Birthday Celebrations
Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, 2009-04-09 12:00 by Laerke and Martin
It was Election Day and everybody had the day off (yes, it is a holiday in Indonesia). So we decided to go to “Water Bom Park” in Kuta with some friends. We were almost put off by the steep entrance fee (23 USD!), but we went in anyway.



It is a fun place to spend a day, with lots of different kinds of slides with names like “Smash Down” and “Boomerang” you know you are in for a fun ride!
We left when the park closed to go to surprise Nicolai, who had just returned from Komodo together with Anders. Yulun had bought cute little birthday hats, so we all looked quite festive when Nicolai opened the door to their hotel room. We sang Happy Birthday and soon sat drinking beers and eating chips at the pool.
Later we went out to get some food; on the way we got greeted by almost everyone who passed us with shouts of “Happy Birtday!” or even a Happy Birthday song. Nicolai felt very prized, and with beer in hand and good friends around, we were all in high spirits. We found a small restaurant, were we noisily sat down to eat – I think it was good that it was a small and simple place, mostly catering to surfers and the like, ‘cos we were loud and sang Danish birthday songs, which involved drumming on the table and other noisy stuff. Food wasn’t great, but at that point it didn’t matter much, cheap Bintangs and good company were all that mattered...



At some point while eating Zack, a friend of Olivias, came by. We invited him to join us, which he accepted. For some reason he had acquired a somewhat special skill: the art of making balloon animals. Shortly after hearing that Nicolai was the birthday boy, Zack had skillfully twisted and turned two colorful balloons into a cool biker! Also a weird, but very festive looking balloon hat was placed on Nicolai’s head, so that everyone could see who the center of attention was.



We continued to a small bar, were we crammed ourselves down in a small bed-like sofa; Nicolai, who got quite smitten by the good looking waitress, soon ordered a “Quick Fuck”. It was only a naughty drink though, but after being served Nicolai was sure that the waitress had come on to him – well, she was flirtatious, but as many placed in Asia and indeed the world, that is simply part of any bar-girls job. Nicolai was a little disappointed when we told him that, but took it with good spirit and kept on ordering “Quick Fucks”. We got delicious Arak drinks and Mojitos, which elevated our moods further, and soon we were off to the clubs.



We went to the infamous Bounty Club; a place known for cheap drinks and many, many Australians. Luckily the latter wasn’t as omnipresent as sometimes, but that certainly didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. Getting big colorful drinks for pennies we headed to the dancefloor and had a great night dancing, drinking and making fun on the podium. We continued on to MBargo later, where Zack once again met us, and once again produced some balloon “art”. We got balloon swords all of us – starting a big sword-fight on the dancefloor. Still with our festive hats on, we almost looked like musketeers...though a somewhat silly kind.
We returned home in the small hours and slept in; hangovers are very common when drinking Arak, and we had had quite a lot of it!