Day 8 - Thursday 19th October
We awoke at 8.15 am. Today was the day to check out of the Bali Prani Hotel. We were due to be picked up at 9 am by Made by as we got up later than expected we sms'd him and asked him to come at 10 am. Headed to the hotel restaurant for our last breakfast. Just in case you cant think what we had I let you know. LOL. Mark had his usual two fried eggs with bacon, toast, orange juice and a coffee while I had the last of those fantastic omelettes with ham, tomato, cheese and mushroom, toast and an orange juice.
Back to the room to pack up the last of our belongings before Made arrived and then over to say our very teary goodbyes to the staff. We had really forged some great relationships here.
Made came to the hotel at 10 am and we loaded up his van with all of our luggage. Gee was it jam packed. We headed off to Sindhu Beach markets to do some more (yep you guessed it)shopping. Went to Jenny's shop 29. Jenny is so lovely. She has fixed prices and at great rates so no need to haggle. Spent up big here. I bought a small pink LV roll type overnight bag for one of our daughters and a small brown with pink flowers roll type overnight bag for myself for 65 000 Rp (AUS $8.67) each, 3 small beaded bags for gifts for nieces 20 000 Rp (AUS $2.67) each, 2 Balinese dolls, one for each of our daughters as they collect dolls from all over the world, for 25 000 Rp (AUS $3.33), a barbie watch for our youngest daughter for 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00), a paul frank watch for our eldest daughter also 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00), a brown with pink flowers LV fold up umbrella for myself for 45 000 Rp (AUS $6.00), a brown with pink flowers sunglass case also for myself for 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00) and a long sleeve cotton embroidered top for another niece for 25 000 Rp (AUS $3.33). All up the bill was 400 000 Rp (AUS $53.33). I could have easily spent more here but figured I'd save some for elsewhere.
On the way in had a lady follow me who asked me where I was headed. I stupidly told her I was heading for Jenny's so she showed me exactly where it was. Was great to have her show me where to go but then when I came out she was waiting for me and I then felt obliged to go and buy something from her shop as well. Luckily it was only just across from Jenny's shop however you definitely needed to bargain here and her prices started ridiculously high but I just stuck to my price and eventually she came to the party. From here I just bought myself a long hippy style skirt and a cotton long sleeve Bali print top for 40 000 Rp (AUS $5.33). I know I paid a little too much but I guess I felt obliged and a bit sorry for her.
From here we headed in to Denpasar with a view of stopping at several of the department style stores. I was looking for a dress for our oldest daughter for her baptism next month. Firstly went to Ramayana. The only thing we ended up buying here was a pair of sunglasses for our youngest daughter for 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33) and a pair for our oldest daughter for 25 000 Rp (AUS $3.33) from a stall out the front. Decided to forgo going to Matahari, Tragia, Robinsons and Tiara Dewata as Mark was becoming a bit anti shopping by this stage. Will have to save these for a future trip as well. Never did end up finding her a dress. That is something I will have to do now that we are home.
Headed on to Bali Gamestation which is located at Jalan Imam Bonjol No. 253/6 Denpasar to buy our oldest daughter a couple of games for her gameboy. We bought 2 multi-game cartridges for 250 000 Rp (AUS $33.33) each. One has 142 games in 1 and the other has 158 games in one. We checked both cartridges on a console in the store and they appear to work fine. These are part of her Christmas presents so she has not tested or even seen them as yet.
Once we finished here we chose to head to the Bounty Hotel in Kuta to check in. This is where we would stay for the remainder of our time in Bali. We got there at about 1 pm and checked in to room 215. I had requested this room after recommendations on BTF but was surprised when we actually got it as I had been told they could not guarantee it. The recommendations ended up being worth while as the airconditioner here was brilliant. The only downfall being that it was an upstairs room. This did not bother us most of the time except one night which I will tell you about in due course.
Made was not allowed to assist us with our bags to our room. We had to use a hotel porter. Apparently they only allow locals who are working at the hotel to enter the grounds as a security measure. The porters kept commenting on the amount of bags we had as we had all the bags of things for the school visit tomorrow. They also check all cars coming up to the hotel reception area. We paid Made 200 000 Rp (AUS $26.67) for his time this morning and bid him farewell for now.
After settling all of our luggage down in our room and taking a moment to take in our new home we then decided to head to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Meals and drinks here are a little more expensive and incur a service charge of 10% and tax of 11% so we therefore decided that we would keep our drinking and eating here to a minimum.
