Just try it for three days....

Epi is not working in the internet cafe now. I miss her. There is a strange little girl who has been here the past few times I've been here. I think Epi might be visiting her family. I do hope she comes back. This girl kind of gets on my nerves. She seems very skittish and even though I've been here three times when she has been working, she still looks at me kind of confused. "Oh, you want internet?" - yeah, why else would I be in an internet cafe!

I rented a motorbike today. Big Made rented it to me. He said it is new. We went to his house to get it. He showed me his studio and his paintings and I bought a small painting for 200,000 rupiah (abt. $20.00) - framed with a really nice frame. It seems like quite a deal as the painting is full of minute details and the frame is quite nice.

He told me he is not supposed to bring guests from the hotel there. His boss gets mad. I asked him again who his boss is, and he told me his cousin. Then he told me some story about losing money last night. His son has a masters in economics or something and is in Denpassar. It involved something about him selling his rice field to an American but for some reason he did not get the money last night. I couldn't follow it. He said his son was very sad. Then he said he got a loan from someone and got the money.

I think it was supposed to be some sort of sob story that would inspire me to help him. I'm pretty dull when it comes to hints. In this case, I am glad. If he had asked me directly for money, I would have felt bad saying no.

After I bought the painting his other son (? maybe) wheeled the motorbike (it's actually a scooter) out into the alley and together he and Big Made showed me how to use it. Turn this, hold this, do this, and there. I didn't get it. Show me again? Turn this, hold this, do this. How to I make it go forward?

They didn't understand my question.

Turns out you turn the handle thing. I got on and shakily made my way down the alley to Hanoman Street knowing they were watching me chuckling as I kind of wobbled back and forth.

I didn't go very far, just to the hotel, where I parked the thing and went into my room to recover a bit. As I was getting my key, Ketut, saw the helmut.

"Oh, you rented a motorbike?"

I swear, nothing escapes anyone here.

Yes, I told him.

Where will you go?

I want to go to the countryside.

He pulled out a big map of the area and showed me a road I could go. Saying names like Pulupaga, Penestago, Perepere, I don't really know what names he was saying, but they were going right over my head. I was still shaken from the 2 minute ride from Big Made's to the hotel.

I could see that the road he was pointing out was a pretty direct route from Ubud Main Road. I thought I could handle it. He told me I could see rice fields from there.

And so I set off.

As I was leaving, Big Made was returning. "Take the back roads", he said.

Huh?

"Take the back roads."

I was not sure what this was about.

When I told him I didn't have a motorcycle license, he kind of smiled and said "no problem". When I told him my driver's license was expired, he gave me the same smile, and said, "no problem".

Now, I was thinking perhaps it was a problem. Why was he telling me to take the back roads? What back roads?

I ignored him, as I am deciding is the best thing to do with him, because I am beginning to believe he is full of shit.

I successfully made it to Ubud Main Road, negotiated a turn across traffic, came to the big statue, and turned left. From there, I passed through endless row after row of shops selling all kinds of stuff that you see in central Ubud. Statues, mosaics, pottery, wind chimes, mosquito nets, hammocks, etc. It went on and on forever. I could not believe how many people were employed in making and selling this stuff. I didn't see a lot of people buying it, but I guess they do or it would not be there for sale, right?

Finally, I saw the rice fields. They were magnificent. I am hoping to upload a picture to this blog entry when I go for dinner (in a place with WiFi) so I won't describe them much. By then the traffic had thinned out and I was able to cross the road, park my motorbike and pull out my camera to take a picture. In those few instants, I don't know where they came from, but I was surrounded by a throng.

First a woman came with the "best bananas in Bali". She unwrapped the peel on one and stuck it in my mouth. "Here, try it", she said.

It was okay. I don't know why I gave in, but I bought a small bunch for 10,000 rp. ($1.00) probably way more than they were worth.

This only encouraged the throng like throwing bread to a flock of seagulls.

Next, this woman tried to sell me another bunch, while another woman tried putting a sarong around me and a third was trying to get me to look at her, but I was too busy fighting the effort to put this sarong on me and waving away the banana lady.

I was able to figure out how to unlock the compartment under my seat and I stuck the bananas in there, while the throng insisted. Buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this. Really, they were like seagulls, insitent and no amount of shooing would discourage them.

I walked down some steps and only the banana lady followed (luckily).

As I tried to take a photo of the rice fields, she went on.

