The air flows by me so fast and sun shines from the blue sky all the way down to my face. I gas my scooter to uphill as we pass by hundreds of green trees and colorful houses that line the street. Kids wave when we pass a school yard. I smile. There is only this moment, the 35 degrees heat of Balinese tropic and our vacation that could last for forever. I think of nothing and no one else as we pull to an intersection and switch on my turn signal. I am happy. Thoroughly and deeply just happy. I look at my boyfriend smiling at me over his shoulder and then turning back to face the scooters coming from our left. There is a lot of traffic. And we decide to pull to a small gap in between it all. I hit the gas and the scooter leaves the intersection. I gain speed and turn right behind my boyfriends scooter. But my scooter doesn't follow the lead. It starts twisting under me and I can't get it back to control. In just seconds I feel the wheels sliding on the burning hot asphalt and see the hard edge of the road in front of my eyes - concrete edge. There is nothing to do. I scream as the scooter hits the wall. Hard. And then it's just black.
So let's go back to the morning before it all happened. We woke up to our third day in our big villa in Lovina and slowly found our way to the breakfast table filled with fresh fruits, pancakes and eggs. Sitting there and drinking our morning tea we discussed as a family, what to do or see today. And as the day before we had been jumping from rocks and swimming under waterfalls, we wanted something like that again. Arno and my dad started googling things nearby, I wanted to hit the mountains and see the twin lakes we had passed on our way up. That would have been an hour away though and as for my parents the scooter was still a new way of moving (Arno has had a scooter for several years and I have occasionally tried driving one) we decided to stay a little more local. Arno found out that there were these beautiful, big Gitgit waterfall(s) near by. Just half an hour a drive. And we could go to Carrefour market on our way back - a treat since we were already missing bacon and some other snacks that couldn't be found from the local Mini Markets.
So we finished the breakfast, packed our swim suits and climbed on our scooters. I rode mine single, mom was sitting behind dad and Arno drove with Luukas. We decided to switch the scooters with Arno and my brother on the very last minute since the Scooby I had been driving for the first few days had more power on it. So it would be better for the two guys instead of one me. So I took their scooter. And that is how we hit the road to a direction we had not yet explored.
It was a sunny day, getting closer to noon and that is when - especially on the areas near the equator - the air gets very hot. And very hot air with the very hot sun burning from the sky means that the roads - that are already bumpy and full of potholes - get very hot too. And very hot asphalt can be very slippery when you put a small me on a not so stable scooter with wheels that have seen better days. The rubber on them was smooth from all the driving.
So we drive carefully with our helmets on, as always. Stopping every now and then to wait whoever has fallen behind so that no one gets lots. Luukas navigates with Arno's Google Maps and I tend to drive behind them trying to keep up with Arno who is the expert one in our troop. Looking out for different obstacles that can jump in front of us any second, or holes on the road that can stop your last ride right there. I am careful. But I also like the driving and I was enjoying it. I like driving on the "wrong" side of the road again, just like in Africa. And I am also kind of getting used to scooters.
After maybe 20 minutes of driving we pull out to this T-intersection and want to turn right. My brother and boyfriend in front of me and parents following. There is a lot of traffic coming from both directions and we need to cross both the lanes to get on the one that continues where we are heading - to the right. But the traffic coming from left doesn't really leave us much options. We patiently wait and wait, not taking risks, but after some time both me and Arno make a quick decision to just try to rush the scooters in order to fit in a small gap in the traffic. I see Arno leaving the intersection right before me and gas my scooter to follow his lead few safe meters behind. I calmly turned the handlebars and steer the scooter to right. And I haven't even gained that much speed because I want to make a calm turn.
But all the sudden I felt the back wheel not getting a grip on the ground under it. Asphalt is so hot that there is barely any friction. The scooter wobbled and I stack my feet out to balance it. But I have no control over it whatsoever. The scooter doesn't slow down from the well worn breaks I hit. I can't keep it on the road. It speeds towards the 40 centimeters tall concrete wall that lines the pedestrian area on the edge of the street. I realize I am going to crash and I scream. The scooter hits the wall front wheel first and stops. But because of my friend gravity, I don't. My body keeps going, flying over the scooter, but not completely over the concrete wall. My feet drag behind me on the ground for a few instants before my upper body hits it (and I am talking about concrete, not grass).
