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Heading out to watch dolphins – 7.45am

Back in the Lovina homestead after five beautiful days at Bali au Naturel. We never want to leave that place, but the dollars mount up. We talked to the manager for a while on leaving and asked about pricing. The result was that we can deal direct with him, but we get the same price from Agoda, so we may as well use them. No special prices. Odd.

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There’s some bad news late this afternoon when we were at home: the owner of the car we rent, Werner, phoned; his wife has dengue fever and he needs the car for the next four days. So we’re without transport. There are no taxis here, so we’ll have to phone a Balinese friend and ask him to drive us if we want to go out. This is not like a normal street in a town; we’re down a long narrow laneway off a main road and there are no shops around here within 15 mins walking. Tidak bagus. Can’t be helped.

We are due to go south in a few days anyway, so we’ll get the same guy to drive us, I think. He has a bigger car and is a good driver.

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Dieng Plateau hot springs. (C) PJ Croft 2017

It’s Idul Fitre, the end of Ramadan, and so it’s family feasting time. But can you believe, all banks are closed today and for the next six business days as all the staff take time off to visit their villages.

No banks for nearly two weeks! You can still use ATMs, luckily, so V was able to do an important transaction, but … gasp!

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V likes coconuts, but the kelapa muda type, “young coconut”. They are huge, heavy and green, straight off the tree. She likes the top lopped off with a machete and drinks the water inside, nice and cold if they’ve been in the fridge, then, if possible, likes it split open to eat the soft jellylike flesh inside. They’re nothing like the small, round, hairy things we get at home, although they are the same thing. Ours are just split and husked, that’s all. No wonder, because whole coconuts are heavy, maybe 5kg. You wouldn’t want to be under one when it fell.

I like the hard, dry, crunchy white flesh, but you don’t see that so much here. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough.

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Caught in the headlights, near home.

I had a “Like” of the previous post from as far away as Utah, USA. It’s amazing to think I’m read in other parts of the world. I only write this blog as (1) a personal diary; (2) a way to show my pictures; and (3) just to update relatives and friends that I’m OK and still around. And for the enjoyment of writing, frankly, just for the fun of creating sometihing. I hope others enjoy it too.

I’ve been going since 2009 and have done way over 1,000 posts. I’ve lost count. I use a thing called BlogBooker to download each year in pdf book form, so I have it all stored away. Maybe one day in 500 years’ time, some historian will find them, like Samuel Pepys. Yeeaah.