Back to where we started

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Even at the end of the rainy season, pouring tropical showers are no exception. We enjoyed a lot of them during our stay at 'Mandala Desa'. The rains came down violently. The deluge didn't last long however and the raindrops felt warm. After the rain it smelled pleasantly petrichor and it was much cooler.

We were assigned the villa at the end of the compound with a nice, rice paddy view. Sitting on our porch, we quietly observed the duckherd, watching his free-grazing flock feed in the uncultivated rice paddy. The herder guided his badelynge by signaling, using a long stick with flags at the top. During the showers he found shelter in a small bale in the middle of the fields. The ducks flapped, clattered and quacked and nervously ran from left to right. Most of them would end as 'bebek betutu' (roasted duck), a typical Balinese dish.

I ordered it twice at 'The Dragonfly', the restaurant of the owners of 'Mandala Desa' in Ubud. So it must have been good.

I thought 'Mandala Desa' was a fantastic little hotel. Halfway between the airport, Denpasar, Sanur and so on in the south, and Ubud in the centre of Bali. Half an hour's drive from what is, for us westerners, civilization.

You can see volcanoes in the distance when the weather is clear. All calm and quiet in 'splendid isolation'.

We brainstormed a lot about the next steps. The financial analysis was not very inspiring to say the least. We wouldn't get rich but that was not what we had expected either. It was our intention to live off what the exploitation would generate and earn a little extra to travel back to Belgium from time to time.

What we didn't like was the lack of privacy. There wasn't a secluded part of the garden that we could reserve for ourselves. We therefore had taken the decision to negotiate with the proprietor about the sale of the 2400 sqy of land behind the hotel on which our private home could be constructed. We would then kill two birds with one stone: more privacy and more rooms to rent out. I already had made a fair estimate of the worth of the plot of land and the real estate agent would come that afternoon to assist with the negotiations. I was ready for battle.

I looked outside and saw my wife sitting on the porch. She stared at something in the distance for minutes and didn't look well at all. I asked her what was wrong. If she felt ill. She didn't reply immediately. I insisted until she finally whispered: "I could not to be happy here. The silence is depressing and we are so far from the real world. When we won't have guests, we will be all alone..."

I never saw that one coming. It was a cold shower. The whole trip, all plans and ideas flushed away instantly. That's how it felt in the first instance anyway. I didn't take long to convince myself that this was the type of decision we had to take together in complete agreement; without a shadow of doubt. Otherwise the project would be a stillborn disaster. The plan was aborted and we were back to where we started.

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Photos

Bebek betutu
a balinese dish

Comments

[mandy]

need an update! can't wait to fnd out what happens. love your writing style, very descriptive and engrossing.