Even with the cost of paying for transport and paying $5 for a pineapple, I still came in under budget for the week.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Day 95
Did not get much sleep due to staying up past 1:00am to watch the Cohen testimony, was thinking it would be a good rest day because of this but my body shook its slumbers away at 6:30am and I was soon running 5 miles along the streets and sea of Nha Trang. I was reminded of my youth when I could put in a 12 hour night of photographic darkroom work, go to bed at 6:30am, get up 3 hours later and run 5 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan no worse for the wear.
Even with the cost of paying for transport and paying $5 for a pineapple, I still came in under budget for the week.
Even with the cost of paying for transport and paying $5 for a pineapple, I still came in under budget for the week.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Day 94
Pleasant day of morning exercise on the beach walk, followed by a meal of pasta with tomato pesto garlic sauce and a french bread egg sandwich bought for $.88 at a food stall. Studied a bit of chess and watched some of the live Cohen testimony.
Monday, February 25, 2019
Day 93
It took 93 days for me to lose or get scammed out of cash, but it finally happened, not a large amount, only 100,000d, which is $4.39, and I guess the cost of admission was worth it.
I started the day by getting up at dawn and running 5 miles along the beach, then when I returned to the apartment I decided to scout the #18 airport bus which is supposed to stop once an hour a block from the apartment. So I sat on the curb and waited for 25 minutes and then the bus drove by and I saw someone get on and it was easy to spot because it is a new model which says "airport bus", so it looks like I have a way to get to the airport for 50,000d instead of 300,000d.
After the bus went by I decided to explore the neighborhood going away from the beach and I stumbled into a bustling street market filled with seafood and fruit and vegetables, a cornucopia that would satisfy any appetite. As I wandered from stall to stall a female vendor called to me and pointed to whole cut pineapples, I asked her how much and she said 20,000d, which is $.88, a low price for USA standards, so I agreed, however, I was a bit shaky when I realized the smallest bill I had was 200,000d, which I was reluctant to hand over because I am well aware of the short change scam and I do not yet trust my counting abilities in a chaotic environment when dealing with denominations which look similar if one is not accustomed to them. I handed her the 200,000d and she handed me back 80,000, shortchanging me by a 100,000 note, however, even though I tried to count it, what happened was instead of counting I simply looked for large bills, I saw a 50,000 bill and a 100,000, and a few smaller ones, and I guessed it was close enough but when I returned home I realized the 100,000 bill was actually a 10,000 bill and she simply did not give me a 100,000d note - classic short change scenario and there is nothing I could do to stop it due to the chaos of the market and my inexperience with the look of the notes. Oh well, I lasted 93 days without a cash mishap, so I was due to lose some money to fate rather than by choice, at least I made a market lady very happy today.
I started the day by getting up at dawn and running 5 miles along the beach, then when I returned to the apartment I decided to scout the #18 airport bus which is supposed to stop once an hour a block from the apartment. So I sat on the curb and waited for 25 minutes and then the bus drove by and I saw someone get on and it was easy to spot because it is a new model which says "airport bus", so it looks like I have a way to get to the airport for 50,000d instead of 300,000d.
After the bus went by I decided to explore the neighborhood going away from the beach and I stumbled into a bustling street market filled with seafood and fruit and vegetables, a cornucopia that would satisfy any appetite. As I wandered from stall to stall a female vendor called to me and pointed to whole cut pineapples, I asked her how much and she said 20,000d, which is $.88, a low price for USA standards, so I agreed, however, I was a bit shaky when I realized the smallest bill I had was 200,000d, which I was reluctant to hand over because I am well aware of the short change scam and I do not yet trust my counting abilities in a chaotic environment when dealing with denominations which look similar if one is not accustomed to them. I handed her the 200,000d and she handed me back 80,000, shortchanging me by a 100,000 note, however, even though I tried to count it, what happened was instead of counting I simply looked for large bills, I saw a 50,000 bill and a 100,000, and a few smaller ones, and I guessed it was close enough but when I returned home I realized the 100,000 bill was actually a 10,000 bill and she simply did not give me a 100,000d note - classic short change scenario and there is nothing I could do to stop it due to the chaos of the market and my inexperience with the look of the notes. Oh well, I lasted 93 days without a cash mishap, so I was due to lose some money to fate rather than by choice, at least I made a market lady very happy today.
