Possibly Corona?

Day one: I fell sick. Big time, just lay down with high fever. Anggi is fine with occasional minor coughs.

Day two: I am super fine, better than fine, I felt 10 years younger, went cycling, did all sorts of little things that needed to be done. but Anggi started coughing and got fewer.

Day three: I get so sick I feel like I will die. Huge headache, ekstreme blood pressure, Anggi is not much better. Our room was like two zombies. Quiet and motionless just waiting for the hell to pass.

Day four: The worst has passed, but we are still very sick, mostly lying in silence. We managed to watch one movie.

Day five: Two movies...

Day six: Anggi has no smell or taste... I have a sore throat, but so far it has not moved into my nose and mouth... I can still taste some...

All this made me think: hey, shouldn't we get a test? The Indonesian government should have a proper statistic and we will get an extra paper on top of vaccination certificates... Anggi just started laughing.. We do not get certificates for being sick, only vaccination counts. And you know what happens if you are positive? You get quarantined! Well, we are already keeping it, we have not left the room since it started, all we need is safely delivered to our door by Gojek (Indonesia delivery service that makes life almost too easy). But no, official Indonesian quarantine is NOT like in Europe where they send you home and ask you nicely not to go around, no. They put you in a large building with proper security in front so you do not escape. (this is true for what Anggi knows about Java, I do not know what happens to tourists in Bali if they are positive?, probably one of those official expensive hotels)

The Indonesian approach to quarantine may seem a bit extreme by European standards, but Indonesia has about ten times the population density and not everybody has a luxury of his own private space and some are too poor to afford not to go work. I am not judging, I am just saying. But this has all sorts of unintended consequences. If people start laughing just at the idea of getting a test: how many people do you think actually go and take the tests? How much can we trust statistics if people are not collaborating and even deliberately avoid the tests?

Can this graph be trusted? Is this a graph of Corona cases or the graph of tests taken?

I do not know, but it is entirely possible that in the middle of tourist season Bali would not prioritize tests. Our neighbor, who has been here many years, said she knows a lot of people who are sick right now. The graph somehow does not reflect this? I know I know, rumors are not real data, but it would also be very inconvenient for Bali to have a corona spike in the middle of its tourist season. I could go on here in all kinds of political or even conspiracy theories... It is a fascinating subject, but I will stay clear. Whatever I say is a speculation, I simply do not know enough.

I am glad we did not have to go to the hospital and that we are getting better. It is my first time getting sick with Corona and I am glad it happened after I was vaccinated and infected with a less potent strain. I would not want to know how it must have felt for those who did not have this luxury.

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This is a video of an old Madura woman in Java, not knowing she is recorded. She is speaking about everyday stuff. It is a fascinating window into how she sees the world through her old Pagan beliefs.

on minute: 6:30 "we called doctor to come home, because if we go to hospital we are afraid they will tell us we have corona" 

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Statistics can only be as good as its input data.

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And now for some fart jokes to loosen up the Corona tensions a bit: Losing smell has all sorts of interesting consequences: I can fart all I want: Anggi has no clue. It is a fart heaven! If I feel like a stone age man, I can skip on showering too, she will never know or therefore not mind... On the other side of the coin: the breakfast today had too much salt, she simply had no idea... If she puts her nose in garlic she can not smell it. Not even a little... you win some, you lose some... ...  some time later ...  The new problem emerged, now Anggi does not know if I fart or not: so she simply suspects I do. One could say: now she is smelling phantom farts similar to this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb

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We saw a lot of cars parked on the road through the field yesterday morning. And this made us wander: what is there? We never checked.

Aha, it is a resort just across the rice field.

We are at Tepiuma, just few hundred meters away. 

And the price per night is 5.600.000 Rupiah, which is 370 Euro! Even 1000 Euros per night if you would book at trip.com. We are paying 135 Euros per month for rent here, which makes it 100x cheaper. Ok, we are renting, this is a villa hotel... No direct comparison... Still... if somebody asks me: is Ubud expensive? Well, there is a whole range of offers here, from Instagram fancy dream places, to great cheap places like ours to probably even cheaper... It all depends how much you want to spend. But in any case, you are probably getting your money's worth... I can not say if 370 a night is worth it, I never spend anywhere near that amount per night anywhere... But you do get whole vila, swimming pool and I am sure they play Bali sounds in the evening.

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Staying at home, keeping quarantine Well, we are in a movie watching marathon phase: Ray, Walk the Line, Rain man, Fish called Wanda, House of Gucci, The story of Joan of Arc, Arrietty, Electrical life of Louis Vain, Runaway Jury, She will, My Neighbor Totoro, Montage of Heck, Tiger King...