We've been back in Bali for 3 weeks since our Melbourne/ Kota Kinabalu adventures, and it's fair to say we are very happy to be kicking back here. Which is a very good thing at the moment because... we are stranded!!!
In case you missed it, some volcano on Mt Rinjani (in Lombok) started spewing out piles of volcanic ash which has caused havoc with air travel to and from Bali for almost a week now.
It's really not too bad a place to get stuck in... Here is Phil getting nibbled on by someone's PET OTTER!!!
People who are here are stuck here and those trying to get here are having a lot of trouble...
Case in point, we
Jetfail have just cancelled everything, but in an impressive display of tenacity and determination, Jo & Nick have rebooked on Garuda and will hopefully be here by the time you're reading this post. Fingers crossed, people!!!
Island life
So what have we been up to lately? Or, as some people put it when they hear you're going to be in Bali for a while, 'what do you do there all day???'
I once overheard someone at the next table talking about what they do on a holiday in Bali... 'Well, I get up and have some breakfast. Then I have a massage and once I'm done, it's time for lunch and a cocktail. Some pool time, and a few more cocktails, and it's sunset and dinner. Some days, I barely have time for all that!'
Even without a dozen cocktails a day, it is true that the days in Bali seem to melt away incredibly quickly!!
We had some excitement our first week back with a visit from my dear friend Yules (see here for recap) and it was so much fun giving her a taste of Bali for the first time.
Since her visit, we've settled into a very gentle routine. A morning and evening walk on the beach, a swim in the pool and reading a book pretty much fills half the day!!
I never get sick of walking on the beach at sunset...
If you've seen my Facebook or Instagram posts, you'd be forgiven for thinking that all we do is eat...
Look at that beautiful fruit salad. It cost $3...
But while it's true that we can linger over breakfast and a coffee like nobody's business, there are a few new things we've been trying out.
Phil has been keen to try out body surfing for ages, and has picked up some flippers and a hand board and has been out in the waves daily.
I have picked up a yoga mat (no, not kidding). I have NOT loved my previous Bali yoga experiences, but I am committed to stretching out my very un-bendy self before I get back to office-chair bound back torture! Definitely not yoga as you know it, but so far, so good (ie no tendons have snapped to date...)
Trilinguality
Phil has also been attending one-on-one Indonesian classes three times a week and his language skills are improving in leaps and bounds!!
He has signed up with the Seminyak Language school which is located opposite the Bintang supermarket (in case you're wondering). A particular advantage of going through the school, is they will sponsor you for a social/ cultural visa which I understand allows you to stay in Bali for up to 6 months. Very handy if you want to come over for a while and are keen to learn a bit as well.
Phil's language skills are definitely coming in handy too! We've been devoting a fair bit of time to making some improvements to our apartments here and transactions are definitely easier if you can speak to the tradies. Plus it's just really nice to see people relax when you speak to them in their language.
Spontaneous heroics
And, Phil's newfound language skills actually helped to save TWO LIVES this week!! He was out for an early morning body surf and was approached by a frantic woman yelling that her husband was drowning. Phil quickly donned his secret identity "Super-Phil" (and not for the first time), leapt into the water and swam out to save him.
Unfortunately, frantic (and by the sound of things possibly still-hammered) wife decided she would follow suit, quickly got herself into trouble and had to be dragged out of the water by Super-Phil!!
Lives saved at this point: 1
Looks calm, but not so much...
Super-Phil then decides to engage the help of the locals, uses his awesome Indonesian language skills to convey that someone is in trouble. The guys jump into action and the lifeguards are called in and mount the jetski to go out and save the husband.
But the jetski keeps getting stuck in the shallow water!!
Ill-fated jetski
So it's Super-Phil to the rescue once again, and he leaps into the water to push the jetski out, the lifesavers tow the guy in and the tally is now:
Total lives saved: 2
The kicker end to the story is that when they dragged the guy back to the beach, it became apparent that he was totally naked... classy...
Apparently, the instant he hit the shore, a screaming match started up between husband and wife... and when Phil and a life saver tried to get him to lie on his side because he was coughing up water, he tried to punch them. Super classy dude!!!
He did eventually calm down and thank his rescuers...
I should say that Phil's telling of this story is far more modest, but he did in fact intervene to save two lives and is my personal hero.
(Hopefully) in the next instalment, adventures with Jo and Nick!!
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