Day 92
Checked out of the Azura Hotel at 11:45am and wandered over to the Home Vu Apartments where I will be staying for one week but before that I got up at 5:30 and walked to the beach with the camera and made a few photos of the sun rising over VinPearl Island and then I worked 30 minutes on the pull up and dip bars. Bought an egg sandwich on french bread for breakfast and then packed my things and waited for check out. When I arrived at Home Vu at noon I was expecting to drop my bag off and have to wait until 3:00pm but I spent more of my good karma when the reception lady allowed me to check in when I arrived, I tried to pay her 20,000d but she refused. After unpacking I decided to find VinMart, supposedly the only western style grocery in downtown Nha Trang, before arriving there I was stopped on the street by a man named Minh who was a tour guide and I thought of Vincent in Sanur but Nha Trang is more populated so I don't expect to be seeing much of Minh during my week here. At VinMart I bought pasta and sauce and a few other things and the total cost was higher than my daily average but when arriving in a new city initial costs are going to be higher. When I returned to the apartment I made a delicious pasta meal but not before having to learn how to use an induction stove, which I figured out through watching a couple of youtube videos, without the internet I probably would have given up and gone out to eat because I would not have figured out that I need to keep my finger pressed on the on/off button for five seconds.
My apartment at HomeVu is decent, it has a large table which is convenient for chess study and I am looking forward to the HD Bank International Chess Tournament which is ten days away, March 7-13.
My apartment at HomeVu is decent, it has a large table which is convenient for chess study and I am looking forward to the HD Bank International Chess Tournament which is ten days away, March 7-13.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Day 91
Difficult to know when to get up because my hotel room has no windows but my consciousness came back to earth at its usual time of 5:30am and when I got outside and ran to the beach boardwalk I was surprised to find large masses of people enjoying the beach at that hour, all the more so because it is Sunday which means many people would have been out late the night before. Knowing nothing about Nha Trang I was not sure of the distance of the boardwalk but it seems to be a little under 3 miles because I ran half of the boardwalk going north, turned around at its endpoint and ran the entire distance of the boardwalk south, total distance according to gmaps is 4.25 miles, the shortest run I have done in a month but that would have been considered a long run back when I started my journey in Chiang Mai in late November. I will plan to run shorter distances while in Nha Trang because the boardwalk is crowded with people but the thing it has which the Bali path does not is exercise equipment along with pull-up and dip bars, so not having done pull-ups for the past 28 days I was a bit rusty and felt a loss of strength but after a week of daily practice I should be back to normal pull-up strength.
On the walk back to the hotel I bought an egg sandwich from a street cart for 15,000d ($.66). After eating and showering I decided to flesh out my airport transportation research by trying to find a bus stop for the #18, which goes from downtown Nha Trang to the airport in Cam Rahn. I was guessing it would take a lot of steps before I found the route, which was fine with me because it is a good excuse to be out walking and exploring. However, after walking 50 meters from my hotel I found the #18 stop and thought it fortuitous but tomorrow I check out of the hotel and will walk a mile to my AirBnB apartment, so I decided to walk there and find out if the #18 happened to have a stop nearby and the fortuitous day continued because one block from the apartment is a #18 stop so it looks like I will be able to take public transport to the airport. I also discovered that I can take the #152 Saigon bus from the airport to my AirBnB in District 1 and also take it back to the airport when leaving Vietnam. I am happy about this because public transport is cheaper than a taxi and more enjoyable from an adventure point of view.
On the walk back to the hotel I bought an egg sandwich from a street cart for 15,000d ($.66). After eating and showering I decided to flesh out my airport transportation research by trying to find a bus stop for the #18, which goes from downtown Nha Trang to the airport in Cam Rahn. I was guessing it would take a lot of steps before I found the route, which was fine with me because it is a good excuse to be out walking and exploring. However, after walking 50 meters from my hotel I found the #18 stop and thought it fortuitous but tomorrow I check out of the hotel and will walk a mile to my AirBnB apartment, so I decided to walk there and find out if the #18 happened to have a stop nearby and the fortuitous day continued because one block from the apartment is a #18 stop so it looks like I will be able to take public transport to the airport. I also discovered that I can take the #152 Saigon bus from the airport to my AirBnB in District 1 and also take it back to the airport when leaving Vietnam. I am happy about this because public transport is cheaper than a taxi and more enjoyable from an adventure point of view.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Day 90
Wandered around the beach boardwalk and the area around my hotel, also walked a mile and found the AirBnB where I will be staying, it is next to a restaurant named Little Italy, so I might be able to quench my pasta addiction there. Food is spectacularly cheap here, can of beer 90 cents, french bread sandwich 60 cents, I ate 2 sandwiches and some snacks today to try to recover from yesterdays caloric deficit. Drank fresh coconut water on the beach for 90 cents, while I did not bother drinking coconut water in Bali because the minimum price there was $3, not that I can't afford $3, but after paying $1 in Thailand for coconut water it is hard to adjust the mind's value meter so quickly and paying $3 for the same $1 product goes against the principles of a monk's budget.
