Merry Christmas from Bali and it's amazing how much I can write about so little

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Another surprise for you folks as, once again, I am typing this blog on the second of the days in question. Alas, once more, I am already struggling to remember how we filled yesterday. Is it that, since our days now have an element of routine to them, the minutiae no longer find themselves logged in the tiny filing cabinets in our brains, or have they just decided to go on holiday for the last glimmering moments of 2010? You decide.

I can hardly believe that we are now two days away from Christmas. How on earth did that happen? I think that Gregg and I deserve to pat ourselves on the back for having hatched such an awesome plan to make the last few months seem to pass more quickly. As we sat on the tarmac at Heathrow nearly 4 months ago, Christmas seemed so distant and, as for the start of 2011, don’t go there.

On the subject of Christmas, and since this is my last blog until Boxing Day (well Boxing Day for you - it’ll just be 26 December here in Bali) I’ll just share a little of Christmas Bali style. Bali is a predominantly Hindu Island and I had certainly not expected to be able to buy a Christmas tree or to find places advertising special Christmas Eve/Day celebrations. What I had failed to consider however is what I knew from having previously visited Bali. That is to say that, this little island is a major tourist Mecca for Australian Holiday Makers, not to mention surfers and that there is also a sizable ex-pat community here. Further, we have come to rest in what is, so far as I can tell, one of the major ex-pat areas in Bali. Around eight out of ten shops, restaurants and bars in this area recognise Christmas in some way or another. Today, for example, we went to the local supermarket (another one of those journeys that took far longer than the distance would suggest it should have) and, as we walked in, a Christmas song was playing through the PA system. It was fairly swiftly followed by something more local and not at all Christmassy but it is clear to see that, in this area at least, Bali is catering for those of us that celebrate on 25 December.

We have already been wished a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year by the staff at Desa Seni and there are still two days to go. I know you will probably hate me for saying this as so many people back home are struggling to get to loved ones for Christmas through the ice and snow, but for all the decorations etc, it just doesn’t feel like it is December, let alone Christmas here and there is part of me that is secretly already looking forward to Christmas 2011 when, all things being well, we will be back home chastising the weather in the way that only we Brits can.

So, I guess I should get on with telling you about the last couple of days.

22 December 2010

It might entertain you to learn that we are now reminding ourselves of the events of each day by reference to the yoga class schedule - and I have just checked it. But, today did not start with yoga, in fact until 4pm yoga was decidedly off the menu.

Gregg starts to feel guilty, as you may recall me previously sharing with you, if we ‘waste’ a day (isn’t the whole point that we have no obligation to do anything other than that which we desire, or don’t - however the mood takes us?) and this morning the guilty feeling kicked in pretty quickly, largely because the last couple of days have been more or less written off by the rain. Oh, and it might have taken me a little while to get going.

We have started to run low on food and had intended to pop in to Carrefour both yesterday and Monday. This had not happened because that supermarket is on the opposite side of a dual carriageway when one is returning from either of the malls and it would have required a fairly hefty de-tour to turn around and come back the other way - no flyovers here you see. The very same guy who had brought us the exciting news of the existence of a cinema here in Bali had also mentioned the location of another Supermarket which, as the crow flies, is closer than Carrefour so, we set out for brunch and to find and source food from said supermarket.

Gregg is currently back into Sudoku and I had a book that was in the closing stages of my reading it, so we packed these crucial items in to my little backpack and headed out on the bike. I have discovered that I am quite taken with hopping around on our pink (you’d have thought Gregg picked this one especially for me) and black scooter, there is a certain freedom to it that other modes of getting from A to B just don’t provide. Today, the sun was almost shining and, as usual, humidity levels were high meaning that the breeze that the speed of the bike created for us was particularly refreshing.

We had a fair to medium lunch and then set out on the bike again in search of the supermarket. It seemed that we had had a mis-communication here since I thought that Gregg knew where we were going and it turned out that he only thought he knew where he was going. Eventually we were forced to give up as time was marching on and there was a yoga class that we were both keen to attend at 4pm. Fortunately, we had some leftovers in the fridge that would do for tonight’s tea so we were not doomed to starvation by our inadequate supermarket location powers.

Back to yoga then, since that is what brought us to Bali after all. The class that we were aiming for was the very same class (if not the same time) that we first attended at Desa Seni all of two weeks ago - Dynamic Hatha level 1 - and which we both declared to have been hard as we walked away from it that day. Gregg was also making tentative overtures about attending the class immediately following this one which I thought was a tad overzealous (the soon to be finished book was still securely in the backpack so I had entertainment at hand if it turned out that he really was that crazy) and off we scootered.

Today, we both learnt that two weeks can be a very long time in the life of a student of yoga. Not
more than 4 days ago, I established that my yoga aim was to manage one entire class before we leave Bali without letting my lack of stamina get the better of me. Imagine my surprise, and pleasure, when today I did just that. The class that Gregg and I honestly struggled through two weeks ago was, actually, easy. It is truly amazing how our bodies can adapt and come through for us if we only give them a chance. I won’t even try to pretend that I have suddenly been transformed in to Mrs Ultraflexible but, out of nowhere, I seem to have got a hold of this stamina thing and given it a talking to. Perhaps you could say that, it just suddenly clicked.

