Have been home now about 4 weeks, the virus I picked up in Bali has only just disappeared, and the work that has been piling up on my desk at work is now down to a reasonable state, so I am now finally sitting down to post my jbr.
I guess the story really starts before we actually leave for Bali. I paid Filo and lovely wife a visit to collect a scanner that I offered to take to Singaraja for him, plus drop off the toiletries bags I had made for the orphanage ( if you have promised Filo some bags, please send them soon, I think he was a bit discouraged that quite a few of you offered, but very few had sent any). So, we (my 15 year old daughter Taya & self) left Adelaide on Sun 23 January with AP, having previously arranged extra baggage for all the stuff we had collected for our sponsored school kids. All in all, we shared one small suitcase for our clothes, deciding to travel with our bare essentials and buy clothes in Bali - great retail therapy.
We had six of the large stripey bags full of clothes, books, stationery, pressies for our kids etc. So in total we had 60kg.
Flight was great, our second time with AP. Non stop food, breakfast, bottled water, icecreams, mars bars, chips, drinks, I mean how much can you eat sitting down doing nothing!! Got thru VOA easily- had our US$ all ready. Then we got to customs. We both had a trolley each overloaded with bags. All the stripeys had tags addressed with the names of the schools they were going to. The women at the counter took one look and said "Tsunami?" No, I said "school donations'. She looked at me queerly and repeated tsunami? Again I explained that these were donations for our sponsored school children. You sell? she said. NO, GIVE i said.
Not understanding, she called over another officer for a hurried discussion. I again tried to explain what we were trying to do, opening the bags and showing them the books etc. Yet another officer was called over (by this stage I was getting a little bit concerned thinking that maybe they were going to try to charge me duty). The three of them were pointing and gesturing to me and the bags and Taya was getting a bit scared. At last, the penny must have dropped because the first woman ushered me thru, saying 'gifts'? YES, AT LAST they got it. Then ventured out to meet out driver from Golden Bali Travel and made our way to Puri Raja in Legian. Checked in, our room was ready. There has been alot of discussion on this hotel in the last few days, and I can only say that we were really happy with this hotel. We had a twin room (117) quite close to the front pool (beach end). Great air con, beds comfy, good friendly staff - the only negative was the temp of the pools, which you can't blame on the hotel. They were warm, but everyone we spoke to at other hotels all said the same thing. I guess thats what you get when you go to Bali in Jan/Feb. The front pool has a swim up bar, and is next to the restaurant which is beachfront. The grounds are immaculately clean and landscaped. There is not a buffet breakfast, and we had an american breakfast included in our package, but you can order anything on the menu as long as the value doesn't exceed the cost of the US one. So we did not find the brekkies boring - there is lots to choose from incl baked beans, pancakes, egg dishes, indo food etc, etc. One thing i have to say is that they have the best pineapple pancakes ive ever tasted. They are to die for, and a meal in itself. There is a massage hut next to the restaurant where you can book a massage (they were great) and also have ladies who do braiding, hair extensions, nails. Very reasonable prices. Taya has VERY thick long ahir, and her brading cost 50,000. Our pedicures and manicures each with flowers painted cost 40000 each person, and our half hour massages were 30,000 each. Had no problem with the sun lounges at all, no one seemed to leave a towel on them for later use. Laundry is not done on site, but is picked up from your room, and delivered back to your room all lovely and pressed the next day. And really cheap. Anyway, we dumped our bags in our room and set off (it was my daughters first time and my second in Bali). As soon as we set foot outside in the street, it started. Taya is 15, very slim, tanned, long thick blonde hair, quite attractive if I do say so my self, and
obviously the Bali males thought so too. The whistles, comments 'hey beautiful, hello sexy, you got boyfriend?, what your name? where you from? where you staying? you got sexy bum etc etc etc. It did not stop the whole time we were in Bali. They would touch her shoulder, her arm, try and hold her hand, walk along with her. The poor girl was really intimidated, and I felt quite invisible!. It got so bad that on our first night she told me she didn't want to go out anymore. I explained that they really don't mean any harm and she should take it as a compliment, but at fifteen
I guess its really overwhelming. Towards the end of our trip, when we walked down the streets near our hotel, they would all call out 'hello Taya!" What a hoot.
Took a taxi to Matahari, to stock up on toiletries, snacks etc in the supermarket down the bottom. So cheap, its incredible. Things like Pantene shampoo & cond, for 14,750. Bought some watches for 30,000ea at the booth at the entrance of Matahari, and ordered a heart shaped gold photo engraved mirror compact for my m in law's 70th from Face to Face. I had brought a photo with me, and picked it up two days later - 295,000. It was really lovely. The next night we walked down to S&S (I had never been before) and met Roo_Ted (hello Ted!) It was getting dark and they were closing up, but made us welcome with a drink. I was sitting there in a strappy summer dress, perspiring everywhere, and there's sammy with four layers of tops - windcheater, shirt, tshirt, singlet. Couldn't believe it. Made me sweat more just looking at him. Ted told me that the next night (Aust day) a lot of Aussies were meeting there, and we had plans to join them. Sorry Ted, but we got another offer
to go to The Legend Restaurant in Sahadewa street, as they were having an aust day party with an aussie bbq and floor show. What a great night. There was a choice of steak, sausages, potato salad or indo food, we ordered the indo food which was really good and reasonably priced. The floor show included Elvis parsley, Michael Jackson, whitney houston and the yellow band. What a scream! We went with a ladyand her daughter that we met at our hotel - the kids were in hysterics, they had never been to anything like it. Another restaurant that became our favourite was Billy's across the road from Legends. Great food, great prices and the staff were incredible. Friendly, friendly guys that couldn't do enough for you. They were the most aussie sounding balinese that i ever met. Very funny, good to have a laugh with. One night we were having dinner there, and they were asking us about our life in australia. Where do we live, do we work etc. I explained that I work in my own business with my husband and that Taya is still at school, but helps us out sometimes. They asked her what things she did at work, and she told them everything from filing to cleaning the toilets, but she hated the skidmarks. From the look on their faces, I could tell that they has no idea what she was talking about. I told her she would have to explain herself. I nearly wet myself laughing. She went on to describe very illustriously exactly what she meant, and they all thought it was great that they had learnt a new aussie term. They repeated it over and over. It was hysterical.
I think ive rambled enough, the next instalment will cover Pacung Indah,Bedugul, Singaraja and our school visits.