A figment of our imagination

We are finally on Gili Trawangan, and it is absolutely, gloriously paradise-like. So relaxed and chilled out (no police and lots of terrible substances available!) that we are already almost comatose.

Well, except for one small nagging worry that keeps us slightly stressed. We have realised that Davie does not in fact exist. Now anyone reading our blog may already be aware of this unsurprising fact and in have wondered why we kept going on about having a holiday with 'Davie.' You talked amongst yourselves about the strangeness of two people having the same imaginary friend, but shrugged it off as harmless and faintly amusing.

Well, we have finally woken up. We have been on a wild goose chase, and have used this as an adventure on which to base our holiday. In our wild imaginings, Davie is in fact here on this island - has been for a few days. We arrived yesterday evening and fantasised an email from him saying he'd be around a certain area, and we waited, and waited...and waited. And then we wilted and went to find the place where he was staying.

Now, all of the beach bungalows are along this 300 metre stretch, and we had 'thought' that Davie had said he would be in one particular one, Nusa Tiga, at the end of the beach. OK. We started walking, and walking, and at 10:30pm, after climbing over rocks, going up goat paths and becoming increasingly bewildered, we stumbled across the place (about 5 kilometres away from everywhere else) and found it ominously quiet - we started whisper/shouting 'Davieeeeee' until someone came out of their bungalow and told us he was on the beach with Asta. We high-fived - we had done it! We went to the beach......

Of course, no Davie (but you knew that didn't you?). We trekked back, Matthew stumbling over every rock and Tash cursing curses she has never used before.

We have had to come to the conclusion - Davie just does not exist. We will now go on to enjoy the rest of our holiday in glorious relief and relaxation.

Tash

On the quest for the Lunaticus

And so the search for that most exotic, elusive of species, Channonus Lunaticus, continues. Fresh droppings found in a recent email led us to believe that he'd be present in the sleepy little Balinese port town of Padangbai. Alas, we arrive to find excellent Davie habitat but no evidence of any specimen fitting his description.

He's clearly a flitting, restlessly migratory type, rather hard to pin down. This is odd, as reports suggest that in the wild he can become, well, rather wild, and is thus quite easy to spot.

So tomorrow the hunt shall move on to the island of Gili Trawangan, just off Lombok. The vegetation type here is reportedly perfect for the Davie, so we may then finally be able to log him in our species list.




And then we're gonna bury the bastard headfirst in the sand.

Matt

Rendezvous anyone?

Pissed down again today - but the day had nice patches too. I had the most excrutiatingly painful massage in the entire world (and have bruises to prove it!) and spent too much money on silver jewellery, while Matt counted his rupiahs and read about Gaia (or Muvva Earth) while stroking little bits of his hair.

And, believe it or not we are still Davieless!! He arrived in Bali yesterday and went to Sanur with Asta (about an hour away, and no, not on any itinerary we have ever seen) - and then emailed us to tell us to meet him there. Unfortunately, we have already been told that Sanur is for the retirement crowd and nothing too special. So, Matt and I don't want to go there (it is also back near Kuta so seems a little like retracing our steps).

This is leading to lots of negotiating emails (ie. from Davie: get your arses here now!, from Matthew: um, didn't we have a plan to be in Ubud?) and Matt has hit upon a brilliant course of action, which involves all of us meeting at a place starting with "P" which is where all of the boats leave from to go to the other islands. It also has a nice beach and is a chilled place to spend a day or two. We've emailed Davie with this suggestion and are just waiting for his reply...

The days ahead promise to be interesting, as in one of his emails Davie suggested changing our itinerary and going rapidly to Flores, whereas we were meant to be hitting the Gili's next. Unfortunately for Davie both Tash and Matt tend towards being ol' stick in the muds, and don't like to change plans too often. So we are determined to get back on track plan wise. Davie and plans don't really exist in the same stratosphere however, so who knows what will happen.

Tash (again with Matt looking over her shoulder)

Davie..?

Well, it's 11:30pm and Matt and I are sitting in the internet cafe once again (wild, wild people that we are) bereft of one mad, limitless misfit. We have not met up with Davie.

It's all beginning to unravel. This on top of a day in which Matt and Tash argued heatedly and Tash sulked for an hour, followed by a motorbike ride from hell - cold, miserable and wet, the two adversaries headed to destinations unknown and found..... a really crappy restaurant and a pair of warm tablecloths.

Tash - with Matt's helpful input (ie. 'you are not taking "sulking" out and, "it was at least an hour")

Knock knock

Doorways, doors, thresholds, gates - all of these seem to hold some special significance in Ubud.

