Forgot to mention in JBR 8 that when we got back in the afternoon I noticed all bits of white stuff all over the sink and some of our stuff had been moved. While we were out they had come and fixed the leak from the ceiling!! Not too bad I guess on Bali time! LOL
After savouring the taste of what was to be our penultimate breakfast at Breeze we waited for our friend Kelik. Friday was another day we had been really looking forward too as we were going to go to Kelik's village in Nongan , Rendang Karangasem. After some negotiating the day before with Agus the driver from the hotel we agreed on a price for him to take us. His first quote was nearly 2 and half times what we had paid on 4 previous trips! Shortly before 10 Kelik arrived. I just love seeing him he is always smiling. We went over to the hotel and waited a few minutes for Agus. We stopped off at Makro's to buy some things for Kelik's parents. We always get some shopping each time we go just to help out a bit. We asked Kelik to select what he thought his Mum would need and he got 25 kilos of rice, 80 packets of noodles, 2 boxes of powdered milk and 1 kilo of Rinso soap powder all up it cost us $42! I went over to the medicine counter and bought 2 boxes of SalonPas,. 2 boxes of Panadol and 5 boxes of some new tablet for arthritis this all came to $21.47. Amazing price! Dad also bought a box of SalonPas. While Kelik and Doug waited in the que I quickly walked down to the electrical as I wanted to buy a card reader for the computer. Dad decided he would go for a bit of a wander as well so I had to explain to him that we were in a bit of a hurry. I asked him what he was looking for and he said an adapter. I had already told him quite a few times that he did not need one but he insisted that he did. The aisle he was looking in did not have them anyway and by then Doug was through the checkout so I said to Dad we had to go and that he could keep using our adaptor. It was so sad that he had forgotten after only a few days of me telling him about the adaptor. Just after 11.10am we had packed all the shopping into the van and we were off on our way. It is a beautiful drive up to the village and lots to see. Dad enjoyed the trip as he got to see things he had never seen before. He found driving through the towns interesting and made a few comments about not having any memory of anything but we told him that was ok it was because he had never been to Kelik's village before. There were lots of road works happening and in some place it was really scary trying to get the van through narrow bits of road. On the way up there is a place where you can stop to admire the view. It is of a rice terrace that we were told was over a thousand years old. The main road into the village was under repair and Agus drove straight past the little Gang we needed to go down. No problem for Agus, there in the middle of half a road closed and the best part of the other side being dug up he attempted to do a 3 point turn! We went down a bit into a ditch but he managed to get out thankfully! Finally he made it and we were going down the familiar lane leading tot Kelik's parents. Agus drove the van as close to the gates as he could so we could unload the shopping. Kelik's parents were so excited to see us. His Mum is gorgeous and always smiles. Doug called me to the van and said 'guess what we forgot'? I had no idea then he said the teddies! We had taken over a suitcase and hand luggage bag full of teddies from Filo with the intent to give them out to the children in the village but they were left snuggled up in the Bali number 7 bag on the lounge back in our room at the hotel!!! I was so upset as I had really been looking forward to giving them out for months since Filo sent them to me. There are lots of children in the village that I thought would have loved to receive a little teddy. Oh well Kelik said that he could give them out next time he visited his parents but I said no that I really wanted to do it so in the end we decided that we would give the bag to Kelik before we went back to Perth and he would keep them at his room and we'd take them back up on our next trip in Feb 2009.
