Western Influence

This morning we noticed new people at breakfast. One guy, Ron, an Aussie, who fancied himself quite the playboy started talking to us at the pool.

G- How long will you be in Bali?

Ron – I've been on Bali for almost a month. I'll go home soon.

P- You're here alone?

Ron- No, I've got a 24 year old Balinese girlfriend. I'm 53.

G- Oh, congratulations. (looks at Phyl and we roll eyes at each other)

The next morning at breakfast...............

P- Look at Ron's girlfriend. She always has a look on her face like she wants to vomit.

G- Yes. I noticed. Trouble in paradise.

That afternoon at the pool............

G- Ron, where's your girlfriend?

Ron- She's taking a nap.

G- Yes, the young ones do require a lot of sleep.

Ron – Oh, I make sure she needs a lot of rest.

G- (thinking) Touche'.

P- ( under her breath to me) He's a dirt bag! He probably needs to buy pills from the hawkers to make his banana strong.

The next morning at breakfast he told us about his daughter. Then made reference to his wife. That's when we noticed his wedding ring.

P- No wonder his 24 year old girlfriend looks revolted by the sight of him.

G- I wonder how much he's paying her for the week.

Rob couldn't look at Ron without shaking his head.

“It's just wrong.” He'd say. “You shouldn't have to pay for sex. Did you ladies get propositioned?”

Us- What? For sex? Um, no.

Rob- I barely made it out of the drive way when some dirty bugger asked me if I wanted sex.

This same day saw the arrival of 2 brothers, Asland & Askar, from Kazakhstan. Having only a general idea of Kazakhstan's location on a map, we looked it up. Kazakhstan is huge. Askar told us it was the 8th or 9th (I can't remember) largest country (based on land mass, not population) in the world. These boys were very smart!! They spoke a few languages, English, of course, & Russian was considered their mother tongue. Askar was extremely knowledgeable about world affairs and was clearly a history buff.

We asked him many questions about Kazakhstan and his life there. He joked that he had seen the movie Borat, that it was not even filmed in Kazakhstan, but that everything most people think they know about his country is from that movie. He asked about the American politics and why it was controversial for Obama to push for health care for all. He's obviously been following US news.

Their family consisted of an older sister who was studying at Columbia University, Askar who was studying at a University in Singapore, and Asland who was studying in India. They had a younger brother, still in the high school equivalent. Their father earned the equivalent of about $1,200/USD a month, and had recently moved the family to the capital, Astana. The brothers had met in Bali for vacation and the sister was flying to Singapore to meet them and travel to Korea. My question was, of course, how they could be studying all over the world if the family was not wealthy. He explained that 20-25 years ago, the current President of Kazakhstan thought it important to focus on education and established a scholarship program. Each year 3,000 scholarships are given to high achieving high school graduates. The scholarships pay tuition, room & board, and provides a living stipend. In return, they must return to Kazakhstan and work for a minimum of 5 years.

One afternoon we overheard playboy Aussie asking the brothers if women were easy in Kazakhstan. They looked kind've stunned and perplexed. He continued with “you know, are they promiscuous?” They continued to just look at him but said nothing. Finally he said, “is it easy to get sex in your country?' This they understood and replied, in unison, “oh, no, no, no.” Phyl and I discussed this later. Of all the things he could have asked them, this was his pressing topic. It's no wonder so many countries try to curtail Western influence on their citizens.

Frolicking in the Surf

Although Rob had been in Bali for 3 ½ weeks, he had never been to the beach and was excited when we told him we'd take him to the beach. The weather had settled into a typical New Orleans pattern of morning sun and an afternoon thunderstorm, so it took a few days to get an afternoon that wasn't rainy.


We walked down the narrow alley and again had to flatten ourselves against the wall several times to let motorcycles pass.

G- This really should not be allowed. If it's a foot path, motorcycles should not be allowed to come this way. I'm afraid one of them is going to roll over my long toes.

P- Your toes? The last one that passed had a side mirror that stuck out so far it scraped across my boobs.

G- Oh, yeah, me too. HA! Really, you should have turned the mirror in. That is ridiculous.

Rob loved the beach! Really, what's not to love? We played in the waves until we were worn out. Rob was like a little kid. Then we sat on beach chairs, under an umbrella, while Rob talked of feeling the UV rays. We weren't feeling any UV rays penetrating those thick clouds, but we didn't grow up under the London clouds and fog. Hawkers came around trying to sell us crap that we declined, until a Bintang beer man offered us ice cold beers, pulled from his ice chest. Now that's something we'd like to buy!! We watched the surfers, swam again, and after a couple of hours, walked back to the hotel.

After dinner Rob tried to talk us into going to a bar to listen to loud, rave music. Um, thanks, but no thanks. We learned the next morning that he 'took a nap' because it was too early to go out, and never woke up. So much for Mr. Party Animal!

