29-OCT - Tue - Out of action

Swiss lad out with ear, nose and bronchial infection. Italo-Aussie lad out with ear infection... Maybe we are allergic to work? We need a holiday!

28-OCT - Mon - The invite

It was another glorious day of heat, sun blazing from the blue sky, the air full of incense smells, the most ornate and intricate decorated bamboo poles lining the streets in celebration for the religious event of Galangan, Balinese in their traditional dresses on the way to make an offering and there it was: “You are coming to my party, aren’t you!?” We just got invited to what is going to be the party of the year on Jalan Petitenget! The invite uttered not just by any messenger, but rather Mr Blake Carrington of Jalan Petitenget himself! It is going to be a black tie occasion, celebrating the man’s big birthday and we are going to be on the VIP list! My God!? What are we going to wear? We need new suits, but what colour, what style? Tailor, make them large shoulder pads and thin waist line! Niki cut our hair to be the most splendid coiffeur of the party! We feel like Crystal Carrington and Alexis Carrington-Colby getting ready for the event of the year! Oh what fun it is going to be, dressed in our haute-couture straight from the “crème de la crème” Balinese instant-suits, just add needle and thread and A$150 et voila’ dressed for the party! Arriving on our little scooter at the entrance to the glitzy palace, which already is displaying the full range of rainbow colours at its entrance, the piano is being tuned and all silver being polished! Indeed it was a fantastic surprise to be included and we can’t wait to attend, hearing all the gossip and background stories of the hotel complex we just bought into, as special guests of the owner himself and mingling with all other party members flying in on a fleet of aircrafts from the homeland! What great timing… watch out for more news on the event of the year!

27-OCT - Sun - A week of work!

Work!? How unfamiliar this word had become for us… But with a fantastic objective ahead of us, it is no trouble to delve ourselves into work! And this week has definitely been all about work and running around. Before we knew it, it was Sunday evening and we pretty much had accomplished everything: day 1 no bungalow, by day 7 bungalow with all the things that go with it, organised! Not bad for 7 days of “work”! And as we crammed it all in so tightly, the only reward we could think of was going out for dinner lots, do as little beach work-outs as possible in favour of sleep-ins and finish the week with a late afternoon in the sun with a drink in hand! This is the Bali way of working!

24-OCT - Thu - Immersion

Some visitors only just scratch the surface of Bali, if at all... As they hide in mega hotels, cruise the main roads of Kuta or cocoon themselves into a resort in Nusa Dua. Those who venture into Seminyak, Kerobokan and Canggu and its side streets, or up to Ubud, will find a different world at each corner! We love this place, the scenery and its people. We are immersing ourselves deeper into the island's network, by scooting to paint shops, furniture makers, curtain material shops, finding our way on the busy main roads, negotiating and dealing for the best price! What an amazing experience, having to organise our new business venture, in a foreign country, whilst staying alert and smart (nothing against Westerners, but if you can sell something at a much higher price to an unsavvy Westerner... Why wouldn't you!?). It is lots of fun, something that we will remember fondly and tell our nephew till he has heard it 10,000 times and just says "yes uncle, I know, you told me that story already!" But alas, we will tell it again :)

23-OCT - Wed - Traffic “a la Indonesia”

