I sure succeeded in my quest to tire myself out before my 26-hour journey to Bali! I'd been in Los Angeles on business and returned to New York City on the redeye, getting into town at 8 AM on Saturday. I spent the day running errands and packing, and then took off for Newark Airport for my 11 PM 19-hour nonstop to Singapore. Everything was going smoothly until I heard from my friend Karen, who was coming in from Chicago to join me on that flight - her flight was on a big-time weather delay, and she was in serious danger of missing our flight to Singapore. I spent much of the time I'd normally spend relaxing and getting a little buzzed in the lounge on the phone with United (the airline she was coming in on) and Singapore Airlines, begging them to help get Karen from the terminal she was coming into to our flight's terminal quickly. They really pulled it out - Karen was met at her gate by a Singapore Airlines representative, who personally walked her all the way to our flight's terminal, and she just made it! We settled in for the long journey, which was actually quite pleasant (I LOVE Singapore Airlines). Slept for 11 hours thanks to an Ambien and a half, watched a few movies, and we were there.
I could vacation in the Singapore airport! During our four-hour layover, we got massages and reflexology, had a lovely meal and showered in the Premier Lounge. The three and a half hour flight to Bali was a snap, and we were thrilled when we stepped off the plane. We were to pick up our friend Val, who arrived the night before, at the Bounty, and then take off for the Tegal Sari in Ubud; our other friend Erin had a layover in Tokyo, and she was to meet us much later the same night.
The first snafu of the trip, not counting the fact that Karen's luggage didn't make our flight, was the fact that our driver wasn't there to pick us up. I'd spent a great deal of time and effort trying to find a reputable driver, and went with one that came recommended. I agreed to let his associate drive us from the airport to Ubud on the condition that he could drive us from Ubud to Kuta a few days later himself (btw, in the event that this whole fiasco was a fluke, I'm not going to name him). Get to the airport - no driver at all. I call this guy, and he said that his friend had car trouble and would be able to meet us in about 25 minutes. Didn't sound like car trouble to me if he was going to be able to get there so quickly. I told him to forget it and just make sure to meet us in Ubud in a few days. For transport, the taxi driver who took us from the airport to the Bounty to meet Val agreed to take us to Ubud for an extra 100,000rp, and that was fine. He wasn't even annoyed at our request to stop at Makro to buy SIM cards for the international phones I'd purchased on eBay prior to the trip. We were extremely pleased to get to the Tegal Sari!
For those who have never been there, I highly recommend a trip to the Tegal Sari. It's so incredibly tranquil, and the staff was amazing. Karen and I shared a duplex room - it was a little tight, as I erroneously thought that there was a daybed on the first floor, but that was no problem. Making it tighter was a mixup on our end - Val and Erin (who the lovely Fanny from the Tegal Sari picked up at the airport later that evening) weren't able to get a room for themselves, so they all squeezed into ours. Lucky that we're all friends!
The duplex room featured an amazing outdoor bathroom complete with a Jacuzzi. We were in heaven. Dinner at Indus that night was delicious - I can only imagine what the view is like during the day. Hit the sack early upon our return, then we were all up early to start our day of drinking and sunning by the pool at 9 A.M.. The staff brought an endless supply of spring rolls and jumbo Bintangs to the pool as we read bad Jackie Collins novels and took the occasional dip. Our pregnant waitress seemed confused when we tipped her - 'gratuity is included!' - but she was fantastic.
Around 3, we got it together to head over to the Zen Spa, one of the highlights of our trip. It was a beautiful space (even though the stones on the walkway tended to hurt my bare feet). I had a honey cucumber facial, a mani/pedi and a hair crème bath. A little annoyed that the girl didn't get my hair completely dry afterwards, but I was having such a chill day that I didn't complain. It was so great to have all the girls together at the end of our treatments, drinking ginger tea in an open room with a super cute cat to play with.
I sat out the Kecak dance that the girls checked out that night to relax at the hotel. They were kind enough to bring me back a yummy pie from Pizza Bagus. Still feeling the effects of jet lag, we called it another early night.
The next day was our last in Ubud. We got up early, had breakfast and headed over to the Monkey Forest. So cool! One of the little devils even ran up Erin's skirt! Walked around and had lunch at the Dirty Duck. The food was OK, but the setting was amazing. We had one of those little huts where you take off your shoes and sit on pillows. I could have stayed there all day.
When we arrived back to the hotel to meet our driver at 1.30, of course, there was another problem - it wasn't the guy we originally booked with, rather, his associate. He seemed like a nice guy and we needed transport, so we went with him. I was hell bent on getting a great deal at Putra Silver in Batubalan on the way to Kuta, but I'd forgotten to bring the exact directions from the Forum with me. I asked if he knew the way, because otherwise, I would have logged on from the hotel (despite the painfully slow connection) and gotten them myself. He assured me he did, and we were off.
Of course, as we drove on, it turned out that he DIDN'T know how to get to Putra Silver. 'I thought I'd take you to a place where you could see the silver jewelry being made,' he said, but I wasn't born yesterday and I wasn't interested in the whole dog and pony show just to go to an overpriced shop where he'd get a large commission. I told him we wouldn't go to any silver shop if it wasn't Putra, at which point he stopped and asked someone where it was. He came back and claimed that the guy he asked didn't know, and that I must be mistaken about the location, because Batubalan was a stone carving village. I told him we'd just press on and come back for the silver some other time. Lo and behold, Karen's eagle eye stopped Putra Silver just a few hundred meters down the road! I'm so glad I read up on it, because true to Forum reports, it did look totally closed. There was a man dozing off in front of the shop, but he sprang to life when we pulled up and led us to the second floor shop. We were in heaven - they had very lovely things, and so CHEAP! Believe it or not, I got 37 pairs of really lovely earrings for about 970,000rp. Seriously, if you're in the market for silver, look up the exact directions in the archives and make sure you stop at this place. Not the widest variety - they didn't have much in the way of necklaces - but unbelievably cheap.
We finally got to Kuta, where the driver dropped Val, Erin and I off at the Bounty - we were checking into one superior room and one duplex room. Karen's luggage had finally made it to Bali, so I asked the driver if he'd take her to the airport to pick it up for an extra 60,000rp, and he agreed. It was a mistake that I didn't go along with them. Evidently, when he dropped Karen off back at the Bounty and went to settle up, he claimed that he didn't know what we were supposed to pay, but that his boss never would have offered to the 100,000rp Ubud-Kuta fee that I'd told Karen we'd agreed on (we planned on giving him an extra 30,000rp for the extra half-hour he'd waited for us at Putra Silver, but he got argumentative before Karen even brought that up). He said he'd spent 50,000rp on petrol alone for the day. Seems quite unlikely to me! In the end, Karen gave him 250,000rp for what amounted to two and a half hours of his time, which included only an hour and a half of actual driving. The moral of the story - lock all the money details down BEFORE the driver puts his foot on the gas. Needles s to say, we didn't use this driver's (or his associate's) services for the rest of the trip, which was a blessing in disguise. We ended up finding the best driver EVER!
Next up - Kuta, the Bounty and the rest of our adventures!