My mom gets to me first. I didn't see this, but as they didn't get to cross the intersection being left behind us, she jumped from the scooter and crossed it by running. (My poor mom has been through these situations so many times and still she comes running. Yeah... I was not an accident free child.) Arno who saw the whole thing from his rear mirror had stopped the scooter a few meters further and ran from the other direction. I was laying there screaming, my shoes not on anymore. My feet hurt so much and I was panicking because I had no idea what had just happened. My feet were bleeding and mom kept asking if I had hit my head, which I hadn't. Arno ripped the helmet off and laid my head on his lap stroking my hair and telling me calmly that everything is okay, which was not. I was crying (oh so pretty..) and telling my mom that I can't move my legs, I can't feel them. In this point there was a lot of people around us. No idea where they came from. But I guess they were people who had seen the accident, pulled aside and a few police officers. Someone offered to take me to the hospital on the back of his pick up truck, which was sweet. But Arno and my parents told that not yet, I had not hit my head. My upper body had no bruises or cuts. Only my legs.
Mom started twisting my toes and knocking my feet and asked if I can feel this or that. Dad told me to try to move my toes and after the panic passed, I could. And then I did twist my legs and sit up. I was okay - it did hurt, but I was okay. A stranger offered me a bottle of water out of kindness. We told that we would not be going to the hospital with the local guy and the police started leading the traffic. By the help of my parents I stood up soon. Arno and dad googled that there is a pharmacy near us down the road and we decided to clean the wounds there ourself. It's not always so simple as just going to the hospital, even tho I have travel and life insurance (for a good reason as you see). You don't want to end up to a wrong hospital in a third world country, I have done that, trust me.
I sat on the back of Arno's scooter and wrapped my arms around him as we started looking for the pharmacy. Dad and Luukas were supposed to follow us. And then dad was supposed to drive mom - who was left to watch over the scooter - there. But the pharmacy wasn't so easy to find. We drove around the road for a few times until Arno asked a local guy who gave us the right direction. It was this tiny pharmacy between a little shop and a food stand - not very easy to spot. We parked the scooter and Arno helped me to sit down on a little chair outside the door as he ordered from the counter everything: band-aids, gauze, antiseptic, cleaning gel, pads, painkillers, cotton and tape. Arno payed 50.000 IDR (3,50 euros) from them and started to carefully clean my wounds. His poor shorts were ruined in the process (my hero). I was biting my lip and watching the chickens and other birds that were in sale on the stand next to the pharmacy. A few little kids passed me looking so worried but I pulled up a smile. I tried to figure out where I could ask them to pick some candy for me, Arno and them if I gave them some money, but the shop cart was only selling birds, car parts and nasi goreng (= fried rice).
Patiently Arno cleaned, took of all the little stones and covered all the wounds on my feet. One on the knee, one above my toe and one on the other leg, on my shin bone. It took us an hour, but I got to calm down and stopped finally from shaking. After that we climbed on the scooter again and drove back to that intersection. Mom was still standing there and had not heard from my dad or brother. Neither had we, they never showed up to the pharmacy. Luckily my brother texted us before all the crazy ideas had ran through my mind and told us that dad had driven him back to the villa and is soon back to our intersection. He had misunderstand the plan, but at least now we could drive all the scooters home.
I insisted though that we would go to Carrefour. I mean I had not gone that far for nothing! But I only had one shoe since my dad had taken the other one home, I couldn't wear it because of my bleeding wound but I couldn't drive a scooter and hold it still on the hot asphalt when standing without any. So my mom gave my hers. I jumped on my scooter happy to go, Arno drove his and parents followed. Have to say I wasn't really enjoying the ride and especially turns, but we made it.
I returned the shoes to my mom on the parking lot and continued bare feet to the shop. I got so many worried looks with my patched feet and no shoes. We made it to the upstairs and finally I had a good reason to buy me new flipflops which I wore on the way home!
When we came back to the villa, me and Arno felt like we weren't ready to end the day just like that. I was still eager to see the twin lakes and we googled how long it would take. An hour +- traffic and stops per way. We figured that if we hit the road fast, we will make it before dark. And so did we. I packed us some water and took the cameras to my bag. Arno drove and I was happy to not, we went with only one scooter.
The twin lakes were on the mountains and driving there ended up not being so easy as Google Maps had let us think. The road was a lot more less like a road when you were on it. It was this 20 centimeters wide path on the side of the hill that was growing long grass around it. Sometimes it turned into a just a path of pointy rocks. With steep edges on the other side and palm trees slapping our faces. Winding constantly and going straight up. So straight that in some points when we got higher and the air got thinner, the scooter couldn't make it anymore. I had to jump off and walk as Arno drove up the steepest parts 5 kilometers per hour. There was absolutely no one there but us and the few people that lived on the mountains. Few little kids aged maybe 5 or 6, came downhill on their scooters, with no helmets. And one guy we talked with who had been living on the mountains with his family and working a nice job in a hotel. He had quite a view from his back yard, gotta say. And such a sweet little grandma.
