Friday, Next morning I sneaked out early as Jude likes to sleep later than I and I also love to photograph in the early morning light. On Kuta beach there were many people jogging along the sand. The Bali dogs were reclaiming their territories and flexing their muscles and the crabs were still urgently escaping back to the sand holes. A group of boys found some larger crabs in a recently washed up coconut. The crabs didn't like to be disturbed but at least I had an opportunity to take some snaps. I walked up thru the Discovery Shopping Mall (DSM) and found an authentic Bintang Shop. Oh they sell some really fabulous genuine Bintang items, like tshirts, embroidered singlet tops, towels, bum/fanny bags, pens, glasses, shots and heaps more. I must return when its open. After breakfast we walked to Sakura and dropped in my lists of lists of dvds, to be collected tomorrow. Judy bought mens sandals at Jocelyne opposite Matahari. Found the Fuji camera centre directly opposite Matahari Dept Store main entrance and had more digital camera memory cards burned to cd (2 cards on to one cd cost 45000, or 25000 for one card to one cd). We also ordered more reprints. 4R cost 2000 and 6R 5000rp. They gave me a couple of double sized photo folders to put the reprints in.
Wayan Merta picked us up at 1pm and drove us around Nusa Dua, we stopped for lunch at Geger beach, firs time trip to Dreamland, wandered thru the Uluwatu temple then dinner at sunset at GWK Cultural Centre. The Galeria is undertaking a makeover. Geger beach was just as nice as last time although it appeared to have far more non European patrons. The beach umbrellas are full with suntanned beach babes and old farts! We sat on the edge of the concrete area of the restaurant and Judy arranged our lunch of waters, fruit juice and beer, satays rice etc so we could take in the lovely view. My satay came cooking over the coals in the claypot with delicious satay sauce along with rice and salad AND nasi goreng with egg on top. Oh boy, that was too much! I added some satay sauce to the side of the nasi goreng dish and ate a couple of chicken satay and placed the sticks on the side of the plate when the waiter came up to say sorry, mistake, we not order the nasi goreng and he took it away. Oops, some poor soul had their dish slightly touched by me! We heard loud voices from the kitchen and nasi goreng mentioned! We enjoyed our lunch and walked off along the beachfront and found Wayan waiting for us and made our way to Uluwatu. We wore our sarongs and sashes and walked around the temple area and cliff edge walkway. One American tourist ignored the advise and obviously didn't recognise the need to remove his sunnies so consequently had his glasses stolen by a cheeky monkey. We watched the monkey up on the roof top twisting and turning the glasses and removing the lens. They glasses were eventually returned with the help of a guide, but were of course worthless. On to Dreamland where we were amazed at the number of rather palatial homes, formed roadways and then the glorious surf beach. Around this time Judy remembered that we hadnt paid for lunch! Hmph, the first time I left her in charge and what happened! Oh well I will order up big next visit there and tip well. They wont lose out in the big picture! We paid our 35000 entry to GWK Cultural Centre (refundable if you dine at DeMiMidi, although we forgot later). We saw the gi-normous Wisna and Garuda then went in to the DeMiMidi restaurant for drinks then dinner. Wayan joined us for dinner which was lovely. I was pleased that the staff treated him well. We watched the sunset and all of the lights over the airport and Kuta beach illuminated the roadways. It was very pretty. We got back to BGH around 8.30 then Wayan had to pick up his wife and daughters to return to his village for Kaningan next day.
Saturday after breakfast we had a walk along the beachfront then sat and waited on the rear steps of DSM and noticed David UK so chatted for a while then headed into the Discovery Shopping Mall (DSM). It looks most impressive. Lots of small boutique specialised shops as well as Centro department store, which is bigger better and well stocked that Matahari or Ramayana. There are electrical stores selling tvs fridge etc as well as stores selling electronic components, mobile phones, covers, adapter plugs etc. There is a lovely book store. The cosmetic area of Centro stocked most well known cosmetics and looks lovely under bright white lighting. The shoe depts stock excellent ladies and mens shoes. You can buy terrific wonderful quality towels and linen. The Bintang shop is on the outside of the main building on the north side. Unfortunately they do not have many shops around them facing the driveway. They stock great quality Bintang souvenior items, backpacks, glasses, mugs, singlets, tshirts, coasters, pens. Some clothing has embroidered Bintang motifs. ground floor has KFC, Baskin and Robin, Pizza Hut, Tommy/Prada, Osh Kosh, Nautica, essenti, Vinoti, Starbucks,Polo, Giordano, Quicksilver, Billabong plus many more, glasses, sarongs, souveniors. We dumped our shopping back at BGH and headed down to Sakura to pick up my 218 dvds (pay 160000rp get 58 free). Stopped for lunch outside Melasti Beach Bungalows which is cheap and good. For a breather we headed down to the pool for a couple of hours of swimming, resting, reading and enjoying the warmth of the sun. We had fittings arranged for 5pm with Brisbane tailor so caught a taksi to Jl Padma Utara. I had given then a dress from last year to copy sizes and all items fitted well but they had not made one top. Judys dress needed a slight alteration which they did on the spot but since my additional shirt top needed to be made they arranged to deliver all our clothes next day to the BGH. I paid 740000rp for 4 dresses, 2 shirt tops and one zip up jacket, all made from the materials I had supplied. We walked back along to Jl Padma then into Jl Sahadewa and bought lots of clothes from Ketut at her fixed price shop. She remembered me and its so nice the way she hands you a water when you arrive. Judy much preferred fixed price shops. Came back to Kuta for dinner next door to the BGH. The new Ryoshi Japanese restaurant had opened but we chose the new Kafe Batan Waru. We ordered bbq fish for me and curry for Judy, delicious. The road was very busy with traffic and we chose to sit back off the roadside as I thought the fumes would be annoying too. Interesting that they have their bbq area set up close to the pavement, I suppose similar to Jl Legian, hoping to entice customers in.