As the class ended, I too was beginning to seriously consider staying on for the next one - although I had absolutely no idea what it was. Then I checked the schedule and discovered that it was an intermediate to advanced class and my conviction began to waver. Gregg was keen to give it a try and, not to be outdone by my spouse, I decided that I would be brave - after all I could always step it back if I needed to. This class was hard, there are no two ways about it and I did feel slightly guilty that we were such interlopers amongst a bunch of people who have clearly been at this game for a very long time, but we both managed. It was a great boost to be able to keep up with it all and we tried everything, even if it turned out that we didn’t quite have it in us to follow through.

I was so enthused that I even did a little more before bed, the aim of which was to help me sleep. It did, until I woke up to make a trip to the bathroom and my lower back muscles promptly began screaming at me from overuse. It was raining when we went to bed and it was still raining as I lay there trying to get comfortable but, for what felt like the first night in ages, the night passed without either of us being awoken by claps of thunder so loud that you seriously expect to see a fork of lightening course down the middle of the bed.

23 December 2010

Let us be clear, last night we knew that we might be a bit stiff this morning. We had labelled a class that we would like to attend but only if we felt it fair to put our bodies through it. At every relevant point today, we categorically felt that to do so would be anything but fair so today was labelled as a rest day from yoga.

There was however the task of finding the ‘other’ supermarket to attend to so, with a more sprightly awakening than yesterday, we hopped on the bike and armed with the internet based research carried out by Gregg yesterday, headed in the right direction for Bintang Supermarket (Bintang is the name of the Balinese Beer - I can’t see Tetley supermarket taking off at home though) and located it. I found this an altogether easier shopping experience than at Carrefour as it is much smaller and there are therefore fewer distractions. Gregg was not Bintang Supermarket’s greatest fan however - I think it was a bit to disorganised and un-glossy for him. In addition, the road between Batu Belig and said supermarket, is rush hour congested almost permanently so it took almost as long as getting to Carrefour and was not at all pleasant - it gets even hotter on a bike when nestled between vehicles chugging out fumes on narrow streets in Bali.

We did treat ourselves to a couple of Christmas delicacies - a packet of ‘Mr P’ peanuts (and we honestly didn’t notice the name until we got them home), a tub of hummus and a bottle of local wine - oh yes, we know how to live the high life. Seriously though, wine is one thing that is nowhere near economical to purchase in Bali - £10 for something that you wouldn’t even find on a supermarket shelf at home. If we had wanted a bottle of Yellowtail Red (the one we had at our wedding and which cost around £6 a bottle) we would have had to part with twenty six Great British Pounds. That is nearly half a day’s budget. So, as we savour our one bottle of Hatten Rose on 25th December, I think I might being feeling rather sheepish about the quantity of alcohol that we usually stock up on over Christmas and which we drink so earnestly that we never really stop to notice whether we are enjoying it or not.

Back at the ranch, Gregg decided that he was going to go on a little surf hunt and I was quite happy to duck out of that one and indulge in some ‘me time’ of my own. Apparently, one of the breaks he was after was off a small island which he duly paid to access and the traversed without locating said surf. I had intended to go to yoga in his absence but between arguing with iTunes and trying to contact my bank who have locked me out of online banking again - and failing, time had flown and I was still sitting in much the same position on the balcony as when he left.

When he opened the door, he seemed rather surprised to note that I was still in and a little, may I say, reticent. Then I heard the crinkling of a plastic bag and put two and two together. We are now owners of iPad #2 and I am already terrified of losing it, breaking it or otherwise wasting another significant amount of money. Before we came to Bali we had, as all good Portasses do, done our research and discovered that the iPad was available in Indonesia but only online in Bali. However two days ago on one of our mall visits, we found an Apple authorised reseller (I don’t think we have those in the UK) which not only had some on display but was expecting stock “I think in the next two, or three days”. Considering that life here operates on Balinese Sometime Time, I was pretty sure that what this actually meant was ” in all likelihood, not until February but, on this occasion, two days really meant two days.

This evening then, has passed in a blur of iPad based frivolity and not an insignificant amount of blogging.

When next your hear from us, Christmas will have been and gone - for us, if not for you. So, Here it is, Merry Christmas, I hope you’re having fun. Hope it’s a good one.

p.s. Today is random photo day as we have seen little new to photograph in the last couple of days so I have included a few day to day things which might help give a taste of how we are living here in Bali.

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Photos

...ever wondered what it would be like to eat your own nuts
ask Gregg!

#2 -please let this one last longer than 48 hours
Thanks.

One of the wonders of travel
...we never have to do our own washing and this lot cost less than £2

This is a brilliant isotonic drink
...but who decided to call it Pocari Sweat?

This is what a man looks like when his life depends on a computer game
...or at least, he thinks it does