Last day in Bali

The day started off well; I was told there would be time to see the sea. Then the dreaded word was spoken - "Shopping". Off we went to a gigantic store, full of clothing stacked package upon package about 1.5 metres high. There must have been thousands of every single clothing item imaginable. The ladies in my family dived into shopping with gusto and even got the men involved. They walked away from the sarong section carrying nearly 20 of them. They are great family people and so, when they shop, it's not for themselves but for dozens of relatives. I'm not a shopper but they insisted I should buy something as a souvenier - I bought a knitted shirt.

During the morning our driver took us to a wholesale fruit market. We walked around looking for people selling snake fruit. We found one place and the 11 Cambodians started sampling the fruit and discussing a price. Earlier, I'd told people that Cina had asked Vuth to buy 50 kg of the fruit. What I didn't know was that others in the group also wanted to buy. The price in Cambodia is about $5 a kg as it's not grown here. In Bali it cost around $1.50 a kg.

I got fed up standing in the sun, waiting for the arguing over the price to end, and so I wandered back to the van. I sat on a wall, in the shade, and various street sellers came to me. I was impressed that they all spoke a reasonable amount of English. It was Sunday, and very quiet, so I suggested they should be at home with their families. One man tried to sell me silver bracelets but I refused. He said I could give one to my wife but I told him I didn't have one. He then suggested my sisters so I told him they lived far away. He kept coming up with ideas but I didn't buy, even when he offered me a large bottle of Chanel No.5.

Another chap appeared with a stack of baseball caps. He told me they were half the price of those around our hotel and I believed him as here he was among the locals with not a foreigner in sight. I'd have bought a batik one but he disappeared while I was talking to Usman. Usman plonked his bag on the floor and introduced himself and told me about his children. He saw my reading glasses that have the eye pieces joined together with a magnet. I'm quite proud of them so I showed him how they work. "Oh, they are like mine", he said; he had exactly the same kind. I didn't need another pair but he was so nice I decided to buy a pair. In Canada I paid up to Cdn$50, including postage; his were less than US$15. After that he wanted me to buy a pair of sunglasses to bring him luck as I was his first customer. Our driver had the same kind and so I fell for it and now I'm the proud owner of a pair of Polaroid glasses I may never wear. While we were talking I noticed most of the men were smoking. I commented on it and our driver said 80% of Indonesians smoke. They are very cheap so that is one reason why they do. It was a far more interesting time than watching people bargain for fruit. The fruit arrived at the van on the heads of ladies hired to carry them.

Next stop, the seaside. Hurray! Time to walk on the beach and get away from busy streets. About five of us left the vehicle to cross the sands to the ocean; the rest sat in the van. It was scorching hot so even I was happy to return to the vehicle. I think it would be lovely to go for an early. morning or evening walk as the beach was enormous and very clean.

We had the inevitable Chinese lunch. The meals are always good but, after a while, one Chinese meal starts to taste like any other Chinese meal. I insisted on having a beer and was happy to see four of the men willing to share. Meakara and Saly do all the ordering so the rest of us just sit back and wait for whatever to arrive.

It's interesting driving around because we see lots of very nice bus stops. They are elevated off the ground by about a metre, presumably so the drivers can see passengers. The funny thing is that I never saw anyone at the bus stops and I never saw a single public bus. Our driver said most of the working folk use motorbikes as the streets are too narrow for larger vehicles. If they use the bus they have to walk a long way home.

Bali airport is very impressive and I suppose it's purpose built for tourism as it's the main source of funds for the island. There are shops galore and everything is very tasteful. We got to the counter before the rest of the passengers arrived, and it was a good job, because of all our baggage. Our check-in lady with Malaysia Airways was wonderful. She spent about half an hour sorting out our seats so we could be close to each other. Vuth and the younger men always needed to be near the old folks to be able to translate when meals and other things came along. We also had seven boxes of snake fruit that weighed almost 200kg. We nearly had a hernia carrying them from the carts to the weigh scales. How the tiny ladies managed to lift them off the ground, and put them on their heads, is beyond me. We were so grateful we gave the check-in lady a large tip. She declined, saying she was doing her job, but we insisted. She was lovely and super patient. I just felt sorry for the ever increasing queue.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur about 9pm and had booked rooms in a transit hotel at the airport as we had an 11 hour layover. We couldn't get into our rooms until midnight so I did a lot of mooching around. The room was lovely; the bath towel was so heavy, if I'd stolen it, it would have taken up my entire baggage allowance. It was a shame to have such a nice room but to only be able to use the bed until 5am when I had to get up.

