The ups and downs of flying

I'm going to force myself to try to write something about this without letting it stink up the room. As some of you may know I've been in Bali, Indonesia for the last few days (again) and have been using it as a hub to travel to and from some of the most amazing places that I've been to( Flores, Komodo island and the Gilli islands) This time in Bali, I have to say that I was just passing through. I wasn't interested in the The hawkers speaking broken English in Australian accents who sell anything to anybody , the multitudes of kids dominating the streets with beers or surfboards in hand, grabby salesmen, pushy moped rental guys- I wasn't even interested in the food. I went out one night and met a girl who told me stories about her broken heart and how she was suicidal because of it.. What can one say to that? Buzz kill! I tried to share with her positive reasoning and she countered with stories of masochism. I felt sad for her, she was sweet and beautiful and so honestly heartbroken and painfully puzzled that someone would take her precious heart so for granted. It seems that broken hearts are common here because so many foreign men land on these shores with stories that fill these girls hearts and minds with the wildest dreams... most of them lies. Hit and run. (please don't remind me that I have a history of being an insensitive, inconsiderate heart breaker myself- hopefully we live and learn)

No Aceh in the hole!
However.. I've just landed in a place in Medan in Northern Sumatra where Muslim radicals rule! Cool, huh! Here, If you're caught having premarital sex you might be subject to a public caning in front of the mosque! That means foreigners too. Better yet, it's televised. Recently an Italian aid worker in Bandah Aceh was caught in his hotel with his girlfriend from Aceh and given the beating of his life in between scripture readings. I bet the masked punisher also said something like "trust me, it's hurting me as much as it's hurting you"

Regardless, I feel regarded as an infidel at the moment because there is no reason why I should be writing this blog from an airline executive lounge. There is no reason why I should be eating free food and there is no reason a strange man comes to check on me every hour EXCEPT TO TELL ME THAT MY FUCKING LUGGAGE IS STILL MOTHERFUCKING LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HOLY SHIT!

I'm going to keep that line there. But you would not believe the luck I just had. I have to go catch a buss. As I was typing that last line and letting the expression marks flow, said man ran up to me carrying said fucking luggage in hand.. so what if I waited 6 hrs. Phew.. I can't believe it. Can you believe it? Seriously, I avoided typing anything about that until the end here.. Fuck it. Speak of the devil.

I have to race to catch a cab to the bus station to get to the Jungle of Bukit Lawang YES!

P.S Credit where credit is do. They say that everyone in a sinking ship is a religious man. I admit, I prayed.