Hi Guys,
Here is the final installment of my JBR..................
Day 3
The previous night we organized for Isabel to go to the Kids Klub, which she was really quite eager to try and through the Bali Hai we organised for a babysitter for Sofia. Children under 4 years must have a babysitter if they want to go to the Kids Klub. Both my husband & I thought that the girls would probably enjoy that more than walking around for hours around Kuta whilst we did some shopping. The day before Isabel was going on about the heat, & the smell, & 'when can we go back to the hotel for a swim mummy?'............and that was just walking from the Hotel to Samudra lane! I must admit, I was a bit worried. Like I said before, I was your typical neurotic mother, and on top of that I have never left Sofia with anyone who was not family before. So needless to say I was worried....................very worried!
At 9.00am I took Isabel down to the kids club & she took to it like a duck to water. It was just like Pre-school, but better............'it has a TV with cartoons! Mummy'. So with her happy, I went back to my room to find a lovely softly spoken young lady all dressed in a white uniform (she looked like a nurse) named Annie. She was truly wonderful. I thought that if I could not get a sitter or if I was not happy with Annie, then I would call Wayan, the sitter that Inmyblood recommended. Sofia was already down for her morning nap & I left a bag with nappies, water bottles, swimmers, hat etc with her and instructions for Annie to take Sofia when she woke up to the Kids club, that way she would not feel so out of it if she saw her sister around her.
With that we caught a cab to Jalan Melasti for our first trip into Legian/Kuta for shopping. Now I know that we probably got ripped off, but we were paying 8000Rp for a cab from Tuban to Jl Melasti, but in the end we were happy to give the cab drivers 10,000Rp. We did a fair bit of shopping, but I will say that I prefer the market style of shopping to the enclosed shops. We bought t-shirt, 2pc outfits for both my girls, board shorts, collared shirts and a couple of sarongs. Nice stuff, I thought. We bought all in all 12pieces and paid around 200,000rp. We then walked around and I popped into the shop 'Body & Soul', I think it is called that...........anyway, I am a healthy size 12-14 (not Bali size! Heheheh) and the clothing was not for me. As for the jeans, I did not even look at them. There was no way that they were going to fit on me.
After our shopping around Kuta, we ended up at Matahari's in Kuta Square where we caught a cab back at around 12noon to the Bali Hai, only to find that Sofia had slept until 11am & that her torso had a prickly rash all over, front & back! I thought it might have been a heat rash, so we kept her in the room for the rest of the afternoon.
Green Garden Spa is a must for anyone who loves to have massages, and especially for people like me, who love massages but cannot afford to pay the ridiculous prices that are charged here in Oz. I had booked myself in for that afternoon at 3pm for three hours of pure heaven. It was worth the 242,000Rp. Having said that, towards the end, when they put a mask on your face and your entire body, I was wanting it to end. I thought that three hours was too long. I know, how stupid does that sound..............how can 3 hours of pampering be too much? I was happy, don't get me wrong & I left the Green Garden in a euphoric state, but next time I think I will just go for a 1 hour massage. When I got back to my room at around 6pm, Sofia had just woken up from a 4 hour nap and was now vomiting, had diarrhea, the rash worsening and breaking out in a fever.
Sofia had a viral infection. She had one in the past & the symptoms were the same, all we could do was give her Baby Panadol. The last time she had this the Dr told me that this was her way of dealing with the viral infection and that you could not do anything but give her panadol and wait for it to pass. Luckily I took with me Baby Panadol in my first aid kit and we gave her that and waited. It was the longest night of my life, she was burning and her heart rate was racing.
After that, pretty much the holiday was put on hold. Sofia was the same for a few days & it wasn't until day 6 that she began to improve. Both my husband & I decided to take turns staying in the room with Sofia, as the only thing she wanted to do was to sleep, which was not a bad thing. That way we could take Isabel out for a swim and to the kids club & at least her holiday was not a complete loss.
In the end, we did not do & see all that we wanted................but the main thing was that Sofia had recovered, we still had a great time, despite our limited confinement & it gave us an excuse to go back to do & see all that we had missed.
My advice for other mums who are first timers to Bali is......................Do not worry about menial things like milk, nappies, snacks ( I saw Uncle Tobys muesli bars in the imported food section) etc. It is all there at Matahari's, you can even buy basic strollers for around $40AUD, if you do not want to take your stroller with you. I can assure you that I will not take half of the stuff that I took on this trip.
Some quick things & prices I would like to point out:
• Bought 4 watches with batteries for 80,000Rp near the cnr of JL Melasti & JL Legian.
• Changed money at the Kodak/PT Central agent shop on Jl Dewi Sartika in Tuban, lovely ladies, never ripped us off and gave us large notes. Exchange rate down there varied from 6400Rp-6750Rp/$1 AUD.
• People wanting Designer bags............they are everywhere! I brought back 5 & 4 wallets and nothing happed in customs. Do check the bag carefully though. I found that The white LV bags had really cheap & nasty brass zippers.
• Bought LV sunglass case for 20,000Rp.
• My husband bought really nice Ralph Lauren Polo business shirts (tagged at 123,000Rp) & the majority were discounted between 20%-50% from the Polo shops that you see around Kuta Sq and Jl Legian in Kuta. Really nice quality too.
• The Surf factory outlet in Tuban, is also a good place to stop at. We are not into surf gear, but I got some nice Roxy t-shirts (the real ones) for Isabel 60000Rp each. In one shop we bought 3 girls t-shirts, 2 ladies tops, 2 pairs of mens pants and it came to around $80 AUD. The shop tells you the price in both Rp & AUD. Not a bad price for all that name brand stuff.
• Be wary of the people wanting to give you cards or do surveys, it is just a scam. They also ride around the streets in pairs on their scooters. If you see a scooter with 2 guys in nice pants and shirts that stop a few feet from you...........they are trying to give you one of these cards. You will soon be able to tell who they are.
• For really lovely fairy costumes, there is a shop on Jl Legian down towards the bemo corner on your left hand side as you walk down from Legian way has such a wonderful selection of fairy costumes and ballerina costumes in all colours and sizes. They are of a better quality material, you can feel the difference and are hand beaded with drop pearls & crystals. She also has fairy crowns, wands, slippers, beaded thongs etc. I bought 2 fairy costumes & 2 fairy crowns for 170,000Rp ($25 AUD).........bargain!
Once again thank you all for you advice leading up to our first trip.
Cheers
Nati