Traffic rules in Bali are completely different from what we know them in Australia. One rents a scooter, if one is not foolish enough of renting one without ever having ridden one, and thinks that’s it. Luckily these two lads have Italian traffic blood in their veins and were prepared for what is absolute fun, when you do it responsibly. As one rides in a straight line, there will be cars and scooters pulling right in front of us, at the last minute. Anger and frustration have no place here, as Indonesian traffic rules clearly say one must give way to any traffic popping up in front of you. But as the main roads are often congested by taxi drivers proceeding at snail pace and honking each and every tourist, trying to get business, scooters are the preferred means of transport and whilst observing traffic from a café, one realises they are like wasps or flies swarming in and out of cars, suddenly appearing in mass, to only disappear again in matter of seconds. On a congested road, as a scooter rider, we have learnt the local’s way to cope with it! You try and squeeze your way between the footpath and the standing cars and keep riding along. If there is not enough space, switch to the incoming traffic lane and make your way forward disregarding the incoming traffic, whilst there is enough space for said incoming traffic to pass. If the space is tight for the standing cars, you travelling on the incoming traffic lane and the incoming traffic itself, pull tight against a standing car; wait for incoming traffic to pass and proceed as normal, only to repeat this step each time you need to. If both these techniques are not working for you, ride onto the footpath and proceed on your journey, till traffic movement allows you to pull off the footpath back onto the road. Traffic lights, the few there are, again have to be looked at a bit lighter than the clear cut Western perspective. Some traffic lights have countdowns, alerting you when they will switch to red or green. If one is standing at a red traffic light, cars, trucks and scooters will start accelerating and moving out of the intersection anything 10 to 5 seconds before the red light is actually due to turn. Vice versa the crossing traffic will keep travelling through the intersection 2 to 5 seconds after the light has switched to red for them. You can imagine a bit of caution is required when crossing an intersection… It even gets a bit more complicated when one intends to turn at an intersection. We are used to turning traffic having to give way to people travelling straight through the intersection: not so in Bali. As one is intent to cross the intersection and cross a lane to turn right, as the traffic light goes green, it is quite normal to accelerate and cross the intersection straight away, as the people travelling straight will slow down and give way (as per the Indonesian rule that any traffic popping up in front of you has right of way). Alternatively if traffic is a bit too slow for your liking, as you are turning right, don’t select your lane but rather ride into the incoming traffic lane, against traffic for a while, till you find a clear spot to merge across to the correct side of the road. Whilst we are on the subject of turning, as it seems both Indonesians and tourists alike do not master the use of indicators on scooters, these are constantly left flashing, even miles after one has actually turned (cars thank God have the automatic indicator re-set in the steering wheel). Therefore there is a bit of confusion as to if the rider ahead of you is actually intending to turn or just forgot to take the indicator off. But not to worry, a solution has been found. When on a scooter and wanting to turn, not only put your indicator on (or have it on all day long), but also wave your hand indicating you are going to turn that side. And the overriding road rule is: If a road user is getting too distracted and not noticing your approach, quickly honk! Not an angry honk, just a quick beep alerting them you are there or behind them or approaching, it works a treat! The funniest traffic situation we have encountered is absolute grid lock at a smaller intersection, with hundreds of scooters wanting to turn into every and each way, mixed with cars and trucks. But as per the above traffic rules, it can become chaotic, as scooters are progressing on the incoming traffic lane, turning into incoming traffic lanes, riding on footpaths, squeezing themselves into car spaces to let a truck through and occasionally, as we witnessed, it becomes completely jammed, as people have left not an inch of space for any traffic to move. The result is a complete traffic lock down, with honks going crazy and scooters and cars pushing their way forward millimetre by millimetre. As we finally made it to the centre of the intersection, it was amazing to see how one needs to manage his way forward! It was like solving a puzzle of scooters: “You move your front wheel into there!”; “I incline my scooter to the left, whilst you push your foot forward!”; “Move back a bit, so I can put my scooter forward!” all done in gestures, nobody getting angry, the occasional laugh at the mad situation! But it worked; we got out of it and rode happily into the sunset, having succeeded in another day of absolute fun on the roads of Bali!

21-OCT & 22-OCT - Mon & Tue - 48hrs of action!

Monday = Getting bank details for transfer of payment: received! Ride to DHL to intercept all important documentation: mission accomplished! Purchase groceries and some DVDs for evening at home: done! Find Australian Consulate General in Denpasar: located! Get identification done by Australian Consulate official: check! Argue with Australian Consulate official over the astronomical fees: paid (and we got the better price!) Starbucks coffee break in Denpasar: absolutely! Find DHL Denpasar office to send documents back to Australia: sent! Ride back to Kerobokan to visit furniture shops for inspiration on our bungalow: super cool! Visit sun lounge factory for quotes: expensive! Apply for foreign exchange account for money transfer: initiated! Cook lovely alio e olio pasta: divine! Watch “White House Down”: great action movie, typical American finish! Watch “The Big Wedding”: funny! Crash to bed: absolutely! Tuesday = Running along the beach: do we have to? Print, fill, sign and scan foreign exchange account application to finalise application: finalised! Meet owner for a day of shopping: met! Locate suitable new showerhead: done! Discuss furniture design with furniture maker: fun! Negotiate better price: success! Rush to lamp manufacturer: unsuccessful! Source TV, sound system and fridge: wow, so quick! Proceed to purchase DVD and hairdryer: super cheap! Last purchase, ceiling fan: check! Return to base to meet curtain maker: no show! Proceed to lamp shop: purchase successful! Foreign exchange account active: transfer successful! Dinner of steak and salad: great! Watch “The Company You Keep”: Robert Redford is still great! Crash to bed absolutely exhausted: correct!

20-OCT - Sun - Relaxation

Relaxation is letting your body clock determine the wake-up time. Relaxation is not having commitments awaiting you all day long. Relaxation is a day of dolce far niente. Relaxation is doing what-ever you fancy, when-ever you fancy doing it. Relaxation is giving your brain and body a break from the daily decision making and the running around. Relaxation is recharging your batteries. Relaxation is pausing for a day and observing what is happening around us. Relaxation is sitting next to your partner and share the love that connects you. Relaxation is healing. Relaxation is breathing. Relaxation is pure luxury, but in this industrialised world we live in, it is a must to cope with the pace of life we have created. And we did just that!

19-OCT - Sat - The deal is sealed!

