‘Notes from a small island’

Mandy: Thursday 5th September

‘Notes from a small island’ – Nusa Lembongan

(for all you fellow Bill Bryson fans…..no? just you and me then Mark – wink)

It never ceases to amaze us how the men walk in front of the women as the women carry the heavy items on their head. WHY!!? The men stride in front like they used to years ago in front of cars (well the first motorised vehicles) when they were first invented by way of warning people to get our of the way. All that is missing is a red flag! We have seen it wherever we have been here in Indonesia. Also we were in a little shop buying some incense sticks and what not and a delivery of boxes had been made and left outside of the shop. Glen had noticed a little girl aged about six struggling to lift each box and putting them behind the counter, so he picked a heavy one up for her. The older sisters stood by watching not helping. However what amazed me most was that two older brothers sat on their bikes watching too! So one by one I picked the remaining boxes up and put them behind the counter for her! The boys laughed as I pointed at them saying they should be doing this! They didn’t speak English but they knew what I was meant! The girls just looked surprised that we had helped the little girl! Oh no i just had a thought…. maybe that was the way she got her pocket money and now she would be short this week!

Another thing we can’t get over is how young the children are over here riding motorbikes, with three other smaller/younger siblings sat on too. Glen just said “they should be walking and getting more exercise at that age!” (Chuckle) I suppose as the roads are flat around the village they aught to at least be on push bikes. Here on this island we were told that they do not need lessons or a licence…. Or a helmet. the island does not have any police.

Each evening, as we sat on the balcony watching the sun go down, we heard a sort of squeaky horn noise. A Chinese family have been staying in the bungalow next door so for the last three nights we assumed it was one of the three children playing with a toy. However we just heard it again and seeing as we watched them pack up and leave earlier the noise has obviously not been coming from them! As we sit here It is getting darker and we wonder what it is. It could be some kind of frog I guess. Then we watched the little Gekos eating flys on the outside wall of our room and we noticed that as they lift/twitch their tails it seems to make a tiny noise just like the squeaky horn we heard before but quieter. So we now assume that the louder horn noise was from the large Lizzard we saw when we first arrived above the door on the next balcony ….. the one that poo’d just by my feet. (as described for Jane’s benefit in the last blog)

Anyone know what this is? We can’t seem to find out. Even after googling it.

Signs are helpful and can save lives as I established in my previous blog re the petrol in old vodka bottles but sometimes they just spoil things. Like this sign (below) telling us of the panoramic view! Oh really? Thanks we would have missed it if the sign wasn’t there and now it’s there it is spoiling the view! (Tut)

This morning’s amusement was watching a couple try to get back into a little canoe type boat having fallen out…… Like an old unfit man watching fit young professional rugby players on tv and shouting how they should have played the ball. Glen was giving unheard advise on what they should be doing to get back in to the upturned boat. (raised eye brows)

We asked the owners of the bungalows for an electrical kettle as we had bought some sachets of coffee in Malaysia…….what were we thinking! I don’t think there is such a thing on the whole island. I watch them from our side window at 6am in the morning walking around the yard with little saucepans heating what I assume is water on their little fires in the yard. I sort of envy their simple life. The old guy who sits around in our garden came in wet this morning and Glen said he must have been for a swim, I said maybe he had a wash in the sea! Glen went down to speak to him via the young boy who sweeps up, who speaks English, and apparently he had been fishing and caught two tuna! Free food, no electric, no toys for the kids but they always look happy. Like I said a very simple life. When we go into shops the people serving are often asleep on the floor at the back! Can you imagine going to Asda and the staff laying about having a nap waiting for someone to come in!

As we walked in to the village to get a coffee this morning it was buzzing. People on bikes, women sweeping out their open fronted shops and Warungs, a gathering of women stood around baskets of vegetables and fish and folded banana leaves (plates!) and it was such a wonderful communal feeling. Women sat out side of their huts cutting up and preparing fresh fish on a stone. Others sat by large wicker baskets full of fish presumably selling or sharing them. As I have said before women walking along with things balancing on their head. One old women went by on a push bike with a huge woven basket on her head piled high with provisions no problem! I forgot my camera today which was annoying. There were a lot of men walking about holding babies while the women brushed and tidied the gardens. We see that a lot here, men with the children while the women work.