Friday, February 22, 2019
Day 89 - Nha Trang, Vietnam
After leaving the apartment compound I wandered down the alley to the
main road and turned left and I saw Vincent standing at his car, along
with 2 others. Vincent put me into the front seat, had one of his
friends drive and Vincent took the back seat with the other person.
Along the way to the airport Vincent kept up a steady stream of
conversation, talking of his home island where komodo dragons and horse
fighting are the main attractions. Not much traffic and soon I was
saying good bye to Vincent and handed over to him my remaining money,
202,800ir, which I know is overpaying by 70-80k, but having Vincent
drive me was worth the extra cost, I wanted to help him out because he
appeared to be suffering from slow business, and indeed the month I
spent in Bali was quite slim for tourists, the shops and restaurants
were at best half full at any time of the day or night. Vincent
mentioned how much dirtier and polluted Bali has become in the past 20
years, one of the reasons that plastic bags are now prohibited. On my
runs to the Hindu Temple the black sand beach was dirtier than it was in
2012, much trash in the shallows and nobody burying themselves into the
sand for medicinal purposes. The earth system is collapsing from the
weight of the human species, it is clear to see that within a decade
everything which seems common and known will be gone and there will be a
heavy penalty to pay for the greed and the disrespect shown to the
earth.
I wandered into the airport, got the passport stamped out of Indonesia, checked in and received my boarding pass and was soon flying to Kuala Lumpur. The 3 1/2 hour flight went quickly and I got lost in music, something which I have not done in many months, scrolling through the photos I have made not only on this trip but also from the ones made in 2012, comparing the same places with a 7 year gap pressed between the leaves. There was a 2 hour wait in Lumpur and I was startled to see the majority of females wearing head coverings. Arrived in Saigon without a problem, my seatmate was a middle aged Vietnamese woman who told me she now lives in China and she was returning to Vietnam to visit her sons. She was pleased to find out I was heading into Nha Trang because that is where she grew up, her "home town". She told me that her son ran a cafe called the Snow Panda in Nha Trang, and she pulled up pictures of it on her phone to show me and recommended I visit.
I was starting to feel winded when I got off the plane in Saigon and it did not help when I saw long snaking lines of people waiting at passport/immigration. From what I had read there was supposed to be a separate desk for the e-visa and I saw a side line for "visa application" which I interpreted to either mean applying for a visa for the unprepared people who showed up in Vietnam without one, or where one shows the e-visa printout and is granted a visa. I was not sure which one it could be and to guess wrong would add perhaps an hour to trying to get to the other side of the airport. I asked a European-looking guy in front of me if this was the line for people who had an e-visa printout and he looked at me like I had two heads and did not say a word, then an Asian fellow next to him said "e-visa, yes, right line", so I waited 30 minutes and when I was getting close to the front of the line I was watching the 20-30 people sitting off to the side, apparently waiting for visa approval which made me think that I was in the wrong line since I had already paid for my visa and these people when their names were called were forking over $25 US dollars. I passed a white guy who had a USA accent and when I heard that he was from New York I tapped him on the shoulder and asked if this was the e-visa line and he said "unfortunately yes" so I felt the odds of my having chosen correctly had gone up but when I reached the window the man looked at my e-visa printout with eyes askew and said "wrong line, go over there" and I looked over there and and it was a longer line than the one I had just waited 45 minutes in, so by this time I was thinking back to my first arrival in Bangkok in 2012 when I had a similar experience of being continually rejected and having to fill and refill paperwork. What I was smiling about though is I have further developed my ability to cultivate positive energy in the midst of negative karma and so I just follow one of the goals of this trip, the final of 8 - Let Go - so I stood in line patiently, even letting go of the concern of missing my 8:00pm flight to Nha Trang and when I reached the front of the line after waiting a further 30 minutes I was convinced I was going to be rejected and told to go somewhere else and the officer gave me a glare and was speaking in Vietnamese and I wondered was he talking to me but I said nothing expecting him to point his finger but instead I heard the wonderful click clack and my visa got the stamp of approval and I was now officially in Vietnam and by this time my head was droopy due to low blood sugar due to not having eaten anything for the day but I still had a few tasks to complete, the first one being to find an atm machine and try spinning the bank roulette wheel to see if it landed on 00 like it did in Indonesia, but my luck was holding and I was able to score 3,000,000d and then due to low brain functioning I could not calculate in my head if 3,000,000d was going to last more than a day or two so I took out my laptop and turned it on so that I could use the calculator and I was surprised to see that 3,000,000d is equivalent to $129 while my in-head calculation had it at $50. I was going to do a second withdrawal for 8,000,000d but that would would have been a mistake because I would have gotten stuck with dong money on my way out of Vietnam but at the last moment clarity prevailed and I knew I was not thinking clearly so I canceled the transaction, thank goodness.