Sunday morning, I awoke early again but this time Judy woke early too so we walked along the beach to Melasti. It is so easy to walk along the beach in the early morning, when its still pleasantly warm, only fellow walkers and no hawkers or blazing heat from the sun. Just have to wripe the condensation off the camera lens a few times, till it adjusts to the temperature change from the room. We walked up tot he morning market on the corner of Melasti and Legian. This market is for locals to buy their fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, eggs, spices, deep fried foods, some homewares, clothing, flowers for their offerings etc. We bought palm sugar and on the spot grated coconut flesh (I think they use it for their offerings but we liked eating it) and bananas. I didn't find that the market seller aimed to make their fortune from us and they didn't ask ridiculous prices as they do in the Denpasar market, so needless to say we paid much more than local price but we were happy. We headed off down Melasti to the laneway with Champlung Mas, Adhi Darma, Kuta bungalows and walked thru to Poppies Lane 2. I thought it would be another eye opener for Jude to see some of the laneways, small warungs, back packers accommodation and narrow two way laneways. We walked back up the memorial site, stopped and reflected, then walked pleasantly along Legian watching the early shop keepers open their premises. Back at BGH we headed for breakfast. We had to check out by 12 as I had omitted to organise late checkout and we decided to leave it that way so we sorted thru our bags and numerous purchases and tried to squash them in. It was not the size of the bags, it was the weight of the bags. I have an excess feeling coming on...... I met Brisbane Tailor is lobby area to pay for our clothes and check that my 7th item had been made. They are brilliant and the quality of their workmanship is great. We will order more clothes in August and will try them out on mens suits. (950000rp pure wool, 750000rp for wool blend). We walked out along Jl Kartika Plaza and headed left. Across the road we found a beauty salon and decided to have a crème bathe. At Eve salon they quoted 75000rp each but when I showed my displeasure at the price they lowered it to 60000rp each. We changed into their provided tops, had our hair shampooed, scalp massaged and conditioner applied then shoulders and neck massaged. It was wonderful. We enjoyed a late lunch because we planned to get to the airport a little earlier and enjoy the facilities at the Qantas lounge equivalent at Ngurah Rai. Pizza from the outdoor oven at BGH was really delicious and I made a note to self to order some more pizza next trip.
I went down to lobby at 5 as arrived to collect our printing but it want available until 7 so went back to the beach. We had given the BGH beach ladies, lippies, bras, tops, purses, magazines, Indo toilet spray and insect spray, toilet paper, shampoo and soaps from the BGH. One lady came up later and asked what was the toilet spray for, I don't suppose they need it for their outdoor toilets! We had ‘scrap your heel' bought more necklaces, beads, had eyebrows plucked and the locals were happy. We hailed a taksi and he insisted o9n fixed price 25000rp to the airport, oh who cares! Never had to pay fixed price before (dark blue taksi was probably the reason).
Got to the sirport in plenty of time, had porters help us get our bags thru and lined up for our Australian Airlines flight home. The fellow was very friendly and didn't seem to be concerned about our excess luggage, 3 bags weighed 75kg, until he handed me the excess form! Damn, I stalled for ages but got no where, I removed one bag weighing 14kg but still had to walk down and negotiate with the excess officer. My first time ever to pay excess. I had 10kg taken off because Judy has a gold FF card then eventually had another 6 and paid 5 kg @ us$11 per kg. Pest of a thing, but I guess it had to happen some time! We paid our departure tax then went to find the lounge, only to find that there is no reciprocal arrangement for Qantas so we had to sit out and wait until our flight was called. We saw the aircraft arrive around 10.30 and assumed that we would not be boarding on time. Instead of 10.50pm departure we left about 11.30pm. Arrived in Sydney, went thru customs and caught domestic flight to Melbourne. In customs we declared heaps of items. They checked the wooden items, confiscated one of Judy's ducks, clove hanging items were fine, palm sugar, and sprayed my painted eggs.