The Gene pool: Hotel Prawita, Kuta Bali

Tuesday night here in Seminyak, its sexy dancers at the Galaxy, on Jl. Dhyana Pura. After chatting with Barrie, his mum Yvonne, and Candika at the Hotel Prawita pool ( the ‘Gene pool’), I’m not sure I need any sexy dancers.

The ‘Gene pool’ got its name back in 2003, when Barrie and Candika first stayed there. Barrie is an unstoppable social butterfly and after a guest has unpacked, Barrie has introduced himself and got the full rundown on who they are. I get to hear the ’roundup’ at the end of the day, kind of like tuning into SportsCenter. Most reports start off like this, “Ah mate, you shoulda been there this arvo, this sheila….” The goings on in the pool, are the stuff soap operas are made of.

Today at around 5pm I made an appearance to see how everyone was doing, Barrie was hanging out in his Speedo’s (that ‘out in’, not ‘out of’) and gave me the lowdown on what to expect. The skinny Aussie chick, with a tan like a model in the room nextdoor was in the pool earlier, but I missed it. She is the one who sunbathes topless on the water bed, hence Barrie’s underwater camera. She did show up to say hello though, and the reason was she had asked Barrie, if he knew anywhere she could get some vinegar to put on her salad (told you she was a skinny girl). Barrie came up with a glass of pure Balinese vinegar. Remember Balinese don’t eat salad, they use vinegar for other purposes. This stuff was so strong, a whiff from 6 inches away made me snort. Same effect on everyone else. There would be no way to consume that stuff safely, and I told the lady the best thing, would be to use it to clean her bathroom with.

This time of year the Kuta area is flooded with Idul Fitri celebrants from Surabaya and other parts of Java. The Prawita is fairly cheap, so they use the place. When I arrived a Javanese family splashed around in the pool, before being replaced by a young Aussie and his Indo girlfriend. She entertained us with some poolside exercises, before retiring with him. That session was quickly followed by a couple of newlyweds from Surabaya. These 2 were not shy and I’ll leave it Barrie to describe the rest. Apparently there are 3 Chinese ladies who show up in mid-afternoon, Barrie keeps on at me to come down.

Staying at a budget hotel in Kuta, can be an interesting experience, and a chance to meet people from other countries and parts of the country.