miss cayce

Sanur: running away

Oh god, I think I'm crazy.

I ditched the hippy in Lovina and ran away to Sanur. Without saying goodbye. It's so rude especially since I think we became pretty good friends but after writing the last blog entry, I realize that I was more into him than I thought. And that was bad - really bad. There's no point to pursuing this whatever and I knew that I was most likely going to be emotional when we did say good bye so I did the next best (cowardly) thing - jumped ship (actually, bemo) and took what felt the longest journey ever to the other side of the island.

The bemo ride through the island was breath-taking though. We went through the Bedegul area, which is a mountainous area. There were forests! All that bird-watching!! Mists curling in the valleys of rice-paddies! Strawberry farms!!! CLEAN AIR! I should have stayed a night but I had already planned to go to Sanur so there was no turning back. In any case, while Bedegul is very beautiful and isolated, I could see myself being melancholy, especially being on my own. I needed to be in a bustling area and since I wasn't yet prepared for the madness of Kuta, I thought Sanur would be a good alternative.

I think it was self-preservation calling especially since I couldn't really figure out whether he liked me at least nearly as much as I did him. He can be so rude that it'd piss me off so much but then he would exhibit unnecessary kindness which then confused me. We'd argue on a variety of issues (his favourite was world politics) and he can be so infuriating but I think some of that is also because most people usually don't argue with me. I mean, they may disagree with me but they'd just keep it to themselves. Very Asian that way - make peace and all, and swallow your dissent, but no one ever makes any intellectual headway that way. And then I keep on thinking that I'm in the right when I'm probably not. To have someone continually challenging every single opinion or statement I made was exhausting but admittedly stimulating. But he could be so rude going about it most of the time.

The thing was that Lovina really really sucked. If you ever have plans to visit Bali, avoid Lovina. It's not worth it. The beach is incredibly filty and the vendors, pushy. Richardo said that at least the beach in Kuta was cleaner. In Lovina, the tidemark was littered with all kinds of garbage - diapers, plastic bags, even a syringe!!! It was awful! I couldn't understand why people, including some tourists, were venturing into the water. It wasn't safe to swim in it. Anyone with a brain could see that. As well, there was nothing happening in Lovina. Nothing to see or do. I refused to do anything that involved being in the ocean because of the dirty water. Initially, I had wanted to go dolphin-watching in Lovina but it appears that the people of Lovina didn't have the proper ecological mindset (look at the garbage on the beach!!). I wouldn't want to be in a boat that chased dolphins. It's not right.

While walking on the beach during the evening, Richardo and I came across an Aussie who launched on a long spiel about the garbage on Lovina beach. He had been there a couple of years ago and he said that it wasn't as bad as it was now. He was very fascinating to listen to because he obviously knew what he was saying, in his thick Aussie accent. The best part was when we watched chickens playing in the surf (??), and he said that they were lucky that there were no crocodiles around.

"Oh, really!" I piped up, "you mean the saltwater crocodiles, right?"

One of the many arguments I had with Richardo was that he didn't believe that there were saltwater crocodiles. So it was very satisfying to be proven right although I'm irritated that he would put more weight on a stranger's opinion than mine. He still thinks flying foxes are marsupials, the idiot.

Anyway, where was I. So Lovina sucked and I found myself in a quandary. The only thing worth being in Lovina was being with Richardo. That was bad, really bad. I didn't really know what I wanted from this. And he wasn't making it any better by alternating from being antagonizing to well, great company.

I don't know why I did what I did. At any rate, I have the whole week to myself to ponder on this. I feel immensely guilty just taking off like that without even saying goodbye. I did leave a bag of medicine and food for him, but no note because I had no idea what to say.

So anyway, here I am in Sanur. Found a great room for under RM45 (100,000Rp). My room has hot water, a tub and it's on the second floor where I can gaze at my heart's content at a wonderful swimming pool. My most expensive room in Bali yet. The thing is that I had saved so much on this trip that I think I may end up with too much rupiah (to think I was agonizing in the beginning of bringing too little cash!). Of course, the week is still young and there's no such thing as too much money. I decided that I could finally treat myself on this holiday.

Back to my lonesome once again.

posted by Cayce @ 6:57 PM