Some thoughts by Marc

Much to popular demand and numerous emails, I am back. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me, your emails were all touching. We are still on the Gilli island with absolutely no intention on leaving anytime soon. Our lives have become very simple. We wake up, go to the beach and sleep then we go out partying with the people we have made nice with on the island. Since it has been so long I have a few things to write about.

Yesterday we rented a boat for the day so we can go fishing and snorkeling. Veronika organized the entire thing and what started out as a fishing trip for 8 people turned into a boat party of 14 (Germany, England, Sweden, Canada, Indonesia and US). Some of the guys started fishing but we soon found it a lot more fun to jump off the top deck into the water. We caught one lousy fish and gave it to the family that works at the hotel. It was a good day and by far the best experience of the trip so far.

A couple of nights ago we had a beach party with our friends and needless to say there was a lot of drinking. It was getting late so Veronika and I decided to go get some noodles. We walked with our friend Eric and stumbled (literally) on a little cafe where a bunch of locals were watching TV. Veronika confirmed that they have noodles and we both walked in. I turned to ask Eric to join us and his eyes were wide, almost terrified to go in. At the same time he used his eyes to suggest that we shouldn't eat there either. It's too bad I couldn't translate what he was trying to say. Veronika and I sat down and I found the situation hilarious. Veronika and I walk into a cafe (where they also live) at 2am. We were covered in dirt and sweating profusely (just left the beach after looking for glow in the dark shrimp). We demanded they make us noodles and we got rice. I was absolutely disgusted and refused to eat it. Instead, I moved the rice around my plate trying to make it look like I actually ate. The locals were watching us the whole time.

Veronika mentioned the day trip we took to the coffee plantation and the volcano in Bali. I would like to say that yes the volcano was a beautiful site but if it's not erupting, isn't it just a mountain. Big deal right? I was secretly hoping that it would erupt while we ate our lunch. It would have been of no danger to us as we were several kilometres away and pretty high up in the hills. The cat that takes a dump and they make into coffee got me thinking about business opportunities when I get back. I would choose not use cats (they are reincarnated bad souls) feces. It is brilliant really. Buy a pet and you use it's feces to make coffee that you can call a delicacy and you can sell it to tourists.

On the ferry over here there was a group of people travelling with us, majority are Australian. Veronika and I both agree that Aussies behave like a bunch of rowdy Americans in Mexico during spring break. Anyway, we were a few hours into our ferry ride when a foursome of Aussies came up to our deck. The deck we chose was for the people that wanted to read and sleep. It was not the Aussie deck. The leader of the group was an intimidating guy. He was big, with a fake Mohawk. You know the ones the shave their heads on 2 different setting to make it look like a Mohawk. I'm pretty sure David Beckham made this haircut popular in the late 90's. So this guy and his stupid haircut are wandering around looking for a place for him and his "mates" to sit. He finds a table near us with only 2 chairs. There was a couple that were sleeping right beside them and happened to be using two chairs to rest their feet on. It was like watching a car wreck, I couldn't look away. This guy wakes the couple up and asks if they are using the chairs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????? The people were completely shocked and still half asleep so they gave the goof their chairs.

Finally he and his mates can have a seat. I really didn't want these guys on our deck but they would have kicked the crap out of me. If we weren't on a boat I would have smacked one of them with great confidence that I can out run them and hide somewhere. But on a boat, it's too risky. The leader with the faux hawk pulls out an old portable CD player while huge speakers. Not only is his haircut out of date but so are his electronics. I bet this guy has the biggest VHS collection going today.

He puts a burned CD in and presses play. Out comes Bon Jovi. Not any Bon Jovi but all of their slow jams. A group of four bad ass looking Aussies sitting around a table listening to "Bed of Roses" Three of them sat still staring at each other, the leader was playing air drums....To "Bed of Roses"!!!!!! I know that Bon Jovi has a big fan base but I always thought that it was women that were fans. More specifically women that were between the ages of 18-25 during Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet tour.

ummmm. that's it

P.S the picture is not us - we dont have a camera