Yep, the papers have been signed. After lots of research, plenty of questions to all sorts of professionals and lots of personal inspections, we have found the ONE. When we came to Bali, we were wondering what is going to happen on our return to Australia, with our business plan of starting a café/bakery “on ice”, and slowly a new idea of setting up something here in Bali started taking shape. After discarding various ideas, buying a holiday rental property for us to manage and market just stuck! Step 1: find a property at the right price and the right location! Hence we visited various real estate agents, making sure to stick with the big global names, as they are more likely to “play by the rules”, we found a couple of contenders and inspected a selection of properties. Step 2: market research! Once we identified the strip of road of our interest, we scooted along it and listed every single hotel, villa, bungalow, shack we could find. This allowed us to then research how much our future competition charges for a nightly stay, high and low season, in order to determine how much we could charge, without pricing ourselves out of the market and still make a profit. Step 3: What are the legal requirements and regulations for foreigners to purchase property in Bali? The only way was to get it from the horse’s mouth: a notaris = lawyer. We walked into one of them and found a lovely lady behind an ancient typewriter (the Swiss lad’s hearth was beating faster, seeing a beautiful Olympia, a worthy museum piece, still in daily action!). Through broken English and lots of intuition, these lads were made aware there is another notaris that specialises in real estate and given the directions to it. We got the answers we needed. Step 4: Narrow all the candidates down to one! Our future property! Luck, faith, destiny and the good luck coin we found at Uluwatu temple must have helped us along, as after starting a conversation with the manager of one of the locations we had our eye on, we were introduced to the owner, who took one look at us and was all smiles: “family”! Well, after showing us around his complex and giving us a couple of options, we pretty much found what we wanted: perfect location, perfect sized property and right price! All the right ingredients to start our project on a smaller and more manageable scale! A couple of days of negotiations, conversations, drinks, paper work and here we are: deposit paid, papers signed! So much easier to deal with the seller directly, an Australian, paper work in English, a veteran of Balinese business dealings. Next week the owner is taking us furniture and accessories shopping, it’s all happening! Objective having the property ready for this Christmas! Only one thing left to do: CELEBRATE! We treated ourselves to a restaurant on our new “strip of road” (more market research for our customers) and instead of eating two huge mains, selected five starters. For once we chose to have Western dishes and we were not disappointed, Olive Restaurant is a fine dining experience! The night was young, and as we had something special to celebrate and being a Saturday night, off we went to the gay clubs for a boogie and drinks till late into the night! The details of it are [censured] – ask us in person! Wow! Life is indeed full of surprises when one dears to take the plunge (with your eyes wide open and brain switched on)!

18-OCT - Fri - Out and about negotiating

Busy negotiating our future

16-OCT & 17-OCT - Wed & Thu - As one door closes, another opens

These last two days have seen these two lads take decisive actions on closing an old chapter and laying the foundation stone of what hopefully will become a bright new future. We often go through life keeping others happy but by doing so denying ourselves our rightful rewards. Is it right? Is it wrong? Hard to answer, too many implications to consider (hurt, disappointments, anger, frustration, arguments). They say “time will tell” and indeed it usually does. These two lads have managed to finally close a chapter which has been slowing them down from day one. Invariably closing something is “easier said than done”! We’ve proven to each other that we still have our excellent managerial and organisational skills. Who else but two veterans of customer service and management would have the skills of knowing how to organise to meet all requirements for a legal identification at the local Australian consulate, needing an original document from Australia!? Who else would have the know-how of organising the issuing of said original document in Australia on a Thursday, to have it forwarded on a Friday, for receipt at our location in Bali by Monday (hopefully)? “Yes we can” as President Obama said! Having scooted in and out of traffic and having taken bypass roads that only our trusty mobile phone/GPS would know, the last two days have seen us spending more time on our scooter than at our villa! Being “generation X” means we are well capable of managing more than one task at a time, efficiently and effectively, hence as we were dealing with the closure of this old chapter, we were simultaneously working on laying the foundations of a brand new adventure in our lives! It is a project we have been working on ever since arriving here in Bali and don’t want to disclose to much as of yet, bar saying that as one starts asking the right questions and digging at the right places, suddenly doors have opened we didn’t exist. Life has presented us with an amazing opportunity and we are going to grab it with both hands and our eyes wide open! Yes mums, we’ve done a spread sheet to work out all the nitty gritty financials and the result was: “Full steam ahead!”

