FIRST MORNING
Awoken at 6AM by a convocation of local Cockadoodles who had not been informed about Nyepi and did their wake-up duty for all and sundry, with no thought of collateral aural damage to non-hens. We thought ‘may as well have a swim' and found that the pool was closed for cleaning until 8AM. Next choice was breakfast, which started to become available at 7.30AM so we thought we might as well lounge by the pool, catching the rays of the early sun, only to find that the pool-lounges had all been pre-empted by other parties, who had sent representatives out earlier to claim them by leaving towels on all of them. 40 lounges for 200 guests made these positions ultra desirable and parties of Europeans, not naming names (but they didn't win the War), sending forward scouts out at about 5.AM every morning.
MATHEMATICAL CONUNDRUMS
At 7AM we tried to wake up the Reception Staff to tell them a drain was super-manky at our room and asked for a non-pongy transfer; answer ‘to-morrow' definitely, as most staff were still away for Nyepi.
Then followed our first lesson in Balinese-type mathematics.
Asking to buy a small dictionary for price marked RP3,500, tendered RP10,000 and received change of RP5,000, namely RP1.500. Upon pointing out the deficit I was given dazzling smiles and, eventually the correct amount; no apology but intimations that their immersion in duties of Holiness may have taken their mind off their job, it was Nyepi after all and they were Brahmana who would never, ever, fiddle a tourist; yeah right! This was our first cash transaction in Bali and served to alert us to the ability of these lovely people to fail hopelessly, one-way only, when it came to practical mathematics.
Breakfast beckoned and was only triple price of normal but, by now we began to know the score and decided to take affirmative action on the morrow, taking our hunger elsewhere. The breakfast array was very colourful with 17 types of rice and very little else; wish we could have eaten some of the lovely flower arrangements, which were arranged to suit a high society wedding.
RELEASED FROM CAPTIVITY
On the morrow, serious Nyepying had finished, we could walk the streets without danger of ‘serious punishment' and I decided to sally forth, on foot, because transport was still non-existent, whilst Marie decided to stick to the Air Con room for a few hours.
Having walked half-way to Bemo Corner, a pub seemed to be open for a beer, Restu Bali, which I later found to be almost exclusive to Japanese tourists. Had a few icy quaffs and adventurously turned into what happened to be Poppies Two and found a Chinese-run Restaurant open. Had to sample the beverage quality, in my guise as quality controller, had a look at the menu, about 10% of Jayakarta prices and left to go pick up beloved from her slumbers. Luckily found a Bemo cruising empty, asked for a price to Jayakarta (Kuta Palace) return; the driver, a Muslim polite man quoted an astronomical sum as I was still pale-skinned betraying the fact that I was newly arrived, I divided by 10, he came to 50% of previous price, I tried for 10% of this which he doubled and we were away!
Tried to ring the room from Reception, while the driver had a nap, got refused by the snooty ones and trundled down to the room where Marie was just waking from a nap and delighted to learn that her brilliant husband, Moi!, had got transport waiting for a trip into the unknown, where cheap as chips Satay, Gado-gado and other delights awaited us, which it turned out took only a beer and a half to arrive; those were the days when I was a heavy drinker and happy for the wait for weight enhancing beverages. Not so my spouse, who was more lenient on the bottle than this toper!
MAGIC FOOD, MAGIC PRICE
The food exceeded all expectations for taste and quantity and we hastened to order more, just to be sure to be sure! Took their card, determined to come back a few times during our two weeks and were never disappointed. We trundled back to Jayakarta, booking the driver 3 hours next day from 10AM for an exploratory mooch around, when the shops would be starting to open, so that we could begin our plans for wallet depletion.
We quickly changed for a pool session, turning our full tummies sun-wards, managing a seat at the end of our friends' lounges ( they were fore-warned and sent out their own scouts), while we frolicked away a few happy hours, before siesta time became obvious and our tummies suitably burnt; we found that the Bali Sun was devious, giving no notice of pan-frying flesh quietly, probably on Komisi from the sun-screen manufacturers, this was attested to by many fellow guests.
Despite a personal invitation by Management to a Welcome Feast in our honour, delivered by a gracious Young Lady who would turn heads anywhere in the world by her obvious, ill-concealed charms, fronted among other assets by a Hollywood-quality smile; that the swaying, graceful ,rear view of this apparition was equally attractive, as she departed, was testified to by the smack received from Marie, who strongly suggested that I put my eyes back in their sockets, we decided to wander beach-wards around sunset and we remain, to this day grateful that we made that decision.