Balinese adventures!

So I'm back from Bali - but not back at work today as I should be (spoiler alert). Today, instead, I went to work, not in scrubs and my stethescope to the 13th floor ward, but in pants and a tshirt to the 1st floor outpatient clinic.

Let me start from the beginning. . . and let me say how much I hate the phrase "let me start from the beginning." I digress. Friday morning before I went to work last week I started to feel strange, but thought, what the hey, I'll be fine! WRONG. Anywho, went on my merry way to work and started to feel dizzy and achey. Decided I probably shouldn't be breathing my dizziness onto all the immunocompromised patients so I decided to tell the nurses. So I'm Jewish and have a family that tends to - let's call it - worry a tad. When I told the nurses that I was feeling a bit sick, they flew into a frenzy that made my family look like a neglectful foster family; they made me see a doctor within two minutes. Keep in mind these are the docs that I work with on a daily basis as equals. Not too excited to rip my clothes off for them to poke and prod. Ya kinda lose your professional edge a wee bit with your pants down (so many jokes to insert there, so little time).

So I saw the doc and said I probably had the beginning of some type of viral or bacterial infection (I am not going into the details here to save my dignity) and to take antibiotics with me on my trip that I was leaving for that evening. He sent me home and I was happy to get a nap in before the plane ride.

I go home and start feeling the downward spiral. I get into bed and wake up drenched in sweat and take my fever and it's sky-high. I guess I must have spiked and broke within that one nap period. I thought it was a good thing - that it might be over. WRONG. I called the doc and he said to start the meds now and be careful on the trip. Okay.

We leave with "plenty" of time to make the plane and on the way there encountered some traffic. I wasn't even worried about the traffic; I was preoccupied with keeping my fever down enough so that Singapore didn't hang me when I came through the temperature guns at customs. We got to the airport at 7 and our plane took off at 7:25. Problem? Yes. We run into the check-in counter and they tell us that it's too late to check-in. I probably should have realized that I'm in Southeast Asia and not America when I start yelling at them that they should have told us that when we purchased the tickets. Not how you get people to pull strings for you here. I should have asked me that if he needed his shoes polished or a massage with a wink. I took the wrong road and he quickly said "if you are nasty I will not help you at all." That is when I stepped back and let Liz handle the rest because clearly she is Asian and clearly the man hated me. Luckily they decided to help Liz (and I just so happened to be tied to her) get there on time. They threw a 19 year old boy at us to literately run us through customs and through the whole airport to the correct terminal. He kept yelling at us "Are you okay? Can you run?" I would try to respond through gasps for air, "Yes! and aren't we already doing that?!" We got to the terminal and onto the plane by 7:24. Stupid Americans giving Americans a bad name. Late, lazy fatties. Woopsies.

We arrived to Bali on time with minimal turbulance. I was so worried about being quarrantined at the Denpasar airport overnight that I might have taken 12 fever reducers in the last half hour of the plane ride. Denpasar airport: not so much like Singapore airport. The temperature check was someone standing at a screen that allowed herds of people to cross at a time. Singapore they individually screen each person. I hid behind a fat temperate lady and was home-free.

Our cab driver was reliably waiting for us and when we got in the cab asked what I did. I said a nurse and he said he could tell. He said I had a "face and soul that was the opposite of harsh." Sweet interesting man.

Our hotel was beautiful. It was all outdoors. The main "lobby" was a marble area with statues and flowers and a waterfall. Each villa had its own porch and they all made a square that kept the quarters of the resort very private. The inside of the grounds had lush vegetation, statues, waterfalls and prayer areas. We looked down towards the water and saw a beautiful pool that edged up right next to a white sand beach and a clear blue ocean inlet. The most beautiful place I've ever seen. We went to bed in hopes that I'd feel better in the morning and looking forward to a beautiful day.


I woke up feeling surprisingly okay. We ate breakfast (for me, a grand mistake), which was complimentary at the little eating area that was open to the ocean. We then took a spot at two lounge chairs on the beach and read, slept, talked with the woman selling sarongs, slept, read, and just tried to listen and take in the beauty of the moment. It really was the most beautiful beach I'd ever been to. The water started high up against the resort. By 2pm it receeded so much that you could wade in the water up to your knees out to another piece of land that was higher - a sort of island - and sit out there and turn around at the resort in the distance. I sat there for a while watching little boys catch crabs in the shallow water. As I was sitting on the beach I closed my eyes to get a better earful of what I was hearing. I heard the sound of the wind whizzing through my ears like some sort of deep string instrument; the whipping back and forth of the nearby flag like light drums; the predictibly repetitive sound of a bird's call in the trees above my head like a low oboe; the leaves of the plam trees brushing together like the wires vibrating and bouncing together on a snare drum.

We had a tourguide come pick us up that afternoon to take us to two cultural statues and to Uluwatu temple, one of Bali's six directional temples. It is perched above a steep cliff towering 70 meters above the crashing Indian Ocean waves. There are headlands on either side so you can view it from afar and climb right up to the temple. We did both. I really can't say I've been to a more amazing spot. It's hard to put into words. The monkeys, though, I'll discuss. They are so cute and run the temple grounds. You cannot wear earrings or sunglasses or anything shiny because they are little kniving theives. I walked up and saw a monkey with some poor man's sungalsses immediately and my earrings flew off and into my backpack immediately. They meant biz-nass. Here's the little bastard with his newly aquired Oakleys:


Once you have nothing for them to steal they are pretty darn cute. They were playing and throwing themselves down a hill. Watching them roll and get back up and do it again reminded me of children playing in the snow on a snow day. I wanted to grab one and put it in my backpack, but alas, the fear of rabies or some other disease won out.




