Solo Bali Bule

Well I made it.  After 36 hours of travel, I am finally in Bali. 

 

Things are just as I remember them, and also completely different.  The Balinese are still warm, hospitable people; the beach is still beautiful; the traffic is still completely insane.  Different this time however, is that I’m on my own.  Last time I arrived in Bali for my VSO adventure, there were 9 other volunteers arriving on the same day.  We bonded through shared experience, all of us fish out of water.  I still think of those 9 people as friends for life, even if only on Facebook for the most part, as we’re scattered around the world.

 

This morning I awoke to a dog barking, refreshed after marathon travel (and I’m not a good travel sleeper, so I was basically running on airplane food alone – not a good state).  Shortly after I awoke however, I found myself sad.

 

I couldn’t figure out why – but it took me a good hour to get myself together and figure out a plan of what to do today.  VSO always gives one ‘free day’ when people arrive to acclimatize, fight off jet-lag, etc.  My free day is just me, myself, and I this time around – strikingly different from the group of 10 last time.  I quickly realized I’m on my own, in an unfamiliar part of Denpasar, with no transportation, and still unsure what my placement is going to look like when it gets going.  Finally, tired of feeling sorry for myself, I picked up a pen & paper and made a list of the things I need (VSO was kind enough to leave me a little welcome package in my kos - loosely translated to ‘apartment’ – bottles of water, bread, jam, tea, a carton of UHT milk, but there is no blanket on the bed, and I still needed to get an Indonesian SIM for my blackberry – yes old school, kids, an actually Blackberry) and decided to go get them.  So, armed with a plan, I was able to hit the shower and get going.  Luckily I was proactive enough to bring a couple of towels with me this time around (as Indonesian towels, believe it or not, repel water rather than absorb it, actually making you wetter after using them rather than drier).  I decided to walk to Sanur (where I arrived on my first trip 4 years ago).  It’s about a 3 km walk, so practically a Lord of the Rings-type quest by Indonesian standards.  Of course my walk was closer to 4km as I went in the exact opposite direction for the first leg of the journey.

 

My temporary accommodations are modest – bed, wardrobe, small night-table, TV (which experience tells me I will literally never turn on), a small kitchen-type room (I can tell it’s a kitchen because it has a sink, and cupboards – and nothing else), and a small bathroom.  Now I know you’re dying to know – did Dan get a western toilet and shower?  The good news is yes – I have both, but still no hot water.  I had forgotten how cold a cold shower can be, even if the water would be lukewarm by Canadian standards, especially at this time of year.  And get this, the height of luxury, an air conditioner!  This makes the mosquitoes easier to manage because I don’t ever need an open window just to survive.  Oh and le piece de resistance – “genuine” Louis Vuitton sheets!  Which I think were probably last washed in 1986.

 

I’m now in Sanur, at a beachside café, with a Bintang beer, and free WiFi.  I’m feeling so much better about this whole thing now, despite the unfortunate ant attack incident…  But that is another story.