Wedding!

I'm ending my single hood on 31st December, 2008 :)

I have a mission!

YY sent me an email to ask for a favour. She found this short article in The Straits Time 1958 and she would love to find this girl who should now be 58.

There's no other information we have so far. We only know her name - Golungan, and she is/was a dancer.



My best bet is she is either in Ubud ot Kuta.

I hope YY can get more information about which village she's from, or else it will be difficult. I would love to find her.

Happy Rain

The rain has come for the rice field...

Yet another happy customer left a comment in my box:

Les excursions étaient parfaites et bien choisies ! Pas de soucis pour le téléphone !!!
Le bonjour d'axel.

As: The trips were perfect and well-chosen! No worries for the phone! The hello from Axel

And another one in the chatbox!

Coucou mon amie de Bali. Merci beaucoup pour ce temps inoubliable a Bali avec Toi. J' espere, que on se vera un jour en France.

As: Cuckoo my friend in Bali. Thank you very much for this unforgettable time in Bali with you. I hope that one day we'll meet in France.

I am a very happy driver :)

Life as a Driver on a small island

Most Balinese live in Bali their entire life but hardly been to many parts of Bali.

When I started driving tourists around, I was quite lost. I had no idea how to get to one place and another. So I was always on the phone with my cousin who worked in the hotel, who sometimes driving people around the island to make some extra income.

He knows Bali fairly well so he can direct me to the correct direction without me getting lost… well, even when I was totally lost in the middle of nowhere.

Of course my customers then asked me why I was always on the phone, or maybe they notice that I was lost.

My answers was quite standard, “The road changed.”

Alive and Kicking

It's been awhile since I last updated.

It's peak season and I've been working none stop. It is good though considering that money needs to be saved to complete the house.

Yes. The structure of the house is done. The roof is up! Next thing to do will be the flooring. That would mean later...

Considering the amount of work I'm getting recently, I am proud that Bali is still a paradise...

Baturiti

I've been here many times... and I still like it here. It's just so... peaceful.

Cremation

It's going to be the cremation of some one rich family from the village so they can do the cremation directly even the actual village cremation will be held next year for all of the dead in the village so we can share the cost together.

That's the way of the Balinese people do to reduce the cost of the cremation because it is so expensive. And we can do all things of the tradition and culture.

It's gonna be just one person, so I just come back to the village sometimes, because everybody have to do something else, like… working for a living.

Tomorrow, there will be a very big cremation in Ubud. It’s for the king of Ubud who past away two month ago. It's gonna be the biggest cremation we ever had. It's just great! All the hotel in Ubud are fully booked. Everybody (both local and tourist alike) wants to witness it.

I'll try to take some photo to share with you.

Home Sweet Home 2

The first stone had been put in place by the priest on 9th of July. The village is having some ceremony, so everybody is busy with their respective duty. So, the real work is starting next week.

Life's like that

Some French customer sent me email and booked me for my service. To locked down my time for them I have to turn down some of the other customers.

At the very last minute, they canceled the booking after we did all the arrangement.

Sigh... life's like that. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

Home Sweet Home

After much talking, surveying and advice from friends and contractor, I’ve decided it is cheaper to build a new house than just to fix the roof leaking problem.

I went to see the priest and he chose an auspicious date for me to start work. So we will start building a house from next month onwards, according to the structure of the old house but without the roof leaking problem. Hehehehe…

It may not be able to finish entirely by raining season (starting September), but at least I’ll solve the roof leaking problem.

I would like to thank my customers cum friend who helped me in many ways to make this happen. Thank you very much!

P.S. I will still fix the roof after I save more money :)

Time Difference

Internationally, Indonesia is +7GMT. That is if you follow the time in Jakarta.

In Bali, it’s +8GMT. That is if you follow the time in China.

A couple came to Bali. The husband goes to Jakarta for business all the time. So they assumed Bali is the same as Jakarta.

They were here for 5 days. First 3 days, they wondered why the hotel morning called them at 6am for breakfast (breakfast time at 7am). And then one day, they booked a shuttle bus to go to Kuta in the afternoon.

They missed it for obvious reason…

It took them 3 days to realize that they were 1 hour behind. It was not bad though, it just meant that they enjoyed themselves so much they forgot about the time.

They hired me the last 2 days they were here, and the wife said they were never late for any of their appointment.

Of course, I also didn’t forget to tease them, “Except????”

So, please note that Indonesia is very big. It has 2 time zones. Bali is +8GMT, not +7Gmt like Jakarta ^_^

Price hike

Starting from today, the government has just risen up the price of the petrol about 30%. It was 4.500 Rupiah per liter, now it is 6.000 Rupiah per liter. It will effect to the entire substantial thing in Indonesia.

