What a beautiful morning. Sunny bright but dewey and misty, warm but not too hot.

Kuta 1985

 I went for a swim in the pool yesterday and felt better for it. To be honest, I haven’t been swimming for the last few years and I really noticed how bouyant I felt in the water. It’s all the fat, you know. It floats to the top!

Fat City 2010

I have to be so careful not to slip! Wet concrete, steps and changes of level everywhere, slippery tiles, cracks and grooves waiting to catch the errant sandal – it’s an accident waiting to happen. OK so far…

The good old days. 1985

I was also a bit diffident at first about exposing my flab, but this is Fat City! And Geriatric Rest Home No. 1. This is definitely not your young crowd, not in Sanur, so that’s OK then. There’s even an old lady being wheeled around in a wheelchair.

Anyway, it rained buckets yesterday, with thunder and lightning. There were some nice fine spells, but it was a good, wet day. That’s fine with me, I love it. After dessicated Perth, it’s like days of old.

Speaking of which, sitting at breakfast this morning looking out over the beach and bay, I was taken back to the 80s by the smells and sounds. But I realised that it’s not the same. Back then I was slim and had energy and I was ready to take my rented motorbike and hit the road. I thought nothing of riding by myself up to Kintamani and down into the crater via the twisty rutted road, then riding back to Sanur via other small villages, a full day of it. I have the photos to prove it.

Lake Batur from Kedisan 1985 – Gunung Batur in the clouds

Down at the lake. I rode my motorbike down there!

But you can’t go back. Thank goodness I did it then, because it’s impossible for me now. I haven’t made it to Kuta yet, maybe this afternoon, but even that in an airconditioned taxi is going to be a big effort for me. Too late to recapture that Bali past, I’m afraid.

The food saga continues – my quest to get good Indonesian food is not yet satisfied. For lunch yesterday I had Tom Yum Goong, the Thai soup, and that was moderately hot, but nothing like the Thai heat. Very little meat and very tough, chewey mushroom slices, but it was OK.

Then last night we went back to the best place we’ve found so far, and this time I asked for “more spicy”, with sambal on the side. I even asked about ikan bilis, peanuts and crispy garlic/onion, but I didn’t get any though.
At least I got sliced chili in the food and I got through a full dish of sambal, and it was pleasant, but still no prizes. I reckon I could cook Indo food better than this. Maybe I need to go upmarket and pay more? To search out recommended authentic restaurants? I only paid $10  total for an entree, main course and a Bloody Mary, for goodness sake. And the owner threw in a scoop of beautiful ice cream at the end because we are such regular customers at this place.

I’ve been shooting a little bit of video and putting it into a slide show, and I marvel at how well it all works. It’s incredible. I’m shooting high definition video, editing it, then making a high def slide show mixing the video with still images and it just works! No format troubles, no crashes, no waiting, no weirdnesses, all on a laptop in my room. It’s fantastic. Let me try another upload.

Despite the above, the audio seems to have gone missing on this. I can make it happen, but the file size gets enormous, so…

OK, ’till next post, cheers.

Pagi, pagi,. Beautiful rain and thunder for the last couple of hours. Soft, cool breeze here in the open air lobby. Aaaaah.

Hmmm, interesting afternoon yesterday. I made myself do the 800m walk to the Hardy’s department store down the road and got there OK. I stopped, wiped the sweat off and had a rest a couple of times, but I felt better for having done it.

The interesting thing was that I saw a sign right next to The Village Restaurant that made me perk up and take notice (and photos). Here it is:

It’s right next to The Village Restaurant in Jalan Tamblingan here in Sanur, on the beach side of the road.

US$299,000 is the same in our money now. Three big bedrooms, three full bathrooms, all rooms looking onto your own private pool in an atrium, 100m from Sanur beach without having to cross the road, a 250m2 dwelling (I assume that’s what 2.5ares means – that’s huge), full security as they say, right next door to a classy restaurant in a quiet area, with dozens of other restaurants nearby. Hardy’s supermarket is about 300m down the road for all your dairy and exotic foods. Australian, French and Californian wine is stocked, if desired.