15-OCT - Tue - Ku De Ta reigns supreme

It was a day of beach, like many others, and these two lads were in the mood for some glitz and glamour. Where to go? Cocoon with its whiteness? White it might be, but having introduced minimum drink and food spend of A$30+ for their daybeds lining the kidney shaped pool and more for the cabanas, the glitz is somewhat less attractive. It still is a great beach club, with one of the best chill-out music, but not having absolute beachfront and attracting the Kuta crowd is a minus in our books. Potato Head with its grandeur? The setting is amazing; the building shielding the beach club from the rest of the world is a huge amphitheatre made of old wooden doors and shutters of all sizes and colours, three storeys tall. The club itself has many sitting areas with different atmospheres, a huge infinity pool and the all-important absolute beachfront. The minuses again having introduced a minimum drink and food spend which is quite high and the club being so big that it is far from being a relaxing day out enjoying the sun. It feels more like Rimini’s beaches, overcrowded, loud, everyone sitting on top of each other. No thanks! Mozaic with its uber funk? It is an amazing place, it is calm, it is on the smaller side, the cabanas are little hideaways of peace and tranquillity, the daybeds overlooking the ocean are welcoming one to just gaze out into nothingness all day. Having also introduced an exorbitant minimum spend on drinks and food to claim a cabana (despite the place being deserted), turned us off. We had one last shimmer of hope, Ku De Ta! It is the oldest beach club, the first, the original. And you know what? The best! It does not have a pool, just two rows of daybeds which can accommodate four people each, overlooking the beach and the ocean. The daybeds are framed by small stretch of lawn and a U-shaped building, with no walls leading into its courtyard so the ocean can be seen, heard and felt where-ever one decides to sit. Furthest away from the beach is a lovely dining area, whilst the flanks of the building are more casual chilled-out settings, to just sit, grab a bite to eat and enjoy the scenery. The music tops it all off just perfectly, not too loud, not too crazy, the right mix to make one forget appointments, deadlines and time itself. We found ourselves a daybed and we sat, we drank, we chatted, we relaxed, we checked out the eye candy on offer, we laughed, we played UNO, we enjoyed the sun: this is how a day at a beach-club should be! We love you Ku De Ta!

14-OCT - Mon - A not so serious step by step guide of sunbathing for Europeans

For Finnish, Swedish, Norwegians, British, Icelandic natives: your skin is white as ice, you tend to arrive at your tropical beach holiday and immediately peel off all your layers of clothing to display the pure beauty of your glistening, virginal skin. The sun may feel great on each individual cell as your summers are measured in days, rather than months. To us, third party observers, you seem to undergo a metamorphosis as each minute goes by, from white human into a human shaped red crab, and as you return to your accommodation, you glow like a Chinese lantern. Some of you, sometimes under the effect of alcohol, seem to be brave enough to repeat the process the next day; others return covered tip to toe, having undergone yet another metamorphosis, from Northern European to Middle Eastern Prince, dressed in beautiful silky robes from head to toe. For Danish and all Benelux natives: you have ocean beaches on which one can actually sunbath for a couple of weeks a year, hence your skin seems better prepared to enjoy rays of sun on every square inch of it. Moreover it might be that having had colonies in tropical waters, some tropical genes made it into your motherland’s DNA pool, giving you some readiness to equatorial sun rays. Like your Northern neighbours, your skin also presents itself glistening white at first, but you do tend to tan into a most beautiful European chestnut brown, making you stunning Adonis (if you are Danish and are in top shape). For German natives: you guys travel a lot, indeed you are to be found in every corner of the earth, as one hears your most distinct accent, whilst you inquire on the availability of schnitzel, sauerkraut or bratwurst, regardless of being in the deepest part of the jungle of Africa or in the depths of the Pyramid of Giza. You seem to be one of these people who for what-ever freak of nature, require no sun lotion what-so-ever and are able to go from red to brown overnight. And you tan into a most beautiful colour! We are envious. Except for the part where your older generation has no inhibition in presenting themselves to the bathing public in the smallest of bathing costumes, regardless of their body shape. The French natives: you are easily distinguishable, as usually all of you (mother, father, daughter and son) are all perfectly shaped, with not a gram of fat on you, as you smoke one cigarette after the other. Your bathing costumes are always the most stylish on the beach: a very smart-casual pair of shorts for the man; a stunning bikini for the lady; latest sun glasses to top it off; and the kids in lovely costumes themselves. If the grandparents happen to be in attendance, they usually reserve themselves to wearing light clothing, as they consider the days of bathing costumes gone with the wind of youth. The Mediterranean natives: all of you are used to warm climates, heating might not even exist in your grandparent’s homes (now with climate change that has probably become an issue, as the snow piles up at your doorstep), your DNA has adapted to being able to cope with any sun ray and you just absorb it all into each nucleus of your body, transforming your skin from olive to a most beautiful deep olive brown. And if you are one of the lucky ones with blue eyes, you just look divine! No need to shy away from the sun, “all systems are go” for you guys! A word of caution to the Italo-Aussie lad of this travelling duo: sun lotion does need to be applied to eye lids, whilst one is dozing under the sun, unless one is seeking to achieve the uber trendy “red panda eye” look. The Alpine natives (French, Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps): just because you think you grew up in the alpine sun, don’t think you can turn up at a tropical beach in your shorts, sandals, funky glasses and optional head cover, to display your glistening white skin without any consequence. You will burn! You will blister! You will not turn brown overnight! Sun lotion factor 50 is the essential ingredient to start the holiday on, downgrading as your skin recovers from the initial shock! This of course does not apply to this Swiss lad himself nor his sister, who still believe a small dose of sunburn is the first step to the perfect tan (which invariably turns into a full scale sunburn as they both fall asleep under the sun). Happy sunbathing to you all!

