Monday December 22, 2008

The early morning call to prayer from the local mosque woke me at around 4.30am. It was a women’s voice, which is incredibly unusual. She had the most amazingly beautiful, haunting quality to her singing that had me spellbound, as I lay stretched out in my room. No sooner had she finished I was fast asleep again but her voice stuck in my brain and will forever be a memory I have of this gorgeous little place. I met Dagmar and Yoost for breakfast at around 8.30am in the cool shade of the thatched roof relaxing area here at Raja. We had a leisurely feed and long lazy chat while they waited for their shuttle to Ubud in Bali. The few hours wait flew by and we soon had to face another goodbye. Yoost and I warmly shook hands before Dagmar threw herself on me in a big, sweet hug and the three-kiss ritual I miraculously didn’t stuff up this time. I then blinked and they were gone. Hopefully I will get the chance to catch them in Europe when I pass through. They are the loveliest people.

I spent the next few hours blankly staring at my computer trying to get my adventures straight and written out for the record. Martin is staying one more day and he eventually showed to share a coffee with me before grabbing a rental bike and disappearing off to explore. I stayed there in the relaxing area and gradually words began to flow. My blog entry started to take form when blink.. blink.. my laptop ran out of battery. SHIT!!

I took some pictures while it charged before my camera battery gave out on me too. While I took care of my electronics power sources I decided to have a long shower and do some washing. My clothes are all a bit grimy and musty smelling so I took my time and made full use of the lovely clean outdoor bathroom area attached to my room. That took some serious effort as I had to wash close to everything I own but the batteries had still not caught up completely when I was done so I bludged back out on the bamboo floor of the communal hut here at Raja.

It was a perfect, lazy day for me. I eventually got most of my shit written out but I also spent a lot of time chatting with the locals who live and work here. Everyone speaks decent English and we crapped on for ages, laughing and joking, talking music, movies, women and politics. Eventually Martin returned and we downed a few beers, socialised with the Raja staff and friends some more before heading out to eat. Martin was shattered after his big ride and he seems to be coming down with something so it was not a late night but a lot of fun regardless. I found myself back at Raja before long for a nightcap with the crew and a jam on the guitar. Two friends of the staff here Wonwon and Jeffrey are real cards. We hit it off straight away so I now have some useful local contacts again. By midnight I was fading fast and snuck off to bed with a lazy satisfied grin on my face. God I love my life at the moment.

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