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Posted By: Hal Brown

Date Posted: Sep 10, 2014

Description: At the end of the cruise, before going into Puerto Princesa, I went through my usual preflight, including pulling the prop through. On this morning it was almost impossible to move the prop off dead stop. Even when it did, and it began turning normally, if I let it sit for more than a few minutes it got tight again.

The guests left us at Puerto Princesa so there was no pressure to fly. I decided not to and instead called my friend the Rotax engine guru in Florida. He immediately knew what had happened. 'You have a cracked crankshaft, Dan. It's likely damaged the journal on the power takeoff side. It locks up when the oil drains away.'

Now I was grounded. There were lots of discussions about what to do, but in the end it was decided to ship the airplane back to Florida. It was time for some major attention and rehabilitation.

SuRi will get her new SeaRey in Bangkok this October. Until then, SuRi SeaRey Adventures are suspended.

Well, almost.

Date Taken: Sep 10, 2014

Place Taken: Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

Owner: Dan Nickens

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Category: 551, Yacht Tending Philippines

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Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The guests all flew off SuRi in the helicopter. I was going to fly one guest to the airport before I found the engine problem. Having a dysfunctional radio I decided not to tangle with the tower anyway. Instead, the SeaRey and I arrived at Puerto Princesa on SuRi.<br /><br />		Attachments: Port Arrival

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	There wasn’t much going on at the port. A few local fishing boats were headed out, some with fancy rigging.		Attachments: Fancy Fisher

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The port itself looked like any other: massive concrete structures and mountains of metal shipping containers. Next door, however, was unlike any other I had visited. It was pure poverty.<br /><br />The stacks of containers were a source of continuing frustration for me. I had an airplane to ship, but couldn’t get a container for it. The yacht agent was always optimistic. “Your container tomorrow. Maybe next day. Soon.”<br /><br />That same dialog went on for ten days. Finally the agent admitted that it wasn’t going to happen before SuRi left port. He offered another alternative. “You fly to Subic Bay and there is a container for you.”<br /><br />If I could have flown to Subic Bay I wouldn’t have needed a container!<br />		Attachments: Squatters Row

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	While waiting for the yacht agent to find a container there was time for a better look around the port and at the capital of Palawan. A closer look showed something other than just poverty. Maybe abject poverty? Whatever, the Jolibee sign seemed to be from another world.<br /><br />		Attachments: Out Back

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	What kind of poverty is beyond abject? A housing area over an open sewer is way beyond abject. When I asked about the pilings in the sewage lagoon I was told there had been a fire. A large area of stilt houses had burned.<br /><br />What about the ones that were left? <br /><br />“The government make them move,” I was told.<br /><br />“But where will they go?”<br /><br />“The forest. That’s all that is left for them.”<br />		Attachments: Sad on Stilts

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The bustling downtown was a big improvement over the waterfront. No open sewers and Jolibee’s had a chicken and noodles dinner.<br /><br />A trike driver that would take you anywhere you wanted to go for 20 Philippine Pesos (US$0.50). If you didn’t know any better, however, the driver would ask how much you thought it was worth. If you said a US$1, he would barter for two. The threat of walking away would quickly bring the price back down to the going rate. This was great sport to some of the crew. It just didn’t seem worth the effort to me.<br /><br />“But I don’t want to get ripped off,” I was told. I suppose that is fair sentiment. I didn’t feel particularly ripped off if I paid fifty cents more than the going rate.<br /><br />		Attachments: Downtown Princesa

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	One side of the port was a public park. There were tents with vendors hawking food, renting bikes, kids playing soccer, and couples walking the concrete boardwalk. It was as if the shanty town in the background was invisible.<br /><br />		Attachments: Approaching Storm

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The port was host to boats of all sizes. One was a Chinese fishing vessel that had been captured in Philippine waters. There were two Philippine Navy patrol boats making sure it didn’t escape.		Attachments: Calm Parking

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The patron saint of the port? I couldn’t tell. The plaque had long since become illegible.		Attachments: Lady of the Port

