Bali (Part 1)

Bali (Part 1)
I really had scheduled my trip to Singapore to visit my friend Buz. We had a fabulous reunion, as our history goes way back. What I remember most of my visit to Singapore this time was lunch at the Raffels that was a real gourmet affair. But when Buz had to teach classes, I was on my own trying to negotiate my way around.

After a number of days in Singapore, I was ready to escape the noisy, busy city for a little more rural adventure.
I chose a most inopportune time to be doing this, however, as it was Chinese New Year and there was thousands of Chinese trying to get from place to place. Stores and restaurants were closed. I was lucky to have secured a flight to Bali at all, and I got no deal on the plane fare whatsoever.

I had emailed my friend Kevin McPherrin, who has a villa near Ubud, of my arrival in Bali on Feb 9th but do to the Chinese New Year, his own flight to Bali was diverted to Saigon and he didn’t get there until the 10th. As a result, I arrived at Ngurah Rai airport with no one to meet me. Normally, that’s a freak-out situation for many, but, over the years, I’ve arrived at so many international airports with no one to greet me that it was no problem.

I knew of yet another friend who has a guesthouse in Seminyak (just up the road from Kuta and Legian). Although it was past 11pm I hopped a taxi for the short ride to his place. All were asleep by the time I arrived, but an employee there showed me to my room.

In the morning there was my friend John Walker with bacon, eggs and coffee to greet me. We had a good yarn and decided to do a jam session that evening. Even after 25 years on Bali, he hadn’t lost a bit of his Oz accent.

I walked around Seminyak to the hundreds of shops there searching out nautical items for my business. But the heat of the day drove me back to the guesthouse where a refreshing dip in the pool, surrounded by dense tropical foliage, and a cold beer brought me back to my senses.

Later in the afternoon, walking down the street, I passed several Balinese with guitars and I couldn’t help but stop and do a song or two with them. Crowds gathered and I was a hit for sure. I had a request for “Green Green Grass of Home”. I remembered the chords but forgot most of the words but my newly found Balinese cohorts took over and sang all the words perfectly like it was their national anthem.

Then I returned to John’s at night and did a 2-hour jam session with him. His favorite being Roy Orbison material. The night ended all too quickly and before I knew it, it was morning and Ketut, Kevin’s driver was there to pick me up and take me to Villa Santai.