Thus ended my Bali trip. Whether I ever return is a mystery. If I do, I won't be shopping and visiting temples. I'm sure our driver wanted us to see the best of the Hindu culture, but a few less temples would have been nice. It's a very clean and orderly place, the people are friendly and it's relatively cheap. I'm not a shopper so the streets of endless tourist stuff leaves me cold. I'd have loved to have wandered around the coffee plantation and the rice fields but rain stopped play.

Now for a bit of technical stuff. My friend Dave has told me that nobody's looking at the actual blog. Instead, people are receiving the daily notice and are reading my news that way. It's very embarrassing because the figures are posted of people visiting my blog and at the moment it's generally zero. So Dave is suggesting that you should take a look at the blog by going to https://peterheyes.blogspot.com and he'll be happy to see visits going up from zero. I'm told it's a lovely looking blog!

He's also put on something where you can share on Facebook, if you feel like it.

More temples!

Yesterday all our driving was done on the flat; today it was the exact opposite. We spent most of the day moving around in the mountains. I don't think we encountered a 100 metre straight stretch the whole day. I've never been on so many hairpin bends.

As usual we did more temples; today we did three of them. The first two had extensive park around the temple so we could walk around enjoying the flowers. One was next to a mountain lake and while we were in the area we bought some strawberries. I haven't had one for quite a while but these were delicious. In India they've hybridised the local strawberry so that it's enormous, but the centre is a solid white core. These Balinese strawberries were juicy and dark red - delicious.

As we drove around I noticed that most of the temples have been built using a red brick. There are structures that are like the Cambodian stupas so I presume they are graves of some sort. Most of the religious buildings have thatched roofs but I never saw it being used for houses. My Buddhist friends were surprised to learn that the Hindu priests don't live in the temple. I reminded them that they are most likely married, with families so they live at home. I didn't see a single priest and I didn't see a single statue to a god. If I'd seen Hanuman I'd have definitely had words with him as I'm still single. At one of the temples we saw a tableau depicting what cock fighting was like. I can't for the life of me figure out why it needs to be in a religious place.

At one temple, if we were showing the slightest amount of bare leg we were told to wear a green sarong. It didn't matter that the ladies had bare shoulders - if you could see any flesh above the ankle they had to wear a sarong. I was in shorts so I had to wear one; it's amazing how hot it is. For the first time I saw a sign that said, "Drones are not allowed". Another asked ladies to be aware of cleanliness in the temple and therefore they shouldn't enter if they were menstruating. The place was full of young ladies so I'm sure some entered illegally.

I went around to find a place to change some money. I saw a sign with a very good rate but I couldn't find the office. I asked a young lady and she said, "It's outside but don't go - it's not safe. Just go across the road." I got a bit less but it was good to know that I wasn't being cheated.

I've come to the conclusion that the Cambodians have a big role to play in deforestation. I wonder if there are other people around the world who clean their cutlery and crockery before every meal? They believe they are dirty, even if the restaurant is spotless; they even clean them with tissue at home.

I'm fascinated watching people while we are travelling. Some people in the group talk non-stop and pay no attention to what's going on outside until the van stops and they are told to get out. Others stare straight ahead as if it's important to know where they are going. I am a 'roamer' my eyes are wandering all over the place as I'm fascinated by what I'm seeing. A friend said there were two kinds of travellers; those who are journey people (taking an interest in everything on the way) and the destination people, who are keen to get to where they are supposed to be going. I'm definitely a journey person.

While we were having our meal there was suddenly a lot of conversation at the table with people pulling a face as if they've eaten something they didn't like. It turned out they were upset that someone had sat at the next table and was smoking. It seems to me that smoking in Bali is a very popular pastime.

