58 and not out.....

10th June 2009

One of the games pakdokter played in high school was cricket. On a good day whenever pakdokter was 'possessed', pakdokter could easily bring down 5 to 6 wickets in a day. It looks like even in golf, pakdokter has his 'angin', for when being so-called 'possessed', pakdokter may return scores of mid-40s for a 9-hole ( for someone with a handicap of 24!) , much to the despair of pakdokter's regular opponents.

pakdokter in the school's cricket team in the 60's

Anyway, coming back to this post, pakdokter has chosen a title using a phrase common in cricket 'lingo' ......... '58 and not out' for the purpose of declaring that on the 10th of June, pakdokter happily celebrated pakdokter's 58th birthday.

Pakdokter and partner took the morning flight to Bali and escaped to the quiet YTL Spa Village Resort located at Tembok, on the northern shores of Bali. The resort pick-up drove us through Sanur and Candidasa on the eastern seaboard of the island then over the mountainous terrain to the northern shore along the coast passing by pretty Balinese villages. Pakdokter has never ventured to this part of Bali before and was so glad that we chose to try out this resort for a change. Before reaching Tembok, we lunched at a local restaurant at the Candidasa beach. After crossing the mountain and hitting the north shore we passed by several small luxury resorts like the Aman Kila and the Alilla resorts.

We arrived at the YTL Spa Village at around 5.00 pm to be welcomed by the resorts staff and after a welcome refreshment, were given a foot and shoulder massage by the resort's therapists while our registrations were being processed. Pakdokter's partner noticed that the yoga session was about to start and rushed to join the 90 minute yoga held in the open at the resorts central courtyard.

yoga exercises at the central courtyard of the resort..

a warm soak in the tub filled with rose petals before a romantic dinner. ..

The YTL Spa Village is a small cozy resort with 31 suites on a pretty beach-front location. The package that pakdokter took included 3 meals a day and a daily 85 minutes spa and massage treatment. The resort does not welcome children at all, so it was a great place for a relaxing and quiet 'chill-out'.

sunrise at 630 am...

black volcanic sand of the beach...

At dinner pakdokter was surprised with a birthday cake from the restaurant. That's how detailed and observant the front desk staff was at check-in that they noticed that that day was pakdokter's birthday.

Hopefully pakdokter will be blessed with many more surprises like this.

dinner with pakdokter's partner and friends...


And who knows, may be one day pakdokter may be able to post another blog with the title ' 100 and not out.....'