What a week, so many things have happened, I’m not even sure I remember to mention it all, but here we go.
At the work I have been given a quite interesting task. Mahesa have
three incredible villas for rent, but nobody has the time to figure how
to rent them to customers, so I am on that job now. Hope I will do a
succeed but I think it’s difficult.
Last Friday I went on a trip around Kuta on bike with a friend of the
office. Franz as he is named, work on a project which inform people
about the problems with HIV on Bali, I signed up for joining them since
they go twice a week and I saw it as a good way of meeting new people
and ofcourse help them handing out information flyers for relevant
people on the way. It was a nice evening even though only me, Sulis from
the office and a couple of other guys went that night.
On Sunday I went to Sanur beach with the girls from the office. They
are so kind, but there are really big problems with the language. They
speak almost as much English as I speak Bahasa Indonesian – and that is
not much yet! But an incredible sight to see the white beaches and it is
so charming that they have those colorful boats everywhere in that
area.
During the week it has been work work work, but as I mentioned above
it has been an interesting task which I look forward to focus more on in
the following week. On Friday I went on a project with Indro. We went
to the northern part of Bali to look into a project which should end as
being a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. When we finally got
there after a long trip including a punctured tire which we had to fix,
we were in the most beautiful green area hours away from Denpasar. One
of the guys went to get me a big basket of “snake fruit” directly from
the jungle – this must be my new favorite fruit, sooo exotic to get it
directly from the trees.
Yesterday which was Saturday I planned to wake up early and go
straight north through the mountains to Singaraja. At 6.30 I was on the
road with my scooter which I currently borrow from my awesome roomie
Indro from work. Half way on the trip I went for a cup of tea in a
random restaurant near the road. It was placed with an incredible view
at the foot of the mountains. Here I met my new friend Suri and her
little daughter Natalia. To make a long history short I was soon to
become Aunt Jessie and got myself a new friend who has two mothers and
one father – this should be common around here but not really something I
am used to back home. I hope we will stay connected, I will definately
visit her again soon for another round of tea and pancakes.
Next I headed north through the mountains and if I thought I have
ever seen beautiful places in my life this tops everything. My good a
stunning view it was to drive through the mountains in the morning sun,
passing by lakes and charming shops and houses near the road. My driver
skills were really tested as almost no places go straight ahead. Endwise
I came to Singaraja where I found a nice little place. Here I had a
fresh mango juice and heated bananas with cheese and chocolate which I
have been told that I should try, it was great. Next I went to a big
local market, mainly having textiles and food. I still don’t get how it
is no problem for them to eat fish and chicken which have been lying for
hours in the sun but that’s how it is here – I just close my eyes and
eat haha. Then I headed 25 km towards Air Panas Banjar which is a hot
spring in a jungle-like garden, simply amazing! I can recommend going
through Anturan on the way, another charming village. From here a nice
parking guard told me that I should stop by the Munduk waterfall, I went
but got totally lost on my way, ended on roads made of grass drew by
places where the farmers were drying the coca beans near the houses – a
nice sweet smell. However, and thanks to my Iphone gps I found the
Munduk waterfall. I guess it was 35 meters, totally unspoiled nature,
and even though I was not the only one there I at least did not
experience any annoying types trying to sell me some kind of crap.
After a short stay I headed through Gitgit. Another amazing place
having a twin waterfall and another single waterfall just nearby. Time
was up and I was in a hurry if I should not drive in the mountains
surrounded by darkness. Tired as I was I enjoyed the last minutes of the
sun while driving through the mountains heading home. Three hours later
I was home and went directly to bed.
Today I started the day by going to Blue Lagoon near Padang bay. Wow
the road to this place is wonderful, having the sea on the right side,
the mountains rising in front and beautiful rice fields to the left. I
drove a bit in the wrong direction and got stopped by the police – damn,
twice in a weak! I really drive carefully! Well somehow I succeeded in
telling him that I “forgot” my international driver license. A good
recommendation is to have 50.000 Rupia (5 USD) somewhere in your bag,
luckily I have not needed them yet, but I was told that it is often
possible to pay the police to stay happy… Finally I found the Blue
Lagoon, charming little place. My rented snorkeling kit and I rushed
into the sea. The scariest experience ever! Around 10 other guys were
snorkeling 30-40 meter ahead so I figured I could go in. what I did not
figure was that I was stocked in a cage and that the time water was
shifting the current just threw me out to the boats where the other
snorkelers were. In my fight for not drowning I seriously gripped
everything, but nothing helped and my skin was scratched from the many
corals and I even lost my beloved ring which I have been carrying around
for the last six years, so sad about it. Luckily I got to a boat, I’m
not going to do that again! Later I had arranged to go with the girls
from work to one of the big villas which I try to rent out. Last Sunday I
promised them to teach them how to swim since none of them have ever
learned. One of them did really well, another need a bit more practice
and the last ones were a little shy I think. But a nice trip including a
lot of tea panas tanpa gula (hot tea with no sugar).
Feel free to visit my private blog jessiedarlings.tumblr.com where there will be more pictures.
Jessie