For anyone who doesn't know the story, we lived in Bali for a bit back in 2008, expecting to spend about 3 years at the start-up phase of the Green School, between Denpasar and Ubud.
It turned out to be only a month but seemed like years at the time
.
We’d initially been seduced by visions of a green utopia, living in exotic-looking bamboo houses, doing yoga overlooking the Ayung River and living the dream – all peace and love and sustainable lifestyles – the vanguard of a great new educational movement.
This might well be the case now, but at the time we were sacrificial guinea pigs in a shambolic experiment that was like living in a paranoid community with overtones of the Mosquito Coast, Jonestown, Apocalypse Now and the Time Machine.
The elegant bamboo houses quickly grew mouldy and full of biting insects; the compost toilets – well, you can imagine.
The working conditions were impossible with no curriculum and little time to develop one, especially when sitting on a tree stump in an open-air hut with a barely functioning shared computer to research or order curriculum materials
.
And whenever we DID manage to get online, we’d suddenly find the power cut off for the compulsory mid-day shared lunch, accompanied by speeches from the gone-troppo director – when we’d all troop, like the Eloi about to be devoured by the Morlocks in the Time Machine – to the great bamboo meeting hut.
No power meant no running water, which wasn’t great with compost toilets and it also being lunch-time.
The school was run by a couple, the Hardies, who’d run a successful silver jewellery business in Bali.
The idea behind the project was noble and visionary.
Unfortunately, running a school was a completely different animal to their silver business where they knew exactly what they were doing and had complete control over every aspect of the business.
To cut a long story short, there was huge shrinkage of staff and I was one of the first to bail
.
We’ve been back a couple of times though, and still have good friends from our shared experience there. Friendships forged in adversity can be very powerful!
So here we were again, back in Bali.
We organized for our former driver, Made (pronounced Mahday), to pick us up at the port and take us around for the day..
Liverpudlian friends, Sandra and Dave, came too, so we all squeezed into the car and set off through the horrible traffic around Denpasar to Ubud, our old stamping ground.
The place is still much the same – thankfully – but with a few more rice paddies turned into houses and hotels.
The Monkey Forest is actually better in that there’s a new wooden walkway through the riverside jungle but unfortunately it’s also more crowded with tourists, as everywhere
.
Dave and Sandra, being daredevil Liverpool types, were up for having monkeys clamber all over them.
We were happy to watch from afar.
Ubud shops look pretty much the same.
Bali Buddha is still there and we’d have loved to have partaken of a healthy salad and smoothie there but we were on a tight schedule.
The tender process from where the ship anchored way out from the port took about two hours what with waiting to get on a tender and the trip itself.
So with a 5 pm deadline to get back for the last tender, we only had 6 hours ashore. It was all a bit of a rush.
Luckily Made had worked out a good route for us to see as much as possible on our wish list and get us back on time
.
After the monkeys it was a quick look at some rice terraces close to Ubud. It’s shame we didn’t have time to see those gorgeous ones further up-country but at least Dave and Sandra got a taster.
Next up was a temple visit – Pura Desa and Pusah, for anyone who knows it – where Dave and Rick looked very handsome in their sarongs.
Finally, heading back south we managed a drink / free wifi stop on the beach at Sanur.
Dave had last been there 30 years ago and Sandra never.
As for us, it was the place where we went into hiding for a few days after our escape from the Green School while we planned what to do, where to go and to make the necessary arrangements.
That turned out to be Singapore, swapping a green jungle for a concrete one
.
Dave recognized nothing of Sanur, but comparing it to what’s happened with Pattaya, it’s paradise.
We had a pleasant half hour or so enjoying the beach views, cold drinks, organizing our finances and checking our emails.
Then it was a harrowing drive through unexpectedly busy traffic to the port, a quick farewell to our good friend Made, then a very long wait in a very long queue to get back on board.
We’d been so short of time that sadly we’d not been able to enjoy any Balinese food. No nasi goreng, no satay sticks, no noodles, no snake beans in spicy peanut sauce!
So, back on board, what was on the menu?
Dry roast pork, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and red cabbage.
Just the sort of stodgy German grub we’d REALLY enjoy tucking into after missing out on our much-loved light and spicy Indonesian food!
We really don’t get this Princess food caper at all
. Madness.
Talking of the Emerald Princess:
Cruise Update:
To the previous list of mishaps and disasters we can add –
Two calls for emergency blood transfusions;
One honeymoon breakup with the husband’s bags left in the corridor with a very angry and visible note attached.
On the plus side, we enjoyed a late-night pool party, a fun-filled crossing the line ceremony, and had our first tango lesson.
Since we survived that with minimal damage, Rick’s promised to come with me to tango lessons in Sydney!
Result!
Back to Bali
Friday, November 04, 2016
Bali, Indonesia
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Comments

2025-02-13
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Harvey Stockwell
2016-11-08
Methinks I will never do a cruise!
Leanne Sleer
2016-11-08
What a great trip you're having; I'm loving reading your blogs. Getting close to home now. Looks like your next stop is Fremantle/Perth, where I grew up. If you love beaches - Cottesloe is worth visiting (my favourite).
Nery Howard
2016-11-08
Carol, do you remember we had an american lady guest, who was off to settle her daughters in that green school, iI wonder what happened to them?