Lost in Transition

Phew.

Well I arrived in Blistering Bali five days ago, after a break-neck trek far above the snow-swept northern lands of Europe and Russia. I had sat squarely in the economy class seat, head clamped firmly by the paddles of the head rest like a cross between the subject of a victorian photograph and an oversized ping-pong-ball, watching the little graphic of the 747 plotting its course accross the former USSR wondering why I hadnt had the idea of a stop-off in Moscow for an ice cold Stolichnaya. I mean I was right over the heads and bottles of the city folk I sing so regularly about with The Bohenianauts! Well as Dostoyevsky would have said... "Idiot!"

But before I'd had time to notice, that runaway train of thought had sped non-stop through the station of cramped awareness and the little scramble-esque graphic was over China and heading to Hong-Kong

I may add, not dropping any vector bombs upon unsuspecting fuel dumps on the way although it would do something for delicate east-west, pocket-sharing politics, no doubt.

In Hong Kong I was to be greeted by an affable young Japanese man in think black square spectacles patiently waiting in the departure tunnel holding a hand written placard with my name on.

"Mr Elliott-Potter?", he inquired, "Follow me please...".

Without hesitation he speedily led me through the airport toward my next departure gate. I'd had no idea the turn-around would be so quick, and I think it caught the baggage handlers by surprise too ...

I waitied patiently for my bags at Denpasar International Airport, but they didn't show, so I left my name and number with another affable man in thick square specticles, (what is it with these specicales?) and headed out into the welcome warmth of Denpasar.

How lovely it is to be greeted by a friendly face at the airport and Charlie has a very friendly one. Many times One arrives and has to find the way around un-aided, which is great, it is the adventure, but I'm here for R&R and as such I was whisked to the nearest local beach where Charlie's family consisting of 3 gorgeous girls, all under 7, and his wife Nicky, her sister Rowena and Mother-in-Law, were lazing about surrounded by locals, tourists and the obligatory beach hawkers.

Hassle-Free Hassle

Indonesian people are very, very polite, to say the least, and friendly, and they can't do enough for you. And if a hawker hassles you on the beach with bangles and beads, sarongs and all manner of flying toys, just firmly look them in the eye and say "Tidak" (no thanks) and that's generally, that, unlike some countries where they just won't take "no" for an answer..

I did hear an interesting (and probably apocryphal) story on the flight from Hong Kong to Bali, it goes like this;

"I fell into a coma for six days, completely unexplainable", intones the American in his late forties sitting aside me on the plane. "You see", he continues,"they [sic] never show anger or frustration, but it builds-up." He continues," there are six or seven unexplained deaths a year of tourists, you see, they [sic] just take it untill at one point they just break."

I decide that perhaps he had annoyed one of the locals in particular; a small crablike one with a sting in it's tail, one that didn't understand his wide southern drawl.


Villa of Serenity

That evening my baggage and I arrived separately at the Villa Serenity, 20 meters from the beach in Canggu (pronounced Changgu) and booked a single room within the Yoga sala.

It's run by a Daniel, a Frenchman and his family who have been here 20 years. Free yoga classes every Tuesday and Friday, where you can learn to stand on your head which I did and regretted it immediately. In my glee I had forgotten all about the scary MRI scan I had earlier in the year because my arms had started to malfunction strangely.

The Villa has many delightful bungalows positioned carefully around a salt water pool, with more unerring friendliness from the staff, I find it is the perfect place to clillax for the next few days as I'm in no rush to go anywhere or do anything.

It's in Canggu that I discover the delights of the avocado & chocolate "shake".

A proper "meal in a class", three or more avocados juiced and infused with milk and chocolate sauce, with added sugar for the more sweet of tooth, although I would recommend skipping the sugar as it rather spoils the experience and would probably further destroy what I have left of my beleaguered choppers, as my long-suffering dentist, Peter, would definitely agree.


Avocado Juice also the perfect cure for the BINTANG HEADBAND.


Bintang, is the islands native beer, which has been brewed in Indonesia for over 80 years has a distinct hops and malt flavour. Bintang is a 4.7% pilsner, light golden in colour and crystal clear. It exudes a clean malt fragrance which is very easy on the palette and consists of a dry and bitter hops finish. It also leaves you with a hang-over five minutes after youve drank the first bottle.

I say the first bottle because I surmised that surely I couldn't be suffering from a headache after just one beer so decided to experiment and ordered another. Well for all my life I still couldn't be quite sure weather the head ache was getting worse or not. I determined to have another and then one other, just to note the effect.

Then swimmingly, it hit me, or rather descended upon me. In the late evening heat of Seminyak, like Alice in wonderland I felt like my head was expanding or, no, perhaps I was wearing an ever shrinking steel tiara. Directly I moved onto the hard-stuff, a belated vodka and soda, and decided to head back to the Villa to sleep it off, only pausing to tease a rather leggy boy-in-a-skirt with a peck good-night on the cheek as I made my excuses and staggered home.


Poolpsyd

Today is Thursday, I spent it lounging by the pool, headphones perched upon my slowly resolving head and dissolving worries, noodling with Nanostudio on my iPhone attempting to create something interesting (which you can hear here) .

It seems I am finally getting into the groove and getting the hang of this chilling-out thing after being a headless chicken-rat run around back home. It's going to be a long journey this with much to discover about the world around me and the world within. I miss my nearest and dearest back home, of course, but with the wonders of modern technology I can stay in-touch easily enough so if I can just avoid the old headband and random headstand...

Tomorrow I head inland to Ubud. I'll keep you posted. In the mean time here is a link which I think you will all find useful..

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?MenuNo=70482


Much Love..