Last Two Weeks in Bali - Part 1

PART 1 - Bali Belly and Dog Chase

Let’s see, where did we leave off…oh yes! Hilary had Bali belly, Jason almost had the full case of Bali belly, but took the Ciproflaxin early enough to avoid the horrific pain that Bali belly brings forth…And I unfortunately did not take the Ciproflaxin early enough and contracted a horrible case of Bali belly with a 101.2 fever, chills, and…other things that I will not go into. I thought that I had a 24 hour cold and so I put off taking anti-biotics, which was not the right choice. I ended up eating foods that I felt would not stir the stomach like Pringles chips, cereal without milk, and a fruit salad. Putu, our landlord made a rice soup with carrots and cabbage to help with my upset stomach and at night she also brought in an ice water bucket with a rag to help bring down my fever. The family was genuinely worried about the situation and offered Ryan their vehicle if he needed to take me to the hospital. Thankfully the situation did not result in a hospital visit and I was back in the water the next day. Although, I did have a little left-over fever and felt queezy kicking and paddling out to Geiger break at Nusa Dua. It was a bit windy at Geiger (even though the wind report predicted that it would be offshore for a period of around 4 hours), but there were fun, nice size waves and it was nice to get in the water again. After a long paddle back to the beach, the adrenaline gave much needed energy and the appetite was back! Ryan, Hilary, Jason and I decided that there was one place that we really wanted to eat for lunch…to kind of celebrate overcoming Bali belly and a change from Indonesian food, Mcdonalds! I know, I know…this would be the 5th time that I would have eaten at that place after quitting Mcdonalds for 5 years of my life, but a fish burger, fries, sprite and a sweet vanilla cone sounded amazing at this point in our trip. It’s funny when you are so far away from home how good fatty, junk food sounds…it becomes comfort food and with every bite, you taste, smell and feel a little piece of home.

Hilary and Jason had not been on any major highway at this point and so I told Ryan to not go so fast as we headed out of Nusa Dua. It’s very difficult to do this in Bali however, especially on a mo-ped. The safest bet in Indonesian traffic is to go with the mo-ped speed and so if the mo-peds are going faster than the cars, it would be better and safer to go just as fast to avoid being sandwiched or hit by other vehicles coming from behind. Anyway, its difficult to explain. Hilary and Jason had experience mo-peding Waikiki traffic back home in Honolulu and so they succeeded in their first ever highway Bali experience. Coming up to the last and very large intersection, surrounded by mo-peds at a red light, Ryan warned Jason where to turn and what lane to stay in to get into the McDonald’s parking lot. Ryan had never himself come in this direction before so it would be a new risk for us as well…yes…that is how driving in Bali on a mo-ped is, a risk. “Just follow me, we want to veer left as much as we can, when it turns green, we go, we just go alright!” Jason nodded, “This is crazy!” The light turned green and the suspense began. Straight through the intersection we went as a load of mo-peds and vehicles turned and veered right. Confused we veered straight and left and eventually made it to the McDonald’s parking lot. Thankful that we had made it safely, Jason and Hilary reminded Ryan and I that it was Easter; Mcdonald’s on Easter…Ryan had a fresh Big Mac, I had a delicious, crispy fish burger, Jason had two steaming hot cheese burgers, and Hilary had a crunchy chicken burger. And that is how it felt and tasted biting into the fatty cuisine of McDonalds, so good, so filling.

The next day was another break and rest. We had to make the decision when the four of us would eventually venture onto our road trip around Bali, when to rent the car, when we would pack, what we would leave with Putu at the Galih Homestay, did we want to save our rooms at the Galih or not? It was getting more crowded now at Uluwatu from early March when Ry and I first arrived and so most likely, our wonderful rooms at the Galih would probably not be available when we returned from the road trip. Ryan at this time wasn’t feeling very well and so I commanded that he take the Ciproflaxin right away. I had hoped that he wasn’t getting the dreaded Bali belly. The key indicator of the illness was the fever and chills. Ry had a minor case of this with an added crampy stomach ache. “I think it’s the Mcdonalds Kir.” “Well I don’t care, you don’t want to get crazy sick like the rest of us, you need to take the Cipro.” Turned out…to be the McDonalds, but regardless the two Cipro pills hopefully killed any bacteria that may have been lingering in his belly. We all decided to go on our Bali road trip on Wed…it was now Monday.

