Wipeout

The past few days have flown by; time was spent watching people set themselves on fire and then bungy jumping off a high platform (this is supposedly the only place in the world you can do this). We also went to surf mecca 'Ulu Watu' to watch the pro surfers tackle 8 ft waves. To get to the break, you have to walk through a cave that is only accessible at low tide and then swim out to catch the current- its quite tricky so only the really advanced guys surf here. I was inspired to get as good as them, but also very intimidated by the force of the sea.



My surfing lessons are not going as well as I had hoped. I have had two lessons so far, neither of which have gone particularly brilliantly. The school I am learning with promised my money back if I failed to stand up after one lesson, which I did, but there hasn't been any standing up since then. I know that a good workman never blames his tools, but the waves are just too big (in my expert opinion!) for novice surfers, and the boards look a bit rickety so I'm not confident they can take my weight.

Sometimes I sit and watch the experienced surfers to learn how they manage to hop up on their boards so quickly, so that I can replicate this in my lesson, but I strongly believe that fear is holding me back. I am so frightened of the swirling maelstrom of water surrounding me and pulling me under, resulting in drowning. I have tried so hard to be safety conscious throughout this trip; it would be a shame to die so close to the end. With my mind full of drowning thoughts, I lose confidence and concentration and then I fall in (which perpetuates the fear of drowning even more!), before I've even done so much as managed to kneel...

I've been hit in the stomach twice (quite hard, might I add), have numerous ugly purple bruises on my arms and legs from board assaults and have swallowed what seems like half of Kuta beach, but I am still trying! In McGuire world, we have 8 laws we utilise to speak eloquently and my favourite is number 5: Put in whatever effort is necessary. This is me, right now. By hook or by crook, I WILL be a good surfer by hometime. I'm prepared to come home with two black eyes, if that is what it takes!



I still have 5 days until I come home and to me, enough is enough now. I feel like I am sat in the waiting room, poised for the door to open and for the rest of my life to start! I shouldn't complain because, lets face it, the most taxing thing about my day is making sure a.) I don't drown and b.) I put suncream everywhere so I don't burn- neither of which is very stressful. Well, the not drowning part is quite stressful, but suncream application isn't. I am anxious to put my new plans into action and see where 2011 will take me, but I know I have to wait a teeny bit longer...

The Final Countdown

After the Gilli Islands last week, Bobo and I went to Lombok, Bali's quiet neighbour, to see 'real Indonesia'. Terraced rice paddies lined the roads, and monkeys frequently stalked our van whilst screeching. We drove to the southern tip of Lombok and stayed in Kuta, which is nothing like its Bali namesake. There is literally nothing there! It is tiny fishing village with rugged coastline, so after 3 days we got a bit bored and came back to Kuta on Bali. I like pretty scenery as much as the next girl but a beach is a beach, and Kuta Bali has lots of mullet sporting Australians to look at, which gives it the edge.



I realised today that I will be making my way home in only 10 days....10 DAYS!!! I can hardly believe it as there is still much to do, namely learn to surf! I have investigated my options and think the best way to get good fast is to do an intensive 5 day course, starting Sunday. I hope that I am good at surfing; my hand to eye co-ordination is pretty poor (which disappointed netball teachers at school) so lets see how my feet to eye co-ordination fares. I'll obviously post embarrassing photos of me wiping out on my blog next week for your enjoyment.

Such a small world

Bobo and I have been hanging out on the Gilli Islands; tiny squares of paradise in the Bali Sea. There are no motorcycles on the island, which makes for an altogether quieter experience of Indonesia. We have snorkelled, swam in the sea repeatedly and then yesterday took a guided snorkel excursion to visit Gilli Meno and Gilli Air. We saw 5 sea turtles, which was incredible. They just bobbed along, minding their own business, unaware of the fascination they were causing amongst the humans! My favourite fish were the tye-dye fish, the burglar fish (white and black stripe) and the arrow fish.

We stopped for lunch on Gilli Air, the smallest of the islands and also the most exclusive (hence why us peasants were not staying there!) We saw another snorkelling group in the restaurant but I was merrily chatting away to people on my group (practicing my assertive first sound this week) so I didn't take much notice. Imagine my surprise when a friendly face from my past tapped me on the shoulder and enveloped me in a great big bear hug! It was my friend Jonny, who I lived with at the zoo and have not seen for ages! It was bizarre to be so far away from home and to see such a familiar face! It was lovely to hear his news and he said that I seemed really different now, and much happier than when we lived together.



