We left Air Paradise Saturday morning 30th July from Melbourne.
Denise and Bob were married the day before in Williamstown so we were all excited to be heading on the honeymoon. We met Jules at Tullamarine and were seated close by each other on the aircraft. We checked in and our bags weighed 52kgs, no probs. The meals we terrific and ok movies played. I am very happy to fly Air Paradise.
VOA took very little time but the wait for Immigrasi was long. We found our cases and allowed the porters to carry them out. I had to open my material Bali bag, filled with presents and supplies for the school. The customs officer was very interested in the contents, played with some of the toys, read many of the pages of the English books, loved the colouring books and took 2 for his children. Whatever, I was just pleased to leave the airport. We took over an hour in all from landing to clearing customs. We went over to the Taxi window to book our taxis to Sanur and unfortunately, this being Bobs first trip to Bali, left him with the cases and the really pushy porters. They elbowed him and he struggled to keep his cool. They were flashing an au$10 note for tip. Poor Bob would have been happy to catch the next flight back home. (The night before at the wedding, one of the guests told him that when she went to Bali 20 years ago, she found the Balinese people to be the rudest she had ever met, Bob now had first hand experience.) I assured Bob that the worst part of Bali was behind him and all good times to come. We arranged for 2 taxis take the 5 of us to Sanur. It seemed to take forever to get the message straight and when we finally got there, one driver was ‘cheesed off' to have to drop passengers at different hotels. Too bad, so sad, he needed to tell someone who cared!
We thoroughly enjoyed our first 5 days beachfront at Vila Shanti in Sanur. We chose the standard rooms as they are lighter with glass windows not shutters and a normal locking door, not pair door with padlock. The Hotel suited us well and we had large connecting balcony with Denise and Bob. We spent a little time in the room then headed down to the beach and along to Hardys for basic supplies. Over the 5 days we lounged around the pool, had massages, manicures, pedicures, ate well and enjoyed the breeze. Each time I have stayed in Sanur I have found that there is a breeze of an evening and its lovely and cooler on the beachfront. Some evenings for us were really quite breezy and I remember one lunchtime when we watched the waitress struggle to carry across a nasi goreng as the egg kept catching in the breeze and flipping up. The Sindhu markets are close by so we were able to nip up any time for an extra pair of shorts, tshirts, beaded throngs to match a special outfit or another dress. Tootsies shop 28 is so convenient when you don't have to haggle over prices and can get a good idea on what to pay elsewhere. Wayan Merta took us to Amed for a full day trip with Jules as well. Along the way we stopped at Wine of the Gods cellardoor, tasted and bought a few bottles. On arrival back at VS we could spell a strong smell of wine and found that the cork and foil wrapper had eased its way from the top of the white wine, bubbly style wine and the contents was throughout the vehicle. (I returned the bottle, cork and foil to the winery a few days later when I shopped at Makro and they replaced the bottle no probs. We did find that the bubbles did not stay in the glass for longer than about 2 seconds. Poor Jules had been hanging out for a champers. Wine of the Gods will deliver to you Hotel free of charge. The shiraz is 140,000 and white wine 60,000rp)
We saw many terraced rice paddies, various vegetables, glorious flowing waterways, nude bodies bathing..... we snorkelled but most of the plant life and coral is dead so spied just a few colourful fish. (Menjangen Island is the place to see vivid underwater life.) We ate at Bonsai twice, The Village, Billys Cafe and Griya Santurian seafood night. Kim Patra came over one evening and we chatted for some time about Bali life. Kim had been kind enough to offer the use of her oxygen set for my Mum, but unfortunately Mum was unable to come all the same. Kim had asked me to buy some Infacol for some windy babies of ex-pats who she was helping to care for.
Wayan also took us over to Kuta and Legian to arrange some clothes to be made and suits and trousers for Bob and Trevor. Brisbane Tailor still does a great job. We had lunch at Indo National and enjoyed another consistently good meal, although no more chilli prawns for me, too fiddly.