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Storms were a regular feature of the port weather. Every afternoon it would cloud up and rain. That didn’t stop the fishing boats from heading out to sea.		Attachments: Into the Storms

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The park at the port was surrounded by concrete walls and guarded by local park police. The concrete walls were adorned with colorful community art. This one seemed to be welcoming of everyone, regardless of nationality. I wonder what the Chinese sailors would think. Of course they wouldn’t see it. They were confined to their boat.<br /><br />		Attachments: Community Poster

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Everyone on the yacht has a different perspective of the world. Most are from South Africa or Fiji, with a few from New Zealand, Australia, and the U.K. Our chief engineer is from Croatia.<br /> <br />The Fijians are particularly beautiful people. They have a calming perspective that easily covers life and death situations. For example, 'Tui, it is dangerous to go spear fishing in these shark infested currents!' I've protested. His response, a shrug. He said, 'Life is dangerous. It is for living, then you die. Fresh fish makes the living better. We will die and then it will be better still.'<br /> <br />When first we docked at Puerto Princesa a small wooden boat paddled out from a nearby hovel. In the boat was a shriveled man and five small children. It pulled alongside SuRi and a little girl held up her baby brother, extending him towards us with her little sticks of arms. 'Food please. Baby need food,' she pleaded in a squeaky voice. The boatman just stared vacantly at the yacht.<br /> <br />Tui saw me move towards the crew mess. 'No, Dan,” he said. “It is hard. You give them food, and they will all come here. There are too many. This is not the way.'<br /> <br />Tui is a black mass of muscle, dwarfing Swartzenegger in his prime. I stared at this chiseled mountain of a man for long enough to see a tear run down from one eye. I turned away and went back into the boat to hide from the children.<br /><br /><br />		Attachments: Paddle Boat

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Walking back to the port late one afternoon I passed a closed shop. A little guy was staring through the bars at the rows of treats just beyond his reach. Dreaming of food?<br /><br />I stopped. Maybe I could make his dream come true? All I had to do is walk across the street and give him my pocket change.<br /><br />I remembered what Tui had told me. There were lots of other children playing in the dirty street. Change for them too? Was it too much? A couple of dollars? What dream isn’t worth that? What nightmare avoided isn’t worth that and more. Taking a chance on the nightmares, I turned and walked away.<br /><br />As a child in bible school I was taught, “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” I long ago drifted away from strict adherence to such religious commandments, coming to a more liberal application of the principals. Now the old commandments were rising up to recreate long suppressed conflicts with practical realities.<br /><br />Nightmares are probably better than constantly being hungry. A lot better.<br /><br />		Attachments: Treats

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	On top of the hill, just above the squatters city, sat a massive, beautifully ornate church. Late one afternoon I decided to wander up and see for myself the strange incongruity of ecclesiastical wealth and parishioner poverty. On the way up, through the jumble of waste and sewerage I spotted a sign proclaiming 'Church for the Peoples'. It was otherwise indistinguishable from the surrounding jumble of shacks.<br /> <br />At the door was a young but already wizened Filipino. I stopped and asked him about the big church up on the hill. 'It is for the rich, not these people,' he explained in well-spoken English.<br /> <br />In our brief conversation I found he was from a better place, come here to minister to the lowest of the low. I brazenly asked him about such futility in the face of such overwhelming poverty. 'I cannot fix all of this,' he admitted, 'but I do what little I can as best I can.'<br /> <br />I've always had a deep and abiding aversion to organized religion. I could see the results of that just up the hill. Here, though, was one man with a deep passion working against incredible odds for his true beliefs, doing the best he could. I reached in my pocket and handed him an envelope containing the 'tip' money we get from SuRi’s guests, wished him success, and turned away.<br /> <br />(So easy, wasn't it? Payment against nightmares? Maybe, but no pain for me at all. So little help, and not the best I can do. It still shames me.)<br /> <br />Before I could leave the minister exclaimed, 'Wait! I will pray for blessings for you, my friend.'<br /> <br />'No. Pray for your people. I already have more than my share of blessings.'<br /><br />“None can have too many of God’s blessings,” he answered solemnly.<br /><br />I didn’t argue, but I wonder.<br /><br />The guests on SuRi are only exposed to loveliness. They arrive by jet and are treated as if it was Air Force Plus One. After deplaning they are whisked by an army of attendants through whatever bureaucracy that hasn't been bought off directly to the waiting helicopter. It lifts them over any unpleasantness, a flight path that routes only over beautiful gardens. The SuRi awaits for them offshore, well away from any blemishes on the landscape. While they are onboard a flotilla of tenders keep any shabbiness at distance. At the end of their cruise, it is just the reverse. Never do their eyes see anything other than the most beautiful.<br /> <br /><br />That’s what the guests sign up for and it’s why I’m employed. I wonder if it affects their pserspective of the world we tour. An afternoon walking through Puerto Princesa certainly affected mine.<br /><br />		Attachments: Real Church

