Tuesday morning, 15th March we headed from Ubud down to Seminyak. I hadnt stayed in this area previously, actually nor had Judy but then again it was her first visit to Bali, so all locations were new.
We called into Brisbane Tailor and left our pieces of material to have made into 7 garments. The assistant fellow (note to self, must find out his name) whom I often see, wasn't certain that they could make them by Sunday but assured me he would talk to Anson and try.
We eventually found Bali Mystique and were surprised to see so many new apartments for sale/lease. This wasn't like I had expected. We found the Hotel on the left hand side and were shown to our room.
The hotel section is older traditional villas. The bedroom area was ok in size with mosquito nets over both our beds, TV, fridge, with great aircond, but the bathroom area, oh it was huge. It had a powder room, mirror and shelving, hanging space and built in room safe, then large pair of basins, shower area, toilet (all combined in one room) and leading out to private garden. The private garden is enclosed by high walls and not suitable to sit in. Ok to hang out your washing over the washing frame. It was interesting that the aircond worked well, when one roof covered the entire villa and the bathroom area was open to the elements. I think there were 7 other rooms occupied and we got the feel early that gays stay in this area. (Gawd, hope they didn't think Jude and I are gay, oh well who cares!). We checked out the poor pair of chained up pet monkeys in the gardens, then decided to walk to la Lucchiola for lunch. I love the architecture and views over the sea. We had salads and juices and relaxed. The humidity was the hottest/highest I have ever experienced in Bali, in Sanur and Ubud and now down south in Seminyak.
Walked back to Bali Mystique had a swim and booked massages for 5 and 6 (50000 for one hour).
I had first massage and thoroughly enjoyed Nyoman technique, actually the best I have had in Bali for some time. Judy (who was my 3 childrens pre-school teacher whom I met over 25 years ago) is a qualified masseur and she too enjoyed her massage. I wandered back and showered then came up to wait for Judy and has good fun watching the frogs, mama and papa sizes and bambinos. We walked across the road to the Living Room for dinner. Oh wow, how lovely. The service was terrific, décor to rave about, candle lit gardens, excellent food and cocktails and really didn't break the bank! Living room exceeded my expectations, but I could have been in many Australian cities and felt similar. I am really prejudice to enjoying more traditional Balinese restaurants. Accepted offers of transport to our Hotel, but when I said Bali Mystique the security guard and drivers had a chuckle. We most ably walked across the road to our Hotel. Wednesday morning we enjoyed breakfast in the lovely restaurant out front and met Norman Rowe (Hmph, now I wonder if that is really his name, like Normie Rowe, wo that takes me back in time! Jess you wouldn't understand who I am speaking about). We relaxed by the pool till 1ish then walked along the beach to KuDeTa for lunch. We chose to sit out on the deck on the edge of the sand. Once again a really lovely restaurant, delicious food, not overpriced, hey and guess what, unlimited top ups of our glass of water with bottled water (now that a first in Bali). There was a group of suntanned gorgeous bodied female students lounging along the row of sun lounges, I am sure adding value to the restaurant. They are from Norway and the school group spends 3 months each year in Bali. They were studying their notes, but I can assure you, the waiters were studying them and their bare boobies! We walked up to the surf shop and bought a few items then was offered transport by the husband in the shop so he drove us back to Bali Mystique. We booked more massages for later in the day and relaxed till then. Dinner at front restaurant.
Thursday morning we had another lovely breakie then went on a tour of the apartments for sale. Very interesting. You can buy a nice place for around us$135000. Norman mentioned that the Discovery Shopping Mall complex, financed by Megawati's husband (I think) has actually been built for a casino and once the casino is approved the shops with be vacated. Hmm, casino in Bali, not good I think. When you have a look at the building overall floor plan and the way it scars the beachfront, it definitely looks very over the top/casino like. The Bali Mystique has 2 pet chained monkeys in the garden which saddened us. They had been bought from Santria pet market . Poor young girls had their chains tangled and one was quite shorter than the other (if my daughter Belinda was there, she would have released them having worked in an animal refuge in Bolivia!). Judy made up two plastic bottles and put nuts inside. They played and planned for ages, shaking and rattling the containers, until one monkey finally bit into her bottle and struggled to get out the nuts. She filled her chesk with nuts so her companion couldn't nick any and looked funny with her cheek bulging with nuts. I took photos and one day soon will let you know when I have posted them on to webshots.
Off by taksi to Genewa. I tried to say Geneeeeeeeewa but I still couldn't make the driver understand, but fortunately I knew where it was so pointed it out. We arrived on the 3rd floor and bought up big, glanced thru the 4th level then down to the 2nd. Judy bought 6 or 7 wooden ducks with coconut tree fibre feathers. (Only one was confiscated at Sydney customs as it had soil around the coconut fibres, it could have been treated for $60 but Judy chose not) I recall they were around 40000-45000rp (au$6) each and she had paid $20 or was it $40 each for her pair at home. I was really concerned at this stage about the excess weight situation so bought cushion covers, a few smaller wooden items, butterflies, shell necklaces and bracelets, and aromatic hanging animals and boxes made from cloves (no probs thru customs). We made a quick dash for Bali Mystique, asked the taksi driver to wait
Off to the Bali Garden Hotel. We checked in to room 271which is the last on the left hand side (Discovery Shopping Mall) lobby level. We found it a bit smelly walking along the outside passage area and that the air compressor was pretty noisy, but once in the room the aircond overrode it and since we had only 3 nights, didn't bother to request room change. BGH is a solid 3 stars hotel with good service, well trained staff, good position, it's excellent value for money.
We headed down to Kuta Square to firstly pick up our jeans which had had the hems taken up. As we walked in the door of the Versus shop the staff member immediately got out our shopping bags with both jeans. Once again, amazed by their incredible memory for faces. (Did I tell you, when we were trying on our jeans for the hems to be measured, Judy went first and the salesgirl commented on Judys big bum. Now Jude has a good figure for a mid 40s lady so she was a bit taken back. I told her to say thank you! The girls and many Balinese don't realise that we feel terrible having our bigger bits commented on, but they of course don't realise we feel insulted). Up to Matahari I bought more Revlon lippies and eyeshadows. (I was thinking that I may grow new lips so would of course need more lippies).
We caught a taksi to Melasti we checked in with Nengah on how our business cards, with comp slips and name and address stickers were coming along then headed down to Suzie and Sammis. We were warmly welcomed and Suzie asked where was Trevor (see he was missed). We caught up with Smudge, Roo Ted, DavidUK, met Eskimo Girl, Jarydr, Janet and her son Drew and there were lots of others there. Smokey and Darkie had given S & S a whiteboard and marker with photos on the back. It worked well when each person around the ‘bar' was asked to write their name so others could check out recognised BTF poster names. After sunset, David, Judy and I walked down to Indo National where we were fortunate to find a table and were very warmly greeted by Kerry and Milton. I ordered my usual seafood feast with a glass of Wine of the Gods shiraz and necessarily so, added some ice blocks to chill beyond room temperature. David shared with us his adventures around Bali so far and we left having enjoyed his company. Jude and I found a few more shops to check out before we caught a taksi back to BGH.