Down The Road

A bumpy start in Bali

18th October 07 – A bumpy start in Bali

Sunday 14th October heralded my Philippines departure for KL. An(other) uneventful overnight at the Empress Hotel, Sepang, how many more times can I overnight at this throughly depressing location, took me into the 15th October and an afternoon flight to Bali. 25USD for the visa on arrival allowed me to move freely to the arrivals area outside of the airport and the taxi office news that Kuta was jammed and no taxis were even arriving at the airport let alone departing. Chill out and work it out are the thoughts that ripple through my mind in times like this. I had booked via email a room at the Melasti Beach bungalows in Kuta. As I hovered thoughtfully around the covered but empty traffic lanes I was approached twice by ‘unofficial’ taxi operators. The second offered to get me to Melasti in about 30mins for 10USD. As soon as I nod my head the luggage trolley is seized and I have no choice but to follow, at a canter. We do a maze of alleys and backstreets to arrive close to Melasti in about 10 mins. Melasti is fully booked. So much for their email booking service. However the driver smiles and suggests ‘no problem’ we will find you a room. As I subsequently find out this is perfect for him. 2.5hrs and at least a dozen hotel stops later we discover a fairly broken down family room at a hotel that could have been nice but was verging on a state of neglect. I can have the room for Rp400, 000. A place to lie my head, no debate. I must have dinner after that marathon hotel hunt I am informed. Little or no discussion precluded the 20minute ride to a beachside fish restaurant of the drivers choice. Ketut he had said I should call him. Over dinner Ketut announced that he would be arriving tomorrow with a motorbike to take me around to find more suitable accomodation. I hadn’t liked the look of the overcrowded Kuta and suggested I would like to get out of the city to a quieter beach side location. Again I play into his hands. I pay for dinner and back at the hotel I pay for his taxi services (Rp300, 000) before I am bid farewell for the night. He is to arrive at 11am tomorrow morning to transport me to this fabulous quiet beachside location that is a mere 3hrs drive away for a bargain Rp400, 000. OK, I must escape Kuta.

16th October morning I am in exploration mode. No meals at the hotel was the previous evenings information so I am ready to venture forth and find coffee and something to start the day with in nearby streets. A scantly organised reception counter was manned by friendly enough young staff who responded to my enquiry of nearby cafe’s with ‘none’ but you can take breakfast here. A hard boiled egg, two pieces of toast already prepared with strawberry jam and a cup of sawdust heavy ‘coffee’ complemented the neglected feel of the hotel perfectly. At check out I began to get a proper understanding of Ketut’s game. Rp250, 000 was the rate offered on a sheet under the counter for my room. The staff said I could get Rp200, 000 as a returning guest (inc breakfast.. I was tempted to suggest for a further discount if I could eat that breakfast daily). Mmmm. Well I’d finally got a room in an overcrowded Kuta… probably worth a little premium on the standard rate. Is Ketut on comission?

Ketut was on time and we were off. No ATM’s in Amed, our destination, so better empty a machine now was his advice. Message understood. I asked him for a number and used it to code the machine to deliver a wadge to me. I sweat more in his miniscule people carrier in the next 3hrs than I have done sat still for a long time. It’s hilly and with the aircon on (I’m still sweating) the hills are quite a challenge for the little (worn out) baby. After two hours I offer to buy lunch. I need to dry out.

Finally in Amed I am delivered to a very well presented Bamboo Bali and given Bungalow no. 1 at the top of the rise amongst well presented gardens and an almost unblocked sea view. Rp250,00 per night. Done. Bye Ketut. A walk through the village revealed many vacancies. I have now moved to a 1st floor room with balcony, clean and comfy bed, shower and fan over the beach at the Sunrise Cafe for Rp80, 000 a night inc breakfast (nescafe available). Ketut, you opportunist. The picture here is the bay view from the Sunrise Cafe in Amed.

Rustling Palms, A Sea Breeze and UB40

Red Red Wine plays across the poolside terrace as I sit here in a gentle sea breeze compiling a smiley Philippines blog entry for the month of October 07. Today is the 12th. I brought a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable stay at Sunset Bay, San Fernando, La Union to a touching close on the 10th. Steve – a wonderfully positive character with a Philippina wife and young family newly arrived from England, George – on an South East Asian exploration trip from Wales, Tony – embarking on a job hunt , and Spider our Sunset Bay host, made up the UK contingent; Paul from the US with grizzly stories of his time at Bazra, and cool John from Perth completed a crewe with stories to share, views to debate and adventures to plot. A fine time was had by all! Departure inevitably included a bus trip. A sweaty seven hour bus trip that took me to Manila and city reality. Manila – jams, pollution, building work. Yuk! So, yesterdays schedule included another bus trip. A 2.5hr bus trip of escape to Alongapo, Zambales. My present location is the Mangrove Resort at Baloy Beach, Subic Bay just 10 minutes from Alongapo. Inexpensive, Seaside, Sunny. .

My picture is a San Fernado streetside snapshot taken one afternoon whilst on a shopping jaunt from Sunset Bay.

Spain stigma cornered

: Why haven’t I felt great about Spain? Happiness inspired by a healthy climate, mediterreanean diet and robust red wine is tainted by the relentless exit from England of a type who’s prime aim is to recreate a sunny version of their crabby lifestyle around the Alicante and Benidorm apartment complexes that were the flagship of the generation that took package holidays from conception to reality but were never chilled enough to become Hippies.