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The quickest hope for shipping the airplane lay at SuRi’s next planned port-of-call: Bali. I was told that Bali would have just the container I had been waiting for over the past ten days. Rather than riding over on the slow boat, I took a commercial flight. My plan was to get there and have a container waiting and ready to go when the slow boat arrived.<br /><br />There was reason for hope. It was less of a third world kind of place. More like a two-and-three-quarters kind of place.<br /><br />Proof of Bali’s modernism: There were lots of elaborately ornate buildings, including security check points. I was told that the security was a response to the 2002 bombing by Muslim extremists that killed more than 200 people, mostly tourists. A second set of bombings in 2005 killed 20 people.<br /><br />Such security measures were in place at all the tourist locations. They included vehicular stops and searches. A uniformed guard would peak under the car with a mirror. The car door might even be opened for a glance inside. The searches were pretty cursory. It wouldn’t take a very sneaky terrorist to thwart the system.<br /><br />		Attachments: Checkpoint Bali

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Special effects for tourists? You bet.		Attachments: Fountain Square

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	My plan for getting logistics done in advance of SuRi’s arrival involved employing a rental car. Independent transportation is standard protocol for yacht support. A reservation was made, but with a late arrival I decided to pick it up the next day. Instead I took a cab to the hotel.<br /><br />The ride to the hotel reminded me of Manila. It convinced me that I didn’t want to drive in such vehicular mayhem. <br /><br />It turned out to be the prudent choice. It was also cheaper to just hire a driver. For $50 per day you could ride anywhere and have a car and driver waiting at your beck and call.<br /><br />My driver’s name was Buda. That seemed to be absolutely appropriate.<br /><br />		Attachments: One Lane for all

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Four million people live on the island of Bali. Three point nine million are on the roads riding scooters at any particular time. Instead of having a lot of dedicated fueling stations, fuel is available most anywhere along the roadside.<br /><br />This was a particularly clean fueling rack. Most were just bamboo shelves stacked with old plastic liter bottles, drinking water bottles with the labels removed. Buda pointed these out as we bopped and weaved in and through the traffic obstacles.<br /><br />My initial impression was that Buda was not a particularly adept driver. The car jerked side-to-side, accelerated and decelerated for no apparent reason. Other drivers, particularly those on scooters, were ignored to their terror.<br /><br />He did always manage to get me to where I was going. I finally quit watching the road and focused on the scenery.<br /><br />		Attachments: Fuel n more

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	In a predominately Muslim country, Bali is unique. Most of the Bali population subscribe to a unique kind of Hinduism. It is based on animism, ancestor worship, and reverence for Buddhist saints (enlightened beings).<br /><br />Buda told me every house has a corner with a shrine in it. The household shrine is dedicated to whatever manifestation of god the family prefers to worship.<br /><br />“Selecting one’s god sounds like an important decision, Buda. How is that made when there are so many to chose from?”<br /><br />“Not important. Only one god. Many forms. All connected. God in everything. Any choice good.”<br /><br />Buda did not mind discussing his religion and took no offense at my questions. The Balinese people I met were impeccably polite, invariably bowing with their hands prayer-like in greeting. I understood about a tenth of what I was told.<br /><br />		Attachments: Sitting Bull

