What a great, well-rounded day! After a simple breakfast of fruit salad and toast, and getting fully on top of all my work commitments, I heard that my replacement bank card should be arriving this week! That will to plunge me into an even greater state of relaxation. So I decided to treat myself to a full-body massage, but not before taking a plunge into the warm ocean to see what I could discover.
What an abundance of life there was! The majority of the 1-meter deep seabed was a coral graveyard, but look closely enough and there are all sorts of discoveries to be made. I spotted a Moray Eel, baby Clown Fish, Puffer Fish, Surgeon Fish, Starfish, Sea Slugs, Sea Urchins, some other horned thing, several species that I didn’t recognize, as well as something large and menacing-looking hiding between some rocks that could well have been an octopus. What a treat!
I’ve realised that if you ask around enough, and explain that you are a poor, solo traveler from South Africa, you eventually get some kindly treatment after a few sympathetic head-tilts. So next on the agenda was that full-body massage. About 50% of the female workforce in Bali are masseuses, while the other half seem to be shop owners. They are everywhere and are quick to bad-mouth others in the profession when you mention that they are offering a better price.
I asked an elderly, well-massaged-looking Swedish woman if she had any recommendations. She directed me to a place called Gül Spa, which was a short walk away. I opted for a traditional Balinese massage, which was really great, and cheap as chips! She climbed right up onto the massage bed, knelt down and rearranged my muscles in the most pleasurable fashion. I had read that the pleasure comes well after the pain, so I opted for the ‘strong’ version.
There were elbows and sudden jerks involved, and the entire bed (with me on it) was moved around so that she could get into better positions to do her thing. Wearing just my tighty-whities, Bon Jovi’s “Always” started playing followed by some Josh Groben as she caressed by left buttock. Still in a daze afterwards, I was offered ginger tea and a cookie. I floated home feeling supremely relaxed. Thank gawd I didn’t get a bonk on.
I booked a shuttle bus headed back to Kuta to reunite with my local friend and hopefully pick up my new bank card. Once that is done, the plan is to learn to surf before heading south to check out Paradise Beach. Then it’s off to the Gili Isles to get my Open Waters Scuba Diving certification! I found cheap accommodation in a hostel over there which includes pancake breakfasts.
Things just keep getting better and better!
Next: Indonesia 2013: Living Like a Local
Previously: Indonesia 2013: Sanur – A Pensioner’s Paradise
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