As we were saying yesterday, you wouldn’t want to own a car here – taxis are so cheap. You could employ a maid (or two!) to do the cleaning and cooking. Either the maid would do it, or you cross the road for a $10 meal. Cheaper than grocery shopping at home. At the moment, this is what it looks like:

It’s impossible to imagine the March 2011 completion date being met, but I’m not ready either. Taking a 30 year lease? Not sure what that means, nor a 10 year option, but details, mere details…

I’m not talking timeshare or holiday home, I’m talkin’ selling up, cashing up, moving here. Perth is only 3 1/2 hours and $199 away. The Bali International Medical Centre is 10 mins down the road. You can vaccinate dogs against rabies, and quarantine for Minnie wouldn’t be difficult.
No need to trust local banks – maintain your Perth accounts and use the ATMs. I’ll be eligible for the pension in Feb 2012 – I’d still get it deposited into my Karrinyup bank account as usual. No problem.

Boy, it makes me think. So much to do here, so much life. Go to Singapore or Malaysia or Perth every three months to renew the entry visa. Hmmmm.   Just pipe dreaming.

My next door neighbour has sent me a long email saying Minnie is fine and happy, although she much prefers to be in her own yard. Excellent.

Sun’s out, steam’s rising, rain’s stopped. Kuta this afternoon, I think, to see how much it’s changed since 1983 when I last walked Legian Rd.

This was Poppies Lane in 1983. So uncluttered, so quiet.

I think I’m in for a shock.

Selemat Pagi,

Guy Fawkes had nothing on Bali. Two nights ago I was hearing loud thumps every few seconds and I was so sure it was workmen using a sledgehammer to demolish brickwork on one of the villas around here that I didn’t go out to look.

But apparently it was fireworks! I saw a few again last night but only briefly and from a fair distance up the beach. I wish I’d seen the ones on Wednesday night. They must have been close.

Well tonight, November 5, is the Olde English Guy Fawkes night, so I wonder if they’ll put on another show. I wish the gods would put on a show, too. The weather is grey, cloudy, dull light mostly. I want some thunderstorm action or atmospheric dust from Merapi. No such luck.

First things first – here’s a better attempt at incorporating video. I hope it works this time. It’s quite good resolution and size, but this time I’ve got it down to 3.3MB instead of 47MB.

Here are some more pictures. I’m having great trouble placing them in the position I want them on the page.

OK, that worked well. This is a pano using Autostitch. I’ve worked the sky using a grad filter in Adobe Lightroom, Keith. I’m getting the hang of that program.

The squirrels are in the trees just outside the rooms. Beautiful. The birds try to fight them away from the food.

I went for a good trip last evening. Tripped on the double step in front of my room and went down hard. No damage, though it hurt a bit at the time. Luckily a hotel staff guy was right there and was very solicitous and helped me up. No problem.

We walked up the beach path in the other direction last night for dinner. I don’t know why it is, but almost all the restaurants were nearly empty, until we reached the one the guys had picked, the Duck’s Nuts or something. It was busy! All the tables on the sand were packed, but there were plenty of seats in the covered area, so that’s where we et (yes, et. Apparently that’s quite a valid English variation on ate.) I don’t know why they were getting the business, but…

The guys had steak, mushroom soup, sweet and sour chicken, all those local delicacies.

I had lumpia again, hoping to get the Balinese lumpia I know (big, spicy minced lamb and vegetables wrapped in a sausage shape like a Chiko roll with sweet soy sauce – kecap manis). Nope, spring rolls again, with sweet and sour Chinese sauce, just like I can get at Coles.

Then I had Nasi Goreng again, hoping for the savoury spicy rice full of prawns, chopped chicken, beef, pork and veges, with a fried egg on top and maybe crushed peanuts.  No way. Not a shrimp or other piece of meat to be found, artificially coloured rice, the egg was there and the peanuts were already on the table, and a piece of tomato on the side, but that was it. No chili, no spices.

Grrrr. This is food dumbed down for Aussie tourists, I think. All that was missing was fries and it could have been McBali. At $15.60 for the two courses and a G&T, it’s no great loss, but I didn’t come here to eat Aussie flavoured stodge.  The best meal I’ve had was on Tuesday night just 50m down the main road, Jalan Tamblingan, so I’m going back there tonight.

