Our return to Bali on the 5th of January the following year was much sooner than we would normally have re-visited. It was prompted by several things.

The initial impetus was the announcement by Virgin Blue airlines that a subsidiary, Pacific Blue, would begin direct flights from Adelaide to Bali late in 2008 and was offering opening special fares. We just had to support this offering and many other Adelaidians seemed to feel the same.

Since the collapse of Air Paradise and the unseemly haste with which Garuda shortly afterwards abandoned flights from Adelaide (and Brisbane also), but at the same time managed to find spare aircraft to increase the options for travellers from Melbourne and Perth (where might they have come from we wondered?), we had endured the alternatives, although on my part at least, with bad grace.

Those alternatives that we tried as the best of a poor offering were first by Singapore Air to Changi airport in Singapore, watching Bali disappear astern as we passed by (Where are those parachutes when you need them?) and at the time realising that there was still one and a half hours to Changi then a mad dash through that airport from one end to another in one hour (with no Duty Free options available due to the short time span) to catch the connecting flight back to Bali which took another one and a half hours making a total time of ten and a half hours instead of the 5 hours that we had become used to. Admittedly the aircraft and service from Adelaide to Singapore was superb but the plane and service from Changi back to Bali was very poor by comparison.

Our next try was by Virgin Blue to Melbourne, starting at an un-godly 4.00 am to get through baggage etc and make the crack of dawn 6.00 am lifting of the night curfew at Adelaide. Why this was necessary is beyond me as we then had over two and a half hours to wait in Melbourne before boarding the Garuda flight to Bali, watching Adelaide drift backwards as we passed over our starting point. The nine plus hours seemed hardly better than the Singapore option.

A second reason for the decision to go was that we felt a bit run down by the events of that previous ‘holiday’ with the family. If unforeseen events had not occurred, such as Declan’s sickness, the loss of our old boat builder friend in Jimbaran, the loss of Arni’s baby in Pacung, concerns about the declining eyesight and cataracts other friends were suffering from and the catastrophe (?) in Monica’s life, it would have been more enjoyable and relaxing; but the fact is that we came home needing a holiday.

The links to that story are just above the link to this one if you’re interested, or at http://www.filosbali.net/2008/TheYearoftheFamily.htm if you’d rather do a cut and paste.

Perhaps the circumstances of Monica’s pregnancy and the unsettling Caesarean birth due to her TB infection and indeed the thought of that infection itself was the main reason for our hasty return. Monica had become a protected friend over the years we had known her, one of the closer members of our Bali ‘family’, and we wanted to make sure that she was at least surviving on her bead-selling income. That she had no possible hope of paying the five million rupiah loan that she had to take out to cover the costs of the birth alone, had in itself worried us, and left plenty of room for doubts about her ability to manage her sole responsibility to provide for a family that now totalled six and included a sick husband and a weak baby.

As this visit was to show we need not have worried quite so much about this tough little lady.

After we arrived and checked in to the Palm Beach Hotel, almost opposite our favourite restaurant the Pantai on the beach in Tuban, stocked up on water and other necessities of life such a Dry Ginger Ale, Soda Water and Tonic water, it was off to the beach where many of our friends were to be found or would soon be in the process of coming once the smoke signals had gone up along the beach. A first meal of Nasi Goreng and a couple of big Anker beers accompanied the catch-up chatter and preceded that first massage on the warm sand.

The roll call immediately revealed that Monica was missing.

‘At Kuta’, was the response to our queries and it was not until later that we began to realise the full impact of this simple reply.

Monica had moved out from Tuban beach because things were just too tough for a seller of simple beady things with a burning need for cash sales.

The bombs started it all of course, and life suddenly became much more desperate for all of Bali after the second one. The Tuban beach area was then given a further blow by the unexpected closure of the Holiday Inn/Balihai Resort and Spa. This took away a potential market of somewhere in excess of 500 tourists on that short length of sand. Then came the storms closely followed by the beach re-construction and development crews with their heavy machinery which virtually closed the beach to tourists for many months (and eventually provided an eyesore in place of what was, before, a beautiful and somewhat secluded beach).

Kuta offered the possibility of much better earnings than the almost deserted Tuban beaches and Monica moved. Moved it must be realised, in the face of open hostility and verbal abuse and threats from the existing sellers at Kuta who, rightly, saw her as a threat to their income. Beach sellers moving patches was not encouraged anywhere on the beaches of Bali and no excuses were accepted! Monica had no choice but to endure, which she did and continues to do, but it can not be pleasant or easy for her.

The smoke signals took a little time to reach the Kuta beach by the Mercure Hotel near the Pizza Hut where Monika now trades but the next morning she arrived with the not-now-so-little, I Ketut Alit Adrean Bill Jaga Suksema.

‘I’ is the male precursor to a Balinese name, ‘Ketut’ indicating fourth born in the family and ‘Suksema’  or ‘Suk-ma’ being Balinese rather than Indonesian and means, I think, ‘thanks’ or ‘welcome’. The other names are of friends or in the case of Adrean, a name derived from combining the names of three friends.

It is obvious that Monica is well although a friend has suggested that a course of female multi-vitamins would improve her stamina and general health. The baby is putting on lots of weight and with a combination of breast feeding and formula or milk supplements he has caught up from his meagre birth weight to where he should be at 5 months. I think his nice new suit is a gift from one of the several people who gave help of cash or clothes after reading the first story in our web pages or who recognised Monica on the beach after reading the story and gave her encouragement. We, and Monica, thank you all sincerely.

Monica, husband Nengah and family outside their small ‘house’ in the low flats at the edge of Denpasar. The 2 room ‘house’ is another story. At about 10 feet wide (3 metres) and 18 feet front to back ( 6 metres) it is just a smidgen larger than the kitchen and breakfast bar of our home. When we visited we all sat around the edge of the matrimonial bed until daughter Putu borrowed a chair from a neighbour for me to sit on. The three older children all sleep on one double mattress on the floor. Grandmother, neighbours and curious passers-by stood on the narrow veranda and looked in at this most unusual happening through the open door or the window.

I see Putu (top right above) as the future saviour of the family. She is both bright and aware of her surroundings and environment as well as eager to make the most of her few opportunities. She is a happy student and we intend to see that she remains at school for as long as she wishes.

Both Monica and Nengah are in the final stages of treatment for their TB and the children have all been tested and found free of the virus but have had preventative medication to ensure their future safety.

Monica has only minor lung damage which should not greatly affect her future life style. Nengah is not so fortunate with greater damage which will severely restrict his future working options. He is naturally thin I think but is now gaunt and angular. His clothes hang on his frame like those of fashionable runway models.

Take this link to go back to the first part of the Monica trilogy.

Take this link to go back to the start of the 'Year of the Family'.

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