Cross another b**ch off

We can add Selong Blanak to the list of beaches we have visited now. 13km east of Kuta, it's the ideal place if you want to learn to surf. Gentle, medium size, slow-moving waves. It's also a gorgeous swimming beach. Afterwards we went to Mawun Beach [previously] and then lunch at Ashtari [previously], which now has a paved road, unlike last year.

Along the way we also passed the illegal gold mines.

Let me tell you about dinner last night though. We went to the Anda Restaurant and Monika had a perfectly nice Mahi Mahi with a Sasak sauce. I ordered the vegetarian pizza. 

When it came it had the usual pale, insipid look of most Indonesian pizzas but that's alright I wasn't expecting much. I had already eaten there and had the only other vegetarian dish, Fettuccine Alfredo, which was quite nice. As I made my way through the third slice I started to chew what I thought was a particularly tough piece of onion skin which turned out to be plastic (probably from the bag of mozzarella). I put it down to 'there is occasionally an oversite in the kitchen'. When I got another chunk in the next slice I put it down to carelessness. 

When the the waiter comes over and asks if we have finished we say yes but I point out the lumps of plastic and say that we're not paying for this. He gives a sort of bemused grin (I don't think he understands what I'm telling him), collects the plates and heads off to the kitchen. While the bill is being prepared he hoes into the rest of the pizza. I guess strips of plastic don't bother him.

He comes to the table with the bill and the pizza is still on it. I repeat that we're not paying for it and he finally gets the picture and heads for the kitchen again. He comes out with a portly, bare chested chap wearing a sarong talking to him. The wiater heads for our table and the other fellow marches off to the exit to the hotel restaurant. The bill has the pizza crossed off and the waiter apologises and says that the chef has "taken his uniform off". Quiet what that means, I'm not sure, but the moral of the story is, 'don't order pizza at the Anda in Kuta'.

Composing

Wow! That post from yesterday looks like pure arse. That'll teach me to compose outside of blogger. I'm sorely tempted to spend some time fixing it up but life is too short. I'll leave the hybrid aol/MySpace looking monster as it is.

Getting to Kuta on the ferry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XXzjuhkDw&sns=em

Yes! There was a live band. Also, the only lifeboat I could locate.

Let's deal with Danny first.

He picks me up from Lembar and is all smiles and bonhomie. He apologizes to me profusely for letting me down last time, but what with he accident and everything there was nothing he could do. To make up for it he is giving me this pick-up for free. Great, instead of forking out $40, it has cost me $4 on the ferry and free ride to Kuta. We chat on the way to Kuta and he tells me all about the accident. They (he and his driver) were taking some guests from Senggigi  to somewhere but they had stopped for some drinks. The driver had drunk too many araks and Danny had said that he couldn't drive and had taken the keys from him. The driver became very angry and fighty and Danny had given in and given him the keys back. One person was killed in the accident and two others put in hospital with serious injuries. Danny escaped unscathed by opening up the window at the crucial time and leaping free. [I know! Amazeballs].

We have some more general chat but the stage has been set.

We arrive in Kuta and he waits while I book into a hotel. I come back out and say I'm all booked, but I feel a bit guilty not paying him anything so I say, "Look Danny are you sure I can't give you any money?" Danny, "Yeah, can you give me a million, I have to go to the hospital tonight and buy some medicine for my friend who was hurt. I'm coming back here tomorrow and I'll pay you back." I said no, and there was a bit of back and forth as he asked for lower and lower amounts. In the end I gave him $15, so I wasn't out of pocket and also didn't have to feel guilty.

Disappointing though. Am I expecting too much?

Now let's deal with Kuta. WTF government!

You've done the same thing with Kuta that you did to Padangbai all those years ago. Knocking down all the beach warungs and stalls is not a move forward. It rips a major part of the charm out of the community, not to mention the local economy and makes it that much harder for those least able to recover.

Apparently there was much resentment and even some protests. All to no avail. It's empty scrubland now with a few goats wandering on it.

Dredging

Pouring like cats and dogs here. Enforced relaxation as Monika called it. Lovely to be here. They're dredging Padangbai. Off to Lombok tomorrow, if I can get hold of Danny to pick me up at at Lembar.

Off again

On my way to the airport for another jaunt in beautiful Indonesia. Sadly, Pepe will not be joining me this trip. He has succumbed to multiple kitten attacks and is severely deflated.