Bali - Sukawati & Surprises

By Rough Guy’d

So the Malaysian girl and I went to Sukawati to buy some arts and crafts. For her, it was a business transaction but for me it was a chance to experience something that I wouldn’t normally be able to. Other than having a rental car, Angie was also able to speak the native language to the locals (Malay) and seeing the bustling sprawling market was an experience in itself. Angie even convinced me that it would be a good idea to buy some scarves to use as presents for either family or people that I met along the way and at $3USD each, it was a great way to thank someone with something better than money.

Unfortunately it was during this time that I experienced my first (but not last) bit of bad news. This one didn’t happen to me directly and at the time, I wasn’t too sure if I was being played or not. What ended up happening was that the girl ended up being pick pocketed and ended up losing quite a substantial sum of money. We tried to report it to the police and everything but in the end, nothing much was achieved and we left empty-handed. Now, I was unmolested as I was extremely careful with my money and feeling sorry for her, I offered to lend her some money.

Now, looking back, I was very trusting of her but I don’t think I’d have done things any differently. She could have been using this to try to fleece me but I didn’t even look at it as that. I gave her enough money for her to finish up her time in Bali and go home, hoping to be able to bump into her when I made my way into Malaysia eventually and get the money back. I figured at the time that if I was played, it wasn’t for much and if I wasn’t, then I’ve done a very good thing and while I don’t really believe in karma, I do believe in making the world a better place however you can.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried as she was quite willing and happy to give me details of her passport and address in Malaysia and after going our separate ways during the afternoon (she was meeting some local business contacts and I wanted to walk around Ubud some more), we met back up. In a stroke of sheer good fortune, she ended up bumping into her cousin from Malaysia here. Neither knew the other was here and her cousin ended up giving her far more money than I did, letting her continue trying to buy more art and repaying me instantly.

Now, while I didn’t believe in karma, karma sure believed me me, or at least my Malaysian friend and her local friend did. As a way of saying thanks to me, they offered to take me to Mt Badur and then on to Lobina for free. Neither the mountain nor the town were on my original plan but who was I to say no to an offer like that. However the night was not yet done as I was to find out...