No longer a Millionaire

Day 4 - Wednesday 23rd Jan 2008

There were no live music at the coffee house. The music men must have got the day off to celebrate 'Galungan'. The mood was sombre. After breakfast, we packed our bags. And waited for Bambang and Sam. It was uneventful ride. By 11am, we were already at the airport.

Having spend my first million, I was somewhat sad to leave.

'Galungan' and Pants

Day 3 – Tuesday 22nd Jan 2008

The sun was already up by the time we reached the coffee house for breakfast. The omelettes and pancakes had become my favourite breakfast. As the previous day, the hotel had live Balinese music. Only this time, instead of a bamboo xylophone, it was a metal one.

While waiting for the breakfast to settle down, we let our little master played in the Balinese garden. Getting bored, I reluctantly went for some walks. Why was I reluctant? Unlike Italy where I was mostly ignored by the Italians on the streets, the ‘overly’ friendly Balinese men loitering on the side walk alarmed me. They seemed to be at every corner, sitting together, doing nothing, in a group of 3-4 men.

The side walks were surprisingly ‘deserted’. Balinese, being prominently Hindus, have mostly left for their hometown. It was the eve of what most Malaysians call ‘Thaipusam’. Balinese call this Hindu celebration as “Galungan”. In Malaysia, Thaipusam is synonym with kavadi and body piercing. I don’t think they perform such thing. But Balinese do offer something to their Hindu god, one is the daily offering (like the bowl I saw in the Taxi), and a specially weaver palm leaves that they hang at their door.

My first stop was to buy a hat. If you plan on doing serious walking in any Southeast Asian countries, it is best to have a good hat with you, along with a bottle of water. A towel to wipe your sweats is optional. The heat and humidity could get to you. I bought the hat from the first touristy shop I found. Looking very touristy, with ‘Bali’ embroidered on the hat, I continued walking.

I somehow found my way to ‘Pasar Adat Kuta’ (Traditional Kuta Market). The wooden-brick shopping complex housed a lot of small shops. There were mostly selling clothes. There’s a few shop selling woodcarving. I didn’t see much of Europeans in the area.

Around noon, after dropping off some things in the hotel room, we headed for lunch. To the disappointment of my little master, we didn’t stop at his favourite fast food restaurant. We continued walking to the “Nasi Padang” restaurant. He refused to eat anything at the shop. The best thing on the menu was the orange juice. It was sweet and at the same time a little bit sour. After the long walk in the hot sun, I couldn’t resist a refill! After the great lunch, we obliged our little master and went to the fast food restaurant.

Then I continued walking. I found Hindu temple facing the beach of Kuta. There were a few Balinese men doing some preparation for ‘Galungan’. Even though they were all wearing sarong, with knife at their waist, they did not look ‘feminine’ at all! In fact they look every inch like a traditional Balinese warriors but in modern setting. Another thing to point out is the statue in front of the temple wear checked sarong. Actually all the statues around Bali wear sarong!

It didn’t take long for me to realize that it’s too hot to be strolling on the beach of Kuta. So I decided to take refuge in the shadows of small lanes sandwiched between nearby buildings. I thought the little lanes would take me to dubious places. I was mistaken. The little lanes led me to a lane barely big enough for a car to pass by. The lane has a very dubious name – Jalan Poppies 1. But I found no dubious activities, other that lot’s of small cottage like hotels. It could be due to my decent appearance, no one came to me to sell any poppies.

Without realizing it, the walks has taken up my whole day. I returned to the hotel. A short rest and an instant noodle later, I was refreshed. We took a cab to a ‘spa’. I was told by dear friends who went Bali a few years back that for the full body spa thingy would required you to stripe. So I opted for foot massage. I thought it would be like the one I had in China – massaging only the foot. But no, the petite Balinese lady asked to take off my pants and wear their disposable underwear.

Wearing robes, I followed her to the corridor. There’s a pail of water with flower. “Cool!”, I thought to myself - still thinking that I would be getting a foot massage similar to the one in China. The lady washed my feet. Then she told me to go into a room and lie down on the massage bed. I was baffled. Wasn’t she suppose to massage my feet! Yes she did that, but more. She massaged the whole legs. From foot up to my thigh. For each legs! The massage was great. Her movement was graceful. It was as if she was dancing to the Balinese music that filled the room.