I now had to find the domestic terminal to catch my 8:00pm flight to Nha Trang, and I wandered to gate 21 and sat down and dozed off for a few minutes and then I saw three cafes but the tables were filled and I did not want to have to navigate paying in dong for the first time while under the influence of a tired mind. I saw a gift shop in the distance and decided to buy a bread roll and a package of wafer cookies along with a small can of pineapple juice, and within 30 minutes of consuming all three I felt more lively and clear headed and soon after was flying to Nha Trang and when the plane landed I knew getting out of the airport was going to be easy because I had already cleared immigration back in Saigon but the choice which I had to confront was whether to take a taxi for 400,000d ($17.50) or try to locate a bus which supposedly took one to the old Nha Trang airport and from there take a short taxi ride. The bus idea seemed a bit risky but by this point of my four month journey I am beginning to embrace "safe risk" with an ever widening latitude due to my increased confidence not in myself but in the spirit of things which I sense comes closer the closer I get to the edge of danger and the trick is not to go too far out too fast because then the spirit won't have time to catch up and then one is left to hang in the air without a strong supporting hand. As I walked out of the airport I saw the bus stand and recognized the bus ticket woman from the you tube video I had watched a couple of days ago of someone buying the bus ticket and so I decided to take the risk of a night time bus ride into an unknown city because my day had gone by so slowly, and yet covered so much distance, and I sensed the spirit was intrigued by what I was doing and so tagging along to give me a hand should I need it. I paid 50,000d ($2.20) for the 25 mile ride into town, which is a staggering low sum, and when it appeared that we had reached the center of Nha Trang and I saw the only other European vacationers getting off I decided this would be better than getting off at an "old airport", I may even be close to my hotel for all I knew. So there I am standing in the middle of Nha Trang on a Friday night and there are party happy people and music and colored lights and just like so many other times when I am out on the edge of the unknown the hand approaches and guides me to where it wants me to go, and tonight the hand was attached to the handle bars of a bicycle tuk tuk, I locked eyes with the driver and he stopped, turned the bike around and I walked over to him and he spoke no English and I showed him my hand written notes of where I wanted to go and he nodded and pulled out a 100,000d ($4.40) note to indicate the cost of the ride and I wondered how far away am I from the hotel, what if this guy has to pedal 5 miles up a hill? I agreed to his price and as he drove up and down the street I was inhaling the warm air which was not as stifling and humid as Bali and so I was well prepared for this and I smiled as we slowly covered the ground and after three blocks he pointed and I thought that the guiding hand was having a laugh at my expense, that what I had agreed to was a three block pleasure ride for 100,000d and now I was going to have to get out and find a taxi with 4 wheels to get to my hotel but as I shook my head no, this is not it, the steady hand pointed ahead and I looked again and there it was, the Azura Hotel, the bus had dropped me three blocks from my hotel but due to my severe blindness of the new I had no way of finding it without the help of a guiding hand and I gladly paid the driver along with a tip of 20,000d to say thank you to the spirit who watches the solitary traveler and as I walked to the threshold of the hotel, tired, weary, hungry, I laughed at the irony of having paid $2.20 for a 25 mile bus trip and $5.25 for a three block tricycle ride.