Late last year Kelik's parents had finished building 2 bedrooms and a prayer room on their land partially with money we had given them over the past few years. Some of you may remember last year we bought a pig for them to breed from to make money? Well things did not work out as planned and the pig could not get pregnant so they waited and fattened it up and sold it. The money was enough to buy 2 more pigs, a new stove (the little square single burner ones that run on metho) and some cement and building things for the rooms. It was lovely to see his Mum now actually sleeping in the new bedroom. When we had gone back in Jan she was still in the old one because the new building had not yet been blessed so she would not sleep in it. It cost Rp1, 000.000 for the blessing. I guess in the scheme of things they are a lot better off than some folk as they have their own rooms and land. We have seen it change over time and the new building is really lovely and well built. Kelik was really looking forward to us staying over night when we went in Jan this year but we had a friend with us and this time we had my Dad. So we promised him we would do it on our next trip. Kelik's Mum had an arrangement of different fruits for us. I had taken over some chocolate biscuits from Perth but they had melted somewhat in the car! LOL. It wasn't long before little heads started to pop around the gates. These were from children some of whom had never seen westerners before. It was so cute to see their little faces some ventured inside the garden others hid behind the gates. Some ran off to bring back others. One came back with who I think was his grandmother. She was carrying a young child who when it took one look at me screamed! LOL. Poor little thing probably thought it had seen a ghost! Doug handed out some money and they ran off. A short time later they were all back holding bags of sweets. I joked and said to Doug maybe we should have taken them all toothbrushes as well. I took photos of the children and then showed them, they were laughing and giggling and jumping up and down. It was so wonderful to see what simple things could make them so happy. Some of Kelik's relations came over to see us and we took some photos. They were also surprised to be able to see themselves on the screen. I told Kelik to tell them that I would have them printed for our next trip to give them copies. Kelik's parents can't speak English so we speak though Kelik. It is amazing though as I sat to one side just next to his lovely Mum and I discreetly handed her some money and said (and did charades) that it was for her. I am sure that she knew what I meant and she just hugged me and gave one of her amazing smiles that lights up her whole face. All too soon it was time to bid farewell. We all hugged and said our goodbyes and also smiled because we knew we would be going back to see them soon.
The drive back down to Legian was just as beautiful and scenic as ever despite the road works. Doug made us all laugh when he took out a box of tissues from the cover and put the cover on his head like a hat! The cover ,,, was a fluffy white spotted dog!! He looked so stupid. He even stuck his head out of the window and waved to cars going by. Soon we were back at the hotel. Dad went straight to his bed for a nap and we said goodbye to Kelik after arranging to see him the next night.
Doug and I went in search of the DVD shop to change our DVD. I said to Doug that for all it was worth I would just go and buy the disc we needed and keep the other one. However we found the shop just around the corner and they changed it for me straight away no problems. After a bit of window shopping we headed back to the hotel where Doug had a sleep and I finally finished Kelik's song book. What a marathon job that was! Still it was all done and I couldn't wait to give them to Kelik. I just hoped that I had actually typed out the correct versions of songs!
We had arranged to meet up with my cousin for dinner so we got ready and went and picked up Dad. We caught a taxi as we were meeting them at their hotel. We met up in the foyer then we walked through the hotel and out the beach end to Seasides next door for dinner and it was just beautiful. The lights and décor was really lovely. Our table was right along the front. There were about 18 of us including the new bride and groom. Once again we went thorough the process with Dad about the cost of the meals being in Rp not $'s before he would order him meal! LOL. We all had lovely meals and some were so big that they couldn't be finished. I ordered a burrito or enchilada and it was beautiful. We had a lovely night and wished the bride and groom all the best for their honeymoon that they were going to be going on the next day. We all walked back through the hotel said our goodbyes and then we walked down the road to the corner to catch a taxi back to our hotel. Just before we flagged a taxi I had pointed out that tit was the road where the Fookin Pub was and Dad said oh well lets go and have another beer! Dad had once again already had one too many Bintangs so we were quite glad that the taxi came when it did. LOL We managed to get Dad back safely into his room and left the note for the morning pick up and then we wandered down to the Legend to catch the last song with Kelik. But they were playing later that usual because there was a birthday party going on. The atmosphere was great with everyone having a fun time. There was a lady from our hotel up singing and she had an amazing voice. I had a couple of Bailey's Comets which are just lovely. Doug and I had a few dances to a few slow tunes which was a nice end to the night. Soon it was time for the band to finish we had a drink with Kelik, Made and Gede from the band and arranged to meet Kelik the next afternoon. On the way back to our room I said to Doug that somehow we would have to try and stop Dad from having too many Bintangs the next night other wise they might not let him fly home! LOL
More to come...