Fear and Loathing in Ciloto Indah Permai

Do you remember that scene in Fear and Loathing where the 2 main characters go into a carnival themed casino while tripping balls on mescaline? Well, they blew their fucking minds in there because it was the most twisted scene with trapeze artists, clowns, mimes, carousel’s, and vertically challenged waiters and waitresses. A very distorted scene my friends. This weekend I actually could relate to how they must have felt, first hand, when I drove into the cottage/hotel where were supposed to be staying in Puncak.

Upon entering the steep narrow road that fell into the complex, I was faced with statues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Right then I knew this would not be good. I was planning to do some heavy drinking this weekend and Avi + JD+ & 7 little statues = TROUBLE. As we drove the winding streets within the compound, heading towards the main reception area, the scenery definitely took a turn for the worse. The place started to look like a very creepy version of Disney Land, like where cartoon ghosts come in the after life. Sort of akin to cartoon limbo. Discolored and disfigured gnomes loitered around every corner, grinning at me, seemingly taunting me. Although the weather was cool, I felt a cold sweat come over me. Wretched statues of animals caught stagnant in time also haunted me. I hate animal statues. They remind me of the witch turning everyone to stone in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Narnia was a terrifying place that winter.

The cottages themselves were all bright colored on the outside, as though freshly painted, but the inside of the cottages were damp and aged. Ashwyn made me hobble around on my twisted ankle and look at 5 cottages before finally settling on a four bedroom structure that thank heavens, least resembled a cartoon drawing. I feared sleeping in a cottage that was made to resemble a log cabin from the outside would truly push me over the edge. Our final decision on the cottage however was based on the size of the refrigerator within it. I sat my ass on the mildew sofa waiting for B to bring the car around, and I watched as the crew unloaded their stuff. Now knowing that we were only coming for one night, I had the clothes I wore on my back, plus a pair of track pants and a t-shirt that I just threw into the car as we were leaving. My friends however found it necessary to pack bags!! Yes, BAG’S!!! What the hell do you need for just one night in Puncak. Hell I even bought a toothbrush when we stopped to buy booze.

I made my self a drink and eventually we all settled around the coffee table and not before long we were engrossed in a drinking game. This is by far the coolest drinking game I have ever played. It is called Kings Cup. Have you ever played this? Minal hooked this game up and it was awesome. Mahalo. If enough people ask I guess I can blog this game as well sometime. Otherwise we can just wait till we link up and I can teach you in person. In the end, after 1 bottle of JD and a bottle of Smirnoff Apple Twist (the girls loved this), we were all toasted and silly. We proceeded to walk across the resort to the Karaoke room. We passed a number of gnomes on the way and I avoided eye contact, worried that one of them would try and start shit up. We made it to the hall with out major incident. The walk back however was a little messier as we were all a bit more pissed. Refer to the pics below.

I later drove us to Puncak pass where I attacked a bottle of Bushmill’s and we also dove into the infamous pancakes. After chilling there for a while we took a drive around the area and ended up back at the villa where one by one, all the soldiers fell into their beds, leaving but one sorry soul, bottle of Jim Beam in hand, listening to Ghazals till sunrise. Props were due to B though, as he did hang with me for quite a while before turning in. Once left to my lonesome, I missed Neeraj. When he was here we would always be the last 2 present and no one would be left alone. Gulam Ali was in the house when I finally passed out.

Overall, the night spent in the Villa was okay. Just very okay at that. I would not stay there for more than a night or 2 though. There were roaches!!! And that is where I draw the line. It was a good thing that B is not as much of a pansy as I am when it comes to roaches. I drove into another place in the area called Novus that looked like a new hotel. Next time I am in Puncak, I will surly stay there.