Tuesday finally all was well, bellies were normal, fevers were gone, appetites were back, energy was filled, and adrenaline was pumped to get back in the water. Surf was a bit smaller than it had been at Uluwatu and at Padang padang and so we decided to head to the east side. Winds were perfect in the morning. Greenbowls was the first place that we checked. Unfortunately, even in the early, early morning, the crowd had gathered. Ryan suggested the seaweed farm where the Italians congregated the last time we had checked there. It was such a beautiful drive to that break down through gigantic rock formations from old worked quarries to a short drive along a village of humble seaweed farmers. We stopped at the top of the hill and looked down at the surf. “Should we try Geiger again?” Hilary suggested. “Nah, let’s try down there, it looks like nice peaks, besides we’re here already,” Jason replied. “True and we don’t know when the winds are going to pick up again,” Ryan added. Hil and I looked at each other and agreed. We all didn’t know what to expect at the seaweed farm break, but it was uncrowded…only one guy out. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind us parading out to his one-man session.

“The hill is steep Jason, hold on!” Ryan exclaimed. Breaking swift and hard, we eventually made it down the rocky, paved road. Looking up behind us stood beautiful, lush covered mountains and quarry ridden cliffs with deep caves where the bucket diggers had ravaged. In the caves were large pictures of Balinese characters depicting a dance of some sort. Wasn’t sure why the colossal photographs would be within the caves, maybe in commemoration of a festival, or indicating a blessing of the quarry, or maybe it represented guardians watching over the work that was done there? Never the less, it was quite a sight.

The mo-ped drive along the seaweed farms were a welcoming sight once again. Ropes connected from the shore lined the reefs where the seaweed would cling on to. The farmers would then hoist the ropes on to shore to harvest their crops. Along the front of the homes were racks of different colored seaweed, drying in preparation to send out to pharmaceutical and make-up companies. These homes were in relatively good shape, but the surroundings showed a disparity amongst the people. So much so that on our second trip back to the seaweed farms a week later a woman came begging for something to eat as she indicated by placing her hand to her mouth. Heart-broken, Hil and I wished we had packed some snacks to give to her.

Suddenly in the road, a dog lay, peacefully sleeping. It was a black, terrier looking dog in the middle of the road. Ryan mo-pedded past quickly and startled the creature enough that it began to charge us from behind. At first I thought maybe he was playing with us or would stop at some point. “Ryan…just thought I would let you know, he is catching up to us and is snarling, teeth are out!” Ryan looked back and quickly saw what was happening. God knows what Hilary and Jason were thinking at this time following a little ways from behind. To make matters worse, another crazy, black, terrier dog joined the first and we were being viciously chased by two angry dogs. “Ryan, we are coming to the end of the road! What are we going to do? We’re going to die! Get ready to turn around quickly and face the dogs…I don’t care if you run them over or not!” I screamed grabbing a tight hold onto my body board just in case I would have to defend myself. Ryan then in panic quickly charged forward on the mo-ped. The sound of the speeded up mo-ped startled the dogs and they stopped about 20 ft. to the end of the road where it dropped off to the beach. “If they come, run to the water Kir as fast as you can.” I surely agreed and hoped that the situation would not come to that, besides Hilary and Jason would distract the dogs…right? As Hil and Jason approached the now calmly sitting creatures, all they received were little barks and were able to drive on. “What was that all about?” Hilary exclaimed. “We were being chased, attacked and I almost got bit! I was ready to hit one with my body board,” I answered in panic. “We thought they were playing with you, their tails were wagging,” Hilary continued. “Yeah a game of predator and prey! We were ready to jump in the water if they came closer or I was getting ready to turn around,” Ryan replied. I looked back, the two black dogs had now somehow gathered a whole pack of dogs, all of mixed breed. There were a total of five at this point. “Ryan, they have gathered the pack, we should think about getting in the water now!” Ryan and I gathered our gear, placed our back-pack on the mo-ped and ran down the stairs to the beach. “Don’t panic you guys, you are only making it worse. Think of the dog whisperer, dogs feed off of your energy,” Hilary said trying to calm us down. One of the dogs was making it down the path to the beach and Ryan and I scurried to the water while Hilary and Jason calmly made it down. I guess almost getting bit by a wild dog can make a person extra jittery and worried. I stupidly forgot the water bottle right by the mo-ped and also decided to get the back-pack to bring it down to the beach…so…I had to go back. “Dang it!” I told Ryan “I forgot the bottled water, I have to go back.” “Careful” Ryan replied. I peered to look and see where the dogs were and thankfully they were not by the mo-ped.

In the end, we survived, had an amazing session even though the lone man out at the break showed us the finger on his way in. The waves were perfect hollow peaks that broke onto shallow reef, with nice steep drops. A beautiful day at Quarries (seaweed farm).