The view from the edge of the cliff (don't worry mom, not too close) was breathtaking. I sat there and watched the sun set on the ocean and definitely left a picture of my dad on the rocks there. It was strange to see the waves crashing so far away below and hearing them like they were right next to me. The light on the water turns it completely black right before it sets and it reminds me of onyx just before the world goes purple. There are so many amazing things to see if you watch them carefully. The change from day to night is so subtle yet one of the most beautiful sights and most of us ignore it every day. It was hard to ignore when it is the show you came to see, and it was quite a show. I'll let the pictures do the talking (and they come without sarcasm and attempts at humor):


So here is when the illness comes back into play. After climbing the stairs to the temple, I felt MUCH worse. I felt like someone was turning up the heat and it wasn't stopping. I took my temp in the car and it was higher that it had been since I left from S'pore: 39C. Shit. We had the man take us to the Bali International Medical Center Hospital. Boy was he confused and boy was I terrified of handing myself over to a hospital in Bali. But my nurse instincts kicked in and I knew that I wasn't getting any better and needed fluids and some tests run. Damn you T and B cells for not doing your job (I was going to erase that out of sheer embarassment of nerdiness but some of the nursing readers might actually get a chuckle. So either way, laugh with or at me for that one)!

Long long long story short, I was admitted for dehydration, fever, stomach issues (details spared) and observation (remember - I'm white with red hair so I require that at all times. I just call it staring but whatev). My fever was so intense that night I was waking up in sweats and I couldn't eat or drink anything. I am just so glad I had my head on my shoulders filled with 13 months of nursing education to keep me safe. I walked in knowing that I knew what they should do for me and I'd understand if something wasn't right and I could deny it. It actually was not a bad Hospital at all. We left at 8am and I felt much better. My fever had come down and I actually had blood pumping in my veins again (I was so dehydrated - nursing kids this is for you - they had to keep me on a loading drip all night instead of switching me to a maintenance). I had to post this picture for the memory (although I'd rather forget most of that experience); keep in mind it is not posted for how attractive my hair or outfit is. Yeesh.



That day I slept all morning and then went out to the beach and pool for the rest of the day. We went to see a Balinese dance show that night and I sipped some soup and nibbled at some rice while Liz ate a huge meal of fish (full body of course) and chicken (we swear it was frog but they said chicken). They definitely thought I was a picky rude American who didn't want their food. The music was actually horribly annoying and the traditional Balinese dancers were creepy. Theyir bulging eyes and jerky movements were anything but a dance to me. But hey, we saw it and it's a must-do in Bali. I think I could have showed them up on stage with my moves but I'd probably pass out from malnutrition at that point in time and then we'd be back at the hospital and I was pretty much done with the sightseeing from the hospital bed for that trip.



Sunday we arranged for a guide to pick us up to take us to Tanah Lot temple. The ride was really long and went through small towns on winding bumpy roads. It was great to see these villages and the tiered rice fields that I had read about. It is hard to imagine how farmland can be so beautiful, but beauty really does touch everything in Bali. The vision of the women in their sharply pointed straw hats bending over the watery tiers in large fields of rice is something just as beautiful as a temple on the cliffs of the ocean, which is just as beautiful as the women with skin dark and thick as leather selling petrol for motorcyclists on backroads out of used absolut vodka bottles.

I had read about temples before we left and I really felt that Uluwatu and Tanah Lot were two that I had to see. I could have seen hundreds more and I wanted to climb a mountain and volcano but time was short so I stuck to the two temples that I knew would be amazingly beautiful. Tanah Lot is a rock formation off the coast and a temple is built on that rock; A priest in the 15th century built the temple to worship the sea gods. There are seven temples on the Balinese coast built for the sea gods. At Tanah Lot you can wade out to the temple through the waves. Again, it was so fantastic to see in person after seeing it in pictures. We waded out to the temple with the help of some hindu volunteers. I clutched my camera until my little fingers were blue while splashing from the land to the temple. Again, I'll let the camera do the talking but it was really worth the 1.5 hour ride there from the hotel.



Remeber how people ask to take pictures of me. At Tanah Lot it was OUT OF CONTROL. Liz took about seven pictures of seven different people posing with me. One family took a picture - one by one - with just me. So that they'd each have their own, of course. We actually left because it was getting too bothersome. It aint easy bein beautiful, let me tell ya. Right. Or looking like some strange flame-haired fairytale to pose with and then take the picture to school and tell the other kids that they came across a freak of nature that weekend. Nevertheless, a funny story. I'll definitely post those pictures once Liz uploads them to her computer. Brace yourself for how many there are.

We left and headed to the airport. We got there in plenty of time this time around. Almost 2.5 hours to be exact. We got to the counter and after some time told us that Singapore might not let us back in because we hadn't bought our flight out of Singapore yet and we're not on a work visa because we are students. Basically Singapore doesn't like free-loaders. After much discussion, we signed a paper stating that the airline is not responsible for what happens to us when we get to Singapore. He told us we might be sent back to Bali. Big problem for me? No. Big problem for finishing nursing school? Yes. So we ran all over that dang airport trying to find a flipping payphone that would call Singapore. You'd think that would be easy. All the phones called UK, Canada and the US. No one needs to call Singapore?!?!! It's a damn country and no one ever needs to call? I was a bit peeved to say the least. Finally we got in touch with our Nurse manager, got the whole mess settled and made it back to Singapore in once piece.

And that was Bali. Which brings me back to my day today. I woke up still feeling strange and had to get another IV line put in and fluids for a few hours. You should have seen the faces of the nurses and the doc who happily sent me away to Bali to be hospitalized there. They were so concerned it was embarassing. I assured them I was fine and it was worth it to go and be sick than to not have gone at all.

Feeling better now and so happy to have been to the most undeniably beautiful place I've ever been. I definitely will be back.