This week, a challenging speaking situation occurred. My brother is actually the friendliest person I have ever met in my life and literally chats to everyone. He got talking to a Canadian man in a bar on the island, and when I went over to join them, the Canadian asked me my name. Blindsided slightly, I had a teeny block on my name, so I stopped, tried again and was successful. Despite this, the man laughed and started making fun of me.... Now, some of you who have been reading my blog from the start may recall the episode in Peru, where the girls on the Inca Trail were making fun of me and I didn't do anything about it. I just sat in my tent and cried (only a little bit, but back then i was still really new at this speaking eloquently lark and I felt that their jokes and impressions were mean and uncalled for). Anyway, back to the story- the point was that I did nothing. I let them make me feel small and awful and I did nothing.

I learnt a lot from that episode: namely that I never wanted to feel that way again. So, I sat and ordered food, gave myself time to gather my thoughts and then practicised with my brother what I was going to say to this man, as I felt that I needed to do a strong cancellation of the experience, as well as educate him to stop him from doing it to someone else.

I went over to him, gave a concise disclosure about my stammer and then explained about why a cancellation is important (so that when I am next asked my name, I will remember the most recent experience as a strong and positive situation during which I was in control). I said my name again to him, using a strong, deep tone from the chest. I'll give him his due, he apologised sincerely and then tried to dig his way out of the hole by saying that he thought, "I was really hot"...! Nice try buddy, but it won't wash with me! The main thing is that if he meets someone with a stammer again, he won't behave like such a complete tool. Job done.

Bobo, the celebrity

Bobo arrived in Bali on Saturday night along with chocolate, biscuits, magazines and cards from my two best friends- it was an exciting time! The party rings were snaffled within about 2 hours but I am showing restraint with the other foodstuffs to last me my final 20 days (eek!).

We have had a busy time so far seeing Mount Batur (Bali's active volcano), traipsed around Ubud with a load of 30-something women gripping 'Eat, Love, Pray' in their sweaty palms and learned how ducks assist in the rice growing process.



I've now been in Asia for about 4 months and as I think I have mentioned in the past, am requested to have my photo taken with locals at least once per day. For Bobo, this is a new experience and he didn't understand it at first. He was perhaps even slightly intimidated. But now, after two days, he loves it! Walking about a temple earlier today, shy schoolchildren looked as though they wanted a photo with us but were too afraid to ask. My outgoing brother simply shouted (despite us being in a temple) to them that we are happy to be photographed. Cue a swarm of about 50 schoolchildren all crowding us and trying to take our photo, shoving friends out of the way so they can be the only one in the photo, 5 camera phones pointed at us at once etc... It turned into a slight brawl and I think the temple staff were happy when we left!

Transport? Transport?

I am happy to report that Bali is sunny, cheap and serves very western food. Since my short-lived love affair with rice is firmly over, the third aspect of Bali's brilliance is very welcome indeed. The hotel is lovely and I have investigated getting to the Gilli Islands with Bobo on Tuesday so we do not waste any time. We are also going to do a one day tour on Monday around the island which includes seeing Ubud, the setting of 'That Damn Book' as locals refer to 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

There are numerous motorcycles running rampant along the roads (driven in equal measure by locals and Western surfers transporting their boards), and pavements are non existent. It's like being in Vietnam again, only worse as the drivers shout 'Transport! Transport!' as they pass you, (even when I am running along Kuta beach at night, when it is blatantly obvious my feet are my transport). I will feel safer here when Bobo arrives as I don't think they hassle women with men so much. It saddens me to say this because I am a firm believer in the world being open to all, but I must concede that there are places equality has not quite reached yet. Maybe I'll buy a ring to wear on my wedding finger for the final few weeks..

To The Bat Cave!

More jungle antics abound with a visit to Mulu National Park to see the world famous Deer Cave, and the nightly migration of millions of bats who leave their cosy home to forage for food.

