Bali is a province of Indonesia (and one of the Lesser Sunda Islands) – and this was the 5th day of my trip (I always do these trips in groups) round it…
A road we were on had a big volcano was at the end of (called Mount Agung – meaning ‘The Great Mountain’ – it’s an active volcano and 3,031 m/9,944 ft tall); and we reached this place, I forgot when; I was told its name – Tirta Gangga – means holy river, and that there’s pythons, bats, iguanas and lizards (and then I heard what sounded like a rooster).
Fish – goldfish and koi – were swimming around in ponds surrounded by stone statues that were spurting water from various places, the trip leader mentioned Legong and Barongan, Karangasem (which was built in 1946), and that the temple was destroyed in 1963 by a volcanic eruption, then the sky stayed dark for 3 years (making the highest temperature 4°C). J and L did something I forgot; I was told that waffles (and I think when writing that I meant pandan waffles) are part of the offering to the Gods, and other stuff your relative likes, told about the monkey forest, malaria tablets of a type I forgot, and several more things I forgot;
When the taxi moved again we went to a petrol station – where pump attendants were charging ten thousand of their currency per litre. The trip leader said oil prices are still subsidised by the government, and that mango season is coming up ( it’s about fifty thousand for 2kg); there was a krisnamart in a village, a mountain called Bukit Asah (it’s a plateau – the name meaning ‘flat hill’ – in East Bali, and it overlooks the beach and Kuan Island (which is shaped like a whale) got wiggled up – and led to Virgin Beach.
It was 27°C there, J and L went and changed into their swimming costumes, and the trip leader lit up a cigarette; I bought a big bottle of water, and sat on a wooden structure with him, Then I found some coral, joined J and L, got splattered by seawater a lot, saw numerous people posing for photos, yurts of various shapes and sizes, a boat shaped kite, a couple of people with snorkels, lots sunbathing, catamarans lined up, a couple of dogs; and we came back to the wooden structure and ordered drinks. I spotted a hacked up bit of coconut being used as a dog water bowl, the drinks appeared, fish bones were emerging on the plates, and the trip leader wrote down what would be happening tonight and tomorrow for me.
Bracelets were for sale, my phone thought it was 29°C, I heard a cocktail shaker being shaken, saw a gorilla like man with very sunburnt shoulders, an incredibly detailed kite shaped like a boat, a tiny little puppy staggering around and another dog with enormous nipples. A smoking lady was doing some negotiating with the man selling kites by drawing numbers in the sand, a massive freight ship had appeared on the horizon by 1.30pm, beer bitang was for sale at the bar, squeaking kittens were wandering around – and the trip leader said something I forgot because I got distracted by 1 of them.
Then we went back to the taxi, and J and L described a trip leader who drank too much, snakes being introduced into places, some more stuff I forgot, and when we got back to the hotel I was beginning to look sunburnt. In my room I ate a tiny banana, sunburn blobbles were developing all over my upper body, and the back of my neck felt burnt to a shred; my mouth felt disgusting, and I tried to brush my teeth while missing my sonic toothbrush.
When I went out to do the ordering for tonight’s dinner (that the trip leader had requested when writing the days schedule in my notepad) I found some of the group by the pool. R and D told me what they said saw while snorkelling, said something I forgot about buying drinks, J’s companion talked about his Kindle, and I was told it was Thursday today; J said stuff about Bangka Island, sunburn, and Penida island, and that her dad was 96 when he died; and The Great Wall and Mount Fuji tours, and Polo Steps app were recommended to me by C before we came back up. By then, the back of my neck was even more burnt to a shred (skin was already peeling off), and I wasn’t sure where the hand sanitizer in my bag had appeared from; I tried to get my devices to charge, noticed a sign on the rooms door saying smoking would be punished by a fine of IDR 1 million, and durian weren’t allowed in the room (I discovered those are a tropical fruit with a disgusting smell but highly esteemed flavour); and it was dark when I left the room again.
American pop music was playing in the restaurant bit of this place, drinks got ordered by the group, K started talking about snakes. J’s ‘jungle juice’ was an odd colour – meaning pineapple jam was mentioned, then the trip leader started talking about chances to do laundry, and showed us an expenditure sheet for the next week. R – at 7.30pm – remarked on how we were getting napkins, so maybe our food was coming soon; a boy wearing staff uniform said we were going to be entertained – and I filmed the following dance…
…and a song that J said was called despereto started playing. I’d forgotten what I’d ordered by the time food started appearing, and fish arrived for me; Western pop music continued (with ‘I’m in love with your baby food’), and the trip leader was talking to a bloke wearing (sort of – it was falling off him) a vest; the couple of photos were taken, I asked the trip leader what his next trip was going to be – he’ll be doing one from Java Island, a song I couldn’t spell the title of right was playing by then, I paid (and that was the last thing I wrote that day – so I assume I lost consciousness very shortly after making it back to my room)
