In Reply to: romantic stories posted by ella_oz on Thursday, 9. June 2005 at 09:13 Bali Time:
10 years ago I was traveling in Asia for over six months and was on my way back home to America. I always used Bangkok for my "base" and had been there about 8 times; so I didn't want to stay there for a week before going home. I looked at a map and decided I would go some place I'd never been and Bali looked the most interesting. I knew I would stay in Ubud for the cultural aspect, but thinking about Monkey Forest Road made me a little uneasy. I pictured I would be in the middle of some jungle with animals running amuck. After landing I took a taxi to Ubud (this is a Monday) and had a look around. Not scary at all !! Feeling kinda brave, I rented a motorbike and cruised around and eventually went to Tirta Empul in Tampaksiring. Tirta Empul is probably the most important temple in Bali after Besakih. I rode into the temple and spotted a large banyan tree which looked like a nice shady spot to leave my bike in the hot sun. When I parked my bike, a young lady selling bananas appeared and asked me if I would like to buy some. I told her I would if she would keep an eye on my bike so it didn't get stolen. I wandered around the pleasant grounds, but I soon was getting REALLY annoyed from the non-stop pleas of the vendors to buy...buy...buy !! Well, after a couple of hours I couldn't take anymore and headed back for my motorbike. I turned the corner of a shop and just remembered about my promise to buy some bananas. Ahhhh...... the girl isn't there..... !!! I quietly got on the bike....put the key in and....."Are you going to buy now" ???? I threw my hands up in surrender !!! We started to have a conversation and I was pleasantly surprised at this young lady's grasp of English. We talked about our homes, what I was doing in Bali and my traveling ( "You must be rich to travel so long")etc. etc. I mentioned to her about my love of photography and told her I would love to see her small village. She invited me to visit the next day and I accepted. Before leaving, I did buy bananas, but really bargained her down. I spent the rest of the week with her; exploring her beautiful village with it's bathing temple at the bottom of a gorge, meeting wonderful people and playing with the children, eating strange and delicious food and learning about the Balinese people. To make a really long story short, I went back to Bali 3 months later and got married there in another 3 months. That's over 9 years ago and we have 2 little girls. Our oldest daughter is named Tirta after where we met. Since we moved to the US in 1998, we've been back 3 times and really love seeing her family and neighbors. Our last trip in 2003, we showed our kids where mommy & daddy met under a banyan tree at Tirta Empul. This was a pure meeting by chance -if I went to Tirta the following day my future wife wouldn't have been there and if I hadn't been in Bangkok so many times I wouldn't have visited Bali. Just goes to show..... you NEVER know !!!!
ps- my wife still tells me I'm one of the cheapest tourists she ever met !!