I wandered into the airport, got the passport stamped out of Indonesia, checked in and received my boarding pass and was soon flying to Kuala Lumpur. The 3 1/2 hour flight went quickly and I got lost in music, something which I have not done in many months, scrolling through the photos I have made not only on this trip but also from the ones made in 2012, comparing the same places with a 7 year gap pressed between the leaves. There was a 2 hour wait in Lumpur and I was startled to see the majority of females wearing head coverings. Arrived in Saigon without a problem, my seatmate was a middle aged Vietnamese woman who told me she now lives in China and she was returning to Vietnam to visit her sons. She was pleased to find out I was heading into Nha Trang because that is where she grew up, her "home town". She told me that her son ran a cafe called the Snow Panda in Nha Trang, and she pulled up pictures of it on her phone to show me and recommended I visit.
I was starting to feel winded when I got off the plane in Saigon and it did not help when I saw long snaking lines of people waiting at passport/immigration. From what I had read there was supposed to be a separate desk for the e-visa and I saw a side line for "visa application" which I interpreted to either mean applying for a visa for the unprepared people who showed up in Vietnam without one, or where one shows the e-visa printout and is granted a visa. I was not sure which one it could be and to guess wrong would add perhaps an hour to trying to get to the other side of the airport. I asked a European-looking guy in front of me if this was the line for people who had an e-visa printout and he looked at me like I had two heads and did not say a word, then an Asian fellow next to him said "e-visa, yes, right line", so I waited 30 minutes and when I was getting close to the front of the line I was watching the 20-30 people sitting off to the side, apparently waiting for visa approval which made me think that I was in the wrong line since I had already paid for my visa and these people when their names were called were forking over $25 US dollars. I passed a white guy who had a USA accent and when I heard that he was from New York I tapped him on the shoulder and asked if this was the e-visa line and he said "unfortunately yes" so I felt the odds of my having chosen correctly had gone up but when I reached the window the man looked at my e-visa printout with eyes askew and said "wrong line, go over there" and I looked over there and and it was a longer line than the one I had just waited 45 minutes in, so by this time I was thinking back to my first arrival in Bangkok in 2012 when I had a similar experience of being continually rejected and having to fill and refill paperwork. What I was smiling about though is I have further developed my ability to cultivate positive energy in the midst of negative karma and so I just follow one of the goals of this trip, the final of 8 - Let Go - so I stood in line patiently, even letting go of the concern of missing my 8:00pm flight to Nha Trang and when I reached the front of the line after waiting a further 30 minutes I was convinced I was going to be rejected and told to go somewhere else and the officer gave me a glare and was speaking in Vietnamese and I wondered was he talking to me but I said nothing expecting him to point his finger but instead I heard the wonderful click clack and my visa got the stamp of approval and I was now officially in Vietnam and by this time my head was droopy due to low blood sugar due to not having eaten anything for the day but I still had a few tasks to complete, the first one being to find an atm machine and try spinning the bank roulette wheel to see if it landed on 00 like it did in Indonesia, but my luck was holding and I was able to score 3,000,000d and then due to low brain functioning I could not calculate in my head if 3,000,000d was going to last more than a day or two so I took out my laptop and turned it on so that I could use the calculator and I was surprised to see that 3,000,000d is equivalent to $129 while my in-head calculation had it at $50. I was going to do a second withdrawal for 8,000,000d but that would would have been a mistake because I would have gotten stuck with dong money on my way out of Vietnam but at the last moment clarity prevailed and I knew I was not thinking clearly so I canceled the transaction, thank goodness.