I have been to mainland Spain 3 or four times in the last 3 or four years. There is still a splinter in my deep English heritage that pings a Southern European need in me. Its partly fuelled by my hatred of the English winter and partly fuelled by my persistent need to experience culture and lifestyle variation across continents throughout the world. Murcia has a draw. The coastline isn’t particularly beautiful but that helps dispel the tainting element. Sadly it is Polaris World. Polaris appear to be attempting to take the apartment and villa scene to a new hierarchy of modern utopia. They are doing some progressive things. I even got tempted by their relentless advertising to go look at the stuff. I even considered buying a Polaris box. Luckily for me I had been to Murcia town the evening before ‘deposit day’. Murcia town was what I had been hoping for. We sat in a square in the early evening drank a local robust red wine and ate a main course of seafood paella after a starter of sauteed vegetables and muscles. Our waiter looked like a Spanish version of Alfred Hitchcock. He was aided by a dark haired beauty from the opposite gender who had the type of smile that renders all male customers completely incapable of complaining should there have been anything to complain about. The whole thing was just marvellous. It was how Spain can and should be. Warm, friendly, foreign, interesting and satisfying. Polaris got steadily shelved and dreams of a town apartment with hopes of a bell tower visible across a pigeoned roofscape, of shuttered window openings, and a jungle of building corners owned by closely built dwellings in the chase for shade, of open evening windows and waves of Jasmin scented air coaxing one into soaring highs of rest, relaxation and pleasure.

240hrs After The DCS Strike

: I am sorry the pictures do tend to emphasise the down side of it all. I guess the down side was pretty significant. However there is an upside. The upside is I have learnt a lot. It could have been a lot worse. I have come through it. I have discovered two doctors in Ipoh that have good experience in treating DCS and they actually have a sit in chamber in their surgery. In fact… I have been in it today. For two hours. It has resulted in some further improvement. No. I should say this..

IT HAS RESULTED IN SOME FURTHER IMPROVEMENT

I don’t understand the mechanism of this further improvement but it is definitely there!!! I can actually look left and right before crossing the road without nearly falling over!! Therefore I think I had better celebrate with a beer tonight!!

Smile with me. Even better grin like an idiot… I am!

It’s really odd the way things go on you know. I guess normally I would be pretty assed off that the arrangements for leaving this place are in tatters but I am not now. I feel that if there is anything that I should be assed off about it’s my health issues. Now my health issues are declining (touch wood..don’t really want to speak too soon) I am feeling pretty good about life and departure arrangements in tatters are almost a source of amusement.

What else to report… Oh yes, I have a smile on my face. Life is Gud. So I have posted a photo of the Gud Life. Tropical Island Gud Life. Pulau Tenggol Tropical Island Gud Life!

20hrs After The DCS Strike

: Horizontal is still best.

One other thing that I have to say is that Niclas Jacobsson who took these photo’s helped me through this like a brother. For anybody that sees this blog and knows Niclas shake his hand when you see him. For anybody that sees this blog and doesn’t know Niclas.. get to know him – a great guy.

See where adventure gets you!

See Where Adventure Gets You

Had a mishap this weekend. It’s messed up the forthcoming UK schedule somewhat. The mishap involved completing a 2nd scuba dive off a remote island in the South China Sea called Pulau Tenggol on Saturday the 4th Aug 07 to discover that within minutes of being back on the boat I had severe loss of balance and visual cognition followed by severe vomiting. After an hour or so of oxygen Charlie and Niclas got me to the shore. I could not walk and laid on the beach for most of the afternoon. When I tried to move at about 6pm I was a mess, ending up in a crumpled heap on the beach. A storm was on it’s way in and I needed the hospital. No way the regular boat could do it so the Malaysian Marine Police were summoned and I was evacuated to a jetty on the mainland in a state of the art maritime vessel through the storm to a waiting ambulance and on to a small town hospital 1.5hrs away from Pulau Tenggol on the mainland. Their diagnosis was decompression sickness. I was transported to a 2nd hospital almost 500km’s away in Kota Baru right in the north eastern tip of peninsular Malaysia where they could treat this stuff. It was 5am Sunday morning. I entered their hyperbaric oxygen chamber three times over the nxt two days and showed a little improvement each time. I was discharged Monday the 6th Aug in the afternoon but told to stay in the town overnight. The people were great. One of them drove my truck from the port I originally left it at (Dungun) to the hospital on the Sunday and sat with me for one of the treatment sessions smiling and encouraging me all the way through. The chamber sessions are a challenge. Claustrophobia was my biggest issue. I had a 2hr session followed by 2 * 5hr sessions. I asked for sedation to get me through the last session! The chamber is a monoposition hroizontal acrylic chamber. It does the trick but plays havoc on the anxiety chords. My friend Niclas drove me back from Kota Baru to Ipoh Tues morning 7th Aug. I appear to be continuing to recover (8th Aug 07). Great. I have some lovely friends here who get all concerned for me when stuff goes awry like that. I have learnt a tremendous amount!! Sadly no diving for 6mnths.

A kick or two apart

Just a couple of penalty kicks seperated Germany and Argentina in their Football World Cup Quarter Final battle last night, yet it was precisely this seperation that didn’t seperate.. but welded together a houseful of friends (a few old, a few new, some previously lost but recovered) in an old tin mining town at the heart of Perak, Malaysia last night. A retrospective roll call would summon ‘here’s from; A Frenchman, An Englishman, Four German’s, A Chinese, A Philippina, three Japanese and two Malay. We ate, we drank, we laughed, we cheered, we scorned and finally celebrated. My heartfelt thanks to the hosts for their efforts in feeding us and making us all welcome. How phenomenal to think that we were just a kick or two apart!!

4.5 days

: 4.5 days. 4.5 days of pure enjoyment. If I wasn’t doing it I was looking forward to it. If I had done it I was reminiscing about it. I’ll give you a clue.. it begins with d and ends with g. (So it isn’t sex!). Some of my friends include it in the four d’s of their social profile. Their other d’s are drinking, dining and dancing. (Still no sex!). My ‘Celebes and more’ photo album may take you close.