The last installment. Sorry, this was never going to be a 4 part JBR but it blew out...hope those that read enjoyed...till next time :-)
Monday...the final hours
I am sleeping peacefully when the bang, bang, bang scares the crap out of me. Someone is pounding on my door. I wake up to find that I slept upside down in bed again...oops!!
I stagger to the door and gingerly pry it open...
Oh my god its Kate and her daughter...bright eyed and bushy tailed. I hate her!!!! ..'we're going to the beach, wanna come to the beach Jill? '....squeals her daughter. You know how 6 year olds do those unrelenting high pitched noises that cut through like an ice pick piercing your eardrum. How do you tell a 6 year old that you want to kill them without damaging them for life??
Kate is looking remarkably good, I hate her more. She wants to know if I want to go to Gado Gado for dinner.... No sane person asks me that at 9.30am when I went to bed at 5am. ...'let me think about it mate'... My eyes are like slits, the sunshine so bright I am squinting. Kate's daughter is still saying, ...'c'mon Jill come to the beach with us'...... Kate saying ...' I think Jill needs some more sleep darling we will see her later..'
I bid them adieu and slump back onto the bed. My mind is filled with a' things to do' list. Garuda, paintings, pashminas, proxl...oh.. piffle as if all that is going to happen !!
Wow 4 days is a short trip. Night had turned into day before my very eyes, how did that happen..again?.. I have no resolve, no will-power, hey I have no hangover.... It's a miracle!!!. Laying on the bed it suddenly occurs to me that I feel good except for the lack of sleep and plans are made for the day. Katak will get the car and we will go visit Garuda. At this point I am still tossing up about upgrading to business class, but at the very least wanted to do City check-in.
Around 11.00am we are on the way to Tuban to the Garuda office. I am informed that today they are unable to do upgrades but that they can do it at the airport for me in the evening... this leaves me still undecided about BC.. I get my seat allocation for cattle class etc.
Continuing on our way Katak says ..'transport !!! where we go now..' He is being a smart ass....it could be bad for his health. My mental list has gone to mush and I want to throttle him when he says...'hurry up please, haven' t got all day, bloody tourists'.... From me, a little creative visualization happening. Ice picks seem to be the flavor of my day ...this one is piercing his eyeball... I give him THE LOOK!! [sorry for the capitals, just needed to emphasize it :-)]. C'mon girls you know The Look, am sure your husbands know The Look... no words are required he shuts up immediately.
As we drive, my list is returning in dribs and drabs...change money, Proxl for pulsa, pet food for the puppies, and packing. Having returned to Suri doing all of the above-mentioned I realize I had promised to stop in at the Pickled Gecko villa to say hi to Agus the manager so I call him and we drive around. I wasn't able to rent the villa for Easter as it was booked and it looks like a tornado has whipped through it now the guests have left. I take with me bunny ears and easter eggs for Agus' son and staff...
I cant help myself and tell Agus there will be a wedding at the villa later in the year...Katak overhears what I say and shakes his head.... In fact there are many plans for events at the villa on the PGAO tour later in the year, including a masquerade party, a croquet and cocktails afternoon, a wedding, hopefully an engagement party, 2 birthdays, a Xmas in July type thing, and a couple of bbq's.. Exhausts me thinking about it...
I arrange for Katak to meet me again around 7.00pm to collect my bags and the stuff he will store for me. He drops me off at Billys so I can say cya to the day shift and pay the bill from the previous evening. I whip into Bali Gong to see Dede and purchase some last minute dvd's. While having a cold Bintang at the bar I call Kate to catch up before I leave..... Oh dear the tables have turned and she is very unwell.. I go down to visit them at Jonis II as I also have easter eggs and bunny ears for Miss 6 year old..
Kate is laying on the bed, her daughter playing with the owners kids, small blessings indeed... They inform me that after visiting in the morning, they went to the beach, had massage, had Bintang, all was good until they walked up to Kuta and ate. On the return trip home in the taksi poor Kate lost her lunch. She was so embarrassed and I felt a tad guilty. I could see how ill she was when she rose from the bed and swayed a little. I think the room was spinning...she lay back down and I sat outside with her step-mum and chatted for an hour. At 5.00pm I left them, big hugs all round. No Gado Gado for Kate tonight though, a quiet one with room service.
My plan had been to go back to Suri, shower and head up to Indo for last drinks, however Jeff wanders into Suri and asks if I am ready to go. He has decided he will escort me up to Indo. Bloody hell, my plans changed again, I make a dash back to the room and meet him back in reception in 10 minutes.
Sitting at Indo chatting with Jeff, Milt & Desak, sipping on a cold Bintang I draw breath and heave a sigh. I haven't had time to settle in and feel morose about leaving In fact though I have to go straight to work the next morning,I feel refreshed and content. I am on a time frame now and around 6.30 I leave the boys at Indo as I must shower and finish packing. My plan is to be at Billys by 8.00 and leave there by 9.15 for the airport.
On my way back I hear a voice calling out...' Jill stop, hey Jill hey'. I am on a mission and didn't notice Alex [formerly from Billys] sitting at Wayan and Friends with Mark and Ronnie from W.A. I don't have time to stop and chat for long and make my apologies to them but it was good to meet up having spoken on the phone when Alex was staying with them in Australia.
I shower, I pack, Nyoman and Katak arrive almost on schedule, hauling luggage to the car I bid farewell to Suri Wathi and the charming staff. I will stay there again one day.
Remember the tradition...the last stand is in Billys. I am now very tired and can't wait to get on the plane and sleep. Neil and Dewa are back in the bar again and are trying to make conversation but I have transformed into a zombie. A woman I ran into, having met some 4 years ago pops in for a drink. She is a kind hearted soul but could talk the leg off a chair and I almost nod off. Katak and Wayan arrive for the final round...the bill is paid...going once, twice, third and final call, are we all silent, all done...
....'Everybody's on the run tonight,
but there's no place left to hide...
Some day soon I don't know when,
where gonna get back to that place,
where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun...
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run'.... [Bruce Springsteen - Born to run]
Footnote : 6 hours later...
The flight home was pretty good. Business class ain't what it used to be though, the snooty nosed doctors wife with her blow up neck pillow and eye shades, snored, but not a hair was out of place once we landed. I on the other hand looked as if I had done 10 rounds in the ring... I was in the front row, my hand luggage in the overhead locker of row 2. Upon landing in Melbourne I went to retrieve my bag. The people from row 2 jumped in the aisle. When I turned around to return to my seat they were blocking my access to it. I stared at them and said.... 'excuse me can I please get to my seat. Did I miss the emergency evac message over the loudspeaker...what is your problem? .you are in row 2 do you think you will be last of the frigging plane'... They moved.....
In transit for an hour in Melbourne I amused myself people watching. If I had the energy I would have picked up the camera. The announcement comes over ... Garuda flight 722 to Adelaide will commence boarding in 10 minutes. Please, only Transit passengers embark at that time, repeat only Transit passengers. En-mass people converge around the gate. I pack up laughing, like if you are in transit then you are gonna get on first so what's the panic. A young guy and his girlfriend take pride of place dead centre in the middle of the entrance to the gate sitting on their cabin luggage. The Garuda ground staff are not amused. It would have made a priceless photograph....
A little after 10.00am I am sitting in a taxi on my way to the office. It will be a long day. It's chilly in Adelaide and I feel the warmth of Bali leaving me and the cold of winter seeping into my bones. It will be a long few months of hibernation....