Poppies Cottage

jAN 12 2010 arrived in Bali.

To be collected at the airport in Bali is a human welcome but to step into a car and sit on seats that have freshly washed white cotton seat covers
makes one feels special. Today is the 37th anniversary of the opening of Poppies cottage, a truly unique place that is beautifully elegant from the overall design, the gardens ,the pool ,the individual cottages down to the smallest detail of the tiny ceramic frog on the handle of your coffee cup.
The peaceful nature of Balinese culture has been captured not only in the structure of Poppies but also in the way the staff treat you. It is the anticipation of your needs, such as a cold cocktail, served on a carved tray with hibiscus flowers. It is actions and not words that are impressive. Coming from a culture where tv commercials scream at you, street signs obstruct you vision , brochures with the clichés of benefits delude you, Poppies has to be experienced to be understood. While I have been writing at 6.30 in the morning in my elegant bungalow with the door open, bananas, hot tea together with a small bowl of frangipani flowers have been placed on my porch, I did not hear even the rustle of a sarong or the scrape of a sandal on the tiles.
It is only when I walked out to the porch did I notice the change.

Now to revisit the streets the warungs and the people.

December 7th 2009
Hello everyone
The world is crazy, I am crazy therefore Am I the world?. Well that is a perception, but it is the truth?
As you follow my perceptions of my world you may not find the truth but you can follow the tedious argument to a conclusion that is meaningful to you and you might care to let me know where I am going wrong.
I am back home after three days o pre- departure briefings before taking up a new assignment. I am going to the tropics to work with people who speak a different language to me, who have a different culture to mine and who have different expectations to mine.
Destination : Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mission: To assist Indonesians to develop the capacity to alleviate poverty.

The reason I am beginning this blog is to keep me occupied while I am waiting for things to happen in Indonesia. Rather than dictating the pace and direction of change I will watch, listen so that I can make some sense of the current situation and wait to be asked to help. I have no idea at this stage what will be required of me or which parts of my background will be useful to the people I will be working with. I will share with you my observations and thoughts as I go on this journey.
I live in a small port north of Newcastle on the east coast of Australia. My first visit to this place
was 30 years ago on a sailing boat to take refuge from a storm. The peace and tranquility lured me back 6 years ago when I was wanting to escape from Sydney. The beaches, the climate, the cleanliness are still as attractive as they were 30 years ago but I have discovered this is a place
where you die rather than live.


Tranquillity
Their black fin cuts the silver surface.
They gasp the morning air
I sip my coffee,
While out of the window I stare

They are as swift as skyrockets
And graceful as swans,
While an old man rowing his dinghy
Humps like a millipede across flat glass.

How good it is to be alive to enjoy
This first hour of the day.
Like Descartes just to be,
The Dolphin, the fisherman and me.

September 2004