I am in Ubud, 30km from my villa in Seminyak. I have only left 29% batt on my GPS enables iphone. The rain clouds are coming but my ziplock bags are 30km away. Ditched the idea of going for crispy duck in Ubud and set course back to my villa.
At full throttle on flat ground the scooter will do 80km/hr comfortably. If you do your maths, that ain't very far. Its about 22.5 mins going at 80km/hr. Its about the distance from my place in Simei to Jurong. But when you are riding in Bali, there are no expressways. I keyed my location in Google maps and they said, 1hr 20mins. Sure or not 30km, need so long? The fantastic thing about Google maps is that they have actually worked in the jams and probably the small roads to give you that estimate. And true enough 80km/hr was practically unreachable. On a clear road 60km/hr max. Usually 30km/hr.
10km down the road my wife tapped me on the shoulder, showed me the iPhone, its black. Yes I know I bought the black Iphone but the screen should be on. Oh no! I am now officially directionless, the batt is dead. It is now a memory game. I had actually planned for this contingency. I had wanted to bring my external battery charger. I remembered in Singapore my wife, was holding onto the battery charger before we left for the airport, and assumed she was going to bring it. Damn at that point, I remembered reading somewhere on the net: Do not assume, you make an ASS out of U & ME. Exactly my feeling, ASS.
Rode to a big junction there were 3 ways to go: left, right or straight. Hhhmmmm... Decisions, decisions.... Right should be right. Turned right but somehow not confident. Stopped by a shop with an uncle sitting outside and asked: Seminyak? He pointed. Well right wasn't right after all. Straight. Made a u-turn and went back on the right path. I had to now travel even slower just to see if i recognised any landmarks.
As I went down the road, it started to get familiar. My wife also started to tell me, correct already, correct already, i remember this. By this time the rain was here already, but it ain't pouring just a slight drizzle. My experience riding bikes tell me that rain like that, haversacks and pillions don't get wet... Only the rider. And because of my size my wife actually gets more protection from the rain. If it gets heavier then I will stop, only to protect the electronics I am carrying.
I have always maintained that I am waterproof only my clothes and the electronics ain't. As I neared Seminyak the traffic started to build up, figured its about the time that offices get off work. Scooters were everywhere, cars were turning and getting stuck mid turn blocking the roads. Scooters were squeezing into whatever gaps they can find to inch forward. I followed, feeling glad I am on a scooter. The rain has more or less stopped by now.
I still managed to recognise my surroundings and squeeze through traffic at the same time, who say men can't multi-task. Ok ok its only 2 task, still its more than one! In the chaos I saw an all too familiar turn and finally we were on the road leading to the villa! Took me about an hour and a half but the truth is it felt like a day! The times without the GPS were the hardest.
As a financial adviser, I reckon my job is like the GPS. I give financial direction to my clients. My clients and all discuss where they are now financially (like me being in Ubud) and what they want to achieve (destination, like my villa in Seminyak), we set course for their objective with solutions (journey towards their goals), then regularly monitor and review and see if the solutions is still able to achieve their goals (like GPS showing the route). We change course and make adjustments to their solutions when there is a need to (GPS recalculating route when you go off the wrong path).
Got back to my villa changed into my swim wear and took and nice relaxing dip in the pool, just when big droplets of rain started falling. No lightning, I'm staying in the pool... at least till dinner in an hours time.
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