You just never know who you might bump into.
October 23rd, 2008
I was sitting in Canderi’s restaurant in Ubud, Bali (where 74 year old Canderi is still cooking in the kitchen as she was in 1974) when I spotted the founder of Lonely Planet and author of my ‘74 guidebook Tony Wheeler walking past. I ran up to him and, with my 1974 guidebook in hand, said, ‘Excuse me, can you help me? I’m trying to find a hotel, but my guidebook seems a little out of date.’
‘Maybe you should get a newer one,’ he replied with a laugh.
Meeting Tony would have been an amazing and incredible coincidence… if it wasn’t actually planned (although bumping into him in the street that night was a coincidence). I’d timed my visit to Ubud in Bali to meet up with Tony and go for a little scooter around the island. Tony was in Bali for the Ubud Writer’s Festival. The next morning when I joined Tony on a ‘Jalan jalan’ (a walk around Ubud) he told me that I was appearing at the festival later in the day. Australian author Matthew Condon had pulled out of the festival, so the organisers had asked Tony to take another session. He then suggested I do it with him and we talk about travelling with the ‘74 guidebook. We just ad-libbed our way through it, but the session went very well (Tony is full of amazing stories, so that makes it easy).
The next day Tony and I jumped on scooters and raced out into the countryside. I didn’t get much of a chance to admire the view, though. I was concentrating too hard keeping up with Tony who sped in and out of traffic like one of the locals. At one point we stopped to take a photo of a spectacular view of Lake Batur and within seconds a couple of locals appeared out of nowhere trying to sell us sarongs and T-shirts. When the lady said to Tony ‘ for you special price’ I laughed and said to Tony, ‘You must have heard that a few times.’ In 36 years of almost constant travelling I’m guessing Tony would have heard that a few hundred thousand times.
It was such a privilege to have Tony join me for part of my journey with the original Southeast Asia on a shoestring. Not only was it the highlight of my trip it will undoubtedly be a highlight of the book.
Brian and Tony on the way to Lake Batur, Bali.
'For you special price...'
On October 25th, 2008 Peter Moore said:
On October 27th, 2008 brianthacker said: