transport, taxi, tours

Anyone who has visited Bali before will be familiar the calls of "transport / taxi" that greet you on every corner. there's always a man with a bike willing to take you someowhere. I have been spending a lot of my time in a variation on a theme, the office of teh man who took me to Ubus. he started the business five years ago with his uncle and after his uncle bailed saying "its too hard", went solo. At first like many others with just a bike and some basic english. Now he has a business with 3 men, albeit only one is salaried and thats not him. the others are apprentices, he pays their rent and buys their food. the sleep four men to a room, in fact 4 men to a bed. They eat for 80 cents, 30p a day. Yet despite what seems on the surface a pretty harsh existance, I have never been anywhere with so much laughter. the boys all go back years and one by one have been brought from their Villages by ngurah as his business can support another. They are lovely, I am helping with their English, have the salaried one saying "ygood morning, how are you?| rather than "yes, good morning". Of the apprentices one is a real asset having cleaned a house for two years and pursuaded his employers to send him to learn Japanese rather than pay him, the other is very new, yet to make a mark. I have feminised their office, swapped bad euro pop for the smoother sounds of Jack Johnson, and got them to clean the floor on a more regular basis. every tiem a car gets returned the place resembled a grand prix pit stop, all hands on deck, one cleaning the inside, another the outside, the new boy dusting the mats, the boss under the bonnet. the aim. to have it re-rentable asap. they travel for an hour and ahalf to borrow another car or bike from a friend as required, for a grand total of two aussie dollars, one pund sixty, but I am learning, it's not about the money, it is about making sure the customers never go elsewhere.

I am loving their company, they are down to earth, funny and have a freindship as strong as my own with my special women. they are always sharing their food, their water, cigarettes, beer with anyone passing who cares to stop, and they look out for each other in a way I see very rarely with men.

life is so much richer for freinds, and laughter is plentiful among those who have little to laugh about I am finding.
Love you all, miss you madly
Julie x