Je voudrais foie gras...
12/25/07 Christmas Day
... Upon on our arrival in Bali we were greeted by a tropical downpour and a charming hotel-owner with gray-blue eyes and a Swedish accent. Ten minutes later we were pulling into a tropical Garden of Eden hidden away among the remote rice fields of Sanur. We jumped out in the pouring rain and ran barefoot to the "lobby-" a red-tiled open patio with two pieces of wicker furniture and a bookcase. Our Swedish host disappeared upstairs and returned with a tray of fresh papaya juice. Sitting there looking out at the lush garden, chatting with our new acquaintances and sipping my first taste of papaya, I was trying to digest all the improbabilities of the past three days...
tropical Shangri-la
Now we are eating our first meal in Bali at the little family establishment next door. Like everything else here it's open to the elements. It's getting darker outside and the rain hasn't let up a bit since our arrival. This place sells snacks, convenient items, drinks, and sandals. For dinner is rice noodles with egg and sausage and a chicken 'n veggie dish accompanied by a bottle of Bintang...
...I still can't believe last night's episode. What started as a chance meeting in a bar began a 2 day flow of events that eventually ended in two reserved plane tickets back to Jakarta. We finished off an afternoon of perusing the antique market with a coconut and caught a bajaj back to our hotel to rendezvous with our new French acquaintances we met the night prior. Our rendezvous time passed, and if it weren't for the live jazz band that kept us planted on the lobby couch for another 10 minutes we might not have ever seen them again. They came late with a proposal- a friend's house party. With no other plans for the evening we accepted.
What I was expecting was a group of young foreigners intermingling with cheap beer and loud music in a small apartment perhaps tastelessly decorated for Christmas. As it turned out, the party was quite tastefully decorated, the people weren't so young, and the food and drink was decidedly not cheap. In fact, it was what I might call a swanky rich-person's party complete with expensive imported orderves, live-in servants, a double glass door open patio with lit pool, a Christmas themed table setting, and a company of handsomely dressed French people who made me feel more alienated (and inappropriately dressed) than any other time during my two weeks in Indonesia. I found the precariously leaning Christmas tree in the corner somewhat redeeming. The couple I sat by at dinner seemed less surprised at the fact that I was an American on vacation from Japan than the fact that I have never tried foie gras. In heavily accented French: "What? You've never eaten the liver of a goose 'oo's been specially fattend by gavage? Unbelievable."
背離
In our alienation we befriended the only other non-French person present- a Chinese-Indonesian woman who worked in Jakarta and coincidentally had friends who worked at a travel agency in Bali. We had come to Indonesia with no means of returning to Jakarta from Bali our last day to catch our international flight back to Japan. According to the online bookings all returning flights were full, so we only had a one-way ticket to Bali. After telling her of our predicament, she offered to make some phone calls. The next day an hour before we would leave Jakarta we had secured two tickets back to Jakarta for our last day...
12/26/07
Last night it was pouring. Has been ever since we arrived yesterday afternoon. Our hosts invited us upstairs to their home after dark where we chatted for a bit while the rain continued outside. . A charming duo the two of them- one Swedish, the other Javanese. They told us the story of how they made their dream of opening up a bed and breakfast come true. The two of them met in Sweden, and while on vacation in Bali decided it was a good place to start up their establishment. They ended up buying a plot of rice field just outside Sanur and building up their tropical dream hotel from the ground up.
tea and sweets with Mikel and Brama
Later on we were joined by a friend of theirs- a lovable, animated young Javanese woman who came baring several bags of Indonesia sweets. One of them put on some music and the five of us chatted till late. And that was how I spent my first warm Christmas.
... Upon on our arrival in Bali we were greeted by a tropical downpour and a charming hotel-owner with gray-blue eyes and a Swedish accent. Ten minutes later we were pulling into a tropical Garden of Eden hidden away among the remote rice fields of Sanur. We jumped out in the pouring rain and ran barefoot to the "lobby-" a red-tiled open patio with two pieces of wicker furniture and a bookcase. Our Swedish host disappeared upstairs and returned with a tray of fresh papaya juice. Sitting there looking out at the lush garden, chatting with our new acquaintances and sipping my first taste of papaya, I was trying to digest all the improbabilities of the past three days...
tropical Shangri-la
Now we are eating our first meal in Bali at the little family establishment next door. Like everything else here it's open to the elements. It's getting darker outside and the rain hasn't let up a bit since our arrival. This place sells snacks, convenient items, drinks, and sandals. For dinner is rice noodles with egg and sausage and a chicken 'n veggie dish accompanied by a bottle of Bintang...
...I still can't believe last night's episode. What started as a chance meeting in a bar began a 2 day flow of events that eventually ended in two reserved plane tickets back to Jakarta. We finished off an afternoon of perusing the antique market with a coconut and caught a bajaj back to our hotel to rendezvous with our new French acquaintances we met the night prior. Our rendezvous time passed, and if it weren't for the live jazz band that kept us planted on the lobby couch for another 10 minutes we might not have ever seen them again. They came late with a proposal- a friend's house party. With no other plans for the evening we accepted.
What I was expecting was a group of young foreigners intermingling with cheap beer and loud music in a small apartment perhaps tastelessly decorated for Christmas. As it turned out, the party was quite tastefully decorated, the people weren't so young, and the food and drink was decidedly not cheap. In fact, it was what I might call a swanky rich-person's party complete with expensive imported orderves, live-in servants, a double glass door open patio with lit pool, a Christmas themed table setting, and a company of handsomely dressed French people who made me feel more alienated (and inappropriately dressed) than any other time during my two weeks in Indonesia. I found the precariously leaning Christmas tree in the corner somewhat redeeming. The couple I sat by at dinner seemed less surprised at the fact that I was an American on vacation from Japan than the fact that I have never tried foie gras. In heavily accented French: "What? You've never eaten the liver of a goose 'oo's been specially fattend by gavage? Unbelievable."
背離
In our alienation we befriended the only other non-French person present- a Chinese-Indonesian woman who worked in Jakarta and coincidentally had friends who worked at a travel agency in Bali. We had come to Indonesia with no means of returning to Jakarta from Bali our last day to catch our international flight back to Japan. According to the online bookings all returning flights were full, so we only had a one-way ticket to Bali. After telling her of our predicament, she offered to make some phone calls. The next day an hour before we would leave Jakarta we had secured two tickets back to Jakarta for our last day...
12/26/07
Last night it was pouring. Has been ever since we arrived yesterday afternoon. Our hosts invited us upstairs to their home after dark where we chatted for a bit while the rain continued outside. . A charming duo the two of them- one Swedish, the other Javanese. They told us the story of how they made their dream of opening up a bed and breakfast come true. The two of them met in Sweden, and while on vacation in Bali decided it was a good place to start up their establishment. They ended up buying a plot of rice field just outside Sanur and building up their tropical dream hotel from the ground up.
tea and sweets with Mikel and Brama
Later on we were joined by a friend of theirs- a lovable, animated young Javanese woman who came baring several bags of Indonesia sweets. One of them put on some music and the five of us chatted till late. And that was how I spent my first warm Christmas.
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