Wayan Merta drove us up to Ubud and after checking into Tegal Sari we headed into town for lunch at Casa Luna cafe then back to Tegal Sari for swim and relax. Denise and Bob had booked the duplex, room 14 and we tried for the first time, room 12, upstairs. The view was glorious over the rice paddies. It's hard to say if I'd prefer the slightly nicer room 8 downstairs or negotiate the steep stairs to the top rooms. We were shown thru the 6 new rooms over on to the rice paddies and they are fitted out fantastically. Our only complaint was that the breakfasts were not hot and sometimes appeared to have been prepared some time earlier. (I have mentioned this to the management, so hopefully this will be addressed). Tegal Sari was fully booked so maybe it was stretched a little. We had booked into the Zen centre for hours of pampering that afternoon at 3. We had 2 couples rooms and drifted away with an hours massage, exfoliation then soak in the flower bath. Oh to be so lucky, and yes we were! Had dinner at the Dirty Duck. Trevor ordered crispy fried duck, and yes it was, very! I had sensational thick red snapper fillet on mashed potato with garlic (not Deb). Yumbos.
Friday morning Wayan picked up Jules to come to Ubud then the 5 of us toured central north area. We visited Candi Cuning markets and saw Crackers Bar and walked up the stairs on top of the toilets to see the view. The electricity was not working so we werent able to sample cool drinks. The toilets are not ready for 'business' yet. We bought spices etc, clothes, jewellery then headed down hill to Pacung Indah for lunch. We passed Strawberry Hills restaurant which boasts the only log fires in Bali. What a joke we thought, who would ever sit in front of a fire in Bali. (We didn't laugh next time we passed and wished we could have stopped in to warm our bones.)The buffet meal was delicious and we were all very happy with the selection on offer. When we arrived after 2pm the restaurant was very full but guests seemed to be leaving, but there was an excellent amount of food on offer for us late comers. Best value for 60,000rp. Unfortunately once again we missed meeting Moira and David as I believe that were back in Australia. Maybe next time. By the time we got back to TS the bridal family had arrived and all their plans seemed to be in hand. They visited Indus late Friday to check on arrangements and run through the ceremony. It was such an exciting time. Back at Tegal Sari, we heard the roosters in the distance, early morning impatient ducks and monkey calls from across the rice fields. It was glorious to sit on our upstairs balcony and watch the rice fields come alive just after sunrise. The ladies arrive around 8 to start stripping the rice and go home about 6pm. Its a long hard day in the full sun. The duck farmers release their ducks around 6.30 and they gobble up the grubs and collect rice left after the crop has been slashed and stripped. Lots of rice is left behind. The rice stands about a metre high. It had been stripped when Judy and I were here in March, so this is a full crop only 18 or so weeks later. Incredible the growth of the vegetation in such a short time.
On the morning of the wedding Denise and I left around 9 and ventured down to the Ubud market. I particularly wanted to buy some flowers for throw (gently) over (not at) the newly wedded couple. I bought a couple of kilos of petals for less than 2 dollars. They use the petals for offerings and for ceremony and many ladies laughed at/with me for buying the flowers. We bought dress and shoes and bargained for bags, tissue holders etc.
Bob has been a bit crook with a cold so he rested.
We participated in the pre wedding activities at Tegal Sari where Jess was staying. Mark had spent the wedding eve at Kajane in Monkey Forest road, which has a number of private villas.
Jess had the makeup artist and hairdresser prepare her for the special day. Julie and I as witnesses were given divine little frangipani corsages and wore them proudly!
We left just after 3 and got to Indus in time for cool drinks with Mark and Toby and a few other guests. Jess was ready on time but the photographers had a tyre blow out and arrived late. Jess said lets just go, she wanted to get married, but they insisted on many poses so Jess, her Dad Keith, Bridget and Kellie arrived about 40 minutes late. No probs to us as we knew Jess would definitely be there, but being Bali time anything can happen. They came down the very steep concrete stairs which were flower lined and fortunately didnt stumble. To see the look in Marks eye, when he saw his bride, is a memory I will hold in my heart forever. Toby looked on very proudly at his sister.
