Summer Down Under (5 page)

She had to admit, it was a sight to behold.
The temple seemed like it was majestically rising out of the sea in
front of them. As it got lighter, she could see that it was
shrouded with vines that must have been growing over several
centuries.

“Can we go and look around it?” she asked,
itching to see inside the historic building.

“Unfortunately, no. This one is reserved for
the monks alone, but there are plenty more we are allowed to look
around.”

Sam was feeling blessed to be able to see
something this beautiful, she looked up at Daniel.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for
bringing me here. Even if it was at some ungodly hour in the
morning.”

He smiled. She felt a squeeze around her hand
and looked down. They were still holding hands. It had felt so
natural to Sam that she hadn’t even noticed. But now that she had,
the familiar ball started to knot in her stomach. She gently
released his hand. Daniel looked at her, his eyes unable to hide
his disappointment. She quickly grabbed her camera. “Need to take
some photos,” she said and then threw in a sheepish grin for good
measure.

After some incredible photos had been
snapped, they wandered back up the narrow path, at a more suitable
pace this time, and got back on the motorbike.

“So, where are you going to take me now?”

“Today is going to be a surprise. A magical
mystery tour by yours truly.”

Sam smiled and held on tight as they rode off
towards their next destination.

The next stop was another temple, much bigger
than Tanah Lot, called Besakih. As they were walking towards the
entrance, a sign caught Sam’s attention. She stopped dead in her
tracks and glared at it, annoyance prickling over her skin.

“Bloody cheek!” she exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?”

“That sign says that no women on their
periods are allowed in. I’ve never heard anything so sexist in all
my life!”

He raised a very handsome eyebrow at her
outburst and the corners of his mouth were daring to quirk into a
smile. “Are you on your period?” he asked.

“That’s none of your business!” she shouted
back at him, fury bubbling just below the surface. She hated
anything that was put there to show control over women. Her hackles
were raised.

“Well, I only ask because the reason they put
that sign there is for the protection of women. The monkeys that
inhabit the temple grounds have been known to attack women on their
periods. I think it has something to do with the hormones you
emit,” he explained in quite a matter-of-fact way.

“Oh,” was all she could bring herself to say.
Her hackles dropped and a slight feeling of embarrassment crept
over her. Truth be known, she felt just a tad silly.

“So?” he repeated. “Are you?”

“No, I am not!” she stated, squaring her
shoulders and lifting her chin before stomping off in front of
him.

Daniel grinned and shook his head at the
blonde who was storming off ahead of him. He stuffed his hands in
the pockets of his shorts and carried on after her.

It turned out to be a good job that it wasn’t
Sam’s ‘time of the month’ because the monkeys were incessant.
Within seconds of entering the temple grounds, they were climbing
all over her, sitting on her head as if they were some oddly
fashioned hats. She started laughing as she watched a monkey climb
up Daniel’s back and perched itself on his head. It was just the
funniest thing she had ever seen. She couldn’t stop laughing and it
was infectious. Daniel started laughing, too. Before long Sam was
bent double, hands on knees. Her stomach was aching she laughed so
hard.

When they eventually regained their
composure, they wandered around the grounds of the ornate temple
that stood, full of grandeur, in the center. The sun was warm, and
people were mingling with looks of admiration and awe in front of
the temple. After they’d had their fill of the sights, they
wandered back to Daniel’s motorbike.

“That was the most fun I’ve had for a very
long time,” Sam admitted.

“I think we’ll stop somewhere for a late
breakfast, if that’s okay with you.” he said.

“Absolutely, I’m famished.”

They found a secluded café situated on the
beachfront. The ocean sparkled in the sunlight and the palm trees
shaded them from the heat that was starting to beat down. The
couple fell into their usual easy conversation. Sam hadn’t enjoyed
being with anyone as much as she did with Daniel, but she reminded
herself that he was going home tomorrow, and it was very unlikely
that they would ever see one another again. She felt a little
saddened by that thought, but pushed the feeling aside. She was
going to enjoy every minute until the time came for them to part
ways.

They spent the afternoon searching out the
touristy places. Everywhere they went, the island was true to form
with its stunning beauty. Her breath was taken away on more than
one occasion. Having her own beautiful guide didn’t hurt either.
One of the downsides to their expedition was that most of the
places they visited, they were swooped upon by locals trying to
sell their wares, but this time they didn’t bother Sam as much as
the first.

She was learning to say no and walk away. It
seemed to be working. She just had to be confident, something that
was slowly coming back to her. She enjoyed the feeling of being
assertive, she had never been assertive before and it came more
naturally to her than she would have imagined. When it started to
get late in the afternoon, they headed back to Sam’s hotel.

On the way back, a little old man, sitting on
top of what she assumed was a yak, loomed up on the side of the
road ahead of them. As they got closer, she could see that he was
playing a small flute. He looked so comfortable on the large
animal’s back, like it was the most normal thing in the world, to
be sitting by the side of the road, on the top of a huge white cow
with elongated horns.

“Daniel, stop!” she cried. “Please, pull
over.”

The amusement in his face was evident as he
pulled the bike over and turned to look at her. She got off and was
captivated by the music the old man was playing on his little hand
carved instrument. It was hard to believe that something so
primitive could produce such a charming, harmonious sound. Sam
walked up to him, introduced herself, and asked if he would mind
her taking his picture. Otherwise, the folks back home were never
going to believe her. To her surprise, the old man slid down off
the yak’s back and gestured for her to get aboard.

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” she said as
politely as possible. The more she shook her head, the more he kept
gesturing towards the ominous looking beast, and it didn’t look
like he was going to take no for an answer. If she had learned one
thing about the Balinese, they very rarely took no for an
answer.

