by

Chezz's Mum

Oct/Nov 2000

Look out Bali, here we come ! My daughter Chezz and I are off on another Bali holiday. We've settled the cat into the Cattery, stowed the Golden Retriever at the ex's place, and we're ready to go. 

We do the usual female thing and pack so much luggage. This is my 9th visit to Bali, so I can't believe I still over pack. Anyway, the brand new cossie (from 3 trips ago) makes it's way into the suitcase, hopefully to get wet this time! The hotel Doctor would need 2 Nurses to carry our medical kit as we have pills and potions for every itch, sting and ache possible. Oh, and can't possibly forget the 20 Kilo of dog food for the Bali Street Dogs.

The Airporter Bus picks us up and we're on our way! We check in at Brisbane Airport, and can't believe Ansett got it right and their computer has noted our extra baggage allowance for the dog food. So far so good, until my hand luggage goes through the X-Ray ready for boarding. I was pulled aside and asked to" please remove the gun from my cabin bag". A little red faced, I produced my PB gun, purchased in Bali many trips ago, and tried to explain it's use in holiday hotel fun. After it was explained to me that I could terrify the whole plane with it, even though it's a toy, it was agreed to recall my checked in luggage and stow it there.

We finally hit the air! 1 badly poached egg later, and we're in Sydney for a quick stop over.

Just enough time to buy the duty free and have a quick ciggie in the new smoking lounge at Sydney Airport. An uneventful flight to Denpasar follows, with the help of my plastic Nicorette ciggies, and the BYO it's worth bringing when flying Ansett. It's so hard to even get a can of Coke from their bar service.

Not a good day for me and Airports ! My next mishap happened on arrival at Denpasar. We always take 1 litre extra duty free Bacardi and declare it. Chezz and I usually just smile and the Indonesian Customs man says "OK". This time when we smiled, he smiled back and asked for $10 ! Into his office we went where the $10 was pocketed by him. He was probably hoping I would produce a large note, which I'm sure he wouldn't have had change for. Oh well, no such luck for him, I was prepared.

We are met at the Airport by our Aussie girlfriend who is living and working in Bali, and Taxi it to Hotel Barong. At last a first! We checked into Barong with no dramas. Our requested room is ready and waiting for us. We meet up with our other Aussie friends who had arrived earlier that day, and get acquainted with their husbands for the first time.

During our previous trips to Bali we must have seen just about every temple, statue, monkey, and adventure tour the Island has to offer, so this was purely a party holiday.

And that it was. The next 2 weeks just seem to blend into an endless amount of laughing, dancing, drinking and more laughing.

I didn't do a lot of shopping. There really is nothing I needed, but of course I could not resist some CD's, and what would a Bali holiday be without a few more watches!! My watch collection must rival Prouds by now. I wish they would stop being so innovative in design! I'm a sucker every time for a new style or colour. I managed to stay away from the computer software shops though, after remembering the mess I made of my computer when installing a webcam. I'm sure my dear friend, who fixes all my mishaps breathed a sigh of relief also. It's too bad that I looked sideways walking down Poppies II one day, I'm now the owner of a 1 !/2 metre wooden lizard. Wrapped in paper, with a string shoulder strap, it will make interesting hand luggage, especially when I turn sideways and wipe out anyone standing nearby.

Every time we go to Bali we seem to get so many cuts and bruises, weather it be scraped legs while motorbiking, or falling down the pot holes in the footpath. This time was no exception. Number one danger spot for us this time had to be the spiral stairs at Paddys Pub. We went to Paddys every night and if we managed a "fall free" night on those stairs, the gutter out the front usually got us.

It's usually Chezz and I who embarrass ourselves in front of Hotel Barong Security each night on our return from clubbing. One night though, the boot was on the other foot and Security was embarrassed. After a late night snack of Cap Cay, I opened my door to put the empty plate outside, and a Security Guard half fell into our room!!! He had his ear pressed up to the door listening!!!! Funny thing is though, he pretended not to speak English, so why was he listening? For some grunts and groans perhaps?? Oh well, he was disappointed.

One of our few daylight outings this time was to Nusa Dua to visit with my ex's new wife's family. They run a Turtle Farm (which is an experience in itself) Mama cooked our usual noodle lunch, topped with the best, greasiest, crispiest fried egg you've ever tasted. She could give Ansett's chef a lesson in egg cooking ! They are very hospitable to us, and always bring out some sort of "Balinese delicacy". Today's "treat" just happened to be small speckly bird eggs. Feeling really brave and polite, and I was surprised to find them exactly the same as chicken eggs. Being the same size as cherry tomatoes, they'd be really handy in an Aussie salad. After a few hours visiting we're given another sarong each and a few things to bring back to Australia for their daughter, then it's back to Kuta.

I try to go "all out" in Bali, not wanting to return home with regrets of having missed out on something. No matter how hard I try though, there always seems to be something missed. This time "regret of the holiday" would have to go to the fact that we didn't travel anywhere by motorbike. We really missed that bit of added fun, like when the Police stop us for having 3 on a bike and we have to pay $4 to keep going! Crazy aye!

It was sad when our Aussie friends returned to Perth a few days before us. We all try and meet up each year in Bali, so it will be a while before we meet again. As usual though, we all had a good time, with many a laugh. 

For me, part of the charm of a Bali holiday is that things never seem to run smoothly. The fact that we're returning home though, makes the sense of humour run a bit thin. So to find our flight to Brisbane cancelled, and that we'd been off loaded to Sydney did not go down well. There goes our connection at the other end! We did make it though, and another Bali holiday was survived, but not before I made an idiot of myself just one more time, by tripping over my own luggage (wooden lizard and all) and taking a big chunk out of my knee. In Bali it would be ok, but the boarding lounge of Sydney Airport with 200 onlookers, there was definitely no smile on my face.

I did have a smile though on unpacking my luggage, there was my "new cossie". Still brand new, I guess it will be packed again next time.