It’s slightly chewy, pretty much tasteless and seriously overpriced. When this is your setting, and you’re eating said lobster in Bali, however, your perception of chew- and taste-factor as well as expensiveness is seriously challenged…
On our last night in Bali, John and I asked our driver Madi to suggest a spectacular spot for the last supper. He drove us straight past the airport and waited on the powdery soft sanded beach for us while we took a walk along the beach to check out the fishermen coming in on their makeshift engine-driven fishing boats, delivering fresh seafood straight to the strip of restaurants. Once we felt hungry, I had John go in to select our live lobster, two king prawns and Red Snapper fish from the lined up tanks along the entrance of the restaurant. We got comfy with our feet in the soft sand and gorged ourselves on the barbecued feast, sipping local Indonesian beer and just drinking in the setting. This beach is now right up there with one of my ‘happy places’. I will definitely go back!

After four days on the most magnificent island I’ve ever been to, I am madly in love and desperate to never leave. Add to the mix fresh tropical fruit, glorious sunshine, great company, a 5-star villa we call home, exciting daily activities including surfing, mountain biking, shopping and daily massages and a lap pool the size of our New York apartment and you’ll understand why. I’m convinced Bali is as close as it gets to heaven on earth.

After our 23 hour flight from New York to Frankfurt and finally Singapore, John and I grabbed a taxi to his brother Martin’s’ friends’ house to have a (much needed) shower and then we headed out to do what Singaporeans do best…shop! After Dubai, Singapore is definitely the best shopping destination I’ve ever been to. It’s understandable though as it’s so super hot and humid. By 10am we were drenched and sticky…But everything is airconditioned, taxis, shopping malls, homes – it’s great. I ended up buying three (!) pairs of shoes and we sampled some of Singapore’s equivalent to biltong – air-dried sweet pork. Totally delicious. And for mother’s day they had a special heart-shaped design. I was tempted to get my pork in a heart-shape, but ended up sticking to the more natural-looking square they come in.

Considering the 11 hour time difference between here and New York we expected the worst jetlag of our lives, but it’s been surprisingly easy. Key to this has been immediately adapting to the new timezone and not giving in to sleep that first (long) day. Now it seems quite strange to think that when we get up our friends back in New York are just about going to sleep! It was also strange to wake up super hungry and crave dinner, only to be served breakfast cereal.

We were scheduled to fly out to catch the three-hour flight to Bali that night but somehow got the timing confused (we’ll blame this on John’s jetlag) and missed our flight. (Ever seen me fume? I think Singapore got even hotter for a couple of minutes.) There were no other flights out of Singapore to Bali that evening so we ended up staying the night in Sing and caught a plane the next morning (Monday) at 11am. We were greeted by our driver at the airport (after being warned on big posters all over that ‘Death to Drug Traffickers’ was to be expected) and driven to the villa to meet John’s family. It took us about 5 minutes to get out of our sticky jeans and into the sparkling blue pool. Shortly thereafter we went to the beach where John and Avalon were catching big Bali surf waves and the tanning process started…I’m happy to report that the first tan lines are now visible on this white/blue body! The first day ended with a full body massage and a fine Indonesian dinner prepared by our in-house chef. This is what holiday should be like!

On Tuesday we were enrolled in a 3-hour mountain biking tour down the side of a volcano, through rice paddies, sesame-, ginger and cinnamon- tree plantations, stopping at local villages and temples, admiring the beautiful craftsmanship and the friendliness of the Indonesian people. Everywhere we cycled kids would come running towards the road shouting ‘Hello, hello’ and blowing us kisses. Our cycle ended in the elephant park where we opted not to go for an elephant ride, but still enjoyed watching them play in the pond – the cutest elephants you can imagine.

I’m taking many, many photos and will post them here when we’re back in New York. I’ve also tried my hand at surfing, am enjoying many beautiful cocktails and this morning we’re headed out for a snorkeling session. My brain and heart feels so full with all these new impressions and I wish, I wish, we had more time in this glorious paradise. I’ll be back. For sure!

Last week the email from Justin came through…”I’m going to this – anyone keen to join”. ‘This’ turned out to be famous South African actor/activist/drag queen Pieter-Dirk Uys – or best known as ‘Tannie Evita’ – doing his one-man/woman “Elections and Erections” show…in New York! I was excited!