I now had to find the domestic terminal to catch my 8:00pm flight to Nha Trang, and I wandered to gate 21 and sat down and dozed off for a few minutes and then I saw three cafes but the tables were filled and I did not want to have to navigate paying in dong for the first time while under the influence of a tired mind. I saw a gift shop in the distance and decided to buy a bread roll and a package of wafer cookies along with a small can of pineapple juice, and within 30 minutes of consuming all three I felt more lively and clear headed and soon after was flying to Nha Trang and when the plane landed I knew getting out of the airport was going to be easy because I had already cleared immigration back in Saigon but the choice which I had to confront was whether to take a taxi for 400,000d ($17.50) or try to locate a bus which supposedly took one to the old Nha Trang airport and from there take a short taxi ride. The bus idea seemed a bit risky but by this point of my four month journey I am beginning to embrace "safe risk" with an ever widening latitude due to my increased confidence not in myself but in the spirit of things which I sense comes closer the closer I get to the edge of danger and the trick is not to go too far out too fast because then the spirit won't have time to catch up and then one is left to hang in the air without a strong supporting hand. As I walked out of the airport I saw the bus stand and recognized the bus ticket woman from the you tube video I had watched a couple of days ago of someone buying the bus ticket and so I decided to take the risk of a night time bus ride into an unknown city because my day had gone by so slowly, and yet covered so much distance, and I sensed the spirit was intrigued by what I was doing and so tagging along to give me a hand should I need it. I paid 50,000d ($2.20) for the 25 mile ride into town, which is a staggering low sum, and when it appeared that we had reached the center of Nha Trang and I saw the only other European vacationers getting off I decided this would be better than getting off at an "old airport", I may even be close to my hotel for all I knew. So there I am standing in the middle of Nha Trang on a Friday night and there are party happy people and music and colored lights and just like so many other times when I am out on the edge of the unknown the hand approaches and guides me to where it wants me to go, and tonight the hand was attached to the handle bars of a bicycle tuk tuk, I locked eyes with the driver and he stopped, turned the bike around and I walked over to him and he spoke no English and I showed him my hand written notes of where I wanted to go and he nodded and pulled out a 100,000d ($4.40) note to indicate the cost of the ride and I wondered how far away am I from the hotel, what if this guy has to pedal 5 miles up a hill? I agreed to his price and as he drove up and down the street I was inhaling the warm air which was not as stifling and humid as Bali and so I was well prepared for this and I smiled as we slowly covered the ground and after three blocks he pointed and I thought that the guiding hand was having a laugh at my expense, that what I had agreed to was a three block pleasure ride for 100,000d and now I was going to have to get out and find a taxi with 4 wheels to get to my hotel but as I shook my head no, this is not it, the steady hand pointed ahead and I looked again and there it was, the Azura Hotel, the bus had dropped me three blocks from my hotel but due to my severe blindness of the new I had no way of finding it without the help of a guiding hand and I gladly paid the driver along with a tip of 20,000d to say thank you to the spirit who watches the solitary traveler and as I walked to the threshold of the hotel, tired, weary, hungry, I laughed at the irony of having paid $2.20 for a 25 mile bus trip and $5.25 for a three block tricycle ride.
Day 88
Woke at dawn and
packed my bag, left two of my books behind (Maugham and Krishnamurti)
and cleaned the room a bit. When I walked the trash bag out to the
disposal area I surprisingly saw the owner of the apartment, Eka,
emerge from one of the units, she had been waiting for me because she
had in her hand a bottle of water and some food to give to me for my
day’s journey. I accepted the water but told her I did not need the
food. I have an impression that she had been hoping to create a
friendship which unfortunately I have trouble reciprocating with most
people I meet. Not only do I feel a barrier which is hard enough to
transgress but the way I live my life is so far from how an average
person views reality that the gap is too wide to bridge. I spent
many moments this month trying to figure out a way to repay Eka’s
kindness and the main idea which appeared, inviting her to lunch, is
something which gives me no pleasure and once I start making
compromises in order to bond with someone it won’t be long before
the connection breaks. The only people I would care to be friends
with are one’s whom I sense live similarly to me. There is also
the fact that I love my own company and even though I appear to have
an ease with the written word, both reading and writing, speaking is
tiresome and it is easy to say something which offends and insults
someone without being aware of it. Why bother unless it is a
necessity. And so I try to act as kindly to people as I can and the
only thing someone could say of my not being pleasant is that I
prefer to walk alone rather than in the company of others. Eka has no
clue this is the reality I have created for myself and so while she
may have been left with an odd impression of disappointment, I am
hoping she feels that it is nothing personal and that friendship in
this hell of a world is a rare thing to come into possession of.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Day 87
Woke up before the birds and was out on the beach path as the sun began its morning creep, ran slow and steady and tried my best to remain focused in the moment and not think too hard about this most likely being my final run in Bali and I almost went the full out and back, stopping at the 8 mile marker. When I returned to the apartment I soaked in the pool for 30 minutes and then realized running 8 miles was going to make me suffer hunger throughout the day because I only had 100,000ir left to spend for food, which would only get me 1 restaurant meal and a drink so I decided to instead buy pasta from pepito and have two pasta meals to fill my caloric needs.
