I did not get a proper chance to say farewell to Busbee as he was off exploring Ubud and it's countryside. So I bid him adieu in a note, knowing that he was staying at Graha Ubud for another week or so, and headed out.
My motor scooter guy, Cede, dropped by around 10:30, while I was having my breakfast, to pick up the bike. I told him I'd probably be done by 1, but that I had a few more errands to do. He said, "no later or pay more". I ignored the comment because my contract said 4pm and I figured I'd be done by 1 ... Of course I wasn't.
We met at Lala Lili's in Shane's palatial Bungalow and upon arrival discovered a barely awake and tore up Aussie. So I left to get petrol while he took care of packing and waking, and Ali took care of lounging at the pool.
I was done by 1 and on my way back to Shane's when I run into Cede ... He yells, "hey, hey it's 1". I give him the "be right back shortly sign" and press on. By the time I arrive, they are ready to roll, so I tell them to meet me at a cafe near the drop off for the bike. On my way back I decide I'm going to film myself hgile riding the scooter. Bad idea! Attempting to hold the camera while accelerating resulted in me falling into a ditch and burning my leg on the exhaust. It was not too bad, though my pride hurt much worse than the burn. Here's the video from that fall...
So when I meet up with Cede at 1:30, he asks me what time it is - cheeky little fellow. And he then says you must pay more. I then return the quip and ask him what did the contract say? 4pm. He conceded and I won. Then Quickly walked away and hit up a convenience store for betadine, to clean the leg, and hit up the cafe to upload the blog.
They arrive, we head off on our first leg ... with an extra visitor. We call this hairy saucer-dish-sized eight legged arachnid Syd, and though I had not seen our fellow traveler, I was aware of his location about 2 inches below Ali's balls, under the drivers seat. We tried to catch a rooster and some stray cats to feed him, but were never quite quick enough.
First stop, the rice fields. As I exited to take photos, the local band of postcard pushers ranging in age from 5 to 8, stopped by. "Special Price for you, 1 for 15,000, 2 for 40,000, 3 for 100,000". I think they were going the wrong way with their math. At the base of the steps, where you capture the picturesque hillside, sweet old men try to sell you palm weaves hats, and I think to myself - where the heck am I going to put that for the next few months of travel. I politely decline. Return through the salesman, back into the car, and we were off to Padangbai. It's a sleepy fishing villiage and deep water port for everything being exported and imported into Bali. It's also where you catch the slow boat over to Lombok and the Gili islands. 
The lady at Padangbai 2 hotel tries and sell us on 2 rooms with queen beds for 200,000 ... Not sure which 2 of us she thinks wants to bed together, but really? We'd like 3 rooms please and will only pay 210k, which is agreed to. Head off to eat and stuffed myself good plus dessert to boot for $7.After our meal, the theme was ARAK! We found a restaurant serving Arak mixed drinks for 15k, cheap cheap, and these were not the normal ones ... really really strong ones. I had 2 and was lit.
Then it was Kinky Reggae Bar time! I won a "get lucky" drink, Ali hit on an old Swedish couple, Shane kept himself and us amused all night with his shock-trick lighter. The bar closed, we wandered the empty streets, took a dip in the sea and made it to bed before 1am. Nite nite from the iPhone blogger
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