Tales from Traveller's Café
Jul 10, 2019 4:45:13 GMT
Post by questa on Jul 10, 2019 4:45:13 GMT
Do I have stories? Nine school exercise books which I kept as journals, as well as the books I had in the cafe for passing travellers to record their adventures.I planned to write a book one day so this might be a start.
A woman from New York came into the cafe and, as usual I went to chat with her. She was about 25 and when she learnt I was a nurse she asked for some help. She thought she was just pregnant but not sure if the father was her boyfriend in NY or her sweetie in Hawaii where she had just had 6 weeks holiday. We got out the calendar and did the calculations. She was disappointed when it seemed Mr NY won the race. She had no travel or health insurance and wanted to go to Guam where she had family.
I gave her the ante-natal pep talk which included "No tattoos, keep away from animals. Take it easy" etc she had not found a place to stay so I took her to the home-stay where I lived and she got a room there.
Later the owner of the home-stay invited a few of us to take a trip to a quiet beach and kick a beach ball around. Ms NY joined in playing as rough as the men and I noticed she had a brand new multi-coloured tattoo twining all over her lower back.
That evening she went to a disco with "a lovely boy" she had met who "gave her a fast ride on his motor bike."
Next morning she was up early as she wanted to walk to the Monkey Forest to see the monkeys being fed. I gave her the spiel about not feeding them and to stay clear as they are not tame and give a nasty bite. About an hour later a uniformed park ranger showed up to the cafe with a tearful Ms NY on the back of his motorbike. She protested,"I wasn't feeding them, I had a big curved leaf in the palm of my hand and was only giving the monkey some Coca-Cola to drink out of the leaf." When she tried to take the leaf away, the monkey grabbed her arm leaving some nasty scratches on it. The rangers had dressed the wounds and brought her to me. I told her fairly firmly to go home and rest as it was a hot day.
By now it was about 2-3pm and she passed me heading out of the town. She said she was just going to walk to the ancient village 4 km away. In spite of this being the hot time of day when those who can have a sleep, she had no hat, sunscreen or water. I suggested she make arrangements for her ticket to Guam which she had forgotten.
At this time I was looking after two other women, one with a severe dose of "Bali-Belly" and the other bruises and sore neck from a traffic accident.I was checking on them, delivering meals etc when one of the room boys from my home-stay rushed in, "Come quick, lady American...very sick."
There are dozens of cultural beliefs in Bali about blood but the overall theme is that it attracts all the bad spiritual forces and is always feared. I gave the boy some money and wrote a short list of things needed and sent him to get my cook, a mother of 2 little children. She was marvellous. First thing was to place several palm leaf offerings around the room to placate the bad energy, then sprinkled Holy water around. This really settled Ms NY and I was able to talk with her. There wasn't much blood and she said she always had bad tummy cramps each month.
The main problem now was getting her to the airport. It is an hour's drive and we had one and a half hours if traffic was light.I packed her bags while she showered and my cafe manager made up a Balinese "Take-away" chicken for her. We got to the airport with 10 minutes to spare and I have never been so happy to see an airplane take off.
In Bali men are not permitted to handle women's blood...it's a Hindu rule. Guess who had to do the room clean and washing?
A woman from New York came into the cafe and, as usual I went to chat with her. She was about 25 and when she learnt I was a nurse she asked for some help. She thought she was just pregnant but not sure if the father was her boyfriend in NY or her sweetie in Hawaii where she had just had 6 weeks holiday. We got out the calendar and did the calculations. She was disappointed when it seemed Mr NY won the race. She had no travel or health insurance and wanted to go to Guam where she had family.
I gave her the ante-natal pep talk which included "No tattoos, keep away from animals. Take it easy" etc she had not found a place to stay so I took her to the home-stay where I lived and she got a room there.
Later the owner of the home-stay invited a few of us to take a trip to a quiet beach and kick a beach ball around. Ms NY joined in playing as rough as the men and I noticed she had a brand new multi-coloured tattoo twining all over her lower back.
That evening she went to a disco with "a lovely boy" she had met who "gave her a fast ride on his motor bike."
Next morning she was up early as she wanted to walk to the Monkey Forest to see the monkeys being fed. I gave her the spiel about not feeding them and to stay clear as they are not tame and give a nasty bite. About an hour later a uniformed park ranger showed up to the cafe with a tearful Ms NY on the back of his motorbike. She protested,"I wasn't feeding them, I had a big curved leaf in the palm of my hand and was only giving the monkey some Coca-Cola to drink out of the leaf." When she tried to take the leaf away, the monkey grabbed her arm leaving some nasty scratches on it. The rangers had dressed the wounds and brought her to me. I told her fairly firmly to go home and rest as it was a hot day.
By now it was about 2-3pm and she passed me heading out of the town. She said she was just going to walk to the ancient village 4 km away. In spite of this being the hot time of day when those who can have a sleep, she had no hat, sunscreen or water. I suggested she make arrangements for her ticket to Guam which she had forgotten.
At this time I was looking after two other women, one with a severe dose of "Bali-Belly" and the other bruises and sore neck from a traffic accident.I was checking on them, delivering meals etc when one of the room boys from my home-stay rushed in, "Come quick, lady American...very sick."
There are dozens of cultural beliefs in Bali about blood but the overall theme is that it attracts all the bad spiritual forces and is always feared. I gave the boy some money and wrote a short list of things needed and sent him to get my cook, a mother of 2 little children. She was marvellous. First thing was to place several palm leaf offerings around the room to placate the bad energy, then sprinkled Holy water around. This really settled Ms NY and I was able to talk with her. There wasn't much blood and she said she always had bad tummy cramps each month.
The main problem now was getting her to the airport. It is an hour's drive and we had one and a half hours if traffic was light.I packed her bags while she showered and my cafe manager made up a Balinese "Take-away" chicken for her. We got to the airport with 10 minutes to spare and I have never been so happy to see an airplane take off.
In Bali men are not permitted to handle women's blood...it's a Hindu rule. Guess who had to do the room clean and washing?
