OK, what else did we all do?
Waterbom Park
We had a great day out at Waterbom Park. Bored with the lazy river I decided to join the girls on the big slides. Hmmm I am too old for that stuff. After getting airborne on the speed slide and ending up in all sorts of positions in the Macaroni tube I decided to join Margaret again, back to the lazy river for me. I think the girls were impressed (or perhaps embarrassed) that I at least gave it a go. Waterbom for those of you who have not been before is a top notch international standard park. The whole place is immaculately clean with a very high standard of safely and maintenance. Food is reasonably cheap as well. I can't believe we decided against going on our previous visits, loved the place. If you need an escape from the chaos of Bali for the day then Waterbom will give you that, you leave after a day there and it's like you left Bali for the day. Not sure if that made any sense but I know what I mean.
Sanur
We went into Sanur a couple of times and were quite sad to see how quiet it was. Saw the girls at Tootsies and bought a few goodies there. The market girls are so desperate and we are ashamed to say we actually got a little cranky after awhile as they would just not give up. How can you possibly visit every stall and keep all of the ladies happy?
It was great to see Kuta and Legian so busy but I really hope people start going back to Sanur soon, they sure need the business.
Hardy Grosair shopping centre in Sanur is a great place to browse. Such a huge variety of goods and the prices are great, although not as cheap as some places.
As I have said before Margaret and I usually stay in Sanur and it was nice to visit the Besakih and Griya Santrian again to show the girls where we stayed.
Elephant Park
I can't tell you a lot about this because the girls decided to venture out on their own for the day. They had a great time although Tamara was not at all impressed with the elephant ride. She had put hand cream on and spent the whole time holding on for dear life. She was very glad that they opted for the shorter ride.
Shopping
Now this was an interesting and harrowing experience to say the least. Going to Bali with three women was never going to be easy for me. God can those girls shop. Careena wanted a bikini; we looked in every shop in Kuta that sells bikini's (thousands of them) end result – no bikini.
We went to Geneva and even I enjoyed the shopping here. They have an enormous range of goods and very cheap prices. Anything made of wood can be found and there is no point trying to haggle for a good price at the markets when the range, quality and price are so good at Geneva's. We did have a few items confiscated at customs though as they had suspect looking fungal spoors on them. No problems with that though, we don't want any nasties getting into the country.
I won't bore you with a huge shopping list of items and the prices we paid, others have been kind enough to provide that information in the past. Anyway this is a blokes JBR.
We went to all the supermarkets in Denpasar. Wow there are some great things here, especially if you are shopping for little ones, some of the kids clothes are so cute.
Found a great shopping centre, the Kuta Galleria near the big round about. Even I was impressed by this place, so many shops and such a variety of goods. We gave the Bata shoe shop a good deal of business.
DVD's
If you have not been to Bali and are worried that you will not be able to find the DVD shops then don't. They are absolutely everywhere. This was my domain. Every time the girls looked at clothes I said you will find me in, Yeah! we know. I took a short list with me of mostly older titles and music DVD's knowing that these would probably be the better copies. I just went crazy in these places, you just can't help yourself. I ended up with 88.
By the end of the holiday after we had bought our own DVD's and those for the boys who gave us quite a long list, we ended up with about 300. No problems at all with customs, we did not conceal them and were happy to tell all if we had been questioned. Luckily though they were having a wood checking blitz and didn't even look. Although we did here one guy on the X-ray scanner say that we had a few movies to watch when we got home.
I cannot report on quality yet as I have only watched the music ones (nearly all good)
Tailors
We ended up using two. Margaret took all her own material and buttons so the prices are for making only.
House of Komangs in Jl Padma
3 ladies jackets 120,000Rp each
2 blouses 80,000Rp each
1 skirt 75,000Rp
Brisbane Tailor in a small lane behind Bamboo Corner restaurant off Jl Padma Utara
8 blouses copied from one we took 65,000Rp each
The quality of everything we had made was very good. Margaret thought that Brisbane tailor was slightly better though for price and quality.
Leather
French leather in Garlic Lane was great. We did not use anyone else as this one was recommended. The girls spent up big here and were very happy with the quality and fit of everything.
Knee high boots, zip up AUD $70 a pair
Three quarter length leather jacket AUD $135
We also bought beautifully made mens wallets and ladies purses for $5, $10 for the bigger ones.
The restaurants
This is the best thing about Bali for me. The variety, quality and price of the food is so good. I hope this never changes, as dining out in Bali is such a wonderful experience. I had about 40 restaurants on my list that I wanted to try. Couldn't possibly do them all but we managed to go to some great places. Where we happened to be at the time dictated where we ate, even went to some that were not on the list much to the amusement of the girls who spent the whole holiday taking the pi*s out of my list. Ungrateful sods.
I did not keep a record of all that we ate and how much it cost but here is a list of all the places we tried. All of them were fantastic with just a few negative comments.
If you need to know addresses please ask as my bloody fingers are dropping off from all this typing.
Gosha's:
Loved it and the cocktails are fantastic.
La Monde:
Service was a little slack the night we went but it was more than made up for by the great location. They mixed up our order but gave us free chips to say sorry for the wait.
TJ's:
We love this place.
Bali Too:
Great place.
Poppies:
Margaret's favourite and we had a great night out here.
Legend:
Another great place.
Indo National:
Great to meet Milton and Kerry after hearing so much about them. They made us feel very welcome and I am sorry we did not get back for another visit. Great food and awesome service. You will need to book.
Dulang Café (Kuta Square)
Ordinary, but edible. The guy clearing his nose behind the bar certainly put Tamara and Careena off.
Melasti Beach Resort.
We were talked into one of the theme nights and were very glad that we went. It was the only opportunity we had to see some Balinese dancing and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was also good.
JD's
Great place
Benno's on the beach at Sanur
Ideal location and wonderful food. It was very windy and actually quite cool that evening so we did not stay as long as we wanted to.
Kori's
Nowhere else comes close to this one for me. I love Kori's and was worried the girls would be disappointed after all the raving I did about the place. The verdict – we now all love it.
Wayan & Friends
Lived up to all the great reports
Glory Café
We all liked it here. I like the sign near the entrance that says
'We do our very best; if our standard do not live up to yours then please lower your standards'
Bamboo Corner Legian
Because this was convenient to the hotel we had lunch a few times here. It is a great meeting place and was always crowded. The girls dropped in after a harrowing four hour session of hair extending and braiding though and came back with a story that put us off the place. From where they were sitting they could see into the kitchen. The girl dropped their garlic bread and picked it up again and put it on the plate, whist knowing she was being watched. Not wanting to make a scene they ate the other pieces and decided not to order the ice cream they had been craving all day.
Zanzibar Café Seminyak
We had lunch here on our last day. A great place to just sit and watch the world go by (I think I stole that line from someone else's JBR but it is true)
Thanks for reading everyone, only two more to go
Cheers
Frank