May

Hakuna Matata (A Balinese Reflexion Pt II)

As foreboded, here is my next Bali entry.

DAY 2 – started with full of promise, we woke up late, ineluctably due to the lack of slumber a few nights in a row. My team Arsenal did just about enough to qualify for the finals. We manoeuvered to the free breakfast and I plowed myself to a full English breakfast.

After that, we sprang up to the swimming pool for a plunge and then vagabonded off to the fringes of the hotel for some beers and knickknackery. We kept our 2nd day outing a low key affair seeing that we’ll be warding off to Jimbaran (30 minutes away from the Allseasons hotel) for some seafood and sunset. We managed to sneak in a foot massage before being picked up by the free transport to Jimbaran.

When we arrived, we were treated like royalties. I must say that the Balinese really know how to “ampu” their guests. A definite plus. I also found that Indonesian accent is actually not too shabby. In fact, it’s a much better accent that our East Malaysian counterparts. LOL! I think East Malaysians mashed up Filipino and Indon dialects together that make their crossbred accent unappealing to the ears, in my opinion. I’m sure I’d be mutilated for that remark, though it’s the brutal truth.

The tables were coiffured right on the beach, and on both sides of the shoreline, we saw a” sea” (pun intended) of tables as far as the eye can visualize. It looks like hoards of people will be dining away to the sunset too. The clock was 5:30pm, and with 45 minutes left before sundown, we embarked into the eating house and hand-picked our dishes for BBQ – squid, kingfish prawns, red snapper and crab. I ordered them to hold the serving until approx 6:30pm. We then downed time by savouring on Bali Hai (a beer that I’ve grown accustomed to). It was dandy.

There were a few dogs on the beach, which was not a big deal to me, until we witnessed one stooling more or less 50m away from us (it must be of Sabahan descent…LOL!). I didn’t agnize that we could also see the runway from our vantage point until we caught a plane lifting off into the apparent horizon.

The food was hunky-dory (not a huge BBQ Seafood enthusiast though I love BBQ & Seafood separately). We were indulged by a nomadic quintuple band – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bongo, double bass and the maracas. It was groovy. They sounded splendiferous although they didn’t know the exact lyrics. These musical mercenaries were WAY better than ANY malaysian live bands tack together. Believe me, cause I loathe live bands (particularly Malaysians) because they do not have tractability and diverseness to stay refreshing. I was smitten by Indonesian live entertainment.

Yu-yu Seafood was the name of the joint. I think it was aptly named considering the “yuyu” that we were about to endure in the next couple of hours. We suffered food poisoning. Looseness of the bowels and upchucking. Easily the worst food poisoning that I suffered. That drama caught us offguard, thus trammeling our night junket for the day and threw a spanner into the works for tomorrow’s plans.

DAY 3 – we prorogued our tour to Uluwatu-Sukawati-Tanah Lot tour to Saturday. We then ingested some pills to help ameliorate the intoxication, and we were feeling squeamish to do anything – cue a 3-hour paradisiacal massage @ the spa. Aromatherapy, footwash, body scrub, facial and herbal bath were the itinerary. I temporarily blanked out my ordeal and was whisked away into lala land. A-la-la-la-la-long!

We ventured to a few clubs that were placid, and finally landed our arse in Hard Rock Cafe. Expensive! RM35 for a glass of long island tea. RM30 for a bottle of Corona. Yikes! But the babes were salacious.

Live bands here were simply awe-inspiring. Hard Rock Bali had a 9 piece band with 4 singers. Yes, 4 singers, and all of them are far superior than that crappy pathetic karaoke joker named Mawi. These Indonesians were red-hot!

It was at this club (Hard Rock Bali) that the local band belted out an Indonesian song that will forever be immortalized as my Bali theme song – Samsons – Kenangan Terindah. Justly titled (barring the food poisoning of course!). Hard Rock was booming hip hop and house music.

We adjourned around 2am as we needed to come alive at 9am the next day (Saturday) for our day long odyssey to Uluwatu, Pasar Sukawati and Tanah Lot, which I shall continue in the next entry.