After a few minutes of refusing his gesture,
she accepted defeat and agreed. Well, she was there to experience
everything. That was her excuse and she was sticking to it. She
climbed up onto the yak’s back, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Whether that was to do with the fact that she was now sitting
astride a big white cow, or that the big white cow had a defined
and somewhat protruding backbone, she wasn't quite sure. Probably a
bit of both. Mustering a smile while Daniel took a picture, she
quickly slid off, back to the safety of terra firma.

They got back to Sam’s hotel after the sun
had set, and a feeling of sadness started to rear its ugly head.
There were only a couple more hours left with Daniel before he
would be on his way home and she would continue on with her
adventure.

The evening flew by way too fast. They
enjoyed dinner together under the vast thatched roof of the
restaurant at the hotel. The bustle around them faded into the
background as they took advantage of every last moment they could.
Daniel eventually looked down at his watch and looked up at her
with a grim expression.

“I really have to go,” he said quietly. “My
flight leaves early in the morning.”

Sam put on her best fake smile, trying to
disguise how heavy her heart felt.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “I have had
the best couple days. Thanks for showing me all over the island
and
rescuing me from that mob.”

“No Worries.” Daniel smiled. “My pleasure, it
was wonderful getting to know you, Sam. I hope that if you’re ever
in my neck of the woods you pop in and say hello.”

“I certainly will,” she said in an automatic
response, but knew it was highly unlikely that their paths would
cross again. He lived in the middle of nowhere on a sheep station.
She couldn’t imagine that her travels would take her that far off
the beaten track. Anyway, she didn’t think she would ever have the
strength to say goodbye to him twice.

They walked in silence to his bike, her heart
pounding. A lump in her throat was developing and she did her best
to force it back down. Daniel reached down to take her hand when
they got to the bike and pulled her around to face him, something
she was trying to avoid.

He looked at her one last time with those
piercing blue eyes, cupped her face gently in his strong hands,
then leaned over and laid the most tender of kisses on her lips.
Sam’s legs went to jelly and she couldn’t help but ease into his
caress. After a moment he slowly pulled away. He opened his eyes
and whispered. “You are beautiful, Sam. Don’t ever let anyone tell
you any different.” With that he got on his bike and left.

Sam swallowed hard, fighting back a tear that
was threatening to make an appearance. She turned to head back to
her room, feeling like a little piece of her had been torn away
with his departure. His whisper lingered in her mind.
You are
beautiful, Sam.
If only she could believe him.

Sam wrinkled her nose for the umpteenth time
since she had sat down on her flight from Bali to Sydney. Relieved
that it was nowhere near as long as that from England to Bali, as
the person sitting next to her was not the most pleasant smelling
specimen she’d ever come across. Unfortunately, the flight was full
or she would have moved the moment she sat down. It was always a
bit of a crap shoot traveling by plane. You never knew who you
would end up sitting next to. She prayed her nostrils would not be
traumatized for all eternity and tried immersing herself in a good
book to distract from the stink, but it was not having the desired
effect. The occasional thought about Daniel crept into her mind.
Okay, so that last comment could have been a slight understatement.
She re-read a paragraph six times before she gave up, slammed the
book closed and huffed out a breath. The passenger sitting next to
her shot her an uneasy glance.

Sam scolded herself as thoughts of the past
two days together kept seeping back into her mind. She tried
telling herself how unlikely it was she would ever see him again.
She even tried telling herself that she didn’t care if she ever saw
him again. That didn’t work either.

She pulled a piece of paper from her purse
and ran her finger over the numbers scribbled there. He had given
her his phone number, but as he was on a sheep station in the
middle of nowhere and her plans didn’t run to sightseeing on a
sheep station, she resignedly folded it up and put it back. She
pushed him to the back of her mind, but he kept pushing forward,
like clockwork, every few minutes.

The flight landed not a moment too soon for
her distressed nasal cavity and she thanked her lucky stars she had
not sat next to that person on the much longer flight from
England.

It was then that something started to sink
in, she had made it! She stepped foot on the tarmac and excitement
spilled from every pore, giving her the urge to kiss the ground,
which, thankfully, she was able to resist. After working every hour
God gave her for the past year, she was finally there, Sydney
Australia. She could hardly believe that she’d made it!

As she was making her way to the arrivals
lounge, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a window and gave
herself a wry smile. Staring back at her was the epitome of a
touristy backpacker. Shrugging her shoulders, her smile widened to
an all-out grin.

Her hair had been braided in Bali. It had
taken two ladies two hours to plait row upon row of tiny braids
while she sat under a shade tree on the edge of the beach. Well,
she had to find something to do for the other four days she was
there. Admittedly, this had been one of her less thought out
notions. To be honest, she looked pretty ridiculous, Bo Derek she
was not, but until now she couldn’t be bothered to take them out.
It was going to take ages when she finally got around to it. It did
have its advantages, though. Braided hair, it turned out, was very
easy to care for.

Her clothing consisted of a Bali souvenir
t-shirt and the loudest most colorful board shorts she was able to
find. Her image left a lot to be desired, but for the first time in
a long time, she didn’t care.

Sam now realized the greatest thing about
traveling on your own was that nobody knew you or knew anything
about you. You were never likely to see any of them again, so there
was the freedom of just being you because no one seemed to be
judging. Something that seemed to happen to her all the time back
home, the feeling of constantly being judged was never far away.
Most of the time she felt like she just wasn’t good enough somehow.
It was as if no one pushed her to do anything because no one had
any faith that she would be able to, so why would they bother. Now,
whether that was just her imagination or not, it didn’t matter
anymore because here she was twelve thousand miles from home, on
her own. She admitted to feeling a little smug at the thought that
no one she knew had ever done anything like this before.