December 5th 1983

Val enjoying her birthday

Val’s birthday, of course.  Which now makes her 22 – remarkable, + rather difficult to comprehend.  Breakfast is supplied at our losmen – not a bad one either, a fried egg jaffle – along with tea, so over breakfast I handed Val her presents, with which she seemed suitably pleased.  And I should think so too.

We called down to see Danny, our guide + companion from yesterday, since we’d arranged to go down to the beach with him, but he wasn’t at home, so we left a message as to where we would be, + pushed off for the beach.  We never quite got there tho’, at least not immediately.  On the way we passed a small losmen, + tho’ we were determined not to spend all day shopping around for a cheaper place, this reminded us we were paying a little over the odds at present.  On looking at the place, it seemed adequately clean + comfortable, + considerably cheaper, so we agreed to take it + returned to the other place – it wasn’t far – to pay up + collect our gear.

That done, our priority was once again the beach.  Had a quick swim on the too-warm water, but then came to the major part of the whole beach thing, obtaining a massage.  This is no problem, there are many massage girls up + down the beach, distinguished by their “Kuta Massage” printed sweatshirts + numbered straw hats, eagerly touting for custom.  So it’s just a case of picking one you fancy,in whatever sense of the word you want.  We had one each, + thoroughly enjoyed the experience –highly relaxing rather than erotic.  The girls were proficient, I think, but then I have very little to judge it against.  Once done, I hurled myself into the waves again, to try some body-surfing, + actually caught a couple of beauties – most exhilarating.  Val wanted to stay sweet-smelling, so remained baking on the beach.

The afternoon was spent with 2 things in mind.  Primarily we wanted to find a place serving “special” (ie with magic mushrooms) omelettes.  This is, it seems, a renowned Balinese speciality, from everything we’ve heard + read.  But from the looks of things, our information could well be out of date, since now the mention of special omelettes (with or without a knowing wink) draws no response.  Finally, one guy told us that because of the troubles it caused, the govt had cracked down on all such things,  but then we heard of a café called “Midnight Oil”, which might come up with the goods.  On investigation, this proved to be so, but at the incredibly expensive price of Rp3000 each, + not till the evening, which rather knocked on the head the idea of getting out of one’s brain on  it, + then watching a famed Bali sunset.

The other task was to buy for Val a pair of leather sandals plus, if possible, a white dress.  I sent her out to find these articles on her own, + she returned after about an hour, with the sandals but  no dress, having found nothing to suit her.  She is not someone to make do with second best.  However, she was able to dress top + bottom with new earrings + new sandals to cover top + bottom, + some old stuff to cover the inbetween, + we were out on the town.  We were hoping that, with such a vast investment, the shrooms would be enough to make the evening, but I don’t mind saying that they were a dismal flop.  From most points of view too.  At first we were told we couldn’t have a special omelette, only a special jaffle (tho’ why they couldn’t have slipped the things into an omelette just as easily I don’t know.)  As a culinary treat, special jaffles don’t amount to much – slimy mushrooms in a dry bread envelope.  And of course there came the inevitable period afterwards, waiting for something to happen.  But there were plenty of other customers in the place, each with his empty tea-plate in front of him, so clearly we weren’t the only ones.

To find ourselves a taste treat as well as to kill time, we went somewhere else for dessert – it wasn’t anything very wonderful tho’.  And then, because we couldn’t think of anywhere else to go, we headed for the beach.  This was the second time we’d been there this evening, having wandered down pre-jaffle to watch the sunset (nice, but undramatic.)  This time we enjoyed it more.  It was completely dark, but sitting on the beach, + listening to the stereo sound of the waves, was quite an experience.  At last it seemed that the shrooms were having an effect, but it was mild in the extreme, + almost negligible compared with the ones back home.

After that we wandered home to bed, but were agreed that it hadn’t been at all a bad birthday.  Somewhere along the line, Val had managed to fulfil a long-standing desire, to try some frogs legs.  And very nice she thought they were – a bit like chicken.  Happy birthday, Val.  Next one maybe we’ll be home.

A suitably relaxed way to spend a special day, even without quite the buzz we had been seeking. But as well to be somewhere like Kuta for such a day, with the sort of trwats they have there. Or had, at any rate, though I don’t suppose Bali is all that different now.