When we finally got to the top of the mountain it wasn't that warm anymore, like it never is on mountains. But we hadn't think of that when we left from the 35 degrees in the village. And besides that it was grey, fogy and raining. So we saw nothing of the lakes. Nothing. We actually saw nothing 10 meters further in front of us. Luckily Arno is a heck of a good driver. And a freezing driver. It was maybe 17 degrees on the top of the mountain and we were wearing sorts and tees. I tied my little scarf around both of us so that it would warm us just a little bit.
We couldn't wait for the rain to pass since the clock was ticking and sun going down. So we decided to head down too, so that we wouldn't be left on the little mountain roads where there is no lights. But we decided to go down another road than the one narrow that led us up. And luckily the rain slowly stopped. No floods or mudslides needed for the day! And as the clouds passed, the view was great. And so peaceful! And sooner than we realized we had come down to a sign that said Gitgit waterfall! The same we were headed to in the morning.
We didn't think of a second before we left the scooter by the side of the road and started running. The sun was going down in three, two, one and we had maybe 12 minutes of daylight left. S owe raised down and up this path that led is into the jungle. And we found the waterfall! So loud and pretty! I think our relationship has a thing for waterfalls... Victoria falls, the breakfast falls in Oberstdorf...
And then the sun went down. It was already fast when we got to the scooter, that's how fast it sinks to the horizon. We got back on the road and drove down the dark, dark mountain roads arriving finally back to our villa. With our bottoms all sore and smiles on our face. We after all got the see the waterfalls!
Still a few words about helmets guys: I don't mean to preach, but without a helmet my 21 years long story could have ended to that intersection. I was lucky. Not so many has been. Later on when we returned the scooters, the renter guy told us that he has gotten to handle multiple death cases including tourists driving without helmets and crashing for the first and last time. And I don't wonder. While we spent a week in Lovina and other one in Ubud, we did see A LOT of "white people" driving around without helmets. Young people with two on one scooter passed us one day when we came from snorkeling and they were just speeding past us. The lady on the back waived and laughed. And to those guys - as well as all of you other idioottooooss who do that - I want to say that even you are not immortal, not even on your holiday. It may seem super bad ass to snap and post those duckface selfies where you ride the scooters like some of the locals in Bali - without a helmet. But even if they do not use them and live, it doesn't mean that you will. Just saying, it's not always about how good or skilled driver you are. Accidents happen. Put the helmet on. The travel insurance does cover a lot, but does not bring you back from death.
And what comes to my feet.. It is hard to keep wounds from getting infected in tropic. We found a lump near one of the wounds and went to show it in the middle of the night to a local doctor in Ubud with Arno. He cut some skin of, cleaned the wounds and gave me antibiotics. The leg kept swelling a lot and creating blisters to it where the other one started healing a little. In Borobudur we almost visited a doctor but decided to wait until we got to Finland, which took us a little longer than planned. All the flying didn't do good to my leg and it was one swollen piece of fluid and blood when I got to Finland. And straight after work I went to a doctor again who told just to follow them. Now, after a month and a half, the other two are getting better but my poor right leg still has a big red sign and the lump still there. Just saying that I will look kick ass awesome when the Spring comes and I get to wear short skirts again!
Next time some more about Ubud and our looong way back home!
Kisses to your helmeted heads guys!
Linnea
It was a sunny day, getting closer to noon and that is when - especially on the areas near the equator - the air gets very hot. And very hot air with the very hot sun burning from the sky means that the roads - that are already bumpy and full of potholes - get very hot too. And very hot asphalt can be very slippery when you put a small me on a not so stable scooter with wheels that have seen better days. The rubber on them was smooth from all the driving.
So we drive carefully with our helmets on, as always. Stopping every now and then to wait whoever has fallen behind so that no one gets lots. Luukas navigates with Arno's Google Maps and I tend to drive behind them trying to keep up with Arno who is the expert one in our troop. Looking out for different obstacles that can jump in front of us any second, or holes on the road that can stop your last ride right there. I am careful. But I also like the driving and I was enjoying it. I like driving on the "wrong" side of the road again, just like in Africa. And I am also kind of getting used to scooters.
After maybe 20 minutes of driving we pull out to this T-intersection and want to turn right. My brother and boyfriend in front of me and parents following. There is a lot of traffic coming from both directions and we need to cross both the lanes to get on the one that continues where we are heading - to the right. But the traffic coming from left doesn't really leave us much options. We patiently wait and wait, not taking risks, but after some time both me and Arno make a quick decision to just try to rush the scooters in order to fit in a small gap in the traffic. I see Arno leaving the intersection right before me and gas my scooter to follow his lead few safe meters behind. I calmly turned the handlebars and steer the scooter to right. And I haven't even gained that much speed because I want to make a calm turn.