We were able to see an area with rice terraces and it really is a lovely sight. For me, the green of rice is a dazzling green. We could have paid a few dollars to walk through the fields but seeing as Cambodians know all about rice growing we decided to sit and soak up the view. Vuth's father is quite a character. He can't speak English so he communicates with his hands. Whenever we are together he takes my hand and massages it, squeezes my shoulders, tickles my legs. He's a lovely man so I don't mind one bit.

The motorbike is the king in Bali as so many of the side roads are too narrow for a car. All of the motorbikes had a little posy, made from dried straw, attached to their mirrors. It reminded me of the lime that we used to see in India, hanging from the bumper of vehicles.

I love reading signs. The highlight today was a clothing shop with a large sign above the store saying, "Dumpshit".

Our last temple is possibly the most famous in Bali. It juts out into the sea and can only be reached during row tide. It was swarming with people. Some were paying to go into a shallow cave to see a holy snake - I couldn't be bothered. We walked over the rocks with little tidal pools, left when the tide went out. It was interesting seeing sea anemones and other creatures waiting for the sea to come back in. In Bali I don't think we actually went into a temple but rather walked around them. In one temple an area was closed off with a sign that it could only be used for worship so maybe we aren't allowed in the temples. It's definitely a money making business for someone as we paid around $5 to enter each temple. When you can get a street meal for 50 cents it's a lot of money.

Thus ended our second day in Bali. It was a long day but people were happy.

Sensory Overload

It's been one of those days when I've had to make notes, otherwise I'd forget half of what I've seen and done. It's been a full day, hampered for a few hours by torrential rain.

General impression: very clean, friendly and courteous people, women often wearing sarongs and the men traditional head coverings. The traffic keeps in line, not like the Cambodian dodge 'em dance. Our van has a horn that sounds like a chirping bird.

In the early morning I saw ladies putting offerings on the ground and waving their hands over them - sometimes they were a simple leaf and at other times a mixture of leaves and flowers. Our guide is more of a driver than a guide so I didn't get any explanation other than it's a prayer. At times I asked him about the enormous tableaux along the street or on traffic islands. They were obviously to do with the Hindu religion. At one point he said, "You will have to read about Bali history." Everywhere we went we saw temples and they were generally Hindu. We did visit one of them and had to wear a sarong. There are small shrines all over the place; all of them have a cloth wrapper around the base - mostly a black and white cotton check but sometimes a bright brocade.

Sometimes I thought the tour was slightly inappropriate for the group of ordinary Cambodians with whom I was travelling. We went to see how they make batik and then silver work; these are always a part of the driver's route and often they get commission if people buy something - we didn't. We went on to the lovely Tegenungan waterfall, which we viewed from high up and far away. People walked down to the base of the falls but our group said they were too tired - it was 11am.

The group seems to be terrified about Indonesian food so we see a lot of Chinese food. With being the only non Cambodian I relax while the meal discussion goes on and on. So far the food's been good but at some point I may rebel if anyone mentions Chinese.

I'm told the main group of tourists comes from China with Australians a close second. The young Australians are very slim but the older ones seem to be suffering from the Aussie spread. There are tattoo parlours all over the place and so many tourists have very little space left on their skin for another tattoo. Their art work must cost as much as a minor masterpiece.

In the pouring rain we arrived at the Luwak Coffee plantation. The environment was beautiful with so much greenery, footpaths, terraces etc but, with the heavy rain, it was pointless doing any walking. Instead we were given samples of all the coffee and tea products they have for sale. They include chocolate coffee, coconut coffee, coffee with ginger, ginseng etc. - one "coffee" was an aquamarine colour. There were a number of flavoured teas too. Five of us were brave enough to try Civet coffee. This is one of those strange coffees created with the help of an animal. The civet (which to me looks and smells like a large ferret) loves eating the berries and the seeds pass through its system without being damaged. These berries are used to make a cup of coffee at $5 a time. I thought of buying some but I decided $50 for a 500 gram bag was a bit excessive. All I can say is that it tasted like coffee.

Because of the rain we decided not to go to the rice terraces but to return to the hotel. Then some bright spark mentioned shopping and, whoopee, off we went to an enormous warehouse type of place. Silly me was expecting a local market with stalls. The five women in the group were the leaders of the pack. Everything was very reasonable so they went overboard buying things for themselves and encouraging the men to buy something too.

