Arrival

Several months ago I asked Vicki if she was interested in attending a Mindfulness PD in Bali during the school holidays in January, to my delight she was keen, so I immediately started researching the particulars. I had been to Bali twice and loved it so was more than happy to go again. Especially since Eric the hubstar had not been enthused on his one long weekend in Bali with cuz  Sam and I, when we’d been detained in our accommodation due to the cultural festival of Nyepi.  I’d actually heard about the PD from Nancy who had in  turn heard about it from her friend. At this point you may have assumed that this was a case of the politically incorrectly named “Chinese Whispers however after some intense Facebook researching activity I was convinced it was bona fide so contacted the Australian director of The Mindful Classroom, Jan.
Jan promptly replied with the particulars and soon Vicki and I were booked into a twin share room at Amatera resort where the PD is held. Several Sunday’s later when Vicki was walking with Keiko she mentioned the PD, Keiko was immediately interested and had apparently booked not only her spot at the PD but also her airfare, before the coffee was on the table. So you can see she is a very spontaneous woman! When the three of us walked together again Vicki asked if I could look into the accommodation as I love all the researching that happens before a holiday,  to me the journey enhances the emotions that I feel when reaching the destination.  I suggested that we spend some extra time in Bali as the flights were quite expensive and on my previous two trips I had only seen such a tiny part of the beautiful island. As it happened flights were available on Vicki's birthday which seemed like an opportune time to travel.
Although I had requested a shuttle months ago when I  booked the accommodation at Suka Homestay in Sanur I’d never had what I considered a confidence inspiring response so I had contacted them again via booking.com. The reply was a link to the Bali taxicab service so I promptly booked a taxi and paid for it, not knowing whether Suka Homestay was sending their own shuttle. An email sent to Suka Homestay was not responded to, so I half expected to see two drivers with my name upon a little placard at the airport.  Luckily we could only see one sign with “Irna Spigariol “ being brandished about so we followed our young driver out into the heat of Bali.  We sank gratefully into the comfortable seats of the air conditioned SUV.
 I relaxed listening to my two friends chirping away animatedly about the Bourke Street massacre- not a very uplifting topic. This engaging conversation continued from the back seat and after half an hour we abruptly crossed the highway and turned right. Since the homestay had been my find $22 each with breakfast the buck metaphorically stopped with me. Therefore  I had a definite pit in my stomach when our driver turned into an alley which can only be described by imagining “Jaws “ music. Vicki intimated that she’d seen movies which began like this which hadn’t ended well, I thought “Oh no, I hope this is not super shady!” However our negative mindsets soon changed to the more desirable positive outlook that all three of us generally possess.
Eventually Noman (3rd child) stopped in front of a modest building and his sister Wayan (1st born) bustled out to greet us. A very warm welcome was given to us and we immediately felt at ease, for me this was helped by the fact that she looked a lot like my Tante Sonya. We were told breakfast was between 8 and 10 and were shown a buzzer which would summon her when we needed her.  She took us down the tropically landscaped pathway  to our three rooms, Keiko’s room and mine were side by side and Vicki's was across the courtyard. The rooms seemed to be built out of large concrete slabs and were very high ceilings, each room had it’s own toilet and bathroom and a little patio out the front. I asked Wayan about tea and coffee making facilities as it was late and I thought a cup of tea would be settling. She returned soon with a large teapot and three cups and saucers and returned with some “susu" for Vicki and Keiko. Wayan answered Keiko's questions about important things like how to get to the shops and beach. I inquired hopefully about massages and she said they were $8 on the main drag at the beach. I also enquired about the turtle release centre that I’d read about on trip advisor and she told me that it was 10km away and that Noman would drive us there. After two cuppas We were ready to prepare for bed. I had a shower and washed my clothes  it was a rather odd set up with the shower pointing at the toilet. I never managed to get the water hot but on such a balmy evening that didn’t faze me. I hung my clothes on the patio on the little rack provided. I tucked into bed, and ruminated  about the day.