My little master insisted that we rode the horse cart back to the hotel. And so we did. He was all smile as he had been wanting to go for the ride ever since the first time we saw the horse cart on the first day. 15 minutes later we reached the hotel.

The Fight between Good and Evil

Day 2 – Monday 21st Jan 2008

The day started early. We had a heavy continental breakfast at the hotel. I particularly enjoyed the omelette and the pancakes. Breakfast was accompanied by Balinese music. I’m not sure what the instrument is called, but it is sort of a bamboo xylophone.

By 8.30 am we were already at the hotel lobby waiting for our chartered car. On the previous day, the ‘Nasi Padang’ restaurant owner gave his contact number. I gave him a call before I went to bed and asked him to arrange for a car. For the first time, we met our driver, Sam, and his ‘co-pilot’, Bambang. Both of them not native Balinese. Bambang is from Java, and Sam from Lombok.

Our first stop was to see Barong Dance. Before you actually see the dance, I highly recommend you to read the ‘synopsis’ provided at the entrance. Otherwise, all the characters and acts would just be a puzzle. To add to the confusion, the whole play are in Balinese dialect. Roughly, Barong Dance or play is about the fight between good and evil. Barong itself is a mystical animal that represent the good. Another character to note is the Rangda. Rangda represents the evil. Both have their own followers.

If you look closely, throughout the play, there’s two type of Rangda – one with the white hair, and another with black hair. White haired Rangda is the evil spirit that managed to redeem itself before it was killed (hence, went to heaven). Unfortunately, like real life, evil lives on. One of Rangda followers took over her place. The whole dance symbolise the continuous fight between good and evil in life.

Next stop, Nusa Dua for some water sport activities. My dear friends who went to Bali earlier did parasailing. Being ‘vertically challenged’, parasailing is definitely out of my list! That left me with snorkelling, and scuba diving. After some persuasion, I finally agreed to go for a scuba diving!

The diving instructor spoke fluent English, so I had no trouble understanding him. I learned some basic sign language. I also learned how to equalize my ear pressure, and what to do if water seeped into my mask. Then we went to the open sea in a wooden boat.

In the boat, he prepped me up. He helped me with the mask. He put flippers on my feet. He fastened a belt with some weigh stone around my waist. I thought we would wear the tank on the boat, but no. The instructor jumped into the sea with the tanks. Then, with flippers on my feet, weigh stone around my waist, I followed him into the open sea.

Oh God! What I’m I getting my self into?

I don’t swim well. I only know how to swim to save my life. Jumping into the open sea? With weigh stone around my waist? I must have been out of my mind!

The instructor caught me before I went under. After sort of ‘manhandling’ me, he finally managed to strapped the tank on me. I soon discovered that the straps have some kind of inflatable device. So, I didn’t have to put any effort to float myself (and the heavy tank!)

I bit the mouthpiece and tried to breathe. Then I realized, my breathing was short and frequent. And doing so with a mouthpiece was a bit tiring. I force myself to take long deep breath! After a while, I found my rhythm. The instructor deflated the straps and we began to descend slowly into the sea. Every metre or so, we stopped to pressurize our ears.

There were many colourful fishes all shape and sizes. Unfortunately with my myopic eyes, beyond my arm length, I could only see colours. The instructor led me to a huge coral that looked very much like a brain. The instructor asked me to hold on to it with one hand. He gave me a packet of bread. Before long, I was swarmed with fishes wanting to get a bite.

Before I knew it, we had to surface. It was a great experience.

Next on the list was water sport for my little master. This thing called “Big Marble”. The operators insisted that it was safe and involved no dip in the water but I beg to differ. It might be fun for adults, but I don’t recommend it for small kids. They put you in a rubber float, and you held on to it as a speedboat dragged it. I was in the speed boat. When the boat made sharp turn, I felt as if I could be ‘thrown’ out of the boat!

After the adrenalin rush, we headed to Penyu Island to calm our nerve. It was some sort of turtle sanctuary. The guy also have some owls, snakes, and a few other animal. The guide told my little master to climb on one of the big turtle. My little master, being his compassionate self, refused the offer. He did, however, took the offer to hold a snake. We quench our thirst at a small stall on the island then headed back to mainland.

