In what is a serious escalation in the spate of drink and food spiking in Bali, Canadian ex-pat Kyle Garnett was fed drug-laced ice-cream by a mystery Indonesian woman before paddling out for a surf at Uluwatu. The woman had approached him outside Nalu bowls and asked him to try some of her ice cream. He refused initially, though eventually caved into her requests after she persisted three to four times, even producing a second bowl with Acai in it for him to try.
Garnett came to four hours later “covered in sand and drooling” with no recollection of what happened. The woman had also managed to steal his wallet and phone from the warung (cafe/restaurant) where he’d left his belongings. Speaking to Stab via social media Garnett said the incident had not soured his view of Bali or its people.
“I've always found it a place of great contrast. One day you are surfing the best waves on the planet, watching the most beautiful sunsets and dancing with the most beautiful girl on the island. The next day you can be stuck Bali traffic, breathing in the plastic burning rubbish fumes and your Acai is getting drugged by some woman,” he wrote.
Garnett, who has lived on and off on the island for five years, says the incident won’t be enough to make him leave.
“To be honest the whole situation was a very scary experience - I don't recommend a four-and-a-half hour rohypnol surf to anyone (if that's what she dosed me with). I know I'm very lucky to be alive, but it's not going to make me pack my bags and move yet.”
The woman would subsequently go on a $USD6500 dollar spending spree at a mobile phone store and Polo Ralph Lauren outlet. Garnett followed the incident up with police and was able to secure footage of the woman via CCTV at one of the stores she visited. Reports have since emerged the woman drugged another man in Sanur, on Bali’s east coast, three weeks earlier.
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Garnett told Stab he still wasn’t feeling “100%” after the drugging and was finding “it difficult to concentrate” at times.
“You hear a lot of people talk about how rapidly Bali is changing… Due to more popular bars and restaurants, it brings more people, so you get more - more options for food, more crowds, more places to party and more scumbags like the woman that almost killed me,” he wrote.
“Somedays Bali, and Uluwatu can be very frustrating, but there are still those magic days and magic people that keep us all coming back.”
In a life story that has echoes of the Final Destination film series, the drugging was Garnett’s third brush with death following a near miss with a shark in Cape Town and missing the MH71 flight that was shot down while flying over the Ukraine.
