Our last days in Bali were spent between our Banker friend in Seminyak, some of that last minute ‘S' word, picking up leather and other stuff that had been ordered previously, having some nice dinners including a new location for us at Canggu Beach and a place on Jl Pantai Kuta with a huge and un-supervised fire pit right next to the footpath that got Grandpa very angry because it attracted little kids like moths to a candle.
There is a picture here on the web page.
The Beach House at Canggu Beach up the coast from Legian/Seminyak. A ‘pick your food and have it cooked' place.
There is a picture here on the web page.
A spectacular setting, across the rice fields and right on the coast.
We also spent a fair amount of time with our beach friends around the Pantai Restaurant on the beach front at Tuban and by the Ramada Bintang Hotel.
There is a picture here on the web page.
The afternoon serving team at the Pantai Restaurant.
They didn't mind that the Christmas hats were left-overs because Galungan was coming up and their kids would just love them anyway.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Peter the Kite Man, whom we've known for years at the Balihai where you could find him by tracing down the string of a kite that was inevitably flying in an off-shore breeze. He now works at the Patra further down the beach since the Balihai closed. A phone call soon brought him to the Pantai to meet Declan and Eloise. He'd made them kites and woven wrist bands before but only knew them from pictures in our album. It was a magic moment as he sat down with a Fanta and with the kids and showed them how to make the bracelets with their names woven in. He had them totally entranced.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Adi loved Made Maeve and she was happy being with Adi - until driver Made came back to pick us up!
Driver Made, Adi, Wayan and Mistri all have vision problems. Over recent years they have used simple magnifying glasses from the supermarket or an Apotic (‘Chemist'), but changing to stronger and stronger magnifications each time we saw them. This year Wayan was sitting next to me in the Pantai, twisting her head this way and that in an effort to see the photos in our album a little clearer. ‘Need new glasses?' I asked. ‘Not much good any more', she replied, ‘Just bigger clouds but not clear. Cataracts, I think.' Mistri, sitting next to her, said, 'Me too, and Adi.'
Being a bit stumped for advice, I posted the question on the Bali Travel Forum and quickly got the advice to contact the John Fawcett Foundation in Sanur, a district on the other side of the island. This advice came with a phone number; (+62 361) 270 812, an address - Jl Pengembak 16, Blanjong, Sanur - and a web site - www. balieye.org.
(Thanks ‘Bloodyron' and ‘Pe_ta' and the Bali Travel Forum.)
Herself rang the number when I found Her and Made and climbed into the van. She rang straight away and John Fawcett himself answered. He was off with his crew to hold a clinic at one of the other islands for 2 weeks but the procedure was simple when they returned. Just come to the clinic in Sanur and their eyes would be checked. If glasses were needed that would be arranged and if there were cataracts and they were sufficiently developed for removal they would be treated in a hospital in Denpasar. No charge for poorer Balinese; and if they worked on the beach they were poor. Sounded great to us. Sounded great to Made too and he would take them all. Sounded good to the girls too when we told them, and one of the staff at the Pantai who was sitting with us at the time. Made said he would make the time and let everyone know. By now it might be all done.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Wayan Eloise is a party girl who outlasted many adults at a New Years Eve gathering and not seemed to suffer the next morning. She was devastated in Ubud because she had left her new glasses back at the Bankers by mistake.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Quite different to Eloise, sister Maeve is a ‘crasher', and that's often a relief too. How I wish at times I could sleep like this - and I'm too old for my mother to save such shots for my 21st birthday too.
There is a picture here on the web page.
One way to fight a hot and sticky day.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Wayan Declan can also sleep just about anywhere but - - -
There is a picture here on the web page.
- - - he's as bright as a button when he thinks he's a millionaire.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Orphans, but gorgeous and happy, and showing the benefits of the new dental program. In 2007, I am told, there were more fillings than extractions for the first time and in 2008 there were record low numbers for both. Toothbrushes are always a good thing to take to an orphanage even if you can't afford tooth paste. Both are very cheap buys in bulk at places like Makro or the supermarkets, including the new Carrefour on Sunset Road, Legian. A substitute for toothpaste is salt (the grainy stuff rather than sea salt flakes), preferably with added iodine.
If you want to be a big hit tie a brightly coloured hair ribbon around the tooth brush.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Marching is a popular part of school life and of growing up in Indonesia. It's very easy and probably accurate to say the official encouragement of the pastime is as much to do with a national militaristic ethos as it is about fitness. Some senior routes are up to 16 kilometres long, I believe.
It is a very serious pastime and neither applause nor candy will be recognised by anything more than a momentary flick of the eyes. I wonder what a visiting team of Australian Marching Girls, with their coordinated manoeuvres and fancy steps, would do to this Bali activity.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Our friend has been adopted by a monkey who has free run of a large part of the gardens near the pool. We were surprised by the very gentle nature of Sonia and by her soft but ‘grippy' paws.
There is a picture here on the web page.
Sonia, that's her on the left, treated us all like her own kind. Not to be put off by an almost bald head, the eyebrows made a suitable substitute for investigation. It was embarrassing when she pretended to find ‘livestock' which was dispatched with a quick inspection of her fingers and an ever quicker bite.
It was a different holiday. The highs were very high - I don't think I'll ever forget the instantaneous bond that was simply there when Made met Maeve; that was an amazing and unexpected experience that we still talk about. We have put a small photo of the two of them in a corner of our lounge. Maeve goes to it and points, saying, ‘Made'. The name is said with unexpected warmth for a two and a half year old and a beaming smile.
The way Declan fitted into the friendship groups that already existed at Negara Orphanage surprised me. I think his new school experiences have changed him in ways I had not recognised before. There was an unexpected link between Marion and a local Primary School teacher after a meeting of only a few minutes. It is a strong link that I think might take her back to Bali again sometime. Almost like the Made-Maeve link was the friendship of Eloise and Putu. I'm sure it might have been as strong as the other if it had more time to blossom rather than just a few days in the middle of the holiday.
There is a picture here on the web page.
‘Untuk di bagi bagi'. Share with others.
‘May the world learn from children', someone once said.
Offsetting these was the loss of the old boat builder; the misfortune of Monica (though I think she would probably not describe her situation like that, mothers being what they are with new babies); Arni's loss of the baby she so much wanted and tried so hard and for so long to conceive.
We will go back; in fact we are booked for January. We will go back because we have unfinished business with Monica's TB, we have a re-modelled walker for little Kadek with the growth deficiency and the brittle bones, we will go back because we have photos to add to both Made's family album and Arni's, and because we have an album for the boat builder's family and another for Monica.
We will go back because it is Bali and we love it and we feel at home there with friends.
It is now more than just a holiday for us.
Thank you for reading this far, it might not always have been riveting but it was for the grandies, remember? But besides that, if it persuades just one reader to step forward rather than back when an opportunity to help someone arises I will be more than satisfied.
There is a link below which will take you to the web page and the photos. If you want to go back to the beginning use this address, cut and pasted into your browser address bar - http://www.filosbali.net/2008/TheYearoftheFamily.htm .