Last night on our way back from having a few beers we asked a local about the focus on doors (even the doors to our rooms are these red and gold creations with bas relief and columns supporting it all with statues etc..) and were told that they represent mouths to the Balinese people, and it is all about good and evil, as a mouth can take good things and bad things into it's depths.

So, none the wiser we continued on our way.

And which door shall produce Davie? Which doorway will Davie spring from, jack rabbit like? He has been given a new passport ('yes, yes, I'm a great friend of Mark Canning') and will be trying to get himself here tomorrow. Of course now we have the worry about the old passport being the one with the Burmese visa in it - and under which he is booked to fly back from KL. But these are small trifles, and shall not be dealt with until later - at the end of the holiday when we are relaxed and at peace and in need of another dose of absolute hysteria.

Matthew and Tash are getting along well and are starting to chill out - today we pottered off around Ubud (separately - we both like our space!) and Tash shopped (the bead shops - oh my God!) while Matthew walked miles and miles in the hopes of saving a rupiah or two on his lunch, and on the internet (oh yes, I have been dragged about 5 km from where we are staying in order to save about 10p because the internet place 100 metres down the road is a 'rip off' - I personally feel that I just lost 10p worth on my flip-flops wearing out but anyway...)

Matthew right now is happily surfing 'Urban 75' and looks very serene.

Now we are going to go and cross the sacred threshold of a pub to get a beer and talk about how to find Davie when he gets here tomorrow evening (fingers crossed there is a flight!). I'll make Davie do the next post so he can tell you all about it!

Tash

Raise your hand if you're surprised

Greetings from arty Ubud, in Bali, from Tash, Matty, and the spirit of Davie. No, he hasn't popped his clogs in a mushroom cloud just yet, he's merely tangled up in Malaysian / Indonesian red tape, and is right now bothering those nice people at the British Embassy in KL. Turns out you have to have at least six months validity on your passport to enter Indonesia - poor ol' Channon was two months short. Hair was pulled, garments were rent, tears were shed, but we had to face bureaucratic facts - Davie wasn't getting on that plane :-(

So the unlikely pairing of Tash and Matthew arrived bemused and befuddled in a quaint, twee traditional fishing village called Kuta. Hell's bloody cauldron more like - Kuta is a nasty, pushy headache of a place and we skidaddled after a mere 15 hours, most of which were spent sleeping.

After a two hour hunt for breakfast, we were on our way to Ubud. Parsimonious, rupiah-pinching Matt went off to find the impossible - somewhere quiet, clean, low-key but with character all for a price below that of an evening newspaper. And lo and behold, he found it! Even Tash's impossibly high standards were met!!

And so here we sit, Tash and Matt, waiting, in fact pining, for that ol sea dog Channon.

Hurry up, ya twat!!

Matt

One day to go

Hi there,

One more sleep and off we go to la la land. The scene was set last night as Davie spewed pink (sunset trishaw) vomit all over the steps of the Grand Mee Ya Hta out of the taxi window - and I scuttled inside with my head down and embarrassment leaking from every pore.

I thought we were flying to Bangkok, but have just been told (with much head shaking and eye rolling) that we are in fact heading for KL, and from there will fly to Bali. Apparently we are going Air Asia so I won't even have my little personal video on the seat in front of me. :(

I have just been informed that the accommodation may be below my usual standard, and that I will be expected to use something called a 'mandi' to wash myself rather than that overrated and boring shower that I was hoping to have. Matthew is planning on spending about 20c a day as far as I can figure out and Davie finds the idea of scorpions inhabiting our rooms 'cultural.' Goody!

I think that independent travel may be on the cards - and by independent I mean that I will independently upgrade my hotel and leave Matthew and Davie in the hip squalor which they crave.

OK - the next posting should actually be one which documents our travels!!

Tash

Pre-departure briefing

Hello world,

This is the first posting from Tash, Matthew and Davie!!

We have set up this blog to document our three week journey in Indonesia. Will we make it back in one piece? Will Tash be used as a drug mule and spend the rest of her life in an Indonesian jail? These are the questions that have been pinging around the staffroom of the British Council, and numerous living rooms in Yangon over the past few weeks.

First it was Sumbawa, then it was Sumba and now it is Flores - our destination changes every day (thanks Davie). Island hopping never looked so exciting.

So, in three days we leave Burma behind and dive into a holiday that holds all the possibility of catastrophe, crisis and pain - and those are just the positives!

So stay tuned to see if we all fall out on the plane to Bangkok (fall out with each other - not of the plane - although you never know and I will making sure Davie doesn't sit next to that tempting exit door) or if we find a peace and tranquility in our friendship which will elevate all who meet us.

Tash