I got a start on my day pretty early as I have absolutely no basis for time vs. distance estimates and felt it could take all day to get to Permuteran, which was my intended stop. I got there at 1130am, but starting there would miss all the excitement of the day so lets just begin at the beginning, shall we?
It seems that I managed to grab every physical possession that I came with from my room in Medewi but my nerve? It must have been hiding under the bed. I found myself on the road very early and just a little off balance. Even the monkey song wasn’t working. I tried the Ukranian’s tip to “feel the energy flow through you to the ground”. I tried my friend Rebekah’s trick of “feeling connected to everything”. My friends are obviously very feely. Or maybe it’s just that when driving in Bali you are inspired to skip logic and go straight for appealing to higher powers like Mother Nature or Sister Sky. Any way you slice it I was just not feeling the love today.
About half an hour into my journey of self-doubt and tension I came up with my magic idea – I could stop anytime I wanted. I didn’t have to make it anywhere today. I could stop in the very next town. Little Golden Books and your “I think I can” mentality, take a hike. I choose “I don’t have to.” I don’t have to get to the coast. I don’t have to see another temple. I don’t have to do anything but return my scooter in 7 days and make it to the airport. Take that Little Engine, Mr. Rogers, Mary Sunshine. I’m an American and this is my world. Suddenly, I was feeling a lot better.
That is to say until I got to Negara. Negara is one of the first honest to God towns that I have driven through. They have a stoplights, divided highways, Police Headquarters and shiny cruisers. Which I pulled up next to at a stoplight. Being a law abiding citizen and general goody-goody, the police make me incredibly nervous. Being an American in Indonesia marks me as an easy target for extortion for police. So, the 25 seconds (seriously, the stoplight had a countdown) that I was parked next to the Polisi was nerve wracking. Especially since they called out hellos and the like. Once the light changed and we were both on our way they followed me and my tension did not abate. Then they pulled me over. I felt done for. However, these were apparently the nicest cops in Bali because while they did do a full pullover, block my bike, ask where I was going and so forth, they only appeared to have done it because my bag (though tethered to the back) had slipped off sideways from the bike. Or perhaps they weren’t that altruistic but were stumped about my nationality. Where are you from? (Don’t say LA, everyone has heard of LA) Missouri. Misss-ooo-li? Nod and speak as little English as possible. They told me I could go and to be careful then proceeded to follow me for the length of this surprisingly large town. I was so very glad to be out of Negara.
The rest of the drive was a lot easier after that. Once you get up to the northwest corner of the island you drive through their one national park, Bali Barat. It is a beautiful drive. The road cuts through at a bit higher elevation and more inland so there are real forests and not just tropical lushness all around. You could see the western mountains inland. Then there were the monkeys. A large group of gorgeous wild monkeys were crossing the road. I kid you not. I was glad to see them. It alleviated any need I had to go to the Monkey Forest where the monkeys are notoriously aggressive due to interactions with humans. I dig you wild monkeys, I just don’t want you to jump me on my scooter.
Tonight I am in the lap of luxury – a hotel with a flush toilet. The internet situation in this town isn’t great though so I will probably post this tomorrow. On tomorrow’s adventure list? Chasing down a local myth of an ATM and a post office RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!
Until then…
P.S. wifi still not strong enough for photos. Sorry.
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