Meanwhile ....Back in bali

So flew back to Bali via Brisbane, made an error with the Brisbane hotel as it was just an ibis budget hotel for one night & it’s was miles out of the city & as I had to be back at the airport for 7 am I didn’t get the opportunity to see any of Brisbane really ....arrived in to Bali on Thursday 15 th March, booked a beautiful one bed private villa with my own pool as I knew that on Saturday 17th it was Nyepi day ( Bali silent day for the Hindu new year ) . The airport is closed for 24 hours and no lights are allowed on at all, there is a strict curfew from 6 am sat to 6 am sun, not allowed to leave the hotel , not allowed to talk or make any noise , police roam the streets to enforce this ...I was looking forward to experiencing this, the first night & build up to this was lovely ...it’s so private & quiet as the Balinese were preparing all the rituals & ceremonies for the day before silent day ...lighting loads of incense & building effigies called Ogah Ogah which are scary looking monsters which they burn like our guy fawkes & they believe any evil spirits will be warded off for the next 12months.
The children are all in traditional dress etc, so when I awoke on Saturday morning I settled down at my pool for 24 hours of silence & solitude ....around midday something caught my eye in the tree directly opposite my sun bed & to my horror I realised it was a bright green long skinny snake ! I flew in to my room & dialled reception, no one answered (as it’s their day of silence & not supposed to talk )..... I ran up to the security guard at the entrance & was shaking & told him , he was very good as he was not supposed to talk for 24 hours & summoned up 3 young blokes with sticks who were climbing up the trees & shaking them etc but in the time it took for me to summon help the snake was no where to be seen !

By now I’m on the verge of tears, there are massive gaps under my doors & I was terrified ..... they left me to it in the end & just said it’s gone !
As you can imagine my day was ruined, I couldn’t relax, I had a few large vodkas & sat with my back to the wall where I had a view of everywhere ! ...as the day went on I was getting more confident that it had gone ( or that could have been the vodka ! )
But as night drew in & it got dark this was the worst bit as they turned off all the hotel lights in the gardens ...everywhere ...I’ve never known such dark the whole of the island is pitch black ...all I was allowed was the bedside lamp on providing I kept my curtains drawn tight ....this is where my mind started to work overtime ...I watched tv on iPad until midnight then took sleeping pills ...slept until 6 am ....& somehow got through a terrifying evening !
I was due to check out of the villa on Monday 19 th but I have just booked a room for tonight in the hotel I am going to tomorrow until Friday where I have stayed before & I feel a lot happier as no outside bathroom there & the beds are up some stairs etc.....this could have only happened to me ! All the time I’ve been to Australia & have only seen one dead snake on the road....I’m off to pack now ....& being very careful what I pick up from where 😱🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍Read more