13-OCT - Sun - A Sunday to remember

Being a clear blue sky with the sun displaying all its power, it was an obvious conclusion that we would find ourselves just up the road from the W Hotel at our preferred beach club… err… ex-preferred beach club, The Mozaic. We scooted to the club, and the Swiss lad jumped off to grab the top spot cabana, overlooking the most beautiful clear blue pool, lined by lush plants on one side and funky sunbeds on the other, with the ocean in the distance. Just stunning! Whilst admiring all this beauty, the Italo-Aussie lad went to intercept la mamma. On their return, the Helvetic man had changed location to the front row daybeds. Why, we hear you ask? How about minimum spend of drinks and food of A$100 for anyone staying in a cabana on a Sunday, enjoying the live band!? Most ludicrous price we have ever heard of, in a country where a beer costs A$2.50 and a snack around A$5 or A$7! We tried to enjoy the front row sunbeds, ordered a drink, but the live band playing some acoustic groove (or so they described it; brain bending noise more like it) started to get on our nerves. A change of location was imminent. Plan A, return to the hotel’s super luxury in the hope to find a spot by the pool; Plan B, grab a sunbed on the sand somewhere, hoping the wind would not do an unwanted abrasion of our perfect silky-smooth skin. Plan A worked perfectly. We found ourselves three comfy chaise-lounges by the pool, enjoyed the sun and a swim. After all this hard work, a glass of prosecco and pool-side snacks were in order, whilst chatting along on past, present and future. After a quick beauty sleep (not that we would need it) and a change of costumes, we picked up “bikie mum”, looking super cute with her “Lucky Strike” helmet and holding on to her son like a Peruvian baby to his mother. We snaked our way through traffic to get to our dinner location: the Moroccan restaurant Kahima. All meals we ate sent us to food Nirvana and catapulted us to that tiny place in Marrakesh, you know the one, with the local wine “Hatten Alexandria” doing the rest! The climax of the evening was yet to come, with the baklava and the vanilla pastille! An evening of orgasmic tastebuds explosion! What a great conclusion to this short but fun visit by mother. Once we bid our farewells, these two lads, in possession of a scooter each, could not resist temptation of zooming all the way down to Kuta, on the calm and serene Sunday night streets of Seminyak, Legian and Kuta, to see the “spectacle” of Bintang clad and Bintang filled Aussie blokes and sheilas, displaying their typical behaviour…

12-OCT - Sat - Our 17th monthiversary with la mamma

What better way to celebrate our 17th monthiversary than in company of a special guest? We started our day by ditching the daily beach work-out and instead tried a local vegan café just down the road. Apparently the vegetable of the moment is “kale”, the new super cauliflower which fully detoxes you: we just had to try it! Not much different from a normal cauliflower, in our opinion, but hey, if this is the vegetable of the moment, it is a must! Food was very yummy and we will be going back more often, for a healthy breakfast. Our next step was to arrange transportation for the couple of days la mamma is visiting, and in Bali the preferred and most effective mode of transport is a scooter! As three of us would not fit on one scooter… then again, plenty of Balinese do use the scooter as a mass transport vehicle, but that shall not be us. We bargained our regular scooter outlet down, for a second scooter and off we went to pick up mother and convince her that, one: scooting is the best option for getting around; two: we are very safe motorists; three: we are now accustomed to local road conditions. Not much convincing was required; guess one does trust two adult 39-year olds! We spent the rest of the morning scooting all the way down the main strip to a larger shopping area, to seek shade during the midday heat, and mum absolutely loved the ride! On our return back to la mamma’s hotel, we decided to take advantage of the luxury offered by the W Hotel and joined her by the hotel pool, which faces the ocean (and the sea was displaying its usual spectacle of crazy crushing waves, where only a fool would jump in). After our pool-side relaxation, it was time for dinner at Nook, the local restaurant set in the midst of rice paddies, looking like a white cruise liner sitting in the middle of a calm green ocean. We all enjoyed the view, with swooping bats doing their acrobatics and keeping us mosquito free. The food, the wine and of course the company, made for a most pleasant surroundings to celebrate our 17th monthiversary. By now darkness and the cool air had truly set in, making it perfect conditions to take a stroll down the main strip and window shop. We must confess that one finds it hard not to dig into one’s wallet, when walking down the main strip in Legian/Seminyak, where one can find boutique after boutique of locally made, very fashionable clothes. After all, someone has to kick start the world economy, so why not make it us!? The day ended with these three Australians sipping a drink at the Woobar (W Hotel’s bar by the ocean), under lanterns and good music. What a day!

