Insomniacs Anonymous gear up for moving on

---

3 January 2010

Today is our penultimate day in Bali and we are both starting to feel somewhat sad. The Christmas decorations have found their way into the bin and we have already started packing. Mr & Mrs P never usually pack ahead of time - what is happening to us?

The day started with yoga…well, it was supposed to and we were awake but just didn’t quite make the transition from bed to yoga studio in time for a class. The fortunate thing about taking classes at a yoga studio is that there is always a different class to attend if you miss one so we decided that we would go to a 4pm class and run a few last minute errands in the meantime whilst we still had the bike available to us and the sun was shining. In my typically romantic way, I pondered over whether, perhaps, the sun had come back to wish us goodbye. Rose tints on, it was wishing us well in the most beautifully dappled way.

We flew along from Jalan Batu Belig towards Seminyak with four tasks in particular in mind:

1. Gregg’s continuing desire for a pair of shoes
2. Posting some items home
3. Selling the stack of books that has amassed in the apartment over the last month
4. Lunch

Shoes were swiftly purchased - it pains me to say, the second pair of Crocs he has purchased on this trip. Apparently, they are very comfortable and the company have now branched out into non-clog type shoes which do, actually, look ok. The post office took our package and relieved us of a not-inconsiderable amount of cash and we enjoyed lunch at an American style diner. Alas, nobody wanted the books. We don’t have the space or weight allowance to take them with us to Australia so we will just have to leave them behind and let the owners of Pondok Alit find a new home for them.

We returned to the apartment in time for a swift change before heading off for our last yoga class with the lovely Manuella. After yoga, we decided that we would head out for dinner to a place called Naughty Nuri’s Warung just along the road. The reason for this particular choice was that we have hurtled along past it day after day drinking in the amazing smells emanating from the food being grilled over a barbeque in front of the restaurant.

We wrongly assumed that Naughty Nuri’s would provide wallet friendly food. It was expensive by recent standards but looked good and, since we had had a wash out of a Christmas and hadn’t overspent at New Year, we decided that we could afford to treat ourselves on this occasion. The food was amazing and exceptionally filling and we even treated ourselves to desert - cheesecake for me which was gone in less than three minutes.

Later, we pottered home sombrely to continue packing and in the hope that we would get an early night’s sleep which would enable us to get up for a 7.30am class on our last full day in Bali.

4 January 2011

Well, we did get an early night last night and we did wake up in time to for the 7.30 am class this morning which we followed with an 8.30am class and then breakfast in the restaurant at the resort. I ordered ‘morning bread’ which was actually delicious carrot cake - I think I might start calling all cake bread, it will be easier to justify consuming it on regular basis that way.

Leaving the restaurant, we wished the morning’s yoga teacher, Lawrence, goodbye and stepped out into the teeming rain for our last trip on the motorbike. There was still some packing to be done when we returned and a not inconsiderable amount of re-filing (in the rubbish bin) to accompany that. Gregg returned the bike whilst I attempted (unsuccessfully) to check us in online.

As the afternoon drew on, we both found ourselves feeling increasingly saddened at the thought of leaving this place which has been the thing of greatest permanence, next to each other, in our lives since locking the front door of our house on 25 August last year. The bags were packed, we nipped next door for a quick bite to eat and then returned for an early night in preparation for our 5am alarm in the morning.

My final words from Bali are these: Why is it that a human being can fall asleep as her head hits the pillow UNLESS it is quite crucial to get a decent night sleep in preparation for an early alarm call and over 24 hours of travel?

The next 48 hours are going to be interesting…

---