Myths, Magic & Monsters : An evening with Dr. Lawrence Blair

Dr. Lawrence Blair is one of Bali’s most famous expats. He is also one of the most liked and last night I had the pleasure of watching 2 of his most recent films, Film 1. ‘Seas’. A sailing adventure East of Bali and Film 2, ‘Snakes’. Following the traces of Indonesia’s ancient Naga religions of dragons and serpents. The event took place at Fabio’s restaurant in Seminyak, which by the way, is a great place for a movie. My guest was Chimene from the US, which was actually quite a coincidence, as the last time she was in Bali, we went to a showing of ‘The Ring of Fire’, Dr. Blair’s 4 part film series of travels in Eastern Indonesia.

Having no idea how popular an event this would be, Chimene and I arrived 15 minutes before the start at 7pm. She had manage to get lost in Denpasar, like everyone else and was frazzled, after fighting traffic to get back to the Kuta area. Price of admission was 100,000rp and seating was in the open garden in front of a large projector screen. The bar was doing great business, and I bought Chimene and a drink to settle her down. At the bar I was running into all kinds of cool people, I haven’t seen for a while, including Jean, owner of TJ’s in Kuta. Jean has been serving great Mexican food on Poppies I, since 1984 and took this photo of Chimeme and I. Another fellow I bumped into was scuba diver, Chris Paporakis (this guy really does have the best job in the world), who is a underwater film maker, living in Bali. Chris spent time in Komodo, Irian Jaya, Kalimantan last year, filming for other people. Sitting at the back fo the packed crowd, I said hello to Hengky, owner of Global Xtreme. Hengky is scuba fan and this gave a clue as to what we could expect in the film.

Part I of the 4 part show, was about how some of creatures found in Indonesia (whales, manaties, glowing jelly fish, rays and others, were the source of mythic tales by foreigners (Moby Dick, Dracula, mermaids, Goddess of the Deep etc.). Dr. Blair certainly hasn’t lost his sense of adventure and at one point, gets dropped of in the middle of the ocean, with just 1 photographer and a snorkel, to interact with whales. I think even the scuba diving crowd were impressed with what they saw. While watching the film, it occurred to me that maybe some of the connections suggested were reaching a little, but Dr. Blair is such a likable fellow, I found myself going along with it.

At the interval the lady in front of us turned to me and said “Are you Nick?” I was amazed and asked how she knew me, since my photo was not on Baliblog that much. She said she reads it everyday and my photo was on it more than I realized. Anyway, we chatted and she told me she lives in Vancouver, after living in Bangkok with her husband for 20 years. Sitting next to her, were the husband and wife who started Poppies Restaurant in Kuta (1 of the first 2 in Kuta!). Her name is Niki and she told me her first warung was on Kuta beach in 1970, then she moved it to Poppies I. Niki and her husband have another Poppies I Koh Samui Thailand and Niki told me when she comes back to Bali, she misses the Thai food. I felt like I’d really arrived! Last Sunday Ika and I had lunch with Neil from Glory Restaurant, which opened in the 70’s and its great to hear these people’s stories.

Part II of the movie was about snakes found in Indonesia. We have some of the largest constrictors in the world, an array of really unique little land snakes, including the King Cobra and the world’s most poisonous snake, the Banded Sea Snake. Dr. Blair has an aversion to snakes (much as I have n aversion to spell checking), but that didn’t stop him from sampling snake’s blood in Bali, or handling sea snakes in Eastern Indonesia. A doctor friend of his gave him some advice, should he get bitten by a sea snake while diving. He said “surface immediately, don’t worry about decompression, get aboard the boat, go to the bar and order your favourite drink, and you might have enough time to drink it.”

After the movie finished everyone seemed in agreement that Dr. Blair is a true adventurer with a sense of humor and that living here in Bali, we really must get out once in a while, and explore the rest of the country.

Part III & IV are tonight, but I’m probably going to hang with family.