Sunday, June 27, 2004 ~ Kuta and HOME!

My final night didn't end up as big as I'd planned, but I still enjoyed the evening. 

I had lunch at a place in-between Popies 1 & 2 - a small restaurant called FAJAR, which is like the "make shift" Javanese ones you get in Denpasar.. very cheap looking and very cheap food, but tasty, just not very hot. There I met up with the 2 guys who had been SMS'ng me for 2 days so they can practice their English. I shouted them a drink. They ordered juice, I had "fried potato", which turned out to be chips - hehe, should've known. (nice though).

The guy on the far-right is going to come to Australia in January to stay with me for 2 nights to practice his English, then he will stay another 2 nights in Melbourne with his DJ friend.

I packed up my big black bag, which was my original bag that I took to Bali, with a heap of stuff to store at Joni/Ama's. It has things that are useless to me in Australia, but will be very handy when I come back to Bali. And I will be back. Walked up the street and ran into Jacko. He convinced me, I think by way of "demanding" hehe, to get on the back of his bike with my big-assed bag. I don't know why I gave in, but here I was, on the back of a motorbike, no helmet, holding onto my bag, riding around Kuta looking for the place that Joni told me to drop it off at. Crazy!

After we dropped off the bag, he dropped me at that same restaurant between Popies I and II and I organised to meet him later. I bought Gado Gado, it costed 7,000 ($1.60!!), the tempeh was cold (fridge cold), but it was healthy and it tasted alright. For that price, I would've eaten there everyday.... next time! Hehe, god I'm tight :)

I went back to the hotel, slept for a couple of hours, and then went to Goes Art. Met up with John again who was sinking them down. I think he said he had to be back at the hotel at 10:30 for the shuttle.

Then I walked towards Tubes, spotted Stephen from Woollongong along the way who told me to go to Paddy's but that place and me do not mix now that Nick is gone, so I continued to Tubes. Just before I got there, I spotted Dime who was sitting in Poppies II with about 5 others, 2 friendly guys from Sydney, a local named Ali, and a couple of other locals who didn't speak much (which is RARE).

Dime & I went to Tubes. I bought him a Bintang & I had a Bali Cider. We sat at the bar but I didn't feel like talking to Dime, he's very quiet when he speaks, so in places with background noise (and Tubes is VERY loud), it's pretty impossible to hear him and I spend most of the time nodding or saying "WHAT??". Jacko was meant to meet me at either Goes Art or Tubes but I couldn't spot him.

Dime & I then went to Art Goes. It was very quiet but John was still there.. and boy, he had gotten himself soooo drunk. It was around 11:15pm. I could no longer make out what he was saying, but I think it was something about not caring if he misses the plane (I think he had already missed it).

Dime & I sat down at a table, I ordered a banana pancake and honey. John fell into a chair at our table and started staring at my breasts and muttering things. It was disgusting. I crossed my arms, glared at him, and stopped talking to him. His words were incoherent, but he was being rude, crude, and making both of us feel uncomfortable. He fell asleep when my pancake arrived, I ate it, paid, then snuck out with Dime. Told Dime that I would be going back to the hotel and that I would prob see him later at Apache.

I came back to Aquarius, and got changed into something where people can't stare down my top :)

My "big night" consisted of a total of 2 x Bali Cider's and a pancake :)
Anyway, walked for about 20-30mins up Legian, got "tooted" at, about 70 times (taxi's "fishing" for business), one guy on a bike asked me if I wanted transport, I said “no to bike” and joked that I wanted free transport, he said OK, so I got on the back of his bike for the rest of the journey. He (another Made) dropped me at Club Q (gay bar). I walked around, checking out all the bars, but none of them had the atmosphere that I felt like being in, so I went for another walk up Seminyak looking for a place that Jupri recommended earlier.

All I found were packs of dogs and a very persistent Taxi driver who I eventually gave in to. He dropped me at the bombing site, but allllll the way back he kept telling me how dangerous Bali is, and how dangerous guys from Java are, etc. He has 5 kids (Wayan, Made, Nyoman, Ketut, Wayan #2.), he called himself a "strong" man because of it.

Went to Apache, sat at the back bar, and instantly, a crazy, jellybean guy named Made Kari aka Daniel introduced himself and started bopping around and shaking his booty. He was quite a character, and him and his non-speaking Lombok friend kept me entertained with his wiggly-dancing and photo-taking for an hour or so before I headed back to the hotel.

Last day I went around and said goodbye to everyone I had made friends with, had lunch with Jupri, and went to the airport early. I was looking forward to going home, although had enjoyed my holiday in Bali… and will definitely be back, hopefully to live for a few years while I travel around Asia.