I had to go to Singapore as part of getting my working visa, and though the school “paid” for the trip (but I’m getting screwed coming the way I did, changing my return ticket and such, I should have waited and made them send me the visa first…but was worried about losing a shot at the job, at the time was thinking “free trip to Singapore”), and I came in under budget, it still seems they are gonna nickle and dime me on some expenditures. So I’m a bit annoyed about that right now. Also, getting back after midnight, I had to scooter home in the rain. But despite my grizzled smirk, Bali felt a bit like home on my soaked ride from the airport.

Singapore is essentially a city of shopping malls. I didn’t see the Orchard Boulevard hotel with the “four floors of whores” some English business man told me about in the airport, but on the other end of Orchard where I had dinner I saw plenty strutting about, including one in an anorexic Mrs. Claus get up. But Sing. is a huge financial center and those ladies are after the big $.

I walked around Chinatown, got to use a little Mandarin, got rid of the older “small head” hundred bill no one in Bali will take without a serious penalty. Walked around a ton actually. Rode the bum boat in the Singapore river. Had some great pho, and some REALLY choice honeyed pork and beef jerky sheets called bak kwa.

Got some comic/art book things in a Japanese bookstore with a huge, very discount section. Met some other teachers from the same chain I teach with from Jakarta and it seems their situation is shittier than mine. But they had been up since 4 AM, were exhausted, and weren’t exactly the best representatives at the moment. Got my bottle of Jim B from duty free for a decent price (as I’m not paying the $90 they are here), and came on home to the rain.

I didn’t actually go into the show, as tickets were 700.000 rupiah. That’s 64 small beers, 33.5 large beers, a month and half’s scooter rental, nearly half a month’s rent, or three overpriced massages with handjob…depending on how you look at it. But I did pay 23 cents to get into the parking lot and get some footage.

A few things you don’t get from this: that lot completely filled with 20,000+ scooters, cars and buses and it was quite difficult to find my own in the dark with no lighting at all, ever so slightly buzzed on Arak. Lesson learned, next time some sort of flag or marker to help with rapid, ill-lit, scooter identification when parking in such scenes. Also the older couple, guy with The Ramones shirt, where the coolest Aussies I’ve met so far, actually knew the Dirty 3 and Grinderman – the first I’ve run into who did so. Also some of those 20-something Indonesians are in a Death Metal band and hopefully will call me to come check them out next time they play Bali. They were from Java, came over to the island just to drink in the lot without tickets or the ability to afford them. That’s Metal. You proabaly could have heard the show from where we were sitting, but I took off soon after dark, before the music (from a band I don’t really care about anyway, just nostalgia – though I’m not saying I don’t still occassionally spin cuts from NotB or Powerslave) and potential clusterfuck could ensue. And the guy in the final shot was a satay vendor, most likely wearing the hat just for sales and to fit in, but I found it classic.

I am working, and will be paid at the end of the month, but still worry about my remaining dollars. Or am trying to hold off changing more money than need be, and am anxious to start living on my “rupiah only” budget (in a nutshell: rent, utilities, laundry, monthly motorbike rental = 2.5 million, then save 1 million a month, have 1 million a week to spend after that…it ain’t as much as it sounds like). So I’m holding off major expenditures like a DVD player, wireless modem etc. But I went ahead and got my motorbike rental. And it’s like a whole new island! I had been content walking to and from school and the grocery at the end of my street. But zipping around on a scooter is that much better. True, you have to pay at least 1,000 to park everywhere, but the beach is now minutes away etc. Options, options, options, not good for those trying to save $, but more fun. Now I need to get my license… Or fake license, and the guy who does them is in Thailand until Friday. So I’m riding dirty for a while. Following all traffic rules (btw, traffic is opposite lanes of North American style, and generally insane, though better for two wheelers, who just sort of go anywhere they want while other traffic is stopped) and hoping to avoid occassional roadblocks where the cops just check everyone…esp. buleh (“whitey”). Just to and from school, my odds are good, but yesterday was some random Muslim holiday and rather than go exploring the island, I stayed home as not to “roll the dice”. If I am stopped it’s a fine on the spot, a much bigger fine if I don’t have a license. Petrol is cheap here, the thing won’t even hold $2 worth, and roadside stalls everywhere sell from Absolut bottles should the gas stations not be around or closed. Also fixing flats are a standard and cheap service. I’m waiting for my first.

Since I did have the bike, I went and took Valentine’s chocolate and fake roses to two girls I’ve met, one Hindu one Muslim, both massage girls (legit Balinese massage, I haven’t tried the “naughty” yet). The Hindu one, Ayu, seems quite keen to be my “girlfriend” despite being literally half my age and the fact we can barely speak to one another. It’s all quite puppy and innocent. Phau-action prospects being better than no action at all as I see it. I get the impression things are all quite chaste in their minds, for now. Ayu had a gift for me as well when I showed up, so it’s not all just complete suckersville on my end. And I will slowly be learning Indonesian…one text message at a time, as I made the effort initally and now she seems to not be bothered with using English.