I have to tell all of my customers that booked already in few months about this problem because I’m still charging them base on the price of the old petrol price. Hopefully they can understand if I need to rise a little bit of my fee.

The American's cow

My parents are farmers. We have a farm just behind the house. We are planting mandarin orange now.

To work the land, we need help. So we loan a cow from a neighbor with condition to agree upon – we get 70% of the profit, and the owner of the cow gets 30%. It’s just how this community works. By helping each other, all of us benefit from it.

Anyway, my parents can’t afford to buy a full size cow. It is at least 2.5 million Rupiah for a calf.

Last year, I had an American customer. He asked me about my family and I told him how we are like.

And then he told me he wants to visit my parents. I don’t see why not, so I said ok.

My parents never stop me from bringing my customers home. All I need to do is to just inform them we have guests coming over.

He came and looked around and spotted the cow. When he learned that the cow is not ours, he found it amusing. So I told him the problem.

“I have a deal with you.” He said, “I’ll loan you some money to buy a cow. No interest. You pay me back when I come back next year.”

The bottom line is he wants us to enjoy 100% of the profit.

I took his offer, that’s why we have 2 cows.

The big dark brown one belongs to my neighbor, and the small yellow one belongs to the American.

This fellow is one of the 4 reserves for special occasion.

The idea of Titaku

I’ve been driving for 3 years. I can tell you that when I first started, I work very hard. I can work everyday non-stop! Today, I might tell you otherwise. Therefore, I like customers who are like friends, who can talk, joke, and laugh together. Most of all, I appreciate them who also appreciates Bali.

I stand by in front of Warsa Bungalows in Monkey Forest road, Ubud. When looking for customers, all I can do is to talk to people. Business had been slow for me since January. Most of my friend has been driving people around but I have nothing. I'm working for someone, and if there's no income for him, it means no income for me too! It was miserable because I need money to buy materials to fix the roof of my home in Kintamani.

And then they called me.

Alvin & YY from Malaysia.
I took this photo with Alvin's camera.

We spent 4 days together. 4 days of fun, talking, joking and laughing. I like to see them enjoying themselves and I like to play with Alvin’s camera.

They said I have good potential to become a good photographer. They also warned me if I get hooked up with photography, there will be no turning back. So, I'm giving it a pause, for now.

I have a camera a customer gave me. It’s a good Canon camera. I wish I have more chance to use it.

“Why don’t you start a blog?” Alvin asked me, “We can help you.”

So I started thinking, maybe it’s a good idea.

I got a call from France, a former customer scolded me for not replying his friend’s email. I am happy that my customers recommended me; I am also sad because I can’t accommodate so many at the same time. I have to check email everyday so I can do necessary arrangement.

I’ve been working non-stop everyday since Alvin and YY left. I think they are my lucky charm. If only I can send them to airport. They are like my abang and kakak. I am grateful that Pak Tony recommended me to them, and I can’t thank them enough to help me start this blog.

I hope this will help me more to fulfill my dream. I also like to travel to see the world, and take some nice photo like abang did. I will try to update this blog on weekly basis, hopefully the wartel don’t raise their fee anytime soon.

*Andrea, I'm sorry your comment is not shown. I accidentally deleted the post. Very very sorry.

More work!

I'm just so tired from work. Some of my customer stayed in Nusa Dua and I have to drive down and take them around and back to Ubud so late. But I like it. I just need a time to take a rest. I just checked my email and got a message that someone requires my service next week!

They will be around for 4 nights. I checked my schedule and arranging 2 days for them, so they also have time to just be relaxed. I'm waiting of them to call and confirmed.

YY just sent me an email to say that its Wesak holiday tomorrow and she will be taking a day trip somewhere. I wonder what it’s like ^_^

Nyepi

Nyepi is the Balinese New Year. It is falling on the 1^st day of 10^th month of Sasih calendar. Usually falls on March or April of international calendar.

It is a day of silence and self reflection. All offices and schools are closed. Everyone will stay home for 24 hours, discourage all kind of activities involve electricity. In some villages, they even shut down the power of the entire village.

We should also fast for the day, but some of us don't practice it. It’s too difficult when hunger strike!

In some villages, they even shut down the power of the entire village.

Probably this is the only day which the entire island is quiet. Even in the south.

Bali has 2 types of calendar system.

Sasih is lunar calendar, based on the time taken by the moon to rotate around the earth. 12 cycles equals 1 year for Sasih.

Wuku is calendar base on week. There are 30 weeks in one cycle (Balinese: Oton). 2 oton equals one year. 1 oton has 210 days. So there is 420 day a year.

Balinese calendar system is used for religious purposes like to know auspicious days for farming, temple ceremonies, birthday ceremonies, and other religious and non-religious activities.

Welcome to Bali!
How may I help you?