"Very old rice field, papa. New rice. Old rice, papa." I had no idea what she was talking about. Then she pulled out a collection of postcards. She showed me a picture of what I was looking at. "Buy postcard papa". "No," I said, "I want my own pictures." I think she was determined to make sure I didn't get my own pictures though. I was waiting for her to step in front of the camera. She continued. "Only twenty thousand rupiah, papa....only ten thousand rupiah papa...one dollar." Why was she calling me papa? She was older than me. Her face was smeared with this white powder that made her look ghostly and made her yellow teeth look even yellower. I imagined she must have been pretty in her youth. She wasn't looking too hot now though. The yellow was probably from chewing betel nut or something.

I only took a few photos and climbed the stairs with her following me. The woman with the sarong was waiting. She held it out. "One dollar". The banana lady continued. I hopped on my motorbike and was thankful I had started to master the art of getting it started. I whizzed off, leaving them to jump on the next person to stop.

There was a sign that the road was closed and even though people were still going along it, I was afraid of being pulled over by the police, so I took a side road. I noticed a small parking area with a view of more rice fields. As soon as I pulled in, they appeared, like zombies, or flies on shit. Where did they come from and how did they find me so quickly?

A woman came with the same set of postcards. "No", I said, repeatedly. "No, thank you." I smiled, but she was not smiling. She just kept saying, "Ten thousand rupiah" (after starting at 20,000 and working her way down).

Down below an old man appeared with a pole with two wicker buckets. In them were green grasses, maybe from the rice field. It was very photogenic. He knew it.

"Take a picture?", he asked, in his toothless grin.

I was sure the photo came with a price, and I preferred my photos unposed and free. "No, thank you," I said.

He eventually returned to the shack he came out of where he was working on a large wood carving of some god or other.

The woman with the post cards did not give up. I guess many people give in. It's only a dollar. I could use post cards, I guess they think, but I was not giving in on principle. They were annoying and I didn't want to encourage them, for the same reason I don't feed sea gulls or pigeons.

I finally left, going further up the road until it began to narrow and I did not have any idea where I was going. When a big truck came along behind me, taking up most of the road and forcing me off to the thin shoulder, I decided it was time to turn around.

Back I went, past the woman with the post cards and the man carving wood, past the banana lady and the sarong lady and several others who had crowded around a blond woman on a motorcycle, past the many shops, that went on forever.

I was thinking of going to Wayan's for lunch. The woman from Eat, Pray, Love, has a little shop on the same road as Matahari. I turned down that street, but I could not go slow enough to see her shop. I passed it and didn't want to turn around. Another day, I thought, when I am walking.

I pulled up to my hotel and Big Made was outside.

"Dangerous", I said.

He just smiled.

"I don't like it," I told him, "I want to rent a bicycle."

This I had decided on my way back from the rice field.

A bike was all I needed. I wanted some form of transport to get around Ubud and maybe go for an early morning ride. I needed exercise, and I wanted to avoid all of the offers for "taxi? transport? maybe tomorrow??" If I had a bike, I could go further than I can on foot.

"Do you have a bicycle?", I asked him.

"No", he said.

"No?"

"No."

He had told me before he could get me a bike. When I asked how much, he said, 30,000 rp per day. A motorbike was 40,000 rp.

I got the scooter because it was only 10,000 more and it seemed like it would be fun.

When I was in Sumatra, me and my friend Nancy rented scooters. We had a blast, and went all over the island in the middle of Lake Toba. It was incredible. People ran to the road to say, "hello!!!" and we were the only ones on the road for most of our riding.

Here, it is different. If people yell, "hello", they are trying to sell something and there is a lot of traffic. It wasn't as much fun as I thought, nor was the countryside as beaufitul as I thought. If I see the countryside, it will be on the back of my personal assistant, Made's motorbike, or in a tour bus. I don't feel comfortable doing it on my own.

I told Big Made I didn't want the motorbike.

I want to change to a bicycle, I told him.

"Just try it for three days," he answered.

Three days?

This guy was beginning to get on my nerves. I really didn't want it for three days. I wanted to return it and get a bike. But I am guessing he doesn't have a bike for rent and can't make money, but he will be happy if I pay him 120,000 rp. for three days rental, so I will do that. I don't think the bike will grow on me in three days, but I do think I will be a bit wiser in my dealings with Big Made who looks like a walrus dressed up in a sarong.