I’ve been trying to get some photos again this morning, Ian, using the Fuji S100 for close-ups. Naaaah. I tried to get it to focus, macro, super macro, super mario bros, but it constantly said “Computer says no.” It’s good for lots of things, but when the going gets tough, the Canon 40D delivers. I found the same in Europe in ’08. I like the Fuji, but…

By the way, Sir Les? Les Paterson? All your sons are here, hundreds of ’em. Can you come and collect them please?

OK lunchtime. More later

Aaaah, ya gotta laugh. When I wrote about the room service menu yesterday, there were a couple of items ‘Cordon Bleu’. It was going through my mind that there could be a  malapropism lurking in there, but no, to their credit at this hotel, they had it right.

Not at the next hotel along, however. We had dinner on the beach along the footpath a bit and there, on the menu, was Chicken or Beef Gordon Blue.  He’s the red haired chef with the foul mouth on TV, isn’t he?

Two of the guys wanted pizza and it was prepared to full Aussie standard: crisp crust, pineapple, mozzarella, onion etc. as only the Balinese know how to do it. Just like you’d get at Domino’s or Pizza Hut. They enjoyed it.

The other guy had chicken teriyaki and didn’t like it much – too oily, crumby, scrawny.

I wanted local fare and asked if there was another Indonesian food menu, which there was. I asked for lumpia, which wasn’t actually listed, and got typical Vietnamese/Chinese spring rolls, just like I can get at IGA. Wow.

Then I ordered a seafood pancake, hoping to get a local variety. I got bland. Bland, cold, soft, chopped up shrimps, fish, calamari in a sorta nice white goo but with not a spice to be seen, smelt or tasted. And fries. Tasteless, forgettable, waste of time. Oh well.

At first there was no wind at all, and a little bit opressive, but after 30 mins or so, the breeze sprang up and it was beautiful. Distant lightning was flashing over Nusa Peneeda, far too intermittently to get photos unfortunately. Too far away for thunder, but there were a couple of golden yellow bolts and the occasional red flashing glow behind the island. Magic.

I was right about the camera. After posting yesterday, I went to have a light lunch (Gado gado – vegetarian and fantastic) and walked onto the beach. This time, I had the Canon 40D and I felt right at home again. A camera like this is built for the job! I can use the optical viewfinder perfectly, adjust it for my eyesight, and I can bang off shots as fast as I can see ’em. That’s better!

That’s just one of about 24 shots in 15 mins work, but everything works as it should and I don’t lose shots. I don’t think I can live with a little point and shoot. Oh, by the way, that’s Nusa Peneeda (island) on the horizon.

I was lamenting yesterday about my size being impossible to find here. No problem, says Tommy, a hotel guy. If I want things, they will make to order. It occurs to me that I could take my best polo shirt (a K-Mart brand made in India, but never to be found again!) and simply get them to use it as a template. Easy. Not sure if I can be bothered, but it’s worth a check.

Urrrrgghhh! Hard seats that cut into my thighs, hard wooden chair in the lobby for wi-fi, a table that I can’t get my knees under while I’m internetting. This is not what I expected. This hotel is mostly nice, but it’s 3 star and I’d rather pay a bit more for another star and things that work next time.

Ten thirty pm and the other guys have gone off to a bar run by an Aussie guy they know. Utterly out of the question for me. I’m knackered, everything hurts and I’m for bed, thank you.

Thursday morning:  I just got some more shots on the beach, using the Fuji S100fs this time. I’m slowly getting my motivation back, although I’m still finding it physically difficult.
 

The weather is still a bit boring. It’s very grey and dull light. I’m wishing for something like the above. That’s a shot from 1986 or so. That’s climate change for you – you can’t get a decent storm anywhere nowadays.

All these shots are, or were, on Sanur beach.

Thursday afternoon: We took a taxi over to Kuta this morning to go to the Carrefour department store, because the guys had heard you could get good DVDs and so on. Naaah. It’s a big place but nothing special.
I was amazed at the changes in the area, however. Last time I was here, all that south east side of Kuta was just open rice paddies and swampy areas. I have the photos to prove it. But now it’s all urban chaotic sprawl, all the way. It’s all been developed and built on the last 20 years, but it looks so old, as if it’s always been there. Special paint, I believe…

Now for some video. I’ve spent the last hour or so shooting, editing and compressing a hi-def video of 45 secs, much higher quality than yesterday. It’s 47MB in size, so I’m about to see whether it works. Good luck to us all.