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the 'Island of a Thousand Puras', or 'Island of the Gods'. Buda took me on a tour of the island, including its temples.<br /><br />This Shivaite Temple was built in 1663 for the Goddess of Lake and River, Dewi Danu (one of the two supreme deities in the Balinse Hindu religion). Most areas of the temple were open to tourists.<br /><br />		Attachments: Lake Temples

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Buda told me there are different types of temples. The public ones welcome everyone, even gawking tourists (for a modest entry fee). Others are for local religious ceremonies. A few are private, allowing only the most devote worshippers.<br /><br />Buda never accompanied me into the public temples. Maybe he didn’t like my dress. I was told by the erstwhile vendor outside the Bat Cave Temple that it showed respect for the gods. I can’t see it, myself.<br />		Attachments: Fashion Statement

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary of Padangtegal, Mandala Suci Wenara Wana, was as advertised: a forest full of monkeys, statutes, Temples, and tourists.<br /><br />		Attachments: Monkey Gods

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	An offering to the gods? Charity? <br /><br />I asked Buda about poverty in Indonesia. He was unmoved by the plight of the impoverished. “Work hard. Live good. Money comes. You see.”<br /><br />That confirmed what I heard was a common local sentiment. It was explained that if someone lives badly or does evil, he will be reincarnated into a lower social caste in the next life. Those in a lower social or economic position deserve to be there to make amends for sins of a prior life.<br /><br />The Rig Veda, the original Hindu text of hymns, appears to have contradictory positions on the issue.<br />'Lazy people always dwell in poverty and are subjected to constant failure.'<br /> “A combination of righteous knowledge and righteous actions help us to earn wealth.'<br />'One who follows the path of virtuosity need not be worried about wealth as it comes to him naturally without making efforts.'<br />'One should always help the weak, the destitute and the impoverished.'<br /> 'One should strongly resent miserliness and indulge in charity because one can acquire the never-ending wealth of immortality by doing so.'<br /><br />It was hard for me to figure out how to integrate that. Buda’s answer to my confusion: “Family must takes care. If brother no food, I give. Not you. Not mayor.”<br /><br />The Rig Veta says, “The only needy person in the world is oneself. Nobody is dependent upon us.”<br /><br />		Attachments: Monkey Food

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Buda was uncomfortable being invited to lunch with me. At my insistence we had one lunch together. It was obvious he was extremely uncomfortable. He subsequently refused such invitations.<br /><br />Though Bali doesn’t have a strict caste system like India, there are some lines that just aren’t crossed. The four castes that are recognized include: peasants (most of the population) are the lowest, followed by businessmen and bureaucrats (really? Shouldn’t they be below rats?), then warriors and royalty, and at the top of the heap, holy men and priests. I’m not sure where pilots wearing dresses fit in.<br /><br />		Attachments: Temple

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Buda took me to a temple with sacred water. It was lovely and I met a fascinating Hawaiian who only claimed to have lived there once, but now was a citizen of the world. The self proclaimed citizen-of-the-world tracked me through the temple. Try as I might, I couldn’t get away.<br /><br />The world citizen was an expert on everything in the world. “My wife and I retired thirty years ago and we’ve been touring the world ever since.” He suggested that I check out some modern interpretations of the ancient Buddhists thinking.<br /><br />I did. Phillip Moffitt suggests the essential meaning of the four noble truths revealed by Buddha is based upon “dukkha” (loosely meaning “suffering”) as follows:<br />1. your life contains moments of dukkha;<br />2. the cause of your dukkha is clinging to desired objects and states of being;<br />3. you can release dukkha by letting go of clinging to those desires; and<br />4. there is an Eightfold Path to freedom from dukkha that you can follow in order to accomplish all this.<br />Moffitt states that understanding these truths is the foundation of Buddhist wisdom.<br /><br />		Attachments: Pool Pad