But all the sudden I felt the back wheel not getting a grip on the ground under it. Asphalt is so hot that there is barely any friction. The scooter wobbled and I stack my feet out to balance it. But I have no control over it whatsoever. The scooter doesn't slow down from the well worn breaks I hit. I can't keep it on the road. It speeds towards the 40 centimeters tall concrete wall that lines the pedestrian area on the edge of the street. I realize I am going to crash and I scream. The scooter hits the wall front wheel first and stops. But because of my friend gravity, I don't. My body keeps going, flying over the scooter, but not completely over the concrete wall. My feet drag behind me on the ground for a few instants before my upper body hits it (and I am talking about concrete, not grass).
My mom gets to me first. I didn't see this, but as they didn't get to cross the intersection being left behind us, she jumped from the scooter and crossed it by running. (My poor mom has been through these situations so many times and still she comes running. Yeah... I was not an accident free child.) Arno who saw the whole thing from his rear mirror had stopped the scooter a few meters further and ran from the other direction. I was laying there screaming, my shoes not on anymore. My feet hurt so much and I was panicking because I had no idea what had just happened. My feet were bleeding and mom kept asking if I had hit my head, which I hadn't. Arno ripped the helmet off and laid my head on his lap stroking my hair and telling me calmly that everything is okay, which was not. I was crying (oh so pretty..) and telling my mom that I can't move my legs, I can't feel them. In this point there was a lot of people around us. No idea where they came from. But I guess they were people who had seen the accident, pulled aside and a few police officers. Someone offered to take me to the hospital on the back of his pick up truck, which was sweet. But Arno and my parents told that not yet, I had not hit my head. My upper body had no bruises or cuts. Only my legs.
 |
| Life on the mountains |
Mom started twisting my toes and knocking my feet and asked if I can feel this or that. Dad told me to try to move my toes and after the panic passed, I could. And then I did twist my legs and sit up. I was okay - it did hurt, but I was okay. A stranger offered me a bottle of water out of kindness. We told that we would not be going to the hospital with the local guy and the police started leading the traffic. By the help of my parents I stood up soon. Arno and dad googled that there is a pharmacy near us down the road and we decided to clean the wounds there ourself. It's not always so simple as just going to the hospital, even tho I have travel and life insurance (for a good reason as you see). You don't want to end up to a wrong hospital in a third world country, I have done that, trust me.
I sat on the back of Arno's scooter and wrapped my arms around him as we started looking for the pharmacy. Dad and Luukas were supposed to follow us. And then dad was supposed to drive mom - who was left to watch over the scooter - there. But the pharmacy wasn't so easy to find. We drove around the road for a few times until Arno asked a local guy who gave us the right direction. It was this tiny pharmacy between a little shop and a food stand - not very easy to spot. We parked the scooter and Arno helped me to sit down on a little chair outside the door as he ordered from the counter everything: band-aids, gauze, antiseptic, cleaning gel, pads, painkillers, cotton and tape. Arno payed 50.000 IDR (3,50 euros) from them and started to carefully clean my wounds. His poor shorts were ruined in the process (my hero). I was biting my lip and watching the chickens and other birds that were in sale on the stand next to the pharmacy. A few little kids passed me looking so worried but I pulled up a smile. I tried to figure out where I could ask them to pick some candy for me, Arno and them if I gave them some money, but the shop cart was only selling birds, car parts and nasi goreng (= fried rice).
Patiently Arno cleaned, took of all the little stones and covered all the wounds on my feet. One on the knee, one above my toe and one on the other leg, on my shin bone. It took us an hour, but I got to calm down and stopped finally from shaking. After that we climbed on the scooter again and drove back to that intersection. Mom was still standing there and had not heard from my dad or brother. Neither had we, they never showed up to the pharmacy. Luckily my brother texted us before all the crazy ideas had ran through my mind and told us that dad had driven him back to the villa and is soon back to our intersection. He had misunderstand the plan, but at least now we could drive all the scooters home.
I insisted though that we would go to Carrefour. I mean I had not gone that far for nothing! But I only had one shoe since my dad had taken the other one home, I couldn't wear it because of my bleeding wound but I couldn't drive a scooter and hold it still on the hot asphalt when standing without any. So my mom gave my hers. I jumped on my scooter happy to go, Arno drove his and parents followed. Have to say I wasn't really enjoying the ride and especially turns, but we made it.
