I decided that the best way for me to spend the first few days … No, strike that. I didn’t decide at all. I showed up at the airport in Denpasar, tired and still wound up from work. I walked out of customs and saw my friend at the exit who promptly greeted me with "Apa kabar dude. I assume that I will have to do your thinking initially so I took the liberty of booking a room at The White House for a few days and you can decide from there." I guess after 25 years friends learn a little about each other and Matt pegged it right on the head. (Well, frantic desperate pleas via e-mail probably gave him a hint) He was right, I was in no condition to think or plan so I just sat back and enjoyed Mr. Matt’s Wild Ride.

Let me tell you a little about my friend Matt. Matt and I have known each other since high school when he took pity on the quiet withdrawn boy and decided to enrichen his (my) musical horizons with bands such as Tagget and Kiss (who he later disliked because they had actually become popular). Matt has a slightly twisted (some would say deviant) sense of humor with an equally twisted imagination. Together we were a unique combination, he would come up with some crazy idea, and I was the fool who did it. (like the time we attempted to start the urban legend of druids living in the hills by dressing in hooded robes and dragging a 'victim' at strategic times from the side of a mountain road into the woods. Good thing we didn’t get arrested). It was Matt's idea that we go to Bali in the first place 10 years ago on a photo expedition. The trip is interesting right away with him having to explain to customs that the 150 rolls of film in his bag were to use and not to sell. (I have other stories involving his obsession with a durian but I will save that for another time.) We had a great time and took too many pictures. He fell in love with the place and went back many times eventually marrying a Balinese lady. Anyway, ever since I have known him he has always been a social creature. If you want to experience a large cross section of a community, just hang around Matt. I get a demonstration of this every time Matt comes into town and stays at my place. Instantly my house goes from the peaceful quite of a library to the noise hustle and bustle not unlike an LA freeway (or better yet the trading floor of the stock exchange). My phone and my answering machine are no longer my own. People who I did not know existed hours before begin calling and leaving messages. "Hey, I heard Matt was in town, tell him I called." Matt hasn’t been here 24 hours! How did you know where to get him? Soon after his arrival I relinquish control of all telecommunications devices and the bottom floor of my house. "Here Matt, this is the number you dial for my voice mail and here is my password. Just tell me if there are any messages for me." There usually isn’t. "Oh, and no WWF wrestling while I’m home to hear it. I can’t stand that stuff." He smiles this evil grin. "Celebrity Deathmatch is another matter however." In no time, stockpiles of this part or that book begin collecting downstairs along with empty boxes and bags. In the end, I wind up running into the most widely varied and interesting set of characters that you would care to meet. All in all, it is an equitable trade for a few weeks of skillfully orchestrated chaos.

One thing I did not expect is that my next trip to paradise would be to say good bye to my oldest friend. Matt passed away of pancreatic cancer on the 5th of January 2002. When I found out how serious his illness really was, I took the soonest flight I could to Denpasar. Fortunately I was able to see him before he died. Afterward I became acquainted with some of his close friends on Bali and got reacquainted with some of the people that I had met the last time I was there. I don't have many stories from this trip but I do have images from the cremation as well as the eulogy that I gave for Matt at the gathering after the cremation. I also have included links to a collection of letters from Matt that he posted on the Bali Travel Forum and the Ourbali discussion group. I hope you find them as entertaining as I.

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Text and Photography Copyright © 1999-2002 Blake Holliday. All rights reserved.