Glamour Glamour Glamour

Or not as the case may be. Afflicted with my second dose of Bali belly in as many weeks, yesterday involved never being more than two minutes from the western toilets carefully staked out during the first encounter. I am all for cross cultural ingegration, all for adopting the customs of the country you are living in. But folks, the gypsy has to draw the line somewhere and squitting my insides over my feet then washing my backside with a hose pipe as the balinese custom dictates, is it for me.

I had planned to spend last night on a girls night to coincide with the full moon ceremony and involve lots of female bonding with a great group of women I have met. sadly, it was bed by eight for me. the boys at the tour shop were lovely, insisting I go everywhere on the back of one of their bikes and deciding the water in the office was too lukewarm for a sickly princess, rushing instead to get newly refrigerated versions of the same stuff. whilst they as a foursome offered to "we take care for you", being supervised whilst liquid tries to escape from both ends is never pleasant so I retreated to my hotel for much of the day and night.

the upside of all this is that I woke this morning with a stomach that almost resembled an ironing board, between the heat and germs I seem to be slimming whilst (albeit not yesterday) generally also enjoying the best of Balinese and Western cuisine.

I awoke after a 24 hour fast with the aforementioned washboard stomach screaming for fuel though. Naturally I couldnt refuse and seems the day of fasting and dashing has paid off, back to full strength.

I head to kuala Lumpar tommorrow, cheaper than singapore for visa restocking it transpires, and having decided to stay put in bali until I head home to London, I now leave a few days earlier and should be back on the 29th march. Not sure of the exact time (mum, ben and lil sis) but I collect my ticket en route to KL so will post details asap.

Dad joins me here on the 7th march for a week or so which should mean I get a whirlwind tour of the island and much needed dose of familial contact, seeing as how it feels like forever since I saw the family.

life in Bali continues to delight. I have an invite to a Hindu wedding this week from the girl I mentioned who is marrying an Aussie. as far as I can tell the day entails praying you dont have your period (if you do its a bit like yoga when they say "if youre menstruating dont do this move") as you dont get to go in the temple. That bothers me naturally with the implication of uncleanliness and mysogyny, but more just out of a very tangible fear that I will be stood with everyone knowing if I am on. the second part of the ceremony I think is about praying the ride doesnt get whiplash from the neck crushing contraption she has laden on her delicate skull. the bride in question is a mere twenty years old , her groom, 22, both lovely, so I will naturally have everything crossed for them. I am being flippant, really very excited on a number of levels, I am really enjoying learning about Hindu culture and liking what I find a lot. balance is key, even so far as ackowledging and making offerings rather than demonising bad spirits, which I think is rather cool as we all have good and bad sides, and being kind rather than attacking is much more likely to extinguish the latter. barring the temple shaming fear I think its up at the top of religions I respect.

i have volunteered my services as the official photographer so will enjoy taking loads of photos and not just looking like a voyeur in doing so, it is also a way of saying thanks for letting me come at the last minute, as I will do the bride a groom an album as a present.

Life is like a marriage, sometimes good, sometimes not so, but frequently worth working at.
My little life is like are I am aware getting more cliche by the minute, the ideas are drying up - feel free to add your own version via the peanut gallery labelled comments as one friend called it.

ben, I love and miss you too, will try and call you very soon

Julie x