It seems to be getting to the point where I will have to call these BLWR,s (Back last week reports).It also occurs that perhaps my reports ,if I continued, would be more about people in Bali rather than about Bali and it's people, which perhaps is not entirely in the spirit of this forum.
So, for possibly my last report on this trip, and with the indulgence of our beloved Forum Administrator, I can slip this one in.
More people I met in Bali. Mary, (Not her real name as it's a bit jiucy), is a very large girl with the most gorgeous green eyes (not their real colour) and she had a personality that took your breath away. Whenever she said something, it was always followed up with buckets of laughter as nearly everything she said was hilarious or just totally in your face. Mary visits Bali numerous times each year due to her business and each time she visits she embraces the arrangement she has with hubby back home. You know the one I mean, "What happens in Bali stays in Bali!" As Mary related to some of us one afternoon poolside, hubby couldn't keep up so she had his permission to supplement her requirements whilst in Bali, he just didn't want to know the details. Apparently each time she visits, she finds herself in the company of one of the Local lads until such time as he can't continue any more and runs off screaming into the sunset. She was voracious and certainly vivacious. Because she was so much larger than life, nearly everybody at the hotel was aware of her presence as well as the reason for the frequent disappearances during the day of herself and her obliging partner, who was nicknamed "Sex on a stick". He was a very fit young bloke with shoulder length flowing blonde locks and a very willing smile even tho his English was extremely limited. They would spend quite a bit of each day touring around local suppliers and searching for different products to service her business and during the afternoons and evenings....well, I won't go there.
Obviously Mary was still not completely satisfied by this arrangement as after offering her a compliment, I always give a compliment if a compliment is due, she said to me "If you say something nice to me again I am going to drag you off to my room...." This obviously occurred after Dr. Rudy had attended to some of my Dental issues.
Early on during my stay at the Barong we seemed to have a number of married ladies staying. By "married ladies" I mean the ones that are married to each other. We had two couples at the same time who were on honeymoon and enjoying themselves immensely just like other couples.Now, I was told that these ladies like to go off to the prison and spend time with Renee Lawrence. Is that true, does anyone know?
Reading some of the other JBR's in the last couple of days and I have been surprised at the frequent comment that Bali has not been busy! Strike me pink! I spent a lot of time walking from one end of town to the other to the point that after 2 weeks I had lost over 6 kilos and I gotta tell ya, I thought it was like the Bourke st. Mall on a pre- christmas lunch hour. Even fairly late at night you took your life in your own hands in venturing out. One night standing out the front with the security guys and a couple of the other guests and talking about very little while we watched the passing parade, a young girl, maybe 20 or so and of middle eastern appearance was clobbered by a motor bike that was being ridden against the traffic by a young bloke, maybe 25 or so, norwegian extraction possibly.Because of traffic congestion he was riding close to the footpath. We all heard the air get belted out of her lungs just before she started to fall. I leapt for the girl and managed to get my hands under her head before she smacked the ground. Unfortunately her ribs took most of the fall but fortunately, as it turned out, she was only winded. As the bike guy was showing a decent amount of concern I offered the young lady "Would you like me to break his arm.?" This was offered as a bit of comic relief as everything had settled down and the young lady was obviously O.K. But I'm not sure whether the young bloke took it the right way as he looked at me and turned green. I told him how lucky he was that the girl was O.K. and got him to give his name and hotel to her girlfriend. Trying to cross Legian at night, or in fact, at any time of the day was a feat worth mentioning. They should print T.Shirts. (I survived Kuta traffic). I recall walking down Legian one afternoon towards Bemo corner when a young bloke, probably Aussie was doing a series of monos , both front wheel stands and back wheel stands in the middle of heavy traffic, I couldn't take my eyes off the action as I was certain that he would come to grief as he was surrounded by other traffic. By the sound of the yelling and carrying on I was pretty sure he was pie-eyed. I said to one of the storekeepers "In australia we call him WANK-ER".Just another dimension to watch out for in Bali traffic.
Let me tell you about Serena's watch. Before I left for Bali I asked my love what she would like me to bring back for her. When she replied she would like a Gold Watch I must have looked like the time I choked on her Mum's Tirramisu. She looked at me and hastened to add she wanted a Gold coloured watch. PHEW!. This was going to be easy. One day with nothing better to do I headed off to purchase the cheapest, nastiest and ugliest gold watch I could find and trust me, it didn't take too long to find IT. When I arrived home and was dishing out all of the pressies I gave the watch, complete with it's clear cellophane envelope to my beloved with all the love and scincerity I could load onto my face. The look on her face I will remember forever. It was nasty!. I was beaming with pride as she was trying to formulate something to say that wouldn't hurt my feelings. God it was a delicious moment. When she came to bed that night, (I had fearlessly fallen asleep knowing I would be woken) She found a jewellery box with a gold watch in it sitting on her pillow. Ah the browny points.
I would like to thank everybody for reading my JBR's and to all who saw fit to respond, a big thanks. Bali isn't just an island somewhere off the coast up there. Like everything good we do it adds memories to our daily lives that can be returned to at any time we wish. These memories sustain us until the next time we return in body looking to fill up again.
My last post will be in the next few days when I hope to give you a photo of my new countenance if only to do honour to Dr. Rudy for the life changing service he has given me. (I have to wait for my mate Kenny to scan and load etc.) Till then , THANKS ONE AND ALL. Billthefencer.