Ten days into our holiday and the beginning of our stay in Kuta.
We headed down to Matahari to check out bather shorts for Bob then caught a cab to Brisbane Tailor for fittings. Bob's suit looked sensational so he ordered 2 more pair of trousers. My dresses and tops were great. Denise had ¾ pants, sleeveless tops and matching shirts made and all were terrific, (oh except one set had the wrong colour fabric, so it was replaced with the correct fabric, no charge). We met Trevor at Bamboo corner, on time, much to his surprise, he thought he would have had time to down another quick 30 pots before we arrived! Had drinks back at Susie and Sammis and Bob seemed to enjoy plastic seats on the sand, buying watches, having massage etc. (It is such fun watching newbies and how they react to many situations that have been shared with them verbally previously). Back at BGH the others arrived about 15 minutes after we got back. After the hugs and kisses, room check in etc, ( we had 4 lovely rooms, side by side on lobby level, just as I had requested,) we headed down to the shady trees on the beach end of BGH and set up 4 tables and chairs and started to enjoy our combined Bali adventure.
Had dinner that night out front at Kafe Batan Waru. I have found its fume free if you eat indoors. Joy had been advised to not eat the salads, no water, not even the coffee, no ice, by her friend who was in Bali 20 years ago. I did feel at this stage that there may be a challenge on the horizon! (Bob and Joy, and our other Bob were on their first trip to Bali, Julie and Ian have been maybe 8 times over the years, although not for 6 or 8 years, Denise came on our girls trip March 04).
Each morning we wandered down to breakfast in our own time and 4 or 6 of us were usually able to share a table. Joy and I wandered down to the Kuta Art Market to seek stall 111, recommended on the BTF as a fixed price stall. Nyoman was lovely and deserved our patronage over the next 10 days. The Ketuts shop behind Legian market and Tootsies in Sindhu markets offer the same bargaining-less shopping. We enjoyed pizzas at the beachfront again and lounged around with the beachsellers till we all popped in taxis and had drinks with Suzie and Sammi. David, Sammis brother arrived and he told us he is no longer driving, he is now selling real estate. Walked up to Indo National for dinner and enjoyed that same good standard meal and service. We found it such a bonus to be able to buy Wine of the Gods shiraz at reasonable prices, eg around 140,000. (Other places we had to spend around 360,000rp per bottle and if you buy a few, as we did, that adds up). Kerry and Milton always welcome us and make us feel very comfortable. Great food, good prices and well trained friendly staff.
Friday was the day of the big bike ride. Bali Budaya Tours picked us up in the lobby at 6.30am. We picked up Jules in Legian then headed for Kintamani in 2 vans. We drove around the outskirts of Denpasar and saw many hundreds of Government workers doing their exercises in a park area, apparently they do this every Friday morning. Stopped for view of the terraced rice paddies then breakfast at the Lakeview restaurant. It was a little cloudy over Lake Batur but our photos look sensational. We could see puffs of smoke rising from near the top of the volcano. At that time of morning there are no hungry hawkers, bonus! Stephen had another group of about 20 riders so we headed off in 2 or more groups. (Co-incidentally Stephen has a family home within about ½ km from my parents). We toured the Spice plantation then headed down to collect our bikes and begin our marathon 4000km ride, or maybe 29km downhill (believe it as you choose). Julie and Ian, wisely chose to enjoy the trip from the van (unfortunately not air conditioned). Trevor maintains he hadn't ridden a bike since he was four, he borrowed a cousins bike and rode into a car so says he is the only Australian kid who didn't own a bike. We rode thru villages and greeted lots of locals. They appear to sit out and wait for us and enjoy the sights. Me, having ridden the ride last March was confident enough to give a few kids high fives (and fortunately didn't fall flat on my face being a smartie!). Julie and Ian got to see the looks on the locals' faces as we pedalled thru. We stopped along the way to get a better understanding of the rice paddies, varieties, harvesting etc, we watched the bullocks and ploughs at work, stood under a gigantic banyon tree, prized cows munching on grasses, saw bamboo being split and woven into mats, pigs pigging, typical Balinese compound, roosters cock-a-doodle doing, and unfortunately no nude ‘village idiot' waving his spear! What a sensational achievement for us all to have completed the ride, pooped and hot as we were, with no accidents or mishaps. Cold face washers at the end of the ride, bananas and cool drinks along the way were appreciated. Our lunch at the homestay was delightful (good variety but since there were so many on the ride we couldn't get seats so stood around a bale to eat our buffet lunch) and we paid for our own beers. Back to BGH by 5 and easy for us to wander down to the beach and order pizzas at the BGH pizzeria. (Actually did that a few times, I think I had 5 pizzas over 10 days, yummy but not good for the waist line!).
