we've been home a month now after 10 wonderful days in kuta at the ardhi dahma cottages right on legian street, opposite time zone, great staff, great position, great price , this is our 3rd time staying there. we arrived around lunchtime on feb 1st which was steves birthday, i had emailed the staff and they produced a birthday cake and sung to steve just half an hour after our arrival.........we then settled into our room behind the pool. our first mission was to check out the bali bombing memorial as that was the last time i was in bali, it is a very well done memorial and i was most impressed, still sad to go there and read all those names. from there we checked out some more of legian street. tea tonight was at a seafood place in legian street as steve wanted lobster for his birthday. day 2........... we headed to the centro shopping centre to organise some new glasses for steve, we ended up getting 2 pair, they are soooooooooooo cheap and the end result was most impressive, would reccommend that anyone with glasses takes their prescription with them and has some made. then we checked out the rest of this beautiful new shopping centre, great place and the air conditioning is sooooooo coooooooooool. it is a little more pricy than else where but still very cheap compared to home. relaxed and swam for the rest of the day. tea was at the hotel which is always niceand our favorite waitresses were working so that makes it even better. day 3............ today we wwent to Denpasar and had a look at robinsons and the other big shopping centres there, our driver made was great and we are booking hinm for another few tours. day 4......... we went on a cruise on a yacht to lambongen island, it was the most beautiful place, like paradise really, the trip back was really rough and i got sea sick for the first time ever...... great day that i would reccommend apart from that..... day 5 relax and buy some more dvds and shell necklaces and beaded thongs and t shirts for the teenagers at home... lunch today was at the koppie pot in legian street, always a great meal and the iced orange juice is the best........ day 6............... today we are off to the orphanage and to lovina to check out the scenery with made the taxi driver we had the other day. the orphanage is an eye opener..... day 7 shopping, more dvds and clothes and computer games. tea tonight was at a restaurant in poppies lane 2 kkk.... cant remember the name but it was great day 7........... today we are relaxing again, polo sport shirt shopping for my 17 year old son, 25 dollars in the polo sport shop compared to 99 dollars here, not quite as good fabric but they have been washed and worn and they are all still in shape, the womens half price ones in robinsons in denpasar and the centro shopping centre are great too.... today was spent swimming, eating and drinking.........once we had made all our purchases. day 8............... today we toured again with marde went to ubud and checked out the market there, them he took us bac to meet his wife and 7 year old and 3 month old daughters........its soo sad to see how they live, life really is a struggle for lots of the taxi drivers. came home and went to kuta kids and bought some stuff for marde's girls, he's gonna call past tomorrow and collect it. day 9........ today we picked up those great glasses i was going on about before. bought our last must haves, sms from 19 year old daughter cop hand bags please mum, as many as you can fit in your case.......... went to top ten in melasti street, where i managed to get some great bargins and some really nice bags and sunglasses cases and purses and mens wallets..... today i shopped till i dropped then spent lots of time rolling things up to fit it all in my case......... gave all our presents to the staff, always take my son and daughters good second hand surf clothes over for all the staff to share, they love it and are most greatful. tonight tea was at poppies restaurant, one of our favorite places in kuta we love it here and the meals are always the best..... tomorrow we areoff home to save uop to come back again next year......... thats my way of copping with leaving and going back to work... to look forward to our next bali visit....... my daughter is 21 in september 2006 and wants to celebrate her birthday in bali so we will be bac there then. any ne have any suggestions for a 21st party in bali. to sum up our holiday we had a great time and never got sick except for me on the yacht and i have bought home lots of great bargins again from my favorite holiday destination in the whole world