Uploading now – I’ll check the news sites and come back later…

NB: I’ve just realised that I had my Settings to require all comments to be moderated (by me via email) before they appeared on the blog. Sorry about that, I hadn’t realised. I’ve reset it to allow immediate publishing.

Uh oh. It’s been uploading for over 25 mins and still not finished. I think I’ll have to bail out. How long to go? Seconds, minutes, hours? Plan B will be enacted tomorrow.

Hi again;  Wednesday and it’s another beautiful day in Paradise. As long as I had aircon, I could live here, I reckon. You even get used to the warm humidity and you probably wouldn’t need aircon after a few months. Also, every breeze is a cool breeze.

This is our view across the bay from the hotel. I’d like to say I took this today, but this was 25 years ago. ‘Course it’s all changed now – there are rows of these bloody mountains all along the coast, blocking the sun, casting shadows on the beach. The locals are complaining and want a council ban to stop any more. Twin cities with Cottesloe and Scarborough…

Another good night’s sleep last night after a great meal just down the street. Nasi Campur – mixed rice, but it’s actually a bit of beef rendang, a bit of gado gado, a bit of chicken curry and so on, with rice. It was delicious. I had a small calamari entree, the main dish and a large gin and tonic all for $13.87, total. Excellent.

Speaking of food, the title above reflects the laugh I’ve just had while browsing the room service menu [my comments in brackets]:

• Roasted Slice of Lamp Salad  [nice and crunchy no doubt, but watch out for the glass noodles, and the filaments of tungsten are electric on the tung. Power cord supplied. Ideal for a light snack.]

• Wok tossed lamp of beef  [another light dish, but a bit heavier.]

• Foccasia  [popular Italian bread but with an Oriental touch]

• Grilled N.Z. Lamb Chop with potato of the day [freshly caught potato, straight from the bay, no doubt]

They do extremely well to speak and write our language. I’m not criticising one bit.

I’m finding it very hard to do any serious photography, I’m afraid. I tried some close-up shots this morning in the gardens but my eyesight is now so bad that I can’t switch easily between looking at the subject some distance away and looking at the camera screen for composition and framing. I’ll include a couple of images and my first attempt at some video (shot yesterday), but oh dear, I’m not like I was 20 years ago. Way out of condition and way out of practice. I’ll try, but …

Actually,  that was using the small Panasonic camera, which doesn’t have a viewfinder, only a rear screen. My Canon 40D SLR has an optical viewfinder, however, which is adjustable for eyesight. I must get it out of the bag and see if that solves the problem.

This is awful, I know, but it’s the first time I’ve posted video. Shot in full HD and squashed down to mp4 in Edius. I’ll have to experiment to see what works. I don’t know yet what file size, image size or video formats work.

There was very distant thunder at about 5am and I tried to make myself get out of bed and go down to the beach for the dawn. It’s only about 200m, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Must try harder!

Everything else is going fine. No tummy troubles, even though the other guys are rumbling a bit. Maybe that was the thunder I heard!

I may go over to Kuta today, just for a look, but it’s hard to get moving. Don’t know.

Now to make the long, 20m trek to the lobby to use the wi-fi to post this. Oh, it’s a tough life in Paradise. Hang on … if this is Paradise, which everyone says it is, where are my 72 virgins? Naughty, naughty. Oh, you have to die first, you say?

Amazing – I’m hungry again. Cheers.

I’m not sure if that’s a word in Indonesian, but that’s what it feels like to be out in the streets in Bali. So full of people, so full of life, so invigorating.

I’m back on line at last, having endured over 36 hrs without my computer (sob!). I had to go into Denpasar this morning to buy the three pronged clover-leaf shaped power lead for my laptop charger. It was easy to find and now I’m charging up again after nearly running out of battery. The lead cost Rp. 80,000. I nearly started haggling until I realised that’s less than $10! It’s $9.30 to be exact. Let the guy have his profit margin.
Same with the taxi – the fare to Denpasar was about Rp. 35,000 on the meter and I only had a 50,000 note. I did initially ask for Rp.10,000 back, but, “Sorry, no change.” So I let him have the Rp.15,000 tip – that’s $1.74. It’s OK.