We had also seen many preparations in place for mass cremations in Bali on August 30th. Locals villages were making offerings, weaving, setting up sites and planning for 4 weeks.
Saturday Joy, Bob, Bob, Jules and I went to SD 3 Sobangan to see our sponsor children again. It was a lovely morning and a couple of the boys say a song out front. We did notice one boy who Jules and I had seen at the distribution day last Sept. He is a really small fellow and Jules gave him a plastic car, he was overjoyed. This young chap is at the school now and stood out front with Ni Wayan, the principal. He is 10, possibly a little intellectually and physically handicapped, but fantastic to see him having the opportunity to socialise with the other children. By this stage Joy had loosened up well and really enjoyed interacting with the children. They plan to sponsor a child.
That night we rang Sharkeys for free pick up service and headed to Jimbaran Bay for dinner. We all enjoyed the glorious sunset and fishing boats heading out for their nights catch. Lots of planes came in to land and we ere amazed to see sometimes 4 lined up to approach the runway). I love the sellers down there and was actually greeted by one rather effeminate chappie who remembered me from last visits. We bought the usual battery operated toys, you ask why, and actually so do I, after the event, aaah but what the heck, it's a fun thing to do at the time. (Ok, don't tell him, but Trevor was right, I probably wont ever use them....) We were proud of our highest bill, including the wines for 2.2m rp! Sharkeys delivery service returned us safely back to BGH.
We wondered if we could hack the pace but the next day I had arranged for us to hire a 9 seater bus and drive to the north west corner of the island for snorkelling at Menjangen Island. Denise and Bob, Joy and Bob, Trevor and I left with ‘Speedy Gonzales' at 9 and headed up thru Tabanan, Negara to Labuhan Lalang. Took a good 4 hours to get there. We negotiated a boat at 150,000rp per person, which included snorkelling gear, guide and admittance to the national park. The colourful fish are far more plentiful than any other area in or around Bali, that we have ever seen. Lots of plant life and the water although tide out and a little rough, is very clear. We spent about an hour there and headed back to the mainland. The journey back across the north coast to Seririt was fine. Unfortunately there were large street parades for Independence day (next Wed) and we were caught in the procession. We were slowed down for half hour or so. We passed the pair lakes and on to Bedugal by dusk. At this stage, still wearing our damp bathers we would have liked to have called into Strawberry Hills and sat in front of the log fire. We could now appreciate the need for a log fire in Bali! There was a pea souper fog over Lake Bratan and all we could see on the road was the white line down the centre. It was a long 5 hour journey back but we made it safely back to BGH by 10 to 8. (We had to pay an extra 10,000 per hour after 8 hours to the bus driver. Did I mention before that the 9 seater bus, up to one year old with individual air conditioning controls, personal reading lights etc, cost 450,000 rp for the day which included petrol and driver). Bob rushed down to the pizzeria to order pizzas before they closed at 8.
Monday was my birthday and I had booked the bus again for a tour down south. With Jules, we headed to tour around Nusa Dua, as the newies hadn't seen the more up market area of Bali before. The gardens and grounds are immaculate but we saw very few tourists. We did spy a most unusual man roller blading down the road, bathers and no top with indian type feathers on his head, as you do! We guided our driver to Geger beach and stopped for lunch at the warung. I find it such a beautiful beach and once again another different side to Bali. We sat lined up along the table, ate our meals and checked out the beach and sights. This was the first time I had been there and seen the tide out, so saw the seaweed farms. A young fellow watched past and made a point of saying hello and appearing to know us very well. He said ‘Bali boy' I remember you....well I couldn't think then after a while we recalled he is one of the watch sellers from Suzie and Sammis. We chatted for some time to his wife as well. They were there having lunch too with large family and some Aussie friends. We headed to Uluwatu for a wander down to the temple and the first up close and personal with monkeys. We chose to have a guide walk with us and he was successful in keeping the naughty monkeys away from us. We did see two other tourists, who wouldn't heed the notices and have their glasses stolen. Both pair glasses were badly twisted and mangled. The previous day our guide told us that 5 cameras had been stolen and flung over the wall down the cliff, never to be seen again. Only one camera had gone that day, so far. On to Dreamland Beach for a look at the housing estate and surf beach and finally GWK Cultural Park. We wandered around listening to the thunderous sound checks in preparation for the dance party the next night. The huge Garuda and Wisnu never fail to amaze me. What a giggle to see the 9 of us head for the toilets and change into our glam gear for my special dinner. (It was a frock up night) The De MiMidi restaurant had set up our table along the front and we marvelled at the view over Jimbaran Bay, Benoa Harbour, the airport, Kuta, Legian and watched the sunset . We ordered the expensive sirloin steaks and chicken stuffed with lobster, aaah, what the heck and heaps of bottles of wine. (There are many delicious sounding meals that cost far less). I was surprised (a little) by the birthday cake which tasted very good and had all of the spelling correct on the chocolate card on front. It really was a special night, which I will remember for a very long time and best ever, if I couldn't share it with my family. Bill was our biggest at 3.3m rp.
