Bali Belly and o-BAMA! (Bali, Indonesia)

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January 21^st, 2009 – Yesterday I was sicky-poo. Nothing too serious, just a slight feverish delirium punctuated with nightmares and bizzaro dreams. A little bit of weakness and a fair amount of diarrhea completed the circle. Better now but still a little weak. I have managed to avoid crapping in my pants, a significant achievement.

I went rafting (actually it was quasi- kayaking ) the day before last. No adrenaline rush there. Borderline Class II on a windy day. It was still an enjoyable trip down the river through the jungle. And there were the Russians, a raft with four of them cruising along in my general vicinity. At one point it turned into some sort of contest. In the end my two man kayak was too quick for their bulky raft but they did best me in a splash fight. Damn commies. One of the more comical moments involved my guide screaming, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” only to earn the reply, “RUS-SIA! RUS-SIA!” from the opposing guide. It then turned political when my guide started to scream, “O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!’ which, of course, drew “PU-TIN! PUT-IN!” in response. The cold war is back. Brrrrrr…….

Speaking of Obama they love him here, as much if not more than in the US. He attended grade school in Jakarta so many Indonesians feel a fairly significant connection to the US Pres. I suspect he may even be more popular than their own president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).  Perhaps, his popularity diminishes somewhat outside Bali. I really wish I’d thought to bring an ‘Obama Rocks!’ t-shirt. I probably could have traded it for a vehicle or maybe even a pig.

I was eating breakfast on the veranda outside my room (at Alam Indah, my third hotel) the other morning when an audacious, if not insolent, macaque monkey emerged ninja-like out of nowhere, nonchalantly strolled up to my table, and removed a piece of fruit from the bowl sitting there. My screams of,”Heeey!! Get outta here!!” followed by a slew of threatening gestures did absolutely nothing to deter my little friend. It only served to make him fumble with the fruit a second longer than necessary and grimace with annoyance. He then went on his merry way as if he and I had established this routine long ago. Maybe if I had it to do over again I would tackle the fruit pilfering miscreant just to get his attention, although I probably would have found myself on the losing end of that wrestling bout.