Annie, Justin and I met for dinner and drinks before the show and we had also alerted Marcel and some of the other SAcans in the city to join us. And did we laugh. I’m sure most of the one-liners and nuances went straight over the heads of the couple of New Yorkers in the audience – from the ‘Cape Colored’ accent, to the Joburg Jewish ‘Koogil’ (Nowell Fine), Pieter-Dirk Uys was fabulous and transported these expats straight home to the veld of Darling and the politician’s parties in Cape Town. I’ll admit…I was temporarily super homesick.

In the face of Jacob Zuma as potential president, I say “Vote Evita” or “Evita for President!” Seriously.

On the weekend Digs was telling some friends at the bar we were hanging out about my blog and he said that my recent posts had focused more on ‘survival’ and day-to-day occurances and less on great events, as it had a year ago. It kind of took me by surprise, but then I looked back over the past couple of posts and realized that he was right! My life a year ago seemed way more exciting and interesting and my entries reflected all the new experiences of New York. My grandmother’s friend, Will, has also commented on how I managed to transport him straight onto the streets of New York with my vivid descriptions. Recently, I don’t think I’ve transported anyone anywhere other than into the craziness that our lived has been over the last couple of months!

I’m happy to report, however, that the countdown to some excitement has started. Friday night at 9pm John and I are leaving for Bali and then we’re on to Singapore for a total of two weeks – and trust me…this blog will feature all the experiences and photos. I’m at that level of excitement where it seems that ever second is a minute long. Both John and I are due for some vacation and time out from reality and I think this trip comes just in time.

Once we’re back and moved into the new apartment, I think we’ll be back to some sort of normality where work is no longer so new, the apartment will be home and Central Park will be our backyard. Then we’ll be able to focus less on survival and more on new, fabulous experiences. So let the countdown to excitement begin!

In the past week we have packed our entire lives into a small storage room (including even the laptop) and John and I are now living the high life out of our suitcases…sleeping our way through Manhattan in a variety of friends’ bedrooms. Currently our friend Digs is housesitting us and on Sunday we move up to Harlem, into Karen and Seb’s place. The countdown to Bali has officially begun! Today in one week we leave for the East – and I still have so much planning, shopping and preparation to do. Eeeeek!

We experienced some really warm and balmy spring days during last week, but sadly this week New York has lapsed back into winter with rain and grayness abounding. Unfortunately, I did my suitcase packing for the week’s work last week, thinking that Spring had sprung, so my poor toes have been freezing in the open-toed sandals I packed for Bali. I guess I’ll learn my dress-lessons eventually – in this regard New York is a bit like Cape Town where you really can have four seasons in one day.

Following my near-death illness last week, the poor body was quickly forced into power again with Tuesday’s move. While I worked half day, John carted the first shipment of boxes to the storage facility in a big rental truck on his own and we then proceeded to pack up the rest of the stuff, move it into the van and eventually unpacking and repacking the entire storage facility to make everything fit – it was a bit like playing Tetris, at which John seemed a natural! At 7.30pm we finally locked the storage door (quite dramatic with John holding the final piece in and me slowly closing the door while he slid his hand out to prevent the fully loaded storeroom from spilling out the door) and headed back down to the old apartment, rattling our way onto the highway in the empty truck.

Key to the timing was that I had a work function to attend at 8pm.

We arrived back at the apartment at 7.50pm. I jumped into the shower, grabbed John’s razor to shave my legs, dried myself off with my sweatpants I wore for the move and slipped into my cocktail dress while applying make-up before dashing out the door – to arrive at the party only 20 minutes late! Here I am with my work colleague David and his significant other, Ron – who just that day got nominated for an Emmy award (he’s a writer for a big TV series).

Fast forward to 11pm, many air kisses, cocktails and canapés later and I finally made my way home to Digs’ apartment where a very tired John had just gotten home from picking up the final pieces and returning the rental truck. No need to explain that we both fell into bed in a state of pure exhaustion around 12pm. But at least now the move is done and John and I still love each other – no serious fights to report on! Phase 1 complete. Next stop, Bali!