Bambang and Sam already waiting at the jetty. We went for lunch and then proceed to a batik factory. I had learned batik painting during my art and craft class eons ago. There’s a slight different. In my class eons ago, we would mount the cloth on a frame. Then we would draw wax onto it (also call ‘menchanting’). In the factory, they simply held the cloth in their hands! By then, my little master was already tired and fast asleep in the car.

We made another stop at Celuk. This village specialize in silverworks. I stayed in the car with my little master. I’m not much of a shopper anyway. Bambang and Sam offered to take us to another village that specialized in woodcarving. We had to decline. We were quite tired. So we headed back to the hotel.

Later, we walked to the beachfront McD for dinner. We all went to bed early.

Brief Escape from Reality to the Land of Millionaires

And in the that land, I too became a millionaire for a brief moment. I spent it all during my brief stay there. I glad I did for I begun to have a headache from seeing the amount of zeroes on the bank notes!

One of my travelling companion specifically requested that we stay in the tourist area so that everything touristy is within walking distance. Unfortunately, due to work commitment, the previously-mentioned companion hand to rain check and go to a land of sand and dessert.

Little did I know that we were travelling there during a peak season. A week before our trip, I frantically search accommodation. With the help of internet and a credit card, I managed to secure a room before departing to the land of millionaires. I kept my finger crossed and hoped that the website was not a fraudulent site!

In my rushed preparation, I accidentally left my favourite lens – the kit-lens. I had initially pondered how to fit the kit-lens and my newly acquired second-hand lens into my small camera bag. The dilemma of choosing which lens to bring during my walks was conveniently solved by me accidentally leaving the kit-lens.

Day 1 – Sunday 20th Jan 2008

By 9.30am we already had our luggage checked-in and were having an unhealthy dose of fast-food breakfast. An hour later, we made our way to the red air craft.

The flight was uneventful. No onboard entertainment. My little master had brought his PSP along and played it to kill time. Before long, he dozed off. I managed to get a little shut-eye.

Around 1pm I got my first glimpse of this Millionaires Land. Half an hour later the plane safely landed at Bandar Udara Ngurah Rai (named after a local warrior), Bali. We bought taxi coupon from the counter and headed to Inna Kuta Hotel. The first thing I noticed was this ‘bowl’ of flowers on the dashboard. Later I learned that it is sort of offering to their hindu god. While Balinese are predominantly Hindus, they practise a slightly different kind of Hinduism than the one practise in India. The marked different is their caste system. They don’t have ‘the untouchables’.

Another thing I noticed while on the taxi was that the air was somewhat damp. It was like it had just rained. I asked the taxi driver. True enough, it rained on the previous day. According to the taxi driver, normally, the weather would be fair on January (i.e. it does not rain on January).

We reached the hotel at 2pm. We were showed our room voucher (printed out from internet!). I was utterly relieved that the hotel accepted the voucher. The bellman showed us to our room. At RM200+ per night, the hotel was up to the standard. The room was comfortable. Our room was on the ground floor. The ‘back’ door opened to a Balinese garden. The downside of having the garden at your doorsteps is that mosquitoes are part of the ‘package’.

After a short rest, we headed out for lunch. We walked along Jalan Pantai Kuta. We passed lots of shops that seemed to scream “Tourists, come in and shop!”. After what seemed to be a long walk in the hot sun, we settled for yet another dose of fast-food for lunch. The long walk had sort of agitated my little master. He was eager to get back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.

And so, we returned to the hotel and let him go for a dip in the pool. No one else was in the pool. He soon grew bored. He agreed to for a walk on the beach thinking that he could go for a swim there. To his (and ours) disappointment, the crowded beach was dirty! My little master was sensible enough not wanting to swim in the murky water. We walked back to the hotel.

By the time we returned to the hotel, it was already 6pm. While my little master went to the pool, I continued walking in searched of decent restaurant to buy take-away dinner. I managed to find a small ‘nasi padang’ restaurant tucked in between those wooden shops. The price was reasonable. And the food was good.

The night ended early for me. I was already sound asleep at 9am, oblivious the fact that my little master being ‘attacked’ by mosquitoes!