Ubud, Bali

The power failure the other night, gave me the opportunity to witness two lovely bright fireflies soaring freely over the neighboring compounds. It's fleeting vignettes like this that give Bali it's magic.

At first I was mildly disgruntled, since I was in bed diligently highlighting my Bali guidebook. But, I've resigned myself to expecting things to be inconsistent and jury rigged here.... which helps curb frustration. As I opened my wooden shutters to see if the surrounding buildings were affected (perhaps by the lightening storm), I was surprised by the flitting bright lights. Those little buggers are intensely bright for their size. I remember my astonishment at their brightness in a fully lit train 2 years ago in Thailand. I'm sure a lantern of those creatures would give any flashlight competition!

What insued was 24 hours of confused electical power issues in, and a lack of running water to, my usually rather luxurious accommodation... but that's another story. The fretting owners and staff eventually solved the problems, and meanwhile I good humoredly took showers downstairs in the newly emptied room. In a tropical climate, showers and bidets are essential, and the lack of these horrified the extremely apologetic lady of the house. Seems I'm the only guest left in this 3 accommodation compound. I'm sure they were worried I'd abandon ship in a huff.