Life in the Jungle - Time to go

Time to go
(A sad day for sure)

My last morning in the jungle and I wake up slowly. I sit on the porch drinking tea, writing notes about my trip and listening to the jungle sounds. I hear women down by the river washing cloths. (Probably from the white house hotel, good thing I listened to Matt and brought my cloths to a regular laundry) There is something about this place that is growing on me. I have been on islands before, like Hawaii. Bali is nothing like that. On Hawaii I know I am on an island. It doesn’t take long before I feel like I am on an island in the middle of the ocean, isolated, far from anywhere. Bali is very different. On Bali, there is an immediate connection. People greet you and smile, some of them are just trying to get business, they see a white face and they think money, but many are just plain friendly. Women are not afraid to look at you and smile some of them flirting with you just because it is fun. The first questions any Balinese will ask if they meet you for the first time are, Are you Married?, How old are you?, Do you have children?, What is your religion? The proper negative response to the marriage question would be, Not Yet!, since they think it is very odd to not want to get married. If you are married they may ask you how many wives you have. (Balinese can have up to four) All of these are questions of great import. Tell the average Balinese about your work and you will get a polite smile. (Mostly because they can’t relate but …)

I walk into town for the last time. Shopping for some small carvings to complete my list. "I give you good price, morning price" I pick a shop that has an acceptable Barong carving. I negotiate halfheartedly getting to two thirds of the first quoted price (the initial price usually twice or three times the price they will take) What the heck, the price wasn’t that high to begin with. The shopkeeper eagerly takes the money slapping the other carvings in his shop with it. "For luck" "I know, Slemat Pagi". Back to the hotel where Matt is waiting. "Where would you like to go for your last meal dude". Well, that expression hit home. I do feel a little like a condemned prisoner about to be executed, staring at the death cell. (The fact that I will be flying through Taipei during overt threats of war from China is no help) "Might as well go to Nuri’s, there will probably be someone there interesting to talk to." The place was pretty empty. Brian is there though. He chats us up as we eat lunch, alternating between talking to us and working in the office. Time to go. Brian shakes my hand, "Goin back to the real world?" "Na, this is the real world, I come form the fake world" "When you commin back?" "I don’t know" I say sadly. He looks at me, "You’ll be back in a year". I wish I could be so sure.

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