Now with that over...We were picked up by Made, the manager of Rumah Bali Villas, boy were we soooo glad to see him at the airport after all that we had been through. Heinz Von Holzman, who also owns Bumbu Bali in Tanjung, owns these wonderful villas. He does his wonderful cooking course, which we did last year, from the villas kitchen. Mmmm wonderful.
The staff welcomed us home. They told that nothing was too much trouble. Well, we were to see for ourselves.
The villas are beautiful. Rumah is a replica of a beautiful Balinese village. Thatched roofs, bales, meeting bales. They have, what they call, family rooms that surround a beautiful pool and they have two and three bedroom villas. We had to stay in a smaller two-bedroom villa for the first night as the one that they wanted to put us in needed a little plumbing problem fixed. The villa was two thatch buildings. The bedrooms were in one villa, one above the other with an outside bathroom in the downstairs bedroom. The kitchen/dining/ lounge and guest toilet were in another thatch building with a bale and plunge pool in between the two. The next day we came back very late (10pm) and to our surprise, the staff were waiting for us to see if we would like to shift into the other villa!!! So here we were at 10:30 having our things moved by these wonderful staff. This villa was huge. A big lounge area, all open walled, a lovely pool and beautiful bedrooms. The kitchen was big and there was an extra bedroom above the kitchen and guest bathroom. Breakfast is included and what a feast. What would you like? And it is personally served at your villa. Now this is what I had wanted in the first place and if the students (see previous report) had never mentioned coming, that is where we were suppose to be. The following day was my son's birthday and I had organised a white water rafting (WWR) trip with Sobek, months before we left.
Up nice and early for the lovely drive to Ubud. I love the trip there. We were welcomed warmly and my son was given a birthday gift. WWR is so much fun and to do it with my boys was great. They learn Indonesian at school and love the people and the food. They have been to Jakarta a couple of times as we have churches there that we go over to visit and help sometimes. So they just had such good fun with the guides. The food with Sobek, is just wonderful and so welcomed after a couple of hours of rafting and then of course, there are those infamous steps!!! How many are there suppose to be? Someone said about 500? I don't know but they are all odd sizes and not good for those with week knees and unfit legs. My calves jump all over the place once we get down them.
Well we needed to leave the Rumah as they were full for the next few nights so we had to stay somewhere else. We tried the Ramada Bintang. I thought that the boys would love a big hotel, but to my surprise, they really missed the personal aspect of the Rumah and the lovely bedrooms that we had, and the great food! The Ramada was o.k. but a bit big for me. I prefer the small personal side of places like Rumah.
Whilst there I managed to get a great deal to go on the Bali Hai Reef cruise. For those that say that you can get in cheaper in Oz, I say no way. We live in WA and phoned them direct and asked if they would give us a good deal if we came in and they just gave us the price that was in the vouchers. Well that morning one of the boys wasn't too well. Not Bali belly but a bit of a headache and a temp. I think that it was a bit of sunstroke actually. The sick one and I took the seasick tablets that they offered us and off we went. The safety instructions from one of the staff was a laugh. A real take off from the stewardesses on the aeroplanes. We finally arrived at the pontoon. The water was crystal clear but oh so cold. I had been over once before and the water was lovely. One of the guys said that it was unusually cold and had been for a couple of days. The submersible was amazing and the boys did their thing and I relaxed. I think that it was the first time that I had in the weeks leading up to the holiday and the few days of being there.
We did a bit of shopping. Organised a Indo Sim card for the mobile. Much cheaper than International roaming. Shopping at the Bali Galleria was great. We bought soccer shoes and a ball and a great suitcase. All at great prices. We went to the surf outlets and the boys bought a few things. And of course Makro's. For those things that we love back home and can't get enough of. Couldn't find any black rice though.
Spent a great day at Waterbom Park with the great discount that you can get at the Dynasty.
We have some friends there and organised to borrow their car for a week. Driving in Bali: We haven't had any problems whether it be car of motorbike. We get our international licences and drive like the locals. It really is much easier doing it than it looks. We got a great map book this time round. Just like our UBD's, or Metro's, whatever you call them where you come from. It has the whole island and goes from large scaled maps to smaller scaled maps. It was really good, especially since we were looking at travelling some of the island.
Next: off to Amed.