I’ll be taking a school funded visa run to Singapore soon, and also start training with the online version of the school. But for now my schedule is actually rather chill. We’ll see how long that lasts…

There are four Buddhist temples on Bali and one of them is in Kuta. I learned this later, but having passed the place in a cab between my school and hotel I just had a feeling “something might be happening there on N.Y.”. Turned out to be the exact spot to be…

I walked by there in the afternoon, was thrilled with the general vibe of the place: incense and fruit offerings, people burning some other paper things – not hell notes – I’m not exactly sure what. Kids running around and families, a general good vibe like a crowd of Buddhist can create. Saw a 3 lion dance, which turned out to be the afternoon show for a busload of Taiwanese tourists Someone told me there would be a parade at four, so went to a nearby place to eat. Found myself ravenous and ate quite a bit from this cheaper place, which turned out to be a mistake because the temple was giving out free dinner a few hours later.

Four o’clock came and went and no parade, but I was enjoying just sitting and watching the prayers and offerings, mellow Chinese music and sweet smell wafting about. I’d been watching a cameraman and reporter doing their thing in the mix and eventually met them (though never got their names). He was Aussie and she Indonesian with really good American sounding English. They were AP, currently hired by CCTV to do the bit on Balinese NY celebration, no doubt going into a bigger segment on festivities all over the world.
We talked film, modern journalism, the in’s and out’s of Indonesia, and got a kick out of the tweet she got when Anderson Cooper got popped in the Cairo fray, which I assume made at least some waves in the States, if not full on CNN Domestic absurdity, with Dr. Gupta doing some fluff piece on Coopers “injuries” etc. What a gigi.

Anyway, at 7 there was another show, better than the first. A dragon dance, the red lion dancing on large concrete rolling balls, other theater. But it’d been a long day, I was (needlessly) worried about my computer back in the less than secure room, and I left before people were to jump around on phau-Bamboo poles.
I’d come by day and thought I knew the way back, but took a wrong turn and walked WAY in the wrong direction, was caught in the rain, and turned down overpriced cab rides as I stubbornly stumbled around until I found my way back, about a two hour wander. I could have hopped in a cab, but screw it, I had the time to waste. In all it was a great Chinese New Year.

As is often the case when traveling, so much happens in a short amount of time it’s difficult to relay it all. A day seems like three. Close to a week, and suddenly you are pressed to recall detail and put it all in perspective. Sorry kids, but you get a bullet point recap.

*met with the “main” school in Denpasar and was pleased to find
things less formal than they might have been. Yet also got the impression my previous experience might not count for much. The “trenches” of China are China, Indonesia is Indonesia. It’s almost as if my previous teaching was guerrilla warfare and I now must learn to be a proper soldier…or something closer to one.

*driver took me by a cool monument in the center of Denpasar. Utterly
tranquil despite the heat. Cool, bizarre unknown Hindu deities.
A series of 25 odd dioramas depicting ancient, but plenty more
recent, history of the area. Turns the Dutch may have been just as
culpable bastards as other European colonialists, though I’d wager
most North Americans don’t realize this. South Africa wasn’t their
only fuck up.

*starting having random chats with Australians who weren’t too drunk
or shirtless in public, non-appropriate places.

*moved to a cheaper hotel but right in the fray of tourists saturated Kuta. Literally had to walk a gauntlet of vendors of get to my second floor room. Each, and, every, time. “Really dude, I didn’t want a t-shirt 5 minutes ago. Why would I this time?”

*sat around all weekend stressing about money and trying not to spend much money. Did find the silly little toys I collect are here though and got one.

*met with my school, peers and boss, observed classes (see above comment on previous teaching experience) found a reasonably priced place to live and will move in Friday. Also, swell owners of hotel where I’m staying cut me a 10% discount for the remaining days I’ll be here. Serious Maytals’ style pressure drop on my financial future.

*more stress about my immediate learning curve, centered around computerized utilities, corporate standardization and lingo more than actual teaching I guess. Also learning to love the local slack vibe and not to see it as nefarious. That initial “theft” (and another semi-curfuffle with some staff from the first hotel) put me in the paranoid mentality. The Balinese for the most part are swell people. Javanese in the mix, who’ve come to cash in on the tourist mecca of their country…maybe watch out a bit more. This is just an initial observation and hearsay, hopefully not bigotry.

*And now for something completely different: ladies and gentleman, a mangy tailed Asian Palm Civet…

I can’t wait to sift his poop and grind!