This, my first proper visit to Bali, has me convinced I will never return voluntarily. Our fellow tourists are truly awful. Either you have the Australian party animals or the spiritual yogi organic types. I don’t know which is worse. We did have an excellent meal though, surprisingly delicious, at Locavore where the GF and […]
The horror, the horror
We are back in Bali. The last few days at Sumba Nautil were enlivened primarily by severe itching and on the final morning I opened my eyes and put on my glasses to see, a metre away from my nose, a footlong gecko biting the head of another smaller gecko. I squawked and leapt onto […]
Insect attack
Yesterday we strolled down to Marosi beach, about 30 minutes from the headland on which Nautil is located. The beach was empty, with large waves, and it didn’t take us long to understand why. It was infested with sandflies, thousands of them, despite the insect spray we had applied so liberally and continued to reapply. […]
A few quiet days
We arrived yesterday at the Nautil, a little cluster of well set up huts run but a Frenchman. The focal point is a lovely thatched shelter, the restaurant, which overlooks the sweep of the bay past vivid paddy and fruit trees. It is very beautiful here, though we are in the rainy season so I […]
A solution, perhaps
It has been decided: the machete will be mounted on a board so it becomes an ornamental wall hanging (which, to be fair, is what it is destined to be) and sent by post. Accordingly, I went early in the morning with Y, our guide, to her village where she introduced me to her uncle, […]
Blood in Sumba
A slightly less successful but still pleasant day. The tragedy was in the morning when I discovered what I should have known, that a machete with an 18 inch blade that, if one must be honest, looks like a sword, is difficult to transport across international borders. When wandering around a place where all the […]
In Sumba
The first time in a few days that I’ve had an Internet connection, however poor and unreliable. This is in the finely named town of Waikabubak, in the best room in the best hotel which is patronised by all the best government officials. Thus it is air conditioned and spacious, with hot water and a […]
Still in Bali
Here I am the next morning, still in the Bali airport hotel. We checked in yesterday where we learned that the flight had been rescheduled from 1330 to 1530. 1530 rolled by and there was no sign of an aeroplane at the gate. At 1630 an aeroplane arrived and at 1730 we boarded. We sat […]
In Bali
En route now to Sumba and I am writing this in the Bali airport hotel, probably the last chance for Internet access in a few days. I have set up my new computer which is beautiful despite the annoyances of Windows 10 and Microsoft’s efforts to Malaysia one give ones personal information, set up an […]
Volcanic interruption
It seems increasingly likely, with Agung a-rumbling away down in Bali and mass evacuations in the neighbourhood. The airport is quite distant from the volcano itself but the air space shall certainly be closed and flights diverted. Speaking of inconvenient natural disasters in holiday destinations, the response to the hurricane in Puerto Rico continues to […]