Bali

So. It comes to this. Cameron travels to a far away land (ahem, Indonesia, but you know.. I had to get on a plane to come here.. it took hours. It took passport stamping. It took a lot of eating. It took getting lock-neck (you know - sorta like lock jaw, except with your neck. From prolonged crappy positioning whilst attempting to doze on the plane). It took a whole lot of money. It took a whole lot of spending money. It took patience and time. To do it right child. It took all this to get me to write something new in my blog.


It all started back in Sydney.

My patience was wearing thin with the annoyances of modern day working life. The 9 to 5 grunt. The days spent talking yet not absorbing nor listening. The days of endless coffee runs, coffee crashes then the afternoon wanting-of-siestas. This life called for a holiday. This life called for Bali.

The holiday choices were not limitless. It was a choice defined by a few different things -

1) Holiday must have sun

2) Holiday must have beaches

3) Holiday must have cheap

4) Holiday must not be in Australia

Now, if the traveller wants Sun and beaches then there are a multitude of places they can go.

Greece, Maldives, Goa, Californification, Mexico, Rio de Bikini. An endless sea of choices.

You want to factor in the cheapness factor and it lowers the number.

You are looking at Fiji. You are looking at Australia (boo). You are looking at Bali.

I choose Bali.

Having been a seasoned visitor of Fiji, I wasn't super excited to return. It's nice you know. Don't get me wrong. It has a certain level of relax associated with it. The people, the people they do be lovely. They have a genuine Islander feel about them. They smile. They give you stuff when you pay them money. They say Bula Bula when you get off the plane and they give you a wreath of flowers. It's pretty cool. But I've been there already. I have the stamp on my passport (somewhere) to prove it. No need to go back. One stamp per country.

Bali - When you come here you get an Indonesian visa. It costs $25 US. Why US? No idea. It's about as far removed from the US as you can possibly be.

I'm wondering if it's because of the money they have have in Indo. The denominations are massive. I'm with someone who is struggling with all the zeros. I'm wanting to tell her to ignore the last 3 zeros on the notes but I keep forgetting. My mind wanders to other things.

It's wandering to the street dogs. The cats with no tails. The smells and lack of acknowledgement of road markings in Bali that is prevalent with motorists across all of Asia. The friendly smiles of the locals who say hello even though you look like every other ding-dong farang that has come here before. Even though the place is full of mini-hulks with bad tattoos and bad accents.

The place is beautiful. There are birds. The villa we are in has an open court yard with some type of shrine to some Deity (probably). It had stones on the ground and an outside toilet. Usually I would be appalled to be doing my business outside. Here, it makes me smile and think nice things. Thinking nice things with a red face and grunting is a novelty indeed.

Two more days on the beach. Tomorrow might bring massages. It might bring a motorbike. It will more than likely bring cocktails and a sleep in. Breakfast in-villa next to the demon with red hair. Hopefully the demon is in utter relax because it will have eaten the soul of the paperwork that is restricting her ability to unwind and to lay down her skull-whip.

I'm hoping.

I'm up to 55 minutes.

That's a wrap. I'll check in again from the jungle.

Salamat ding dong farangs