Stayed at our usual entry point Vila Rumah Manis in Seminyak, all good until the second night. Watching the teev late at night and a message flashed up: Hati hati potensi tsunami! I started to have conniptions and I wrote down the wording and headed off to the lobby to voice my objections to this natural disaster. I was somewhat appeased by the news that it was more than a thousand klicks away but I was concerned about the exchange rate coming into play.
Went to Lovina stating at Puri Bali (good discount for multiple visits) and visited sponsor kids- thanx Helen for organising the day. We dropped some stuff off at the school and then went to their homes in the village. I'll never describe my house as small and antiquated again!
Whilst in Lovina met a coupla locals whose blind grandparents had been successfully treated for cataracts gratis by an Australian program- very grateful ppl indeed.
Our regular driver took us back to Ubud via Serirrit fantastic views and not as curly as the Bedugul road which meant that Mrs. Spudzilla didn't get carsick and spew! Stayed at the Tjampuhan Hotel and once again they did not disappoint.
Driver Made took us to his home too to meet up with his family again and he took us to see his pigs too! I thought ah you seen one pig etc. but these were wierdo pigs from Sulawesi. Made has some sort of grant to breed these buggers that have their upper teeth growing out of their cheeks to look like horns or something- I kid you not! Bebirusa he called them. He has the first ones born in bali at his "zoo" which is yet to be opened.
Then Made asked if we wanted to see the brickworks....m'eh, why not. Well it looked like something out of a Hollywood set- blokes standing right on the edge of a 100ft cliff chipping away and women carrying 50kg loads on their heads from the valley below. We went right down to the base of the operation and I reckon Ock Elf Un Safety would have something to say about the conditions if this were happening in Oz. It looked a bit like that crazy goldmine in Sth America where there are ladders going everywhere in a giant bottomless pit. Heironymous Bosch would have loved it for subject material.
Anyway we did other stuff, quad biking through the jungle was a total hoot, trying to buy geckos in Tino's supermarket got a laugh. Back in Legian got into a fairly serious discussion with a hawker who tried to rip me off and wouldn't give me my money back. One mention of the tourist polisi and he threw my rupes back at me but he continued to seethe. I wasn't gonna let this bully get away with jalan robbery!
I promised myself I wouldn't go nutso with my camera and still ended up with over a thousand pix....digicams are just to easy to go silly with.
Oh and I got a new tattoo. You gotta love Bali. How much fun can you squeeze into two weeks eh!