Below budget this week even with the $14 taxi ride which I will be paying tomorrow. Throughout my 28 days in Bali I daily saw a tour guide named Vincent whose street office was one block from where I was staying. He was good at the hard sell and I had trouble resisting his efforts to get me to go to Mt Batur, but in spite of my constant rebuffs he continued to greet me with a smile and today when I informed him tomorrow would be my final day in Bali we worked out that he would drive me to the airport for 200,000ir, I know this is overpaying by 40-60k but since I left myself with 200k I don't see why I should not give it all to Vincent because I won't be able to use any remaining rupiah once I leave Bali.
Below budget this week even with the $14 taxi ride which I will be paying tomorrow. Throughout my 28 days in Bali I daily saw a tour guide named Vincent whose street office was one block from where I was staying. He was good at the hard sell and I had trouble resisting his efforts to get me to go to Mt Batur, but in spite of my constant rebuffs he continued to greet me with a smile and today when I informed him tomorrow would be my final day in Bali we worked out that he would drive me to the airport for 200,000ir, I know this is overpaying by 40-60k but since I left myself with 200k I don't see why I should not give it all to Vincent because I won't be able to use any remaining rupiah once I leave Bali.
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Day 86
Quiet day, got up late and walked to Mertasari for exercises, then walked to Sindu beach for a 6 mile out and back hike. In the evening I jumped in the pool and soaked for 30 minutes.
Tomorrow will be my final run in Bali, and Friday morning I leave for Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Tomorrow will be my final run in Bali, and Friday morning I leave for Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Day 85
Yes, I did it. Was running the streets of Sanur at 1:45am with the dogs and the toads and the shrouded sea. I brought the headlamp along and I needed it for some points on the beach path, at Sindhu Beach I turned off and went to Danau Tamblingan Rd which leads back to the apartment, for the 2 miles back I saw only a few dogs whom I had to charm with a smile because the solitary darkness is their domain and they guard it with an admirable bravado. Total run was 4.25 miles and as I walked the mile home a man on a scooter stopped at my side and asked if I wanted young pussy. I laughed and said I was too old to get it up, he laughed and tried to convince me I was virile enough to manage the young girls he was offering, but I waved him on and when I got to the apartment I stripped down to my swimming trunks and swam in the pool outside my door for 30 minutes, soaking in the warm water, watching the 3/4 moon obscured by the ever present toxic filler and when I got out of the water I felt young and strong, such an odd feeling to have, contradicting the reality of the physical body but I was not going to puncture the momentary bubble of illusion, I was netted in a thick dream state where anything goes and indeed I have had a certain dream recurring for years of being in a foreign city, walking and running the unfamiliar streets, who could dream up such a scenario but the infinite mind which has the eternal stars to draw from for its inspiration and so why not be in Bali running the streets at 2:30am under a moon which cannot be stolen.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Day 84
Quite a full day on the bookends, and an odd one in between. Got up at dawn and brought the camera on my walk and made a few photos. In the afternoon the electricity went out and the good thing about that is it forced me out in the late afternoon due to no circulation in the apartment and I wandered to Mertasari Beach to take in the sunset. By the time I got back the electricity was still out and I decided instead of laying in bed sweltering I would head out and buy take out Chinese food, by the time I got back it was raining and I sat down with my food on the porch eating. My neighbor soon appeared and I asked her to text the owner of the apartment but my neighbor apparently was aware of my problem and she was able to restore the electricity by manually resetting the switch box which is located outside my kitchen window. It was a relief to get the air con back on and the fridge leaked water but all I have in there is juice and water so no big losses. I was happy that I had brought along for this trip a headlamp which I use for night running, I figured there was a chance at some point on this journey that I would be caught without electricity.
And now as I write this it is quite late, almost 1:00am, and I am tempted to head out for a night run with the headlamp - such a memorable thing to do, the solitude of the darkness, my body working hard, in rhythm with the back and forth of the sea. Will I do it?
And now as I write this it is quite late, almost 1:00am, and I am tempted to head out for a night run with the headlamp - such a memorable thing to do, the solitude of the darkness, my body working hard, in rhythm with the back and forth of the sea. Will I do it?
The Front Side of the Day
The Back Side of the Day
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