I returned the shoes to my mom on the parking lot and continued bare feet to the shop. I got so many worried looks with my patched feet and no shoes. We made it to the upstairs and finally I had a good reason to buy me new flipflops which I wore on the way home!
When we came back to the villa, me and Arno felt like we weren't ready to end the day just like that. I was still eager to see the twin lakes and we googled how long it would take. An hour +- traffic and stops per way. We figured that if we hit the road fast, we will make it before dark. And so did we. I packed us some water and took the cameras to my bag. Arno drove and I was happy to not, we went with only one scooter.
The twin lakes were on the mountains and driving there ended up not being so easy as Google Maps had let us think. The road was a lot more less like a road when you were on it. It was this 20 centimeters wide path on the side of the hill that was growing long grass around it. Sometimes it turned into a just a path of pointy rocks. With steep edges on the other side and palm trees slapping our faces. Winding constantly and going straight up. So straight that in some points when we got higher and the air got thinner, the scooter couldn't make it anymore. I had to jump off and walk as Arno drove up the steepest parts 5 kilometers per hour. There was absolutely no one there but us and the few people that lived on the mountains. Few little kids aged maybe 5 or 6, came downhill on their scooters, with no helmets. And one guy we talked with who had been living on the mountains with his family and working a nice job in a hotel. He had quite a view from his back yard, gotta say. And such a sweet little grandma.
When we finally got to the top of the mountain it wasn't that warm anymore, like it never is on mountains. But we hadn't think of that when we left from the 35 degrees in the village. And besides that it was grey, fogy and raining. So we saw nothing of the lakes. Nothing. We actually saw nothing 10 meters further in front of us. Luckily Arno is a heck of a good driver. And a freezing driver. It was maybe 17 degrees on the top of the mountain and we were wearing sorts and tees. I tied my little scarf around both of us so that it would warm us just a little bit.
We couldn't wait for the rain to pass since the clock was ticking and sun going down. So we decided to head down too, so that we wouldn't be left on the little mountain roads where there is no lights. But we decided to go down another road than the one narrow that led us up. And luckily the rain slowly stopped. No floods or mudslides needed for the day! And as the clouds passed, the view was great. And so peaceful! And sooner than we realized we had come down to a sign that said Gitgit waterfall! The same we were headed to in the morning.
We didn't think of a second before we left the scooter by the side of the road and started running. The sun was going down in three, two, one and we had maybe 12 minutes of daylight left. S owe raised down and up this path that led is into the jungle. And we found the waterfall! So loud and pretty! I think our relationship has a thing for waterfalls... Victoria falls, the breakfast falls in Oberstdorf...
And then the sun went down. It was already fast when we got to the scooter, that's how fast it sinks to the horizon. We got back on the road and drove down the dark, dark mountain roads arriving finally back to our villa. With our bottoms all sore and smiles on our face. We after all got the see the waterfalls!
Still a few words about helmets guys: I don't mean to preach, but without a helmet my 21 years long story could have ended to that intersection. I was lucky. Not so many has been. Later on when we returned the scooters, the renter guy told us that he has gotten to handle multiple death cases including tourists driving without helmets and crashing for the first and last time. And I don't wonder. While we spent a week in Lovina and other one in Ubud, we did see A LOT of "white people" driving around without helmets. Young people with two on one scooter passed us one day when we came from snorkeling and they were just speeding past us. The lady on the back waived and laughed. And to those guys - as well as all of you other idioottooooss who do that - I want to say that even you are not immortal, not even on your holiday. It may seem super bad ass to snap and post those duckface selfies where you ride the scooters like some of the locals in Bali - without a helmet. But even if they do not use them and live, it doesn't mean that you will. Just saying, it's not always about how good or skilled driver you are. Accidents happen. Put the helmet on. The travel insurance does cover a lot, but does not bring you back from death.
And what comes to my feet.. It is hard to keep wounds from getting infected in tropic. We found a lump near one of the wounds and went to show it in the middle of the night to a local doctor in Ubud with Arno. He cut some skin of, cleaned the wounds and gave me antibiotics. The leg kept swelling a lot and creating blisters to it where the other one started healing a little. In Borobudur we almost visited a doctor but decided to wait until we got to Finland, which took us a little longer than planned. All the flying didn't do good to my leg and it was one swollen piece of fluid and blood when I got to Finland. And straight after work I went to a doctor again who told just to follow them. Now, after a month and a half, the other two are getting better but my poor right leg still has a big red sign and the lump still there. Just saying that I will look kick ass awesome when the Spring comes and I get to wear short skirts again!
Next time some more about Ubud and our looong way back home!
Kisses to your helmeted heads guys!
Linnea
