Monday, April 11, 2005
home!
I'm home! After 5 days and 4 nights in beautiful Bali, I am home.
It's an odd sort of feeling right now, actually. Good to be home; but bad to pick up exactly where I left off. The daily grind, sucky job. That sort of thing.
What I needed out of Bali was time away to recharge, rethink and rebuild my sense of self. To assess where I am, where I'm headed, and whether where I am is leading me to where I want to be headed.
And I've come to the conclusion I've always felt was right, but have been - admittedly so - afraid to commit to.
I reach home now with a slightly enlarged sense of hope. Things are looking up, and if they head where I think they're headed, I'm home free.
My fingers are crossed.
***
So anyway, Bali was brilliant.
We stayed in Bali Hilton, located in Nusa Dua - a pretty, resorty estate on the island. Clean and lined with greenery and huge, exquisite Balinese sculptures. Quieter and nicer, in my opinion, than the hip Kuta area. If Kuta is Bali's Orchard Road (although it looks more like the Mohd Sultan stretch), then Nusa Dua is equivalent to Sentosa.
The initial weather was a slight letdown - it was drizzling when we landed. Drizzling when we woke up the next day. Just kept drizzling, no doubt. Washed out all water-sporting plans. And a certain someone's tanning hopes. Ha.
Lounging around the room, watching cable and more BCC than I have ever watched in my entire life was probably what I needed. Time off to do absolutely nothing. And god, it felt good.
The skies cleared out by Sunday and we popped down to the pool/ beach for a quick tan. Read: He was baking in the sun with the help of tanning oil, SPF 0; and I was hiding under the beach umbrella, protected by waterproof sunblock, SPF 30, and going through two scoops of chocolate ice cream. Good day, it was.
There was shopping, of course. Spent hours trolling the streets of Kuta and eventually bought a handful of stuff. He was rather surprised, really, and kept asking if I wanted to buy more. But there's really limited stuff to begin with. I had no intention of buying labels and labels galore it was. I was particularly fascinated to see a Paul Smith boutique. Alongside Gianni Versace, Burberry and Prada. And Polo Ralph Lauren. Oh yeah, Polo is big in Bali. I swear we saw at least 20 different Polo boutiques; I will reserve my comments on their authenticity, however.
We had a nice final-night dinner in Hilton, albeit disappointed that they didn't have any restaurant that resembled a semi fine-dining outfit. Even so, it was still nice.
***
I am now recharged and ready to fight the battle again.
And maybe, just maybe, it'll be a slightly better battle.
// posted by the commentator @ 6:30 pm 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]