11-OCT - Fri - Day 768

We wish! Bali's charm has completely engolfed us! Life here is on a different time scale, the Balinese laissez-faire is healing our Westerner rush-rush-rush way of life, especially as we have hit one month away from home. The days flow one into the other, day of week has become irrelevant as we welcome each morning letting the sun and the clouds dictate our days. We are thoroughly enjoying this experience. We have worked hard for the last 10+ years, we now treasure this opportunity of taking a break from our "normal" lifes to be here in Bali! Italo-Aussie's mum arrived to visit us for a couple of days, giving us the chance to share all our discoveries & bringing a welcomed change to our routine! Gotta dash, tropical paradise calling!

09-OCT & 10-OCT - Wed & Thu - Back in Bali

These two days we have been busy stocking up our villa (yes we got upgraded, this is another story), getting settled back in Bali and getting ready for the arrival of the mothership!

08-OCT - Tue - Landing in the hotspot of Asia-Pacific: Bali!

Our Lombok departure was doubtful after our broadcasted 1000 flight suddenly disappeared from the sign, 1000 came and went, 1030 came and went and no announcement was heard. Tourists were getting nervous, people started approaching officials asking for updates, to no avail. These two travellers didn’t lose their cool, leaving the departure gate for another coffee, knowing Denpasar (Bali) airport was experiencing closures due to the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Area) meeting. Finally at about 1040 our departure was announced for 1050… yeah right!? In 10 minutes from now, with the flight from Denpasar not yet landed? Had Lion Air dispatched flying carpets to fly us back to Bali? Our aircraft did in the end arrive, and by 1130 we finally took off, with these two lads on board, to our great relief. After our 30-minute journey and a couple of complimentary rounds over Denpasar airport, our flight was finally given the all clear to land. And what a landing it was, flying over water with navy ships guarding the coastline in front of Sanur and Nusa Dua. As our plane touched down, slowing down, we passed the whole of Asia-Pacific, in form of aircrafts: Philippines’ presidential aircraft, two Russian jets, various smaller aircrafts, all safely parked. We came to a stop a good deal from the main airport building, disembarking on the tarmac, greeted by the 747 of the president of Japan, the 747 of the president of Korea, the 747 of the monarch of Brunei, and a military jet of the Chilean president, what a sight. And having to walk past them on our way into the terminal, with close to no guards in sight only smiling airport staff, was great fun! As the new international airport is now open, we were processed at the deserted old wing, making the whole process as quick as ever. On the way to our compound, we just got the tail end of busy APEC meetings by a traditional restaurant with Balinese dances…, the whole street on complete shutdown with heavy military police guarding the lot! Our politicians are such hardworking men and women, enjoying chicken satay!

07-OCT - Mon - Kuta (Lombok) in review

The short version: We came, we experienced, now let’s get the [beep] out of here! The long version: If it weren’t for APEC and West Australian school holidays, we might not have escaped Bali to come to Lombok, which would have been a real shame. We are indeed glad we came, we are very happy to have experienced a destination like no other in all our previous travels, but we’re over it. Enough of water buffalos, cows and goats crossing the road; enough of the calls to prayer; enough of dogs growling at each other; enough of plastic and rubbish souring the experience. Time to go back to creature comforts of what these two city lads of the 20th century are accustomed to, time to go back to the super friendly and easy going Balinese people! A destination like this is not for tourists looking for beaches with the “complete package” of day beds, restaurants, cafés and shops. Be prepared to travel rough roads to a fantastic beach; understand that power blackouts are a daily occurrence, and at not pre-set times; expect very, very rural villages. The landscape is breathtakingly spectacular, the countryside a window into the past, the beaches more beautiful than the West Australian coastline. We have not been to central, Northern and Eastern Lombok, therefore our judgement is limited. Being at a destination were tourism is still under development, we felt that two guys walking the village side by side, at dusk/evening and not looking like surfers, or yobbos, nor looking like having just crawled out of some hole, did make people look inquisitively and making us very uneasy. Also knowing of being in a more rural setting and an Islamic country (and we are firm believers of freedom of religion, but what is it with the 4.30am call to prayer via 1950s shockingly poor quality speakers at full blast, really!?), we were conscious of not to smile, gaze or give a passing kiss to each other. Not being allowed to be ourselves is again something we are not used to, or if confronted with disapproval we have no hesitation at giving a piece of our own back; but not here, where we do not speak the language and being gay is obviously something not yet in the popular consciousness. We must stress that Kuta (Lombok) is a great destination, but seven or eight days of it is too much; make it four if you decide to come, and you’ll be more than satisfied with your choice. “Driver! Tomorrow morning, 0730 pickup at reception! Take us to the airport! Schnell, bitte!”

