So OK, he had a couple of dents in the doors, his brakes weren't great, the driver's side window didn't go all the way up, you needed to use a pair of your underwear to keep the windscreen free of mist, and whenever you went over the slightest of bumps a sharp jabbing pain went through your left buttock due to the lack of padding in the driver's seat. However, Putu Jimny could have slapped me in the face with a dirty mud flap every time I used the indicator for all I cared, for at five hundred and sixty thousand rupiah for the week he was cheap.
With razor thin tyres hanging on precariously to the road and his tired old engine protesting at the strain,we climbed small mountains,the roads crumbling beneath us as we inched our way up in first gear, the smell of our burning clutch giving way at the top to the grinding metal of poorly maintained brakes as we tried to stop ourselves from careening down the other side, the interior shaking and rattling as if all Jimny's bolts were on their last bit of thread. At times I clenched the steering wheel so hard I thought it would break off in my hands as we came so close to inconsiderate trucks and their over confident drivers. At other times though we had the road to ourselves and Bali passed by dreamily in its lush hues of green. Rice fields gave way to mountains which gave way to jungle which gave way to the sea, and the sun hung lazy and warm in the sky as the radio played Indonesian soft rock which I sang along to not knowing the words. Horses, goats, monkeys and birds watched us sleepily as we puttered by noisily, puffs of black smoke at our rear pushing us on, the animals curious no doubt I'm sure as to why we are so noisy and in such a rush in the way we got about.
Putu Jiminy does go through more oil than a massage parlor on a Friday night however, but this is a small price to pay as his fuel consumption is miserly and a full tank is all we need for the week we have him. We drive him from Ubud to Bedagul then on to Lovina. Ahmed is next then down to Candidasa and then Sanur gets ticked off the map as well. Kuta is the last stop before heading back up to Ubud to finish the circuit, and all on one tank of fuel. Thanks Jimny, we went all the way for 150 000 rupiah.
I'm not sure how many more kilometres poor old Putu Jimny has left in his old motor but I'm pretty sure it isn't that many, he's getting on. I'm also not sure where old Suzuki Jimny's are taken after the last tourist has driven them around the island for the last time. I'd like to think they are taken to the top of one of the many mountains they must have climbed ,so they can look down on all the roads they have travelled over the years and remember when.
Noodles