Random thoughts from this morning:

• The beautiful manners, the politeness, the smiles, the friendliness, the quiet demeanour of Indonesian people. What a difference. Sure, the constant “Hello boss”, “Taxi boss?”, “Where are you from, boss?” as the opening gambit can get a bit wearing after a while, but just give a polite no and it’s fine. I can live with it.

• The fabulous variety of shops and the huge range of stock they carry.

• Call me an MCP if you like, but how great to see the clothing departments catering for men. I’m sick of the total domination of Aussie shops by females! Here, men are very nicely catered for.

• Not only are men’s clothes in abundance, I can immediately see colours and patterns I’d like to buy! I’ve been thinking for years of complaining to Myer, Woolies, DJs, K-Mart and Target etc about the utter drabness of their clothing. The overall impression I get in these shops (DJs possibly excepted) is black and dirty colours. Colours are impure, drab, ugly, just plain weird! Yet immediately here I see fantastic earth tone combinations, metallics, complementary tasteful blends, fine patterns. I’m talking shirts, polo and golf shirts, everything. It’s simple: at home, I can’t find clothes I want to buy. Here, I’m awash in stuff I’d love to buy.

• So why don’t I buy all my clothes here? Er, I’m afraid I’m too big for it now. They don’t make size 4XL or 5XL here. How embarrassing it is. What a nation of fatties we’ve become! It’s incredibly noticeable in the hotel and on the streets. We’re all huge, most of us, anyway. The guys  I’m with are OK, but we tourists stand out for our flab. Oh dear. On the flight here, I simply couldn’t fasten my seatbelt because it wouldn’t reach! I tried other seats – same. Same problem in the taxi this morning – I couldn’t fasten the seatbelt. I’m just too fat. I sat in the back seat on the way home. There are no belts in the back, but I had trouble getting through the door! This is not good.

• I’m afraid I’m unlikely to get many good photos, too, for that reason. I’m having to be so careful when walking to avoid tripping and falling that I just can’t think about photography any more. I’m carrying my small camera, but only in the bag, not at the ready. Maybe it’ll improve, but …

I drafted this in my hotel room (nice and cool), but I’ve found that the wi-fi only works in the lobby, so I have to take the computer there to connect. How annoying! The lobby is a typical open Balinese area, open to the air. Very pleasant most of the time, but I want to do things in my room, not there.  I’m trying to think of a way around this, but all I can think of is buying a USB wireless broadband modem and a month’s connection with one of the local telecom companies. Possible, but a bit expensive, I think. At home, you can buy a USB modem and a 2GB data allowance for $69, I think. Maybe I can do something similar here.

Boy, did I sleep last night! I crashed at about 8:30pm, I think, and although I woke several times during the night for a wii, and saw the dawn light at about 6:30am, I slept until 8am. I felt much better for it, too. It rained heavy and long last night, as well.

Breakfast is included in our room tariff and how pleasant to go and sit overlooking the pool and gardens and be served fresh fruit, Bali coffee, OJ, eggs and bacon and toast. It’s something I haven’t tasted for years and it’s great.

OK, 6:00pm and a golden afternoon light. Time to go on-line, post this and then have a nice cold beer or two. Wow! I can live like this.

(I really want to post pictures but no time at this moment. Won’t be long.)

 This is where I’ll be from Monday morning!

What a rigmarole! Organising for Bali seems harder than it used to be 20 years ago, and I know why. It’s all the new choices and things that can be taken along now that we have computers and digital this and that.

I can’t imagine being without a computer for 10 days any more. How would I do this blog? How would I store and organise the photos each day? How would I transfer the video from the camcorder to DVDs to bring home? It would be possible to not do any of these things I suppose, but I might as well try to stop breathing.

So, laptop, mouse, security cable, blank DVDs, DVD sleeves, memory cards, USB cables, external hard drive, laptop power supply and cables, power plug adapters, headphones, ….

Some mp3 music to listen to. Phone, (why? possible emergency call, that’s all), phone charger …

Cameras (three! One biggy, one medium and one pocketable), lenses, SD and CF cards, camera chargers, tripod, …  Camcorder, charger, …

Anyway, you know how it is. Not to mention all the tablets, mosquito repellant, hats, books, magazines … and I haven’t even started on clothes, bathers, towel and bathroom things!

