Sorry we are late with this... big weekend ;-)
We awoke at the Bali Ayu bright and early on Friday morning feeling very refreshed. Today we were heading up to Pacung to visit David and Moira and the crew, but first a bit of a wander around Seminyak followed by shopping in Legian.
The inclusive Brekky that we sat down to at the Ayu was a bit different. Omelette, Bacon, Toast, Juice and Coffee. Geez ya don't often get that up there do ya? ;-)
It was lovely though and the service at the hotel was good with lots of friendly and helpful staff.
After Brekky we put little Sienna in her backpack, loaded it on Dad's back and went for a bit of a stroll down Jln Petitenget.
It was one of those enjoyable little wanders that starts out taking you nowhere and ends up giving you little thrills. The simplicity of chatting to a local or just saying g'day with a quiet wave and no sales pitch, is something that can enhance a beautiful morning in Bali. Jln. Petitinget gave us this and so much more.
Sometimes we look hard to find something special in Bali, maybe the key is to stop looking and just start walking.
We saw small hotels still in the development stage, restaurants that were built with the expectation of much clientele, intermingled with traditional roadside Bale's constructed from bamboo and thatch with the obligatory local lads snoozing and or chatting lazily.
While some of these things may not seem exciting to some of you, they gave us a sign that traditional values in Bali still exist on the very edges of the tourist Mecca's.
What has taken three long decades to expand from central Kuta will hopefully take many more decades to pierce into the heart of a centuries old culture and maybe one day soon will halt where it is.
Please don't misunderstand, progress will not be stopped on this island, but as visitors, we feel that we should minimise and centralize our impact to enhance the needs of the Balinese.
Off my Bloody Soap Box.
The freedom we had walking this day with only the one child in a backpack was quite wonderful. We were able to look at a few places without worrying about our young children disturbing guests and encroaching upon their well earned and paid for retreats.
One that caught our eye was Tony's Villa's on Jln Petitenget, just a little south of the Bali Ayu. We had been given some information on this when it first opened and had looked forward to finding it.
Tony's is a very pleasant place with helpful staff and a very relaxed feel to it. For a couple's retreat it would be more than suitable and seemed well enough appointed to cater for most tastes. Kids are not catered for at Tony's but that to us seemed a plus for those that are quite happy spending adult time in adult company.
As we headed further south along Jln. Petitenget we made the decision to head down little laneways with signs advertising villas whether private or commercial. We discovered some absolute corkers! One hundred, two hundred, three hundred metres down some of these non-descript little laneways, lie some of the most opulent holiday homes you would ever care to visit. We asked staff at some of these places if they were commercial properties or private homes, but in all instances we were invited to inspect the grounds. Who knows why , maybe we just have trusting faces.;-)
Whatever the reason, Bali seems to attract many people with many tastes.
Vive la difference.
We soon headed back towards the Ayu to meet our mate and driver Wayan Ruda. On our way back we dropped in to have a quick squizzy at the new ‘Venue @ the Moon' Restaurant on the old Purnama ‘Full Moon' restaurant site. Very flash, but not for us.
Back at the Ayu, Wayan was wandering around looking for us as he knew our schedule was tight. We headed to the room to pack our gear for a night in Pacung and suddenly realised that we were going to move to a standard room today. So while Rae fed the bub, Cracker went to reception to see if we could retain our room for the whole weekend. Unfortunately the answer was no. Fair enough though, someone else had booked it and we had no right to impinge on his or her holiday.
Back at the room the decision was made to pack everything and take it to Pacung with us. That way if we didn't return after one day we weren't holding up a room.
After everything was packed in Wayan's car they told us we could have the superior Suite for the whole weekend. We appreciated the gesture but had decided to wing it if we came back down from Pacung.
We were soon on our way towards Legian for a few hours shopping and seeing some friends. On the way out of Seminyak though we asked Wayan to show us a few of those fancy places that everyone raves about like Ku-de-ta and La Lucciola.
Lovely, aren't they??
We were soon barrelling down Highway No. 19, or was that Jln. Legian and we were just listening to AC/DC, not sure which.
Before we knew it we found ourselves back in familiar territory, Wayan drove us into the car park of the Garden View Cottages.
We hopped out to go for a walk impressing upon Wayan that all of our valued possessions, such as Passports, wallets, video cameras, beer and the esky were now his to look after for the next few hours. Wayan smiled, patted the esky and said 'Yes, I understand'. God I love his values!
See you back here at 1:30 mate!
Aaaaaagh! Jln. Padma Utara. Loji Supermarket, ATM's, Warung Yogya, Legian Snacks, it's like stepping into your own backyard first thing in the morning, having a stretch and a yawn then heading out to pull some weeds. Comfort, comfort, comfort.
We tripped and trotted our way down the multi levelled pathway like Jimmy Barnes singing 'Khe Sahn' We'd done it so many times that we were hardly noticed doing it.
Before you know it we were in ‘Garlic Lane'. If Padma Utara's our backyard, then this is our lounge room. Our feet started to feel like lead and as we ambled along saying g'day to people who recognised us, we knew that a beer and a feed were inevitable. A stumble, a trip, the camel with the backpack falters, suddenly we were in the Indo-National, cold beer in hand, tucker on the way and giving Milton and Kerry a bit of a cuddle. Weeelll, Rae cuddled Milton and I cuddled Kerry, let's leave it at that.
After a great little feed we wandered off to Bali Gong to order the kids dvd's that they extorted from us on the evening that we left. Dede, as always, provided what he had at the time and promised to have the rest before we left on Monday.
Next stop was Made at Janji shop in the Melasti Market to order ‘big fella' shorts for Cracker and to buy a beer for his fellow traders.
Time now to head off. The drive in front of us, as many of you know is such a pleasant one, with no need to rush. We found ourselves looking forward to seeing David and Moira with no real regret of leaving the hectic pace of Kuta and Legian behind. At the same time, we had a hectic evening in front of us.
David and Moira had organised a party for their staff and the local villagers to celebrate their return to Bali after a prolonged absence.
The party was to be a traditional ‘Joged Bumbung' (Boom- boong) that would allow the staff to join in and have fun.
We were really looking forward to it.
On our journey to Pacung we stopped where we wanted to stop, we shopped where we wanted to shop and generally enjoyed ourselves. Rae nodded and Cracker paid.
Tomorrow we'll tell you about the amazing evening we had with people of Pacung Village.
CBE
Cracker and Rae ;-)