06-OCT - Sun - [blank]

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05-OCT - Sat - Senggigi – Tourism gone wrong

We took a day trip (1,5hrs) to Senggigi, the real tourism mecca of Lombok (apparently). The drive itself was very educational, seeing the countryside change from an arid landscape to lush green vegetation, with the all familiar rice paddies; whilst having a good conversation with our driver. We learnt that schooling is free up and inclusive of high school and compulsory for all children. The kids selling bracelets and claiming they need money for school are transported in from other villages by their head of family, to boost the family’s income. We heard how families in need receive assistance from the government, in form of money and subsidised rice. We saw rice fields just out from Kuta, all dry, the land cracked by the sun, with farmers tending to them, removing the weeds, the walls being repaired. This is in preparation of the rainy season to begin at the end of October/early November, for the one yearly harvest of rice in this part of Lombok. As we reached Senggigi, it was nothing like we imagined. It has a wide main street going straight through it, large warehouse style buildings on the one side, half of them abandoned; small shop fronts and café on the opposite side, largely boarded up. The beachfront is livelier, with big resorts taking up all of the coastline, some having seen better days, a few desperately holding on to their luxury status (and failing), and others having fallen from their glory, now all abandoned and protected by a layer of dust and vegetation, their 80s image preserved forever. Never-the-less, the feeling of being in a post-apocalyptic town cannot be shaken, with the infrastructure of what used to be or should have been a sought after tourism destination clearly visible, but no tourists in sight. Seems like a tourism boom took hold 25 years or so ago, and then imploded, leaving a large concrete memory of a better era gone by. Thank God we choose Kuta instead of Senggigi!

04-OCT - Fri - The good, the bad and the ugly

The good: The beaches here are tropical paradise. The sand is “fairy-tale” white, the water as blue as only Hollywood could imagine it, and the mountains frame the hole setting majestically. The hinterland a different world altogether again, with its various crops, all farmed by manual labour with no machinery in sight, the villages unchanged in centuries, the locals going about their daily life, opening an unimaginable window for us city lads of the 20th century. The food is bolder, the flavours more intense than in Bali, maybe fresher and truer to their origins, how Indonesian food should be. We once again followed Rick Stein’s lead and purchased fish from a group of women, smoking it right there on the beach on burning coconut husks, as the husbands brought it in on their colourful fishing boats, the catch as fresh as it could ever be, out from the cobalt blue ocean we just swam in. It tasted truly spectacular, as we picked away at it with our hands, with the sun tickling our skin. The bad: The dogs are a constant companion, be it in the rural setting, on the beach or in town. They walk the streets, alone or in small groups. They sleep by the road, under a tree, under a table or under your daybed. They are not the lovely pet we are used to. Albeit being extremely human friendly, they most certainly are not to each other. They forage for food from villagers, along roads or from a kind tourist. They do not share food between themselves and will aggressively bark, scratch and bite any other canine challenging their find. They sniff food a mile away and will spot you in matter of seconds. They will sit and wait and look at you, till they either fooled you to pity them or you finished your meal and your leftovers are for them to conquer. Their constant presence makes these two lads uncomfortable, as most do not look healthy and might be carrying lice, ticks or worst, have rabies. Avoid them, we shall! The ugly: The sight of discarded plastic is omnipresent. We encounter plastic by the side of roads, behind homes, outside mosques, in bushes, in the fields, on the sand, in the crystal clear water. Mostly small pieces, of course the usual culprit Mr Plasticbag, sometimes a flip-flop, worst if it cumulates into bigger clumps. We are amazed at seeing locals just throwing it out. It is truly a most saddening sight, leaving a dark shadow over this magnificent landscape. They burn it, from time to time, causing the most sickening smoke. The only logical conclusion these two lads came to, is that in the olden days, the discarded broken bamboo wall, thatched roof, unwanted wooden furniture, consumed coconut, worn out straw hat were truly burnable or would decompose over time. Plastic does not! We guess once again, the influx of the Western world is starting to leave its mark, all our produce made mostly out of plastic, but the final link of rubbish collection, disposal and recycling not a link the money hungry businessman cares about… yet! Till the plastic’s negative impact so bad, that ignore, they shall not!

03-OCT - Thu - Felice and her goodwill

We have discovered a beautiful vegetarian warung run by a young woman named Felice, her sister and friends. Her warung is a bamboo structure, with thatched roof, woven bamboo sheets as walls, and all the furniture is made from the local bamboo, tables and all. A cosy setting. We decided to make it our dinner haunt for the week, after tasting one of her dishes of fried tempeh (soy bean product) in a delicious sauce, served with kankong (local spinach). A taste buds explosion! But Felice’s warung has a twist: she uses a part of her profits to support an orphanage, moreover once a week, Saturdays, she closes her restaurant to cook for the local kids, who are selling goods on the beach all week, trying to give them some respite from their hard work. How can we not support such a business? She is even intending to set up a foundation, maybe finding a job in Australia, to earn more money to give back into her community. We brought some colouring in books and pencils from Australia, with the intention of giving it to local kids. In Bali, it is hard to find rural spots. On our rides around Kuta we see many families, but which one do you decide to give something and which one not? If destiny or faith has an influence in life, it definitely played its card right into the palm of our hand, we gave our colouring in books and pencils to Felice, to use with her kids, and we most definitely will keep dining at her warung for the rest of our stay! Indeed for us, here in a location that does not yet depend on tourism, it has made us question what we should do: support the locals who have made the gutsy business decision to abandon their more traditional work to establish a shop selling goods for the tourists; buy from locals walking the beach selling coconuts or pineapple; negotiate with group of ladies selling sarongs and blankets; purchase some bracelets from kids? What is the alternative? Should we not purchase anything and thus promote this kind of activity, as more and more locals might abandon their traditional way of life to suddenly depend on the volatile tourism industry? But how can you deny a monetary reward to an old man, older than our parents, walking the beach with heavy coconuts, under the midday sun, selling them for A$1 each? How can you not buy bracelets from the local kids who try so hard to make you smile, when they cost A$2 each? Who has got it in his heart to say no to a group of ladies, walking this remote beach to sell the most beautiful blankets (locally made according to them, but even if they are not, does it matter?). How can we be the type of tourist that uses their water, uses all their town’s facility, and just sits on the beach all day, buying absolutely nothing from the local merchants? In our hearts we know that buying a few things from each single seller hopefully does something positive and we will keep doing just that.