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Rob Loneragan’s son, Toby, was spending a lot of time in Bali. To help me understand the path to enlightenment, he suggested I read a book by Jed McKenna titled, “Spiritual Enlightenment, The Damnedest Thing”. He said that was a good introduction to the topic from an American perspective.<br /><br />Jed might be an American, but our common heritage did nothing to enlighten me. Jed says, “The you that you think of as you (and that thinks of you as you, and so on) is not you, it’s just the character that the underlying truth of you is dreaming into existence. Enlightenment isn’t in the character, it’s in the underlying truth.” <br /><br />What?<br /><br />		Attachments: Water Palace

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	My unwanted companion and ex-Hawaiian, now Citizen-of-the-World, wasn’t satisfied with enlightening me. He grabbed a young couple that were engaging in some public yoga and entrapped them in our conversation.<br /><br />I was much more interested in the yoga couple. He was a fire fighter from Miami. She was a yoga instructor. They had saved a long time for the trip.<br /><br />Citizen of the World told them he had invested wisely, then retired. He touted all the places around the world he had visited since he retired. “It’s all in blending in with the locals. If you don’t travel as a tourist, you can do it on a dime.” The young Miamians were obviously impressed.<br /><br />Taking a moment out of his life story, he disdained to ask me: “How do you do it?”<br /><br />“I’m paid to do it.”<br /><br />End of conversation.<br /><br />Jed McKenna says, <br />“It is your show.<br /><br />It is your universe.<br />There is no one else here, just you,<br />and nothing is being withheld from you.<br />You are completely on your own.<br />Everything is available for direct knowing.<br />No one else has anything you need.<br />No one else can lead you, pull you, push you or carry you.”<br /><br />		Attachments: Vertical Yoga

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Hindu religion says that one should not feel sorrow at another’s death. There are certain rituals, however, that need to be performed. “Body must be burned before the soul can leave it completely.” Bodies may be buried until enough money is saved for an elaborate cremation.<br /><br />As we were driving along I asked Buda about a gathering of people around a fire along the roadside. I only got a glimpse as we sped by.<br /><br />“Cremation,” he told me. “Done on this day. Allowed. It is approved.”<br /><br />I’m glad I wasn’t paying close attention.<br /><br />There were, however, various sad memorials over graves awaiting cremation. This one looked particularly sad.<br /><br />The symbol on the gravestone has nothing to do with Nazis. It is Sanskrit word (svasktika) has been around for 12,000 years and means “good existence”. In Hinduism, the right-handed svasktika is a symbol of the god Vishnu and the sun. It means good fortune, prosperity, abundance, and eternity to the Buddhists. It doesn’t seem quite right that the Nazis were allowed to associate it with their evil.<br /><br /><br />		Attachments: Sad Memorial

Kenneth Leonard - Sep 12,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Dan- we have some Navajo rugs about a century old with these symbols. The Navajo Nation has <br />indicated that since the Nazis corrupted the symbol, they no longer associate with it. How sad indeed.

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Mt. Agung, the mother mountain of Bali and its highest point, is still an active volcano. It last erupted in 1964, killing 2000 people.<br /><br />Buda remembered. “Dark skies. Dust all around. Everybody run. No food. Very scary.”<br /><br />In World War II the Japanese torpedoed a U.S. Liberty ship off the eastern shore of Bail. It’s captain ran it aground to keep it from sinking. There it sat until the volcano unleashed a stream of lava. The lava pushed the ship offshore, creating a fantastic reef.<br /><br />Buda was happy to take me there. Have you ever dreamed of swimming around the submerged remnant of a great ship? I had. It was every bit as amazing as I imagined.<br /><br />The diving was right off the shore, but it was a bit tricky. There were strong currents. I mentioned that to my guide. “Very dangerous. Tourists lost off dive boat this week. Drifted away. Never found.”<br /><br />As we drove back to the hotel we passed a large group. “What are they doing?” I asked Buda.<br /><br />“Celebrating life. Father was fisherman. Lost yesterday. Never returned.”<br /><br />“He just never returned? Did anyone go looking for him?”<br /><br />“Many did. Not find.”<br /><br />“That’s terrible.”<br /><br /> “Happens much.”<br /><br />“His family must be devastated.”<br /><br />Buda shrugged. “Fisherman good man. Will come back with better life.”<br /><br />		Attachments: Hot Background

