The return of Mick to Bali

Former expat Mick Turnbull did paid Bali a lightening visit the other day from Osaka Japan where he works as an aircraft engineer for Cathay Pacific.

I met Mick in Made’s Warung in Seminyak shortly after arriving in Bali back in 2003. He showed me a lot of the island on his famous motorbike tours and his house parties were legendary.

We met at Warung Gossip in Kerobokan and caught up. Mick was telling me that after living in Bali where people are outgoing and somewhat familiar with westerners, living in Japan is a big change. Outside of Osaka airport not many people speak English and the expat scene there is quite limited.

Some people might remember that Mick injured his medial lateral knee ligament on a motorbike ride in Spain and used BootsnAll.com’s travel insurance to receive medical treatment in Spain and have the operation done in Australia. The good news is that Mick’s knee is that the knee is back to full strength and all he has to show for it are 2 small holes.

We arranged an impromtu bbq for later that evening and I quickly contacted a couple of people to join.

Around 7pm no one had showed up so I went next door to invite Lorenzo and his Italian friends to join, they had however already eaten a large nasi bungkus each. I was making corn on the cob with madu (honey) and took 3 over for them to play with.

One by one people came including Donovan and Carrie, Margarita and Ebong. Mick showed up with an old girlfriend who is a Garuda flight attendent. Ever the vodka lover, Mick brought his customary bottle of Stolichnaya and shared it generously. I sipped a Bintang and dished out the corn, tuna, chicken and steak. Very nice to have a smaller crowd and great to finally have Mick in the house.

Indonesia is a country of contradictions and Mick told me he had to grab a copy of Garuda’s in flight magazine. On the second page next to the ‘contents’ was a half page ad offering ‘vaginal tightening, surgical and non-surgical’. Bet the minister of tourism loves that!

We often joke that Mick’s situation in Bali was the ‘glory days’…villa with pool, all expenses paid for and a girlfriend for everyday of the week. I know he would like to come back but in the world of aircraft engineering his options are limited by International airports and the local job openings.

Having just flown Merpati to Lombok I quizzed Mick on the subject of aircraft maintenance in Indonesia. Basically Garuda is okay, Pelita is decent because it is owned by a group of former Air Force guys. Merpati is so-so and Lion Air is shakey.

Mick’s 5 hour shift checking 1 flight a day in Bali has turned into a 10 hour 4 plane workday in Japan. He still loves the engineering part but hates the paperwork.

If you are a super rich guy who owns a plane in Bali needs a #1 class aircraft engineer Mick might be interested.

Our evening finished at Rumours sitting at the bar chatting. That place is always busy but great for a high energy meeting place. While there we bumped into Rory, the general manager of the Nusa Lembongan Resort. In the past I have had trouble remembering his name and have called him Lenny, Ronny etc. Now it’s starting to stick.

Mick flew out yesterday and I look forward to seeing back here again. Donovan, Mick and I chatted about riding motorbikes across Central Africa from Morocco to Tanzania. We’re into it and who knows, sometime in the future we might have a crack at it.

Related Posts

• Mick Turnbull is a dad!!!
• Bali Pictures from December 2003
• Meeting Mick and Upi in Kerobokan Bali
• Driving back from Lovina Bali
• Surfing in Uluwatu Bali on Sept. 3rd 2004

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