BALI HIGH 06/25/00

Subject: Bali High
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 19:19:33 EDT

People seem surprised to hear that I made seven trips to Australia between 1975-1995. I was 65 when I made my first journey down, just before Scott Graeme Lockhart made his world debut. Friends were leery that I was going down by myself at such an age, but I did not feel at all decrepit.

To offset the strain of the long trip, I started my practice of breaking the trip for a few days (the last flight was the only time I flew “straight through”). After flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, I stayed with friends in Pasadena. Another jaunt by air, then a second break in Tahiti.

Tahiti was incredibly beautiful. My hotel was inexpensive, but it was stunning. If I walked outside my room door, I was right on the beach. Oh, it was lovely. There was a dock. When I walked out to look around, there was a big pen of sharks. I beat a hasty retreat. I was not afraid of them, I just did not want to look at the ugly critters.

There is no describing the beauty of Tahiti - it is beyond description. The hill that rose behind my hotel was covered with flowering trees.

With all that beauty, it was still perhaps the loneliest time of my life. Gay & Willard had gone to Tahiti on one of their trips to Australia and Gay very much wanted me to see the island. She underwrote a bus trip around the island. The difference between her trip and mine was that her Own True Love was by her side. All that beauty made me miss Pete, who had just died the year before, and feel so alone with no one to share it with.

The loneliness was compounded because the Tahitians I had contact with tended to be very sullen and spoke French and very little English. Waiting for my plane to take off to Bali, my next stop, I went to buy a newspaper or a magazine - they were all in French. There was not even anyone in the airport - they all went home between the flights.

Now, Bali was another cup of tea. Unlike Tahiti, it was a British possession and everyone was friendly and beautiful. It seemed strange to hear the natives speaking impeccable English. I could have kissed each and every one of them. If you have ever seen the musical South Pacific, it captures the big smiles and friendliness that I experienced.

Love to all - KRL, world traveler

reposted with sweet memories of its author, KATHARINE REYNOLDS LOCKHART, by her scribe/daughter, Elsa Lockhart Murphy aka Deev in honor of the 05/14 centenary of her birth