twangy aussie put on accent says ..'how ya goin luv, long time no see...' Cheeky bugger as it's only been 3 months since I was in Bali.
Sadly as Bali is so quiet the staff at Billy's are working one month on, one month off. I chat with Jack and an aussie guy - Neil who is quite a character for the next couple of hours before heading up to Indo National to catch up with Milt and Jeff.
The new Indo-National on Jalan Padma is big and open. I have always stopped in for drinks with Jeff, Milt and Kerry over the last 4 years. The restaurant and bar is doing a good trade. The beer is cold, the service friendly and it's great to catch up again.
Around 10.00pm Jeff drops me off at Billys to continue where I left off, again my phone has been ringing....Jill where are you, when you coming back to the bar? They know a sucker when they see one haha!! I am tired by now but still have to meet Katak at the hotel with a couple of friends for drinks. We meet back there and demolish a 1.25L of Jim Beam. Well, I drank champagne and the 4 boys got smashed drinking the bourbon.
At home, I am always on the look out for silly gifts to give my friends and had found some unusual stress balls. They are in the shape of a boob and the boys are beside themselves when I give them one each. I am crying from laughing as they feel it and squeeze it and attempt to do unmentionable things with them. I am sure that Nyoman was salivating and told him to wipe the dribble from the corner of his mouth.
Somewhere around 4-5am I call time and tell them to go home as I need to sleep. I literally pushed them out the door. I hurt so much from laughing at their antics and watch them as they stumble down the pathway giggling and swaying, singing Lou Reed's Take a walk on the wild side....'and i said hey babe, take a walk on the wild side, I said hey sugar, take a walk on the wild side, and the coloured girl go, do, de do do.."
Tbc...... :-)