Mark had a beef steak sandwich 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00) and a pepsi 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33) while I had an Aussie BBQ pizza 40 000 Rp (AUS $5.33) and a fruit tingle cocktail 37 500 Rp (AUS $5.00). Total bill after service charge of 11 750 Rp (AUS $1.57) and tax of 12 925 Rp (AUS $1.72) came to 142 175 Rp (AUS $18.96). We could have charged it to our room but we prefer to keep a close track of what we have spent so opted to pay for it there and then. This just helps to avoid any sudden surprises later. We did occasionally book things to our room but then tended to go to reception and pay for it within 24 hrs.
After lunch we returned to our room for a quick freshen up. When we arrived at our room we were greeted by a floral arrangement of a dozen red roses, a fruit basket and a bottle of wine from the hotel for our anniversary. It was lovely to receive flowers as after 10 years of marriage I don't see too many. Well only when Mark is in trouble. We sms'd H elgie and organised to hire a DVD player for 6 days at a cost of 150 000 Rp (AUS $20.00). He arranged to drop it off later that day along with a couple of other DVD's he had managed to get hold of for us. I then decided to head to Salon Made in Jalan Benesari to have my eyebrows waxed as I was starting to look a little feral by this time. Cost me 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33) and they did a great job. Also decided it was time to have some more washing done. We had previously had some done at the Bali Prani Hotel (we choose to just have the hotel do it as I had not located a laundry close by to the hotel). The first lot had cost me 96 800 Rp (AUS $12.91) although I knew I could have it done cheaper Mark's attitude had been who cares if it costs us 100 000 Rp that's not much to us. Well after finding Gede's Laundry in Poppies II and only paying 20 600 Rp (AUS $2.75) he soon changed his tune but sometimes us women have to do these things to show the man in our lives that we know best. LOL. Needless to say he did not question taking the laundry here for the rest of our stay.
Upon returning to the hotel we decided to spend some time relaxing around the pool where I enjoyed another fruit tingle however this time a jug for 66 550 Rp (AUS $8.87) including tax and service charges. This was to become a bit of a habit while at the pool. After a little while we decided to go for a walk along Poppies II for a little more shopping and an early dinner. Picked up a little Holden's shirt for our nephew for 70 000 Rp (AUS $9.33). Had no problems paying this price at the time but later found we paid way too much. You will realise why in a day or so. From Fast Eddy's which is next door to Rainbows Café in Poppies II, I bought 2 size 1 dresses for another of our nieces for 20 000 Rp (AUS $2.67) each and a Von Dutch denim mini for myself for 60 000 Rp (AUS $8.00).
We decided on Rainbows Café for dinner. Mark had fish and chips 20 000 Rp (AUS $2.67) and 2 small bintangs 9 000 Rp (AUS $1.20) each while I had chicken cap cay (unfortunately don't have the price of this one but was not much) with a rainbow special cock (cocktail) 15 000 Rp (AUS $2.00) and an arak attack 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33). After dinner we headed back to our room as Mark was to meet up with H elgie for the DVD player (however when he arrived Mark had to go to reception to meet him as the hotel would not let him in) and I was due to be picked up by Made at 7 pm to go shopping for shoes for our school visit tomorrow.
True to form Made picked me up at 7 pm and we headed for the Seminyak night markets to buy 25 pairs of black sneakers for the kids at the school. This market is for locals and as westeners do not go to these markets what an experience this was. Made had to do all the bargaining as they did not speak English. He hates shopping but did a great job. We had to visit 3 stalls to get all the pairs we needed as we needed to get 5 pairs of size 30, 10 pairs of size 32 and 10 pairs of size 33.
From the first stall we managed to get 9 pairs at a cost of 207 000 Rp (AUS $27.60). From the second stall we were able to get another 11 pairs at a cost of 265 000 Rp (AUS $35.33) and from the 3rd and final stall we were able to get the remaining 5 pairs for 120 000 Rp (AUS $16.00). Gee I wish I could buy shoes at this price for our girls back home.
At one stage there was a group of about 10, what I believed to be Balinese guys, hanging around out the front of one of the stalls we were in just staring at me. Didn't help that I was also wearing a mini skirt though I guess. Made later told me these guys were actually Javanese. Once we had finished here we returned to the hotel where I paid Made 100 000 Rp (AUS $13.33) for his trouble even though he had not expected any payment for this trip. Mark and I then had an early night as tomorrow was to be a huge day and one I had been anticipating for months now.
Cheers
Balibabe