Denise and Bob left the next day to spend 4 days at the Sheraton in Nusa Dua, for their honeymoon time! Oooooooh, we didn't expect to see them surface till the airport!
Monday morning I walked over to MerryAnn leather and decided to have a new leather coat made. I chose dark beige then changed to dark red. He said black was much cheaper at 700,000rp but I would have to pay 730,000rp for spesh-ee-arl colour. That was fine by me, I didn't even try to knock the price down. I returned the next morning with 3 t-shirts which I wanted taken up, cost 50,000rp for all and he mentioned he had problems getting the dark red (sheep) leather so I returned to my origanal dark beige/caramel colour. It was very well made and I am happy to recommend then.
We went low key over the next 4 days, with shopping in the Discovery Shopping mall. I almost got to first name basis with the Revlon ladies at Matahari, Centro and Ramayana. I love the lippies, eye shadows and new extra lengthening mascara, half the price of Melbourne. On Independence day we caught a taxi about 9.30am into Denpasar to buy some HP and Lexmark printer cartridges. They were celebrating, playing games etc and the stores were not expected to open till 2pm, so we remained in the taxi and returned to BGH. Went back in the next day and shopped in Ramayana Dept store then on advise crossed the road, with immense difficulty (Trevor and I aren't chickens, but trying to cross 3 lanes of roadway with many cars and thousands of motorbikes, took some time) to Rimo centre where we found lots of computer sellers and bought printer cartridges, cash only, for around half the price in Melbourne. I have also bought a refill kit for $4.50 and a copy cartridge for $16 to just see how they go. I spend a fortune on printer cartridges at home so should have saved heaps. I also took a photo of the prices of numerous mobile phones to buy outright so if anyone is interested I will locate the photo, actually I will download it on to my webshots site maybe next week.
The Air Paradise flight book showed the lovely KuDeTa and Denise was keen to try it. I don't particularly like the non Balinese feel about the place so planned for sunset drinks there and walk along the beach to La Lucchiola for dinner (we had booked in advance, very necessary). On Independence Day the roads around Kuta were chockers so it took over an hour by taxi to go from Kuta to Seminyak. KuDeTa was rocking at sunset and full of people. I suspected a good place to be seen. We noticed lots of the patrons were extremely happy and gay people so chose to walk on down the beach to La Lucchiola for dinner and drinks there. This was the one and only day and evening in Bali for us which was quite humid. It had rained overnight and being seated at the back of the open air restaurant with no fans was quite hot. All the same another sensational night.
Wednesday night we had dinner at Gosha. An old favourite and didn't let us down. Us girls had large cocktails in coconuts and loved every last drop. The staff are terrific and its another authentic feeling Balinese restaurant.
Thursday we met Noel and Geraldine Allen, Sue and Bill at Ma Joly and talked for ages about the school projects. They appear to have achieved so much for schools in the Mengwi area and now are providing clean water and toilets for the poorer areas around Amed.
Last night we met Jules, Jess and Mark for dinner at the Kafe Batan Waru, out front of the BGH. Oh its always the worst night. We never want to go home. The enjoyment in Bali has never worn off. After dinner we headed for the airport in 4 separate taxis. Although we were travelling in a group we were well and truly overweight with our luggage. I estimated we had a joint 150kg for our 80 kg limit. Trevor and I went thru first and like last time I left Bali (although flying Australian Airlines) the checker put everything thru, no comment, I was still waiting for the amount of excess to be paid. Phew, no charge, all thru, and so were all the others. (Last time, when I thought all was well, I had to pay excess baggage at us$11 per kg).
They did weigh our hand luggage to check it did not exceed 7kg, but didn't check the back packs, so hint is to overload the back pack and keep the carry on no more than 7kg.
Great flight home via Sydney and now home in cool Melbourne. We had lunch today at our usual watery hole and would all prefer to be back in lovely warm, friendly, easy going Bali.
Until next time. March ?