The Build

Almost a House

All Done

After messageing me, and telling me how cold it was in Spain. The day I arrived back in Bali I was supprised with a knock on the door and there was that smile again. Magda had been wandering around some of the islands close to Bali! Gillies, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and decided to suprise me with another month in Bali, the studying she said, could wait, Fantastic! Dave and Sharon were back in England and it was my turn to keep an eye on the project. I rented a place in Amed and we settled in, Magda did a diving course and she was hooked, I spent a lot of time up at the project, the footings were in, the walls were going up, all was good!

The month passed too quickly and this time there was no question, she’d missed most of the first semester and was going to have to work very hard to catch up. We parted and it was difficult but I had things to do here and she had things to do there. It was January 2014, she did work hard, crammed 2 semesters into one and passed all the exams, what a girl! In April she was back in Amed, lawyering wasn’t for her, Diving instructor seemed a far better option for Magda the Mermaid, so she found a dive shop (plenty to choose from in Amed) and began the many stages to become a Dive instructor. I went off to England for my annual visit to see Mum, When I got back The roof was on and the house was begining to look like a house. We did a short trip to Kalimantan but went at the wrong time. It was Ramadan so every man and his dog was on the road, all the hotels were full, all the eating houses were closed untill 6pm, transport was difficult to get, every thing seemed far too expensive. We ended up on Derawan Island to do some diving and when it was time to leave, we couldn’t get a flight out of Kalimantan to anywhere, everything was booked, we wanted to get back to Denpasar but would have gone anywhere, we tried Jakata,Yogjakata,Surabaya, even Lombok. Magda was on the laptop for hours and evenually, a cancellation and we grabbed it. Kalimantan – Surabaya in Java, we still had to get to Bali. At the airport in Surabaya we tried every airline there was for the next few days, all fully booked, we got a taxi into town and got the last 2 seats on a bus, a twelve hour jouney but we where back in Denpasar.

I got sick, I’d had the shits for about 6 weeks and the weight was falling off me, I had blotches all over my skin, no matter what I tried I couldn’t shake it off. I went to the doctor he gave me anti inflamatories? when I asked questions, he looked at me blankly and sugested I google it. We went over to Oz so I could get some tests, The tests came back, I was ok, nothing serious, I was begining to wonder? A course of anti biotics for gardia and I was fixed. While we were there we did a trip up north, on Henrietta this time, six days, 4500 Klm’s, That blew the cobwebs away. We got back and moved into the house, there was still work going on but I was impatient so we put up with the dust. We’re in Bali, so there has to be a ceremony for the house, to make it safe from evil spirits, Dilly and his family killed a pig, the holy man came round, we had a feast, a piss up, the house was blessed and the Gods were happy!

Another visa run, so where to? “Lets try East Timor?” “Ok!”… A new country since 2002, after gaining Independence from Indonesia, predomenantly Christian after years of Portugese colonisation, should be interesting? Even though it was 3 times as much money to get to, as anywhere else, we decided to have a couple of weeks there. We flew into Dilly and first impresions were good. We walked out of the door at the airport and no one accosted us, no taxi, taxi! no come stay here or there, cheap,cheap, nothing, nada, like we were invisable! Ah! I thought I’m gonna like it here. Walked over to the only taxi in sight, $10, seemed a bit much to get into town, about 5 Klm away but never mind, let’s just get there and we can suss things from there. The hostle was pretty run down, which was no drama, I’ve stayed in a lot worse places in my time but the cost didn’t reflect the squalor. It soon became apparent that everything we did here was going to cost at least 3 times as much as it would elsewhere in Asia, “Ok, lets go to the Embassy tomorrow and sort the Visa’s, hire a bike/car and check the Island out!” Thats when we learnt we had to go at six in the morning, wait in line for 4 hours and do the same the following day, Ok! fuck the 60 day visa, which I can turn into a 6 month visa, I’ll just get the visa on entry when I go back which gives me 30 days then 30 more. It’ll then be the end of October and gives me a good excuse to go over to Oz for the Bridgetown Blues, which I was thinking I would miss this year! We looked for a bike, no one would rent us a bike? we tried to rent a car, $150 a day plus a Klm cost, we talked to a guy who had had the same problems so went on public transport for hours and from his account on what was out there,or rather what wasn’t out there, we decided to give up and fly back to Bali. A very expensive three days in Dilly but you’ll never know if you don’t give it a go!!!!!

Magda had buisness in Spain, I went to the Blues again, got my 60 day visa, came back to Bali, worked for 4 months on the house and got it finished. Found an Aussie couple to move into the house and so in March 2015 I find myself free again.

Where will I end up next? Who knows? not me!!!!

I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….The Jouney Continues….BE HAPPY!