AROUND THE WORLD IN
LESS THAN 18 HOURS
28 March 2002
I am now an expert on Bali.
I spent last night and most of this morning typing a 40 page booklet that Dr. G has
written about things to do, see, buy, and eat in Bali. He owns a house there and rents it
out to folks and as a tour guide to this country that he loves, he leaves Rick Steeves in
the dust.
The book first tells all the quirks of the house, such as the workings of the pool:
Ostensibly, the house as 220 volts. However, the
wires to Ubud are somewhat small and during times of peak usage (6 a.m. - 9 p.m.), there
is probably only 180-190 volts truly coming through the wires. Also, although we supposedly
have 6,000 watts total service during these peak hours, I'm sure we get considerably
less. Why do I mention this?? Because it impacts those appliances (blender, air
conditioner) which require a modicum of "oomph" (more watts) to start
them up. So: If the blender doesn't want to start, turn off all the big lights to start it
up, then turn the lights back on again. For the air conditioner, you may not be able to
use it during these hours.
(swell--be sure not to use the air conditioner during the heat of the day!!)
But it then goes on to talk about places to go--he is intimately so familiar with
shops, restaurants, beaches, and out of the way places, that he tells you which footpath
to take, which mailbox comes before a hidden entry way, how to get away from tourist Bali
and, where to find the best dance shows (including a timetable for them), etc., etc.
It was quite fascinating, I have to admit. Much more interesting than typing chart
notes and I got through the project (including downloading Balinese graphics from the
Internet to decorate the pages) so fast that he was amazed.
I came back to the US just in time to spend the day at the office and get myself
hopelessly frustrated when I came home. I distinctly remember bringing home a container of
work to do--a tape to be transcribed and several other things that had to get done and it
is just...gone. I've torn the house apart and it is nowhere to be found. My only hope is
that my memory is no good and that I actually left it sitting on the desk when I left--but
I'm 99% sure that I did not.
But I put worry behind me and went off, first to Mexico and then to France. We were
attending a film festival and had to get to the theatre early to beat the crowds. I wasn't
going to work all day and then have to cook a rushed dinner so we could get downtown in
time. Instead we went to a Mexican restaurant near the theatre (it was a tossup between
Taco Bell and a taqueria. The taqueria won). Fortunately I'd been so busy all day that I'd
eaten hardly anything and had lots and lots of points left over, so had a vegetarian
burrito, thinking that it pretty much used up my points, but when I got home and
calculated, I'm still under for the day--and I am still, several hours later, stuffed.
The movie was Amélie and is part of a town experiment. We have two multiplex
theatres here and when the second one was built, the idea was that at least one of the
screens would show "art films," the kind of non-mainstream films that you have
to go to San Francisco or Sacramento to see. However, that never happened and both movie
houses--all 12 screens--show mainstream movies.
But they've decided to experiment with a film festival showing lesser known films and
judging from the fact that they had to run the same films in two theatres and still had
packed houses should tell the powers that be that this town is ripe for having such movies
regularly.
Amélie is a darling movie, somewhat Mr. Hulot in its feel, but a total
delight, devoid of any violence, vulgarity, or negativity. Just a feel good movie that I
recommend.
So in one day I've covered the US, Bali, Mexico, France and back to Davis again. And I
didn't even have to bring a passport.
Now if I could only find that blasted work folder.....