The service began with their celebrant and was very romantic. They held hands and lovingly looked into each other eyes, the theme was love. Needless to say I have taken many photos. After 20 minutes or so, the Indo Govt official stepped in and performed the legal service. At the end of his service, he raised his voice and almost yelled that they were now officially married and thumped a wooden hammer on to the table! The official had to leave to go to another wedding so as soon as he finished he rushed off and the celebrant, decked out in brightly coloured robes continued. Julie and I had to sign in 6 places. Very very official! We felt honoured and proud!
Jess and Mark and attendants headed off with the team of photographers, 3 or 4 official photographers capturing every moment! They returned about an hour and a half later. We had savouries, drinks and shared large plates of entrees and listened to the band. We were sitting next to the band and I was concerned that it may be too loud and 'Bali-ish' in sound. How wrong couold I be. They were a 7 piece band, fantastic singers and could play by ear almost any tune requested. One of the guests Claire also joined they and sang fantastically. We all thoroughly enjoyed the band all night long till 10 when they has to stop due to a curfew in the area. We ate our main courses then dessert and Jess and Mark cut their spectacular cake and danced their first dance as married couple. Everything went exceptionally well all night. The room was private to us 20 guests and there were almost as many staff attending us. We left about 11.30.
Sunday morning we rose in dribs and drabs, once again each ate out breakfasts on our private balconies at Tegal Sari. It has recently opened 6 new rooms to total 21 rooms in all. The staff at Tegal Sari are very well trained, so pleasant, professional and friendly. Our rooms overlooked the rice fields. We watched the ladies each day arrive to harvest the rice, shake out the grain from the stalks, then sieve the grain, bag the rice and carry the huge bags out from the fields along narrow banks, on their heads. Amazing. The duck farmers released their ducks each morning around 6.30 and it was terrific to watch the ducks dash for their early morning belly fill of grain and grubs.
We headed into Ibu Oka for Babi Guling, suckling pig, for lunch but decided the standard of seating and overall restaurant offered zero on the inviting scale, so wandered down Monkey Forest road to Cafe Wayan for lunch. Good choice. We met up with Jess and Mark, and Jules and I went into Kajane with Jess to check out their private villa. Oh wow. Fantastic to the nth degree with private pool, overlooking a ravine with cows, roosters and banana palms. The bedroom with canopy bed looked magical. I have nothing else to add except it would score 10 out of 10 on the scale! Sunday night we booked a table at Café Lotus to watch the Balinese show from afar whilst eating our meal. Its another really nice venue for a meal and good food.
I had quite a few photos developed from my memory card of the wedding so Jess and Mark called over to check them out. Jess borrowed my cd to email home some photos of their special day. All of the other wedding guests left Ubud on Monday. Denise and I went down to reopen negotiations with the sellers at the Ubud market. We were happy with our purchases! The pretty beaded thongs (for feet) are only 20,000rp. That night with newly weds, 2 days and newly weds 10 days, we wandered out the front of Tegal Sari carpark to Warung Enuk and the 6 of us had a great meal.
On Tuesday Wayan Merta picked us up at 10 and we headed down south via Tanah Lot, the temple of the water. Wayan mentioned that it is the most popular tourist attraction in Bali. The tide was out so we were not able to drink from the holy spring and be blessed by the priests. Denise had come down with the flu by them so was feeling quite poorly. When we arrived at the Bali Garden Hotel in Kuta, Denise headed to bed and Trevor, Bob and I went down to the beach side Pizza area. They still make the loveliest thinly crusted pizzas.
Wednesday Denise felt much better, Bob was almost fully better and Trevor has early signs, with a sore throat! Trevor filled up on the local Panadol for colds and flu and seemed to beat it. Jules also got a bout and so did Jess' dad, Keith and Mark.
We enjoyed our gourmet breakfasts at the buffet at Bali Garden Hotel. The chef is amazing how she can control cooking fried eggs, omelettes and pancakes and pleasantly greet the next patron asking for their order. Trevor walked from the BGH for about an hour along the beach to Suzie and Sammis. When he got within about 80 feet of the bar, Sammi came rushing down to meet him, and asked where I was. I suppose that means we must have been regulars at some stage. Our other friends Bob and Joy, Ian and Julie arrived around 5pm that afternoon.
That's plenty to start with today.
I will fill you in on the next 10 days later.