* Andrew and his extended family.
* The old boat builder of Jimbaran Bay.
* Our beach crew.
* Made's mob including the newly-weds.
* Strangers laying around.
* Kadek.
* Feet and fingers.
We have come to the inevitable conclusion that we have more friends in Bali than we have at home, and the strangest thing about the friends we have in Bali is the breadth of their backgrounds and beliefs, or maybe its the narrowness of our home circle of friends that is the strange thing.
We have both been teachers and all of our friends at home
are also from teaching backgrounds or from working lives that are somehow linked
to education or intellectually related fields.
In Bali our friends are often unemployed or at best partly employed; they may be
working in or retired from pursuits as diverse as farming, transport and
banking; they are strongly or very incidentally Christian or Hindu Agama as most
Balinese are, Muslims, or something we haven't discovered yet.
We talk more about diversity in Bali than we do at home.
I sometimes wonder how we can follow such different pursuits in our lives and what might happen if these two sides of our friendship circles ever met.
Andrew with the Archimedean Thermometer for his villa and his household; Ilu the nanny, Natalie (Putu), wife Kadek and Wayan the housekeeper with 'oleh oleh' (gifts given on returning from a trip away).
Houseboy and Man Friday, Dewa, with daughter Ayu, son Rai, and new laptop and printer.
They are all part of Andrew's 'family'
I typed, 'I am Ayu.' for her and selected a new line. Then I held her fingers and together we typed, 'Dewa is my father.' and selected a new line. Then I pointed to her brother and the screen and without any mistakes she typed, 'Rai is my brother.'
She is nearly 12 years old and might never have seen or used a computer before. We believe that the future of the Balinese, if not Bali itself, is in the hands of these children.
Our friend the old boat builder of Jimbaran Bay.
He'll like a copy of this photo with his daughter and
grand daughter.
The model Jukung was the first work he'd had since he finished the full size
boat he was working on when we were there in December '05. The lack of tourists
means a lack of demand for fish which means a lack of new boats - and suddenly
he's got no income.
These are our beach friends. Amongst them is a Javanese and a Muslim. Can you pick them out?
Adi of the broken foot. I've been trying to get a nice picture of her for 4 years - and she just laughs at my efforts.
The 'es crem' man welcomes us as much as the girls do. He knows not to bother us when we settle down to a massage and wanders off along the beach in the hope of making a sale but he's always there just as the massage finishes. Never pushy, always friendly and he'll have one too if I remember to invite him.
Monica sells trinkets, or tries to. She's like an old mother hen when
her 3 kidz are on school holidays and come to the beach with her.
These are all of our beach crew except Wayan who had to go to a funeral at Canggu on our last day. She will not miss out however as the others will share their income with her and there was a bag of last day gifts for her.
My 'brother' and his family.
Made, who drives us, and his beloved Ketut. They will love this photo but Ketut was so embarrassed.
The newly-weds. Wayan, Ketut's pride who has TB, and her new husband Wayan too.
(Left) - A family photo they will also enjoy. (Right) - Made (left) and his brother Wayan (right) with his wife. They enjoyed dressing me in a sarong, a temple sash and the hat for a Full Moon ceremony at the temple and daughter Wayan and daughter in law could not get close enough to me for this photo. Who am I to complain?.
Our favourite waitresses who remember us each time we visit Warung Rama in Padma street and La Monde in Padma Utara.
And you find all sorts of odd people laying around here and there.
This West Aussie was in Sangalah Hospital.
She felt better when she got her big jar of Chupa Chups and coffee lollies.
KADEK.
Lisa (real name Missi) does manicures around the
Ramada Bintang beach. Her husband sells watches around the Balihai and her
father sells wood carvings up and down these beaches.
They live in the back streets of Denpasar and travel daily to where they hope
they can earn some money.
Her 10 year old daughter Kadek has a growth deficiency and brittle
bone disease but is cheerful and bright despite never having been to school. Her
mother and sister have taught her to read Bahasa Indonesia and she knows a
little English too.
Over the next 12 months she will undergo 4 transfusions of her own blood
enriched with hormones and calcium and be re-assessed for further treatment. The
really sad thing is that if she had been assessed before she was 3 years old a
cure would have been possible. But of course there was no money then and now the
best we can hope for is a strengthening of her bones, particularly her rib cage,
to reduce the possibility of rib fractures and a punctured lung which could be
fatal given the small amount of blood in her stunted body.
Mother, father, Kadek and her grandmother who cares for her during the day when everyone else is working.
Doctor Ari and his assistant arranged for her assessment and treatment and would not accept payment for their services on this day.
Kadek's mother, Lisa, does manicures along the Tuban beaches from the Balihai Resort to the Ramada Bintang. These are some examples of her work.
The links below will take you to some other photos of parts of our holiday.
Not all will be ready and active straight away but they will evolve as July rolls in to August and so on.
The pillow case run to the NEGARA ORPHANAGE.
Stuff we took, the flight and the airport taxi fare board.
The orphanage for children with handicaps, Panti Asuhan Kesa Yanikang Papa in Gianyar.
Silver jewellery and bead shops, Handbags, woodcarving and leather.
The Baleka Beach Resort and the Baihai.
Rice and the Subak Museum at Tabanan.
Pura Luhur Batu Karu, north of Tabanan.
Food, glorious food.
Kintamani and the crater and lake of Mount Batur.
Kites and batik quilts, tea/coffee/spices plantation.
Back to the 2006 contents page, 'The Year of the Pillow Cases'?
Right back to our home page for the shoppers Cheat Sheet, the first visit to the Negara Orphanage, a long Bali story (the 2003 'Rushed Trip'), the details about Bali's peoples, rices, religion and culture or history or things to do and see in Ubud as well as many others.
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