Hari Raya Galungan



JoAnn making her offering

 All of Bali was preparing for the Hari Raya Galungan (ga-loon-gan), the Balinese equivalent of Christmas. It is the most important feast for Balinese Hindus and celebrates the creator of the universe (Ida Sang Hyang Widi) and the spirits of honored ancestors. The festival symbolizes the victory of good (Dharma) over evil (Adharma). Tall bamboo poles, called “penjor” are erected, on the right, outside of each residence and business. The poles are decorated with coconut leaves, fruit, & flowers and have lantern looking things hanging from them. The lantern looking things are woven from coconut leaves. Also, the little alter that hangs just outside each residence and business is highly decorated with woven palm leaves, plaid fabric, flowers, & fruits as offerings for the spirits.

Preparations begin 3 days before the festival. Two days before the festival Balinese cakes called jaja are made; they are used as offerings and eaten on Galungan. The day before the festival, animals are slaughtered for the feast and as offerings. On Galungan day, everyone goes to temple in the morning, then gets together with family in the afternoon.

It was nice to learn about the festival preparations from JoAnn & Adiyanti, especially because we are missing Christmas this year. JoAnn lamented the amount of work it took to prepare for the festival. It reminded us of our complaints about how much you go through preparing for Christmas. Unfortunately for JoAnn, 10 days after Galungan is Kaningan, the day the spirits return to heaven, and this day is celebrated with the same feast as Galungan. Thankfully we don't have Christmas Day and then 10 days later, have to do it all over again.

The Legian Beach area was deserted on Galungan. It was so nice to walk around without traffic, hawkers or beckoning shopkeepers. The hotel was very quiet with most of the staff on vacation.

In the afternoon, we watched as the “big boss” of the hotel arrived to make an offering at the hotel alter. He had his wife and children (about 2 and 5) with him and they were dressed in their temple clothes.

It is such a departure from the west to see how comfortable Balinese men are in, effectively, skirts.

Both men and women wear a sarong- a Kamen.

Women's tops are called – Kebaya

Men's tops are called – Baju Koko

And men wear a little fabric 'hat' called – Udeng

We enjoyed experiencing this Balinese holiday and seeing a family dressed in their holiday/temple clothes. Two days later we were touched when JoAnne arrived with a bag of goodies for us. She brought us: oranges, apples, little bananas, some funny looking fruit that resembled sea urchins (rombutan), a cake (Apum), rice crackers, and some candies made of black rice (dar darl). Everything was quite tasty, and we were very appreciative that she shared her holiday treats us.

We chatted with JoAnn and cracked up as she lamented the fact that her son always wants to wear jeans and she's always complaining and trying to get him to wear cotton pants because the jeans are so difficult to wash, wring out by hand, and they take 2 days of full sun to dry. Kids are a pain in the ass in every culture!!

Eeeeeeeeeeekkk!!!!!!

Everything about being back at Sinur Bali was fantastic except for the dozen 'schoolies' who occupied 6 poolside rooms. What is a schoolie, you ask. Basically, they're high school seniors who have just graduated. It is common in Australia for 'schoolies' to go off on a vacation to celebrate their graduation. Unlike the American senior trip which is organized by the school, 'schoolie' trips are not affiliated with the school and are organized by the kids. Bali is a favorite destination for Perth or Darwin 'schoolies' because it's only a 3 hour, fairly cheap flight, and it's a cheap destination.

About 3 times a day the 'schoolies' had McDelivery at one of their doors.  Yes, that's right, McDonald's delivers 24/7 in Bali.  The driver arrives on a motorcycle with a McBox attached to the back of his seat.  It's sad & pathetic, but funny nonetheless. 

Overall, they weren't that bad. Not too loud, except for the one night that they returned from the bars around 3 AM and had a pool party. Prior to the pool party, which did not end until about 5 AM, the hotel left the pool bar shelves stocked with liquor. When we awoke the morning after the pool party, all of the liquor bottles were gone, but we could never get a clear answer from the staff (language barrier) as to what had happened to them.

The hotel staff seemed to breath a sign of relief the day the 'schoolies' left and the remainder of the guests weren't very upset about it either.

The information on the 'schoolies' was learned from a Perth couple, Janie & Les, we met in the pool. They explained that their daughter was also a 'schoolie' and had gone down south in Australia. The evening Janie dropped her off, a boy was streaking through the campground. She left her there anyway. Janie & Les were on a quick vacation to get away from work and the kids. We talked about the poor American economy and they advised that Australia had not been hit by the world economic crisis. In fact, their son, a new Uni graduate with a Masters in Geology had accepted a job for 120K (Aussie dollars) with a mining company. Apparently they are desperate for Geologists.

We then discussed vacation time. Aussies are guaranteed 4 weeks off per year and they strongly believe in the need for a work/family balance. They were shocked to learn that Americans do not value a balance and that we are not guaranteed any vacation time.

