My my, how life moves on. I am now kept by my lovely wife, whom I married last Christmas Eve, as I am a redundant man. The recession got me and as I drove out of the car park with a cheque in my pocket in my company car (which I seem to have forgotten to return), my thoughts turned to what does a man do now?
Well I can tell you, the house is getting lots of attention, so is the fishing and cray diving. But there is more to life than that as all Baliphilles know, so I have just contacted Andrew at bali.co.nz and put together a little package for August/September.
I seem to have ballsed the bookings up though, and somehow my brother and I will be in Bali two weeks earlier than the lovely ladies. Boy won't that be a surprise for them, and I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we are leaving earlier.
One month in Bali, poor as a church mouse and supporting a 20 Bintang a day habit. Crikey I hadn't thought of that. Oh well I can sell one of the little people that seem to live at our place for scientific experiments if need be.
I have tried contacting Gusti to see if he will pick us up at the airport, but his phone is obviously playing up, as all was going well until I told him who I was, I was cut off and every time I ring him now and start to speak the line just goes dead. Never mind I know he looks forward to seeing me, and we will renew our wonderful friendship.
Still reading the forum and still have the yearning to find the real Bali that so many lucky people seem to discover. I will concentrate around the Legian area, as I am sure I was getting pretty close last time.
We are taking our 12 year old boy for his first trip, and I am teaching him necessary tips and a little bit of Indonesian to keep him out of trouble.
Tips so far include:
Being friendly by patting all locals on the head (as I know Gusti likes this).
Negotiate for items, pretend to loose his temper, walk away and don't go back.
Leave his shoes on when entering temples so as not to show disrespect with his dirty socks.
A couple of Indonesian phrases I have taught him are:
Say to all young ladies 'Kupa kupa malam? Berapa hargunya'?
Say to everyone 'Punya uang kecil'?
And if he is asked something he doesn't understand , he is to say 'Kamar kecil'.
There will be others and I will teach him as I go. I want him to blend in and not look like a foolish tourist.
I will post on closer to us leaving to see who will be at Sammy and Susies early August to early September. In the mean time there is quite a bit to be done, boogy board cover to buy, check if the Bali zoo has petting sheep etc.
Regards Ianz