02-OCT - Wed - A spellbinding ride through rural paradise

Today we headed West, scooting to Selong Blanak, which according to LonelyPlanet is: “[…] a wide, sugar-white beach with water streaked a thousand shades of blue, ideal for swimming. […]”. So off we went. The road took us out into the hinterland of Kuta; into valleys, over hills and through villages, till we reached our destination a good 45 minutes later. Yes, the beach was spectacular in capital letters! The sand white as cotton, the water an amazing Mediterranean blue, green hills plunging straight into the water either side of us, and a cone shaped island sticking out of the ocean straight ahead from the beach, in the middle of the horizon. The water was so inviting, we just had to jump in and stay in. But what completely blew us away was not our destination, rather the ride to it. The journey took us on a windy road, up and down hills, through the most amazing landscape. We encountered the most spectacular vistas overlooking lush fields, seeing bays with the cobalt blue ocean in the distance, and palm trees at the bottom of the valleys. We saw locals slaving away with very rudimentary machinery at the local soil, looking for gold, the land stripped bare. We passed tobacco field after tobacco field; we witnessed rice being harvested, with ladies carrying huge bundles on their heads, and muscular men using their raw manpower to pound on the harvest, separating the rice from the husk; we saw rice being dried on the ground, inside the family compound; old villagers with sunburnt skin, herding their water buffalos through rivers. We passed thatched villages, how they must have been built for centuries, followed by brick and mortar houses with satellite dishes. We had villagers old and young walking the tiny road; pick-up trucks passing us with their load of labourers, on the way to work; school children walking home in their uniforms for midday break. Each turn we took, each hill we climbed presenting a new window into the rural life of Southwestern Lombok. This trip was a true kaleidoscope of magnificent natural beauty and rural village life, a trip through time, something we city lads only knew from books or documentaries. What an eye-opening and extraordinary experience!

01-OCT - Tue - Where are all the people?

We rented a scooter for the two of us, this being the only way of going exploring around Kuta, as the distances are too far for walking or cycling. The roads are horrendous to anyone’s standard; it is more of a hopping along at meagre 20km/h from pot hole to pot hole. As we left Kuta and ventured East, we rode past families of farmers, their living standards extremely basic from what we are accustomed to. Mothers sitting in the shade with their newborns, children playing in groups, older children and men in the fields, herding cattle. The land is very dry, its landscape is mostly bushes, small trees and lots of coconut palms, all in that washed out green and browns we are so accustomed to in Western Australia, with the only lush green you see being fields of corn and tobacco plantations. The coastline is an amazing contrast to this landscape, with bay after bay of pure white sand. Each bay is cocooned by coconut palms and sheltered by rocky hills. The water is pure emerald green and turquoise blues, balmy and calm, as the waves crush on reefs far away at the entrance to these sheltered beaches. We explored all three beaches East of Kuta, suitable for swimmers, and settled on Tanjun Aan. Imagine a clock and draw a circle from twelve noon to ten, this is the shape of this bay. Add pristine white sand to the whole setting, and make the beach ten football fields in length; let the most amazing clear, blue, emerald and turquoise water into the whole bay; make it shallow so that you can walk nearly to the centre of the bay in waste deep water, walking past patches of seagrass and corals; add coconut palms in the background and further on brown dry hills. Add two bamboo huts on this huge bay, 100m apart, offering cooked food and refrigerated drinks; gently place ten tourists (we counted them) on this vast beach, inject a family of sarong and fresh coconut sellers, and this most amazing setting is complete. We could not resist buying the most beautiful blanket and feasted on a fresh coconut whilst taking in the setting and the sun! No boats, no cars, no scooters, no aircrafts to break the silence; all you hear are small waves, the wind, the occasional rooster and a goat or two. This truly is a tropical island where the Western commercial wave of destruction has not yet arrived, but with the new airport for Lombok only 30 minutes away, regrettably another paradise will be lost.