They thought it was crazy for employers to discourage vacations “because it's well known that happy, rested, balanced employees are more productive and healthier”.

You're preaching to the choir guys, but we're the exception, not the rule.

“Why do Americans just live for work?”

Beats the hell out of us.

And on the topic of health insurance, they were shocked to learn that all Americans did not have guaranteed health insurance.

We explained how health insurance is tied to some employment and that we, for example, had no health insurance.

“That's crazy”

Well, we think so too, but apparently most Americans do not think it's crazy that we're the only industrialized country in the world that does not have guaranteed health insurance.

We went to dinner, with Rob, at a nearby Warung. The usual hawkers aggravated the hell out of us to purchase the same crap...........flaming wallets, pirated CDs, pirated DVDs, green & red laser lights, sunglasses, and “prescription” & reading glasses (we assumed that the eye exam was optional as the hawker did not appear to be an optometrist). Halfway through dinner I spotted a mouse (well, not as small as a mouse, but not as large as a rat) out of the corner of my eye. I tried to be nonchalant so as to not send Phyl into a complete hysterical fit, but she had seen the startled look on my face.

G- Remain calm. He just ran up the side wall from the street. He's little.

P- I don't give a shit how small he is, if he runs up my leg or across my foot I'm going to have a coronary. Where is he now?

G- He's in the planter. Finish your dinner.

Rob- Are you ladies afraid of mice?

P- YES!!

G- Not really, it just startled me. He won't bother us. (just then he ran behind Phyl's chair and across the floor)

P- Oh my gawd! I gotta get out of here.

G- Finish eating. He's way over there. He won't be coming back. Look, he went down the other side wall.

P- I just got use to geckos. I am NOT dealing with rats!!!!

Rob – hahahahahahaha You ladies make me laugh. You ladies fancy some ice cream?

G- Rob, you're ruining our Asia diet.

Rob – Fair enough.

Make Banana Strong

Sinar Bali Dining area

Our first day back at Sinur Bali was vegetation day. We got up, ate breakfast, worked on the internet (we had no internet access at the Bulan Baru) and lounged by the pool all day. We even ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. The hotel staff welcomed us back with smiles. Garth & Pam were still there, as was the odd guy who sat on his patio all day either reading or on the computer; even he welcomed us back. Unfortunately my head cold worked it's way into my chest and I began to have a nasty crouping cough.


The next few days pretty much followed the same pattern. Because I was not feeling well, waking up every morning with diarrhea and having to blow my nose & cough up copious amounts of mucus, we stayed close to the hotel. Also I was exhausted, and having to be out in the heat and humidity for everything other than sleeping, was really wearing me down. The only respite was to stay in the pool. Fortunately my cough drops were now ant free!

We met a British guy, Rob, in the pool. He had been living in Australia for the past 4 years and was currently in exile in Bali, for 30 days, due to visa issues. He seemed pretty lonely, missing his girlfriend, and was ready to go back home. His room had an awesome mini fridge that kept beers very cold and he lavished us with ice cold beers that first afternoon. He definitely knew the way to our hearts. We spent several days chatting in the pool and going to dinner together. Rob was a big dude, and a BIG eater, usually ordering 2 meals at dinner. At only 33, his metabolism had not yet slowed to a snails pace. Several nights we ate at Patrick's Warung where we actually ate pretty good Mexican food. The girls who worked there were adorable and they had the coldest beer we had in Bali.

Of course, like everywhere, we were harassed by the hawkers while we ate.

Hawker #1 – You look DVDs.

G- No, thank you.

Rob – What movies have you got?

P- Are you interested in buying anything?

Rob- (British accent) No. The quality of the movies is absolute rubbish.

G- Then stop encouraging them to talk to us.

Rob- It's fun.

Hawker #2 – You want wallet?

G- What the hell? (flames shoot out when you open it) That's about how fast money can go when you're traveling.

P- Oh, and everyone needs a flaming wallet.

Rob – No, thank you. Please go away.

Hawker #3 – You want lighter? Sunglasses?

Rob- No. Please go away.

Hawker #3 – (leans into Rob conspiratorially) You want pill make your banana strong?

Rob- (shocked and appalled) What?! No! I don't need anything like that!! Piss off!!!

P- hahahahahahahah

G- hahahahahahaha (to Hawker) Dude, he's only 33, go find someone old to sell that to. Freakin hilarious.

Hawker #4- You buy CD?

G- No, thank you.

Hawker #4- Look, Pink, John Lennon, Beyonce, Michael Jackson.

Rob- Look, we're trying to eat. Please, go away!

G- (to Rob) You're encouraging them. Don't make eye contact.

Rob got us into a bad habit of getting ice cream bars on the way back to our hotel. The problem was, the shop was, of course, not air conditioned, and even if we had made it through dinner without sweating, we'd start dripping while buying our ice cream.