i forgot to mention last night we went to a retaurant called Dewi-Sri on kartika plaza in Tuban. This place looked pretty dodgy from the road, but it was the best seafood we had while in Bali. The owner owns those big coloures busses that you see around and gave us free transport into Nusa Dua the next day just for eating there.
JULY 14th
Today we went over to Nusa Dua for a look. Our friends had stayed here 16 years ago and wanted to see if there was any changes. It is very impressive as you get there as it is very clean and spacious. We went to the hotel they stayed at (putri i think) it was huge. Beach was nice but everything seems very spread out, i think if you were to stay here you would need transport to go nearly everywhere.
After here we went up to Benoa for water sports, i really liked this area and didnt seem as hectic as Kuta area. A couple of the boys went parasailing (loved it) and the kids went on a banana boat ride. There are heaps of boats on the water and about 10 to 15 parasails in the air at one time.
Had a nice lunch in a beach warung and just people watched for a while on a pretty nice beach.
Once back home we head off to Mataharis in the late afternoon to stock up on make-up and buy a couple of birthday presents fot our friends sons big day tommorrow. Off to the Pantaii for tea again, i just love this place.
JULY 15th
Matts birthday today so all up early because he couldnt sleep, asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and his reply was stay here and swim all day. Ok that sounds good and thats what we did. Head into Bubba Gumps for tea, i was a little disappointed with this place, I found it expensive and the food a little greasy. The staff are great though and do have a lot of fun. We were in a room at the back with only 6 tables in it so maybe some of the atmosphere was missing back here. I have read so many great reports about Bubba Gumps maybe i was expecting more!!
After here we went to the All Star Cafe for a drink, they had Sumo wrestling going with people dressed up in fat suits, it was very funny to watch, a band came on after this that wer'nt to bad, although there words to ABBA'S dancing queen were different to my version. Great atmosphere in here and matt had a good day for his birthday.
JULY 16th
Back to waterbom today, not busy at all grabbed a gazebo (none available last time) and settled back for a nice rest. No lines on any slides or for lunch, didnt see the kids at all except when hungry. Walked back to hotel about 5pm buying some dvd's and game boy games on the way back and an early dinner at SA Cafe before an early night.
JULY 17th
Got our friend Wayan to pick us up this morning to go to the Dempassar bird markets, this place is very interesting with every animal that you want to buy being here. There is all sorts of birds, fish, monkeys, mongoose, frogs, chickens, dogs, lizards, snakes, squirrels and more. The kids were so excited with the little coloured chickens we ended up buying 3 for 7,000 rupiah including cage and taking them home with us. We played with them for a couple of days them gave them away to the balinese kids, although i still think they like chupa chups better. We then went to the food markets which was interesting too, the colours of the chillies and spices all lined up was great, none of the fish or prawns are refrigerated or on ice which was pretty gross but we had eaten a lot of these before seeing this without being sick so i suppose its ok. We had a little bit of rain while there so the smell was disgusting.
When we got back our frinds son Chris who wants to be a chef went over to the SA Cafe to check out their kitchen, he ended up staying there for lunch and dinner cooking with the staff. He really enjoyed this and the owner Mr Wayan gave him a reference for his regimae(spelling wrong). We thought we better eat here again because chris was cooking, as usual great food and even better prices.