Ok my fingers have regained circulation after typing part 1 this morning so I will have another crack at it.
CHANGING MONEY:
We changed money at pretty well most places and as of yesterday were getting a regular 7,200Rp for the aussie dollar. There are plenty of blackboard signs showing 7,400 but it dropped back because of the commission. We only got conned once but lived to tell the tale without losing any money. That event came about down in Kuta somewhere in amongst the tee shirts and handbags. The balo was counting out the cash and asked me for change of whatever so I got that out of my wallet and put that on the table. He proceed to count out the money which was short of what it should be. At this point his mate enters the scene and he helps out by also counting and pointing to the change that I had on the table. If this is confusing to read well that's exactly what was going down. The two of them were trying to work me over with money and figures going everywhere, but I was onto them and they knew it. To save any problems I said that I had a headache and this was all to hard for me so lets forget it. They seem to be real happy with that because it gave them away out of it, because they knew that I knew I was being conned. I left the joint made a mental note of where it was and never went back. Other than Laurel and Hardy trying to scam me it was sweet with all other money transactions.
MOUNTAINS:
Went up to a place called Pacung and we stopped in to admire the view and have lunch at a place called Pacung Indah Restaurant. It was great. The view was outstanding and the buffet lunch was plentiful and hygienic. It was an enjoyable drive up there and we left at about 0830 visited a temple somewhere and were back at the hotel at about 1300. The temple was really good as there were very few tourists there. We were asked to provide a donation which we did and were then provided a sarong to wear. Because of my body shape (no bum) the sarong kept slipping off. The trouble was as it slipped down I didn't notice because I was wearing shorts and I started to look like Rodney Rude with a beer guts and this low slung sarong. When it fell around my ankles for the third time I looked to my wife for support and found that while only a second ago she was at my side, she was now about 200 metres away pretending not to know me.....thanks darl.
POOLSIDE BAR:
I am not very experienced at the whole pool side bar thing and am continually on the lookout for anybody out to harpoon a whale. Anyhow I bit the bullet and got a fair few hours in at the bar. I found sitting in the pool for a few hours does magic things for your toe nails by some how cleaning the lint out of them. Good stuff and easy to do. One day sitting on the dry side of the pool bar and with me being the only customer, I asked the bar staff where the toilets were. They both grinned and pointed into the pool ! I laughed and found my way to the surface mounted toilets, but the next day I watched a couple of young blokes who sat for hours drinking Bintang and never got out of the water. I am broad minded so couldn't care less but I did think to myself that I won't put my head under the water when I next go for a swim. By the third or fourth day I found myself sitting with the two guys and not leaving the pool. I guess the bar staff were right.
MASSAGES:
My wife found a new way to spend money and it goes by the name massage. She went every day and conned me into going with her twice. The first time was to a place on the side of the road that is a hairdressers but the lady also does massages. My wife and I dropped in and for 70,000 Rp each had a massage. It was woeful. There was two of us to get the rub down but only one person to do the job. No problem just grab the shiela from the food shop next door. One minute she is serving the nasty goreng and next she is rubbing me down like a pet elephant. The oil was greasy and the experience one to forget. I do remember she asked me to sit on the very edge of the foot end of the massage table. With physics being the way it is, my fat ar*e sitting on the edge didn't do much for stability and I soon had the massage table launched up towards the wall, to which everyone found great amusment.
The hotel spa was a lot more professional and had oil that smelled a lot better than the vegetable oil we had the day before. I asked for a hard massage which conincidently was the most expensive on the menu. Ah what the hell I was on holidays. Well hard it was. I was in a lot of pain and the tears were welling up in my eyes but being an aussie bloke I toughed it out. It was obvious to me that the massuse hated aussies, because I could think of no other reason for her to be so cruel. I gave her a very good tip as I left because I was frightened she would follow me to the room. My wife calls this very relaxing.............yeah right. The next morning I nearly had to call the hotel doctor to help me out of bed because my calf muscles had been pulped to mince meat and no longer worked. After 51 Bintangs I felt a lot better. I didn't have another massage.
THE END:
Bali is a top place and we will go back for sure.