We do have a laugh here even though it is just the two of us 24/7, but if we are not finding anything funny we can just go on trip advisor! Reading the reviews of first timers to Asia, having now been to many hotels in Asia (17 on last count) and therefore knowing what to expect it is funny reading other people’s complaints and comments. The coffee here is like filter coffee but they don’t filter it!! so you learn not to drink down to the last 5th. (Like the Turkish coffee they serve in Egypt) Someone reviewing a hotel on trip advisor complained about the hotel because breakfast included a cup of coffee that was “quarter filled with sludge…..” (chuckle) maybe you have to be here to find it funny, but you learn to read between the lines and ignore things like “don’t stay in this hotel the bathroom stank” because some do but incense sticks are cheap and if the view from the balcony is good just be quick in the bathroom and if you can’t be quick put some tiger balm up your nose (chuckle) We have learnt to adapt and see the positive (Glen as always is better at that than me of course!) Yes we had to walk down the lane past smelly garbage piled up with hens and their chicks scratching about in it. (corn fed chicken? not here lol!) but then you sit with your coffee (complete with sludge!) looking into the dense palm trees or out to sea in an open sided warung any time of night and day with shorts and T-shirt. What is not to like?

This is not like a holiday that we have known before. Maybe it could be if you stayed in a sanitised hotel at double or treble the budget but you would miss so much of the local culture.

We had the cheapest Nasi Goreng the other day (Fried rice with bits of chicken and veg ……… and a fried egg on top of course – what is it with Asia and eggs!!???) 13,000 Ind Rupia (77p) – Nasi Goreng has been called the national dish of Indonesia…….I thought it strange why they have it for breakfast but apparently it is made from the left overs from the night before. It is the equivalent of our bubble and squeak! I have also read that in an on-line poll of 35,000 people it was voted number two favourite world wide food! Rendang was voted the first! I have a story about Rendang in Ubud but I have waffled on enough already…..

We have just found the best snack…. being a lover of potato crisps I have looked around but not only have they been expensive (relatively) but I have never seen any plain salted crisps. They are all BBQ, Seaweed or Sushi flavour etc. so we are pleased to have found these peanut crisp things.

We should have tried them in Malaysia! They have strands of lemongrass and little bits of chilli in the rice ‘batter’ stuff and they are fried, I presume, and taste delicious. (Grin) they only cost 3,000 Ind. rupiah. (18p)

When planning our onward journey we check on the UK Government website for advise and generally Investigate the safest transport and safe places to visit. This is not as easy as you might think. Yes it is easy to avoid a place with political turmoil, to avoid certain taxi companies or only use specific taxi companies, but when it comes to investigating which airline to use it can be a nightmare. Glen has discovered, whilst looking to travel to Sulawesi, that one airline has had several crashes…..but was it their fault? Cows on the runway? Not their fault….. over running the runway in Bali and landing in the sea? Yep they were probably at fault there! Mind you having landed in Bali airport a few weeks ago we could see how easy it would be to do that. The landing strip goes from the narrow part of the coast to the other side of the coast.

Oh and two pilots were arrested for drug use an hour before takeoff…..mmmmm rickety bus? Airplane? taxis (and police) who are unsafe and corrupt? It’s a difficult decision. I have just googled the cow accident and didn’t realise it was only a few weeks ago!!!!!

These two cows we came across don’t know how lucky they are

living on this island that doesn’t have an airport (wink)

We spoke to the guys at the reception desk of a posh French place we came across (as their English seemed good) and we asked why the locals sit on the large platforms instead of chairs, and without a cushion. We assumed it was for a traditional reason but apparently it is because they can fit the whole family on one whereas they couldn’t afford to have a chair (let alone cushions) for each member of the family. I felt bad!

I say we, actually Glen was more interested in asking them why there are swastika like symbols on the gates arches of doorways here! One guy came over, hearing us taking about it, and proceeded to do a nazi salute! Hec! Pure coincidence though apparently, nothing to do with Germany! and he had obviously learnt to mimic because of the comments and questions they have become used to from the tourists! He went to great lengths to explain the lines and meaning of the design in Indonesia, speaking sometimes in English and filling in with Balinese which we had no idea what he was saying but we think we got the gist of it. All to do with religion of course and nothing to do with Hitler!

Update… We took a chance and bought a bag of the ‘Cornish pasty’ things only to find they were Pineapple Jam Tarts masquerading as Cornish Pasties!!!! Hollow but for a slither of burnt-ish jam on the bottom! Maybe they were copying British food but got a tad confused. (chuckle) Glen said he could hear the sea in them if he held them to his ear. (chuckle)

On the last morning, we were waiting to catch the speedboat back to Bali and we watched an older lady put offerings on the engines and performed a ritual with the holy water, as they do on the shrines, before we left…. I know there was a thunder storm forecast and it looked a bit choppy out at sea but do we really need this to ensure a safe passage to Sanur? I am not sure if I was comforted by the gesture or unnerved by it to be honest.

However all seemed relaxed and normal as we waded through the water onto the boat. The ‘captain’ had a Frangipani flower behind his ear, not a care in the world.