Wayan

Location: Denpasar Airport

Cast: 8 South Korean Teachers, Wayan 1 (Kevins mate aka the bar tender) Wayan 2 (Wayan 1s mate who was intending to take the others with us to Ubud.)

Previously in Indonesian Adventures: Just had a couple of days of "so-so" (a Korean speciality word) weather and seen an awesome performance in the outdoors. Picked up Richard whom decided to go to Kuta rather than go with the people whom had travelled all day to get there to meet him. Not bitter. No. 4 people get left with Wayan 1. The friendly bar tender, that everyone should meet. And we're sitting in a fishy restaurant with a "beautiful" view (according to Wayan.)

Let me just explain this "beautiful" view. Had it been peak season, and not the rainy season, when the sun is out for most of the day and late into the evening. The glistening reflections on the sea perhaps, as the tide comes in and glides up the sandy land. That would have been beautiful. Had the skies been vibrantly blue or to be able to smell that salty air that is so refreshing, that would have accompanied the beautiful view. Had we not been behind the polythene window, that barely kept the draft out and certainly DID NOT keep the crashing waves out. This was forever becoming worryingly evident, once noticing the puddle of wave dregs multiplying in volume every minute longer we stayed there. Frustrated, tired, confused and agitated; the only logical thing to do was sit there. Not saying a word of distress or coming to a conclusion to solve this mess. We simple allowed it. Thanks Wayan the 1st. The red snapper was lovely though. A step up from the usual fish gourmet you receive in Korea. The fish in the Korea can be, how can I put this? Temperamental. Sometimes its fine, sometimes it's awful and sometimes you don't even want to try it. It may have something to do with the fact that I live right next to a fish restaurant and the smell makes you want to heave uncontrollably! You might like it though!

Feeling absolutely exhausted at this point, due to travelling around and emotionally confused as to what "the deal" was concerning this fella. Tensions begin to get high amongst the camp. The camp now only consisting of Jennifer, Shannon, Claire and I. Claire swarms to Wayan like bees to honey. Hoping to do the right thing. (Keeping Wayan happy was a must apparently?!) Pissed off at the notion of being delayed at arriving Ubud, sour looks and comments are passed to one another within the rest of the car journey. Small, yet significant saviours happened luckily during the journey. It's amazing what a little bit of Enrique can do. Now, imagine 4 South Korean Teachers sitting in a car with a, soon to be spotted money grabbing but not that bad but irritating all the same Balinese bar tender and awful guide guy, and imagine Enrique "Escape" playing on the radio....not quite loud enough. That soon changed. Now, if you will, imagine the miserable 3 in the back (Shannon, Jen and I) suddenly bursting out of these gloomy clouds that they had suppressed themselves into; and singing to their hearts content. That was a 3 minutes and 46 seconds I will never forget. Why? Because it gave me hope. And, I remember reading somewhere (more likely to have heard it on a film actually) that all you need is hope. I like that thought so I am most definitely going with that thought (for the time being anyway.) Might have even seen a bit of the old Shannon "head back" moments. Shannon, a Canadian gone wrong, discovered a few things about herself during the holiday which startled me. Purely, due to the fact that these discoveries are not things that are necessarily garish and me thinking "you haven't noticed you do that? Seriously?" But, just obvious things that a friend would often point stare and mock you for. Perhaps it's just the people I have crossed paths with so far who do this kind of thing to each other. Maybe the "normal civilised" people don't. Or better still perhaps it's just the British that are unkind (Koreans are in a different league.)

Much to our dislike the Enrique melodies of hope ended and so did our longings for something better to occur. Not even the buzz of the endorphin release after singing could overbear the comments that Wayan insisted on excreting. Wayan to Jennifer: "Jennifer, Claire makes me happy. You make me sad." Jennifer, "Oh." Face like thunder and a dismissive head shake is all it takes to give the impression to Wayan that we're tired.

An hour or so drive later we arrive in a dark and sodden Ubud where there seems to be little to no life in existence. I'm thinking "yeah sure it's been nice to chill, but on the other hand it'd be nice to be somewhere where something IS happening...especially if we're not by the coast." To be honest I have slowly but surely been getting agitated in the car journey. As we all were; persistent questioning that Wayan the first kept regurgitating was doing my head in. Seriously mate, we're paying you to drive. Maybe even entertain. Not to question. I was really tired and perhaps unreasonable with my thoughts. However, he was so unrelenting with his suggestions for what we should do the following day. Back off! Decision making on the spot for a specific time is not what I or others felt comfortable with. As nice and as helpful as the Balinese are; they are there to make money from the rich westerners. FACT. We know this. Unfortunately, I now have the ability to turn by heart into a rock solid piece of well, rock. Thanks to a couple of months in Korea. It's harsh but sometimes you need to be slightly unkind or dismissive if you want to go to the shops without uttering a single "hello" to yet another passer by that you have no interest in speaking to. What a b****. Anyway, back to Wayan the 1st, I failed to trust him and speculated what he really wanted from this. Not forgetting that Kevin "trusting" Simpson had made a deal with him. The deal; which we were unsure of the details of.

Wayan had shown us the "cheapest" places that followed a narrow, dark and winy path, with a source of running water beside us on the left hand side. Not sure if it was wide and deep due to the serious lack of light. Prices reached 300.000 Rp a night for these places, a lot more than we had been paying previously. The further we got down this uncertain path, the darker it became. The further we got down the path, the more restless and stressed we became. The further we got down the path, the more I wanted to swing for Wayan the 1st. The further we got down the path the closer we got to "Big Dude."