fear and loathing in bali: metamorphosis

when i woke up one morning from troubled dreams, i found myself changed into a snake in my bed.

at first i didn't notice the change. i couldn't feel my arms and legs but in my sleepy state, i had attributed the numbness to the red wine the night before. i rolled over and found that even after 5 turns i was still nowhere near the edge of the bed. truth be told, it was a rather big bed, one of those that you find in lux hotels. funny though, i didn't remember that the bed was so huge the night before.

i must be thirsty, i thought to myself as my tongue kept hanging out of my mouth. i realised that it was doing a flicking motion and no i wasn't thirsty at all. ssssstrange, i said. it was then that i knew something was wrong, terribly wrong.

looking down at my body, i saw a strong supple rope of muscle and scales leading down from my head. i started scrutinising all the details of my new body: smaller scales on the pale underbelly, the tapered tail, the differences in the 5 senses: sharper vision, scenting with my tongue, sensing vibrations instead of being reliant on my ears.

mind alert now, i tried to recall all that i knew about snakes from documentaries. snakes that eat elephants, snakes that swim, snakes that jump from tree to tree, snakes with lethal venom that kills in seconds, snakes that are tiny, snakes that dance and hypnotise, snakes with beautiful patterned scales, snakes that moult.

snakes were pretty cool creatures (i did love my pink snakeskin high heels...) and now i had turned into one.

on closer examination, my scales were in a dull shade of brown. not smooth or sleek like the snakes that i had seen before. i was slowly becoming aware of an uncomfortable sensation, as if i was wearing a jacket that had shrunk in the wash. breathing was a little laboured. i yawned to get more air. the skin around my jaw cackled and seemed to tear away. i took a deep breath and the tearing sensation spread down to the rest of my body.

i was moulting. too much sun at the beach the day before? perhaps. as a snake and i was not too concerned with sunburns anymore.

i jiggled my jaws to further loosen the old skin and gradually worked my way down. i freed myself bit by bit, progressing slowly. it felt like an eternity, and finally, done!

i looked at the old hollow skin next to me, me, glorious me. i was gorgeous in my new coat of shiny bronze scales. sssssso pretty. i hissed with deep satisfaction. how lucky that i didn't turn into one of those puny bright green garden snakes!

beside to me, the boyfriend stirred from his sleep. i had almost forgotten about him in my excitement. i waited patiently until he turned to me.

good morning, sssssweetie. how about a sssssnuggle before breakfasssst?

fear and loathing in bali: dancing with statues

we turned the corner to the front of the temple with some difficulty. the sarongs were wrapped too tightly around our legs.

the women sitting nearby caught sight of us and giggled. in fact, they did more than giggle - they pointed at us and laughed outright. it sounded menacing, though they were only mocking our badly fitted sarongs. one of the women came up, smile of amusement still on her face, and proceeded to help wrap our cloth more comfortably.

with our newly fitted sarongs, we climbed up the stairs leading up into the temple. tranquility. all around us were weather worn statues of deities. i took a few close-ups. one of them winked at me through my camera lens. i reviewed the photos but there wasn't any mischievous glint in the statues' eyes on my screen.

must have been the sunlight, i thought. or the martini that i just had.

i went through a little doorway, just in time to see that a little statue had jumped from its perch and was clinging to the side of my friend's body. she shrieked and jumped about, a crazy dance spurred by horror. the statue held firm and bared its teeth at me.

i shrank back cowardly.

the boyfriend rushed forward and swatted at the stone figure that came alive. it hissed and leaped away into the relative wilderness in the far corner.

all around us, the other statues were beginning to stir...

we hitched up our sarongs and ran out as fast as we could. the mocking laughter of the women still ringing in our ears.

there was a cut on the boyfriend's hand where the wayward statue had lashed out at him. no apparent side effects though he had started complaining about stiff shoulders recently...

fear and loathing in bali : celestial snack

on the beach i sat, admiring the glorious sunset in front of me. magnificent!

the clouds, in shades of deep red, hung so low that i could almost touch them. i reached out and brushed against one with the tips of my fingers. stretching out, i plucked a small red cloud out of the sky.

cool to the touch, it felt heavy and moist. like a damp sponge and not at all like the fluffy cotton candy clouds on hot sunny afternoons! i gave it a slight squeeze, water trickled down my arm. i licked the trail, my tongue following it up my arm, up my hand and then i licked the red sunset cloud. it tasted good, this red sky juice.

i took a hesitant bite at it. and then another. was i munching on a heavenly piece of watermelon or a red cloud from the evening skies? no matter, i was hungry. the air shimmered around me as i munched greedily. i took no notice. i was completely absorbed by my celestial snack. all too soon, i had eaten the entire cloud. i wiped my hands clean on my tshirt. cloud eating was a rather messy affair.

i looked at the skies hopefully. but the sun had set and it was too late to catch another red one. still hungry, i got up from the sand and headed back to my hotel for dinner.

it rained the next afternoon - a huge thunderstorm! i hid under my bed covers away from its angry eye. i cried tears of regret. my teeth that had bitten the red cloud so gleefully the night before now chattered and clattered with fear. i roared with repent when the forked lightning slashed across the grey sky with a crack of the whip.

no, no, never again!

the world turned upside down and i hid, safe under my bed covers, until the storm cloud rained out its rage at me, the insolent cloud-eater.

when i went out to the balcony, i saw the most radiant rainbow arch across the sky.

and i wondered how do rainbows taste like? i reached out eagerly towards it...