I just noticed that the weight allowance on Air Asia X is 32Kg checked baggage. That’s amazing. I defintitely won’t need that, but I’ve never seen that in economy before.

One extremely annoying thing is that my usual insurer won’t insure me without a hefty loading, even though the doctor has written on my form “No cardiac rsik. Normal heart function.” and signed it. That’s going to cost them my future business, I’m afraid. I’m very annoyed. As there’s also a $500 limit per item for photo and electronic gear, it’s useless as far as I’m concerned. At this stage, I’ll be relying on the cover provided with my credit card since it was used to buy the trip. Hmmm. I’ll just have to be extra careful up there.

I’m hoping the volcanic eruption in Java might provide some spectacular skies at sunrise and sunset, too.

I’ve also discovered today that the latest version of my slide show program, ProShow Producer, accepts full HD video from the Canon camcorder without any need to convert first, so a slide show in HD complete with video is entirely feasible. It can be output to the web in reduced size as well, so I don’t think I’ll be bored in Bali. I hope to post some video, edited, processed and produced as a show all on this laptop. This is fantastic. I’ll do a bit of experimenting asap.

Cheers.

Sorry about that. Just over a year since I last updated this blog. You know how it is, what is there to write about?

Plenty actually, but the reason I’m back now is that I’m off to Bali next Monday, 1 November, so I thought I’d use the opportunity to get back into the habit and try to post news and pictures, and perhaps even some video, as it unfolds.

I’m going with some guys who used to be in the TV game at Channel 9, so we have a common interest. I first went to Bali in 1980, then again in 1983, 1986, 1988 and 1989, I think, so it’s been a while since I was there. They tell me it’s changed…

So have I, unfortunately. I’m a bit heavier and a bit wider and a bit thinner and greyer on top, so I’d better wear a hat! The damn plane leaves from Perth at 10 to 5am!! That’s cruel.

We’re staying at the Besakih Beach Resort in Sanur, right on the beach front, I believe.

More soon.
Pete

At the Channel 7 Reunion display last week with Peter Partridge
and one of the greatest videotape recorders ever produced, the Ampex AVR1.

I’ve had a bit of action on my gastric Lap Band in the past fortnight. It was put in in May, but up to two weeks ago, there was very little effect. I sometimes felt the food scraping as it went through, but I sure didn’t lose any weight. I must admit I should have gone back more often for the band to be tightened.

Then two weeks ago, I got an extra 1ml added, and although it felt OK in the surgery, when I got home I found out what a tight band really feels like. I couldn’t keep anything down, but thinking back, maybe I wasn’t understanding how slowly and how little to eat.

But I couldn’t hack it, and so went back a week later (last week) to have 0.5ml taken out. It’s better, but still no picnic. I didn’t realise how drastic and uncomfortable this is going to be. I have to be so careful not to eat too much too fast. Sip at liquids, nibble at food, then wait for it to go through before taking the next nibble. Ugh!

At the moment, I’m very discouraged. I thought it would be easy, but it’s not. I suppose I just have to get used to it, and I suppose I am, but the restrictions on what I can eat are very disheartening.

I have my next appointment on 11 November, so I’ll see how I feel then. I’ve lost 4kg in the past two weeks, so I suppose that’s something. Stay tooned.

PC

Having our group photo taken in Studio 1 yesterday

Wow, what a buzz. Sorry I’ve been so quiet for so long. It’s just the usual excuses: inertia, apathy, laziness, nothing to talk about. But the 50th Reunion of TVW Channel 7 in Perth was held yesterday, 18 October (which was the actual date we went to air for the first time in 1959, I believe), and we’re all feeling great about it today.

I was in at Ch7 three days this week helping set up all the old bits of equipment we could drag in. Talk about nostalgia! All totally obsoleted by digital now, even quite modern gear. We talk all the time about how this gear must be saved, but we’ve got to do more than talk, we’ve got to act, and that means finding some premises. We have a few ideas …

There are many photographs on the WA TV History web site: http://watvhistory.com/

Cheers,
Pete