testmeat photoblog

a couple of weeks ago i flew to bali with work, and as is customary, i added a few days of holiday onto the end. i rented a scooter on a few occasions to get around, and last tuesday afternoon i took one to visit lempuyang temple to get a picture of the famous gate. lots of other people had the same idea, so i had to join a slow queue and wait my turn. it took a long time to get to the front, but as i waited the light got better and better, and the volcano peaked out from the clouds as i floated in front. it was perfect. unfortunately the same cannot be said about my journey home, as when i returned to my scooter i discovered the headlights didn’t work. with the light fading fast i plugged my destination into google maps and saw i was over an hour away. the winding streets were not well lit, so i mainly had to rely on moonlight and squinted to try and make out the white line in the middle of the road. other traffic became a blessing and a curse, while i was able to use their light source to guide my way i was acutely aware that i was almost invisible on the road. each time i was overtaken by another bike i had to balance speeding up to follow their taillight, while ensuring that i didn’t go too fast as i was unable to make out any obstacles in the road. when i was a few kilometres from home the tree canopy blocked most of the light and i had little choice other than to slow right down. it was then that i was saved by a couple of local kids. they saw me struggling and rode close behind me so i could share their headlight, eventually taking over driving duties while i swapped to the back of their bike. it was an intense experience, with the cold fear of disappearing on a dark indonesian road eventually replaced by warm gratitude at the kindness of strangers.

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