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Bali has been both terrorized and blessed by its volcanoes. The volcanic soil is very fertile. Thirty years ago Bali was mostly an agricultural economy. Since then it has become Indonesia’s most visited place. Tourism is by far the biggest part of the economy, making it one of the wealthiest places in Indonesia.<br /><br />		Attachments: Green Fields

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	The Rig Veda says, “When something is thought of then it can be desired.” I can verify that. Thinking of home and a bed such as this alone, well, that certainly was a fertile situation for dangerous desire.<br /><br />		Attachments: Only the Lonely

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	'One who follows the path of virtuosity need not be worried about wealth as it comes to him naturally without making efforts.' The Rig Veda<br /><br />My home for the two weeks waiting for SuRi and a container was fine enough to avoid any worries about impending poverty. Just outside the resort’s finely manicured grounds, there was reason for concern. The daily drive outside with Buda was enough to make me think that I need to work harder at being virtuous.<br /><br />		Attachments: Pretend Lagoon

Don Maxwell - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	That one is very much like the New England Puritans' idea of grace and prosperity.

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	From the Rig Veda, the first Hindu book of mantras:<br />For yesterday is only a dream,<br />and tomorrow is but a vision.<br />But today, well lived,<br />makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,<br />and every tomorrow<br />a vision of hope.<br />Look well, therefore, to this day.<br /><br />New age Jed McKinna says, “Suffering just means you’re having a bad dream. Happiness means you’re having a good dream. Enlightenment means getting out of the dream altogether.” <br /><br />Did I really want to get out of the Bali bad/good dream? <br /><br />		Attachments: Prison Pool

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	Finally I found a container! It meant going around the yacht agent to an independent broker. “You can have it Monday,” I was told. The quoted price was a lot cheaper too.<br /><br />Perfect! SuRi arrived Sunday night.<br /><br />Monday I was met by the yacht agent and told, “You can’t take the airplane off the boat.” Why? “Because it must be approved into the country before it can leave.”<br /><br />The Captain was surprised. “I’ve never heard of that before.”<br /><br />There was worse news. “Id-Ul-Fitr starts soon. If you don’t get the airplane approved by Friday, it won’t leave for a month.”<br /><br />“But Id Ul Fitr is a Muslim holiday. Bali isn’t Muslim.”<br /><br />“That’s not important. The container has to go through Jakarta. Nothing moves through Jakarta during Id Ul Fitr.”<br /><br />There was only one way to get it done before the holiday: pay thousands extra to the yacht agent that had all the local Customs connections. I was irate. The Captain was philosophical. “It’s a third world country. Everything takes a lot longer and costs a lot more.”<br /><br />The airplane had to come off the boat. The yacht was headed out on a charter and there was no room for a flightless seaplane.<br /><br />The best I could do was surrender to the agent’s extortion. When I agreed, the paperwork was immediately produced, the airplane came off, and was packed away.<br /><br />Buda said that he would come to the hotel at mid-night to drive me to the airport. “You don’t have to do that. The hotel has a van.”<br /><br />Buda insisted. “Very grateful. You feed my family. I take you.”<br /><br />In the end, it’s just as my Dad told me: “You’ll never have to apologize to anyone, even yourself, for doing the best you can.”<br /><br />		Attachments: Hard Stuffing

Wayne Nagy - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	all the information that you share below is enlightening and thought provoking , Dan. I'm <br />also really curious about the crankshaft. Can you share on the Tech site?

Dan Nickens - Sep 10,2014 Viewers | Reply


	It's there, Wayne. Check the Photos section, posted July 3, 2014.

Chris Vernon-Jarvis - Sep 11,2014 Viewers | Reply


	My brother moved to Bali for a couple of years, partly for his wife's health, about three years ago. Likes it enough he's back in the UK selling up. Going to live there permanently.<br /><br />Stayed with him for a week, liked Bali a lot.

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