Graptolite - Chilling in the Heat
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Sat 8 Nov 2008 12:15
I'm still in Bali watching the slow build up of the monsoon rains and
collecting mosquito bites. There's no malaria here though, just Dengue Fever
and Japanese Encephalitis.
Yesterday, I made a half-hearted attempt at taking a ferry to the Gili
Islands near Lombok. Former crew, Zack and Eddie, emailed me to tell me they
are there now doing something hedonistic. Unfortunately the boat was fully
booked so I went into Kuta for another few dozen DVD's and to eat.
I also found a baker's in Kuta yesterday that does a really good
bread'n'butter pudding. Despite the highly exotic nature of this place you
could probably carve out a fairly normal Brit expat lifestyle here if you
work hard enough at it.
The security forces on the streets are being fairly obvious to try and make
sure nothing blows up following the executions of the last lot of bombers to
operate here. My taxi even got searched last night. Osama, the taxi driver,
wasn't all that happy about it.
One of my neighbours in the marina claims to keep a Kalashnikov under his
bed. It's not much use here but when running the gauntlet up the Red Sea
next year it could be useful to have a battleship in the convoy.
M