Arak Attack & the Garden in the Sky

I'll take the lemon drop thanks. Baik Baik.

I consider it ‘typical form’ to start the day at around 6am after a heavy night of drinking.  I don’t know why that is but it just feels natural, especially given the early sunrise and the fact that it doesn’t seem to drop below 20℃.  - Wallowing in a hotbox of sweat and farts is no way to start the day anyway.

06:00 is also about the time that ‘Uncle Steve’ decided to have a ‘mid-day’ drink of orange juice and vodka. ‘Uncle Steve’ is an old Australian man presumably in his 50’s who started this particular day at 2am and just got back at the hostel to make ‘screwdrivers’ in a plastic juice bottle. I can only understand about half of what he says but I guess he's alright.



The previous night started off with the purchase of 1 bottle of Bintang from the hostel fridge which I originally assumed had costed 25,000rp ($2.50 NZD*). It turns out that due to the current ‘happy day’ offer, I could pay 100,000rp ($10 NZD*) and get 5 bottles of Bintang!



The hostel I was staying at that night had a semi enclosed rooftop chill out area which is good as I quite like chilling out in semi enclosed rooftop areas. This part is imperative to the part about the Arak, as without this area available to me, I would have called it a night.

Arak is basically moonshine and is responsible for the deaths of a handful of Australian bogans each year (as well as locals). News of alcohol related deaths is kept under wraps I hear as the island relies heavily on extracting money from cashed up ‘Bules’ via the alcohol-and-loud-music method. I had heard of this infamous concoction prior to arriving in Bali but just like the whole ice cube thing, I did the exact opposite of what I would have done if I were the doctor at the travel clinic back home.



It just so happens there were a few Indonesians staying at the hostel (In fact probably there were more Indonesians here than foreigners) who were here on holiday.

I started talking to strangers as you do and eventually consumed about 4 or 5 shots of this clear liquid which was stored inside a plastic drink bottle.



‘Ronald is drinking it and he can still see me so it must be legit’.  - My claim substantiated by the fact that I have managed to type this up. (It’s very difficult/ impossible to type when you’re blind or dead from methanol poisoning).

“Very strong” they say

“Very sweet!”  I reply, with a big grin on my face.



“Last week there was a German girl who also said that it tasted very sweet. She had about 5 shots and then vomited past this balustrade and out onto the roof below”



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Sky Garden



Sky Garden is a massive three floor nightclub with a buffet restaurant at the top. I’m not a lady and so I have to pay to get in. Entry ranges from 100,000rp - 200,000rp ($10-20 NZD*) depending on the time of night.  The walls here have a black glossy lacquer-like finish and there are many stairs. 

Just like that one time I went to the ‘Empire’ nightclub in Christchurch NZ (on the wrong night) there was probably around a 60:40 ratio of male to female or maybe  50:50 at best. Unlike ‘Empire’ however, about half the people here are SE Asian, and the the definition of smart casual includes a pair of Vans canvas sneakers, shorts and a white t shirt.



Walking back to the hostel in Kuta at around 12:00am, I noticed the local neighbourhood hawkers had changed their wares in response to the changing nature of the current environment.



“Bro do you need some viagra?”



(*Currency conversion as of July 2018)