We arrived at the Royal Mulu Resort ready to explore the caves and see lots of wildlife, and after a week of roughing it in the jungle, we were ready for some 5 star luxury. We visited Clearwater Cave, Langs Cave, Wind Cave and then finally at dusk, arrived at Deer Cave and settled ourselves down to watch the phenomena.



We waited.

And we waited.

And then we waited some more. (Just for good measure).

Nothing.

The bats were apparently not hungry, but we were, so we left to go to dinner and agreed that we would come again the second night to see the bats, who would be starving by then.

Dinner was a spread. It was like being at Aunty's house on Christmas Eve- so many dishes to choose from and all looked amazing. There were different stations where you could have food cooked to order, as well as a buffet full of food I have missed dearly whilst on my travels. To entertain us, the resort engaged traditional entertainers, including one warrier who wore only a loin cloth, a spear and feathers, and thought it was funny to block my way to the food. I did tell him I would stab his spear somewhere uncomfortable if he didn't get out of my way to the ice cream station, but he didn't understand English, so this comment was wasted.

Breakfast in the morning was another spread, this time including a waffle station! I was very excited about this. Maybe more so the waffles than the bats, perhaps?! But anyway, we spent the day lounging around the pool and then traipsed off, cameras all fully charged, to try see the bats again.

We waited.

And we waited.

And then we waited some more. (Because thats what we like to do).

Nothing.



No bats, nada, zip. I was disappointed not to see them and will try to come back again in future but its a long way to come for something that may or may not happen, even if the food at the resort is amazing. (Actually maybe that is why the food is so good- it cheers disappointed tourists up). I feel so lucky with everything else I have seen here on this beautiful island and the best thing about Borneo: NO LEECHES! None! So no bats, but no leeches either. Hurrah!

I am extremely excited at the moment for the arrival of Roaming Reedy the Younger, aka BOBO! My brother is coming to join me in T-minus 4 days for 10 days of fun and frolicks on the Gilli Islands, off the coast of Bali. We are also meeting with two lovely Scottish lasses I travelled through China with so it will be nice to be surrounded by friends and family again and be back in a somewhat comfort zone, after months of nonstop speaking challenges. I think the next two weeks will be an interesting insight to see how my speech is when I am with people I feel comfortable around... I'll let you all know what happens.

Blingtastic Brunei!

There was a sequence of unexpected events this week that led me into the land of gold and ostentatious bling...Brunei! Despite our leader expressly forbidding us to go, I *might* have had one of my great ideas for a fun adventure(!), and organised a car and driver for 5 others and myself to explore somewhere that I'd never really known much about or would plan to visit especially. (Also, I thought Brunei was near Dubai, so I learned something new! Everyone is a winner).

We had an excellent time and toured the Royal Palace, 2 Mosques, a 7 star hotel which was fancy but really empty, and the worlds largest water villages. Immediately after crossing the border, we saw that houses were sturdier and the roads had less potholes- there is a lot of money rolling about. Quick fact: Malaysians are not allowed to use petrol stations in Brunei because the cheap petrol is only for the locals.



After our illicit soujourn, we returned to Malaysia to stay with the Iban tribe in traditional longhouses, and hike the Headhunters Trail through primary jungle. As usual, my main concern was leeches. I wore tights under trousers, with 4 pairs of socks both under and over the tights to ensure that none of the little creatures could get anywhere near my skin. Great plan, except I was ridiculously hot, which was a slight oversight on my part, I must admit. The guide said he had never met anyone so obsessed with not getting leeches on them as I made him stop every 300 metres and check me, but I made it up to him by helping him to cook a dinner of jungle-style KFC for the group which I think he appreciated.

The week was ok speech-wise. The issue is that whenever I go for a long time without speaking on a regular basis (say, for the 3 weeks I was travelling completely alone), its harder when I do start speaking again because my diaphragm needs to warm back up and I need to get used to speaking again.

My speech is being tested under pressure it wouldn't normally face (i.e. once my confidence has built up and I am able to push comfort zones and boundaries). These challenges mean I know when to put more effort in and that I need to drop back to 3 words per breath, and to really concentrate on visualising the words coming out correctly.

I like doing things properly and to the best of my ability (as you are all well aware), and it annoys me when I can't get it right, but I know why it is happening and what to do to fix it, which is the main thing.