Our entire route seemed to be one long strip mall of tourist type shops. I've never seen so many statues of stone and wood - I never did see anyone buying one. As we drove along, one of the group started to regal the others, in a very loud voice. It got on my nerves a bit as everyone was in hysterics and I hadn't a clue what he was on about. I should have brought my ear plugs. I can't even complain because I knew I'd be in for a Khmer experience. The other 11 people are all related so it was like a family outing for them. At one point I was given an English lesson. I don't know how it happened but the verb "to lure" came up so my Khmer friend explained to me what it meant, with various sentences to illustrate the meaning, plus other words I could use instead of lure. He did a good job.

Cambodians love fruit. In fact, we set off in the morning with bags of fruit which we ate on the way. Someone mentioned a fruit market so off we went. Again, I expected a "market" but we ended up in an enormous Carrefour supermarket. The clever company owners had us walk through the tourist section before we reached the fruit so naturally more shopping was done. I couldn't be bothered so I read a wall of funny statements printed on wood. One said, "If you want breakfast in bed then sleep in the kitchen."

The topic of dinner came up and guess what! "Is there a Chinese restaurant nearby?" Again, I have no complaints about the meal; it was a fitting end to a long day. All day I've been wondering where the sea was. Here am I, on an island, and I haven't seen the water yet. Tomorrow I've been promised the sea so let's hope it doesn't rain. I'm told we can always go shopping if it does rain.

Tuk Tuk trouble and disappearing restaurant

I was up at 5.45am as I wanted to get some walking done before our trip started.  At 8.30am we got into two tuk tuks and set off for the airport.  We arrived in half an hour but there was no sign of the other tuk tuk.  It had broken down!  The group came over an hour later.  We queued up to check in and a man came along telling people something in Khmer.  I asked what it was all about and I was told, “If you are an old man you can go to the business class desk.”  At times like this I really don’t mind being old.

I was in front of the rest of the group so I went through passport control, security etc and sat to wait for them.  After a while they came through the fast-track line, following an airport employee.  She happened to be the cousin of a young man in our group.  I love these developing countries where rules are bent a bit.  She came all the way with us and even came on board to say goodbye to everyone.

I’ve always enjoyed Malaysia Airlines.  The service was excellent on both flights.  I sat next to a Glasgow couple who’d been relaxing in a lounge but then, when we were boarding,, they decided they were alone because they were in the wrong lounge.  They sat next to me, huffing and puffing and saying all they wanted was a drink.  They got a drink - a glass of juice.

On earlier trips to Jakarta I’ve paid for a visa but this time, in Bali, I paid nothing.  It’s a very nice airport with lots of local art work all over the place.  We had to cross a large room that was as big as half a football pitch.  I could see no reason for the room; there were no chairs in it, no stalls selling things, absolutely nothing.   The guide met us and took us to the hotel.  It was dark but I got the impression that the traffic’s heavy but orderly.  The guide said we didn’t have to wear our seatbelts as it was a safe place.  A minute later he was talking about French tourists overstaying their visa and running off.  Some of them were shot - so much for it being a safe place.

The hotel looks very nice with three swimming pools.  I’m told the sea is just five minutes away but I have no idea in which direction.  The folks wanted a Chinese meal.  We were told there was a place down the road so off we went.  As usual, I ended up in front.  At one point I turned around and discovered I was on my own; the group had given up and gone back.  We were told there was a Chinese place in the opposite direction, so off we went; there wasn’t.  We did find a place that had Chinese food on the menu so I relaxed while the group discussed what to have.  I know one of the dishes was deep fried squid but I’ve no idea what the others were.  The men took out their phones and started to watch a football match between Cambodia and Malaysia.  I decided to watch a rugby match between Australia and New Zealand.  NZ were winning - maybe that’s why the Aussies are deporting a lot of Kiwis.

I was sharing a room with Meakara but he’s gone to join the lads in the next room.  I was wondering if I’d developed leprosy or something but he said he had travel agency work to do and he didn’t want to keep me awake.

So let’s see what tomorrow brings.