Sorry just to start with I mucked up the dates a little along the way but they are now back on track. Dont think you missed a day I had when dating the installments. Days are all ok just the actual date.
Day 11 - Sunday 23rd October
Well we were up early this morning at 6.30 am to shower and dress and prepare for our cycling tour and elephant ride today. We headed to the hotel restaurant for buffet breakfast at 7 am. After breakfast we had just enough time to duck back to the room and pick up our backpack which I had loaded up with lollypops, bubble blowers, yoyos, super bouncy balls, clip on koalas, little cars and packets of snap cards to hand out to the kids we met on our travels today. We were met at hotel reception by our transport driver for today at 7.45 am. We were quickly ushered into a brand new Suzuki APV. Gee I wouldn't mind one of these. I am in line to buy a new car early next year and would love to get a people mover type vehicle for when we go away camping or our drives across to Melbourne.
After 1 1/2 hours driving we stopped at our first destination, Windu Sara Restaurant. This restaurant overlooks the volcano and lake and the views are breathtaking. We took a moment to take in the views and get a few photos. We were then asked if we were ready for breakfast. Mark was in his element, a second breakfast. We seated inside the restaurant rather than outside on the verandah as it was a little blowy this morning. We were offered tea or coffee but as I don't drink either I requested an orange juice. We were then also offered to try their new frozen mango juice however they only had one available so Mark took up this offer. This is something they have just started trying and were keen to get feedback. We were told that if we didn't like it we would not be charged. Charged? We thought breakfast was part of the deal for today. Well as it worked out is was but that did not included fruit juices so we had to pay for these. This was fine with us however I do feel it should be included for those of us who do not drink tea or coffee.
We were then served a plate of fresh fruit (watermelon, pineapple and papaya) which was very nice. Once we had finished this out came bacon, scrambled eggs and toast with jam. OMG how were we going to ride bikes now after two big breakfasts. We settled our bill for the fruit juices 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33) each plus 4 000 Rp (AUS $0.53) service and tax charges. Total bill 24 000 Rp (AUS $3.20) for two juices, I would hate to know how much breakfast would have cost here. Not that these prices are high by Australian standards but for Bali prices they are a bit steep.
At 10 am we left Windu Sara Restaurant to head to the starting point of our bike tour. On the way we had to pass through a security checkpoint where the driver had to pay 3 000 Rp (AUS $0.40) for us to be able to pass. By this we gathered it was 1 000 Rp (AUS $0.13) per person. Within 15 mins of departing Windu Sara Restaurant we arrived at the starting point for our bike ride. We met our guide for our tour, Wayan and were fitted with helmets, gloves and off course a bike. I had thought this was to be a 25 km cycling tour and Mark had a great laugh when we discovered it was actually 35 kms. Thankfully this was to be mostly downhill so if you can operate a brake you are fine. I am not an athletic person back home and Mark doubted that this was something that I was going to be able to do. Well I was just glad it was just Mark, myself and Wayan, our guide, on this tour.
We set off on our cycling tour where we had several stops along the way. The first stop was at a coffee plantation where Wayan went into great detail on everything about coffee. Mark listened intently but as I am not a coffee fan I was more interested in talking to and giving lollypops etc to 3 little girls who had made their way down to where we were. We set off again and next stop was at a village where we once again met some more children and gave them lollypops, little cars, super bouncy balls and yoyos. We also saw the prized pigs of the village and boy did they smell. This did not bother Mark as he has an uncle who is a pig farmer and has spent plenty of time in the country growing up however although we now live in country SA I am a city chick through and through.
We set off again and next stop was at a family compound where we once again gave the children we met lollypops, little cars and bubble blowers. Here there were 5 little boys we gave cars to. It was great watching them line up with the cars and start having races with them. We also gave them clip on koala's and I taught them how to say ‘Koala' as they had no idea what these were. While here we also had the chance to look inside the family home. Gee am I lucky with what I have at home. It just never ceases to amaze me that these people who have so little materially have so much emotionally. They are always so happy. It really makes you re-evaluate your own life.
We continued on through several more villages, past temples where they were having temple ceremonies, past rice paddies and through the rainforest until we eventually reached the finish point at about 1.30 pm. Mark was pleasantly surprised at how well I went. Actually I think I even surprised myself as I have not ridden a bike since I was a kid.
After a few moments to take in the views overlooking the rice paddies and to catch our breath we gave Wayan some lollypops etc for his two girls, although by this stage we were basically cleaned out of goodies, and bid him farewell. We loaded back into the Suzuki and headed for our lunch and elephant ride.
After about an hour of driving and almost dozing off in the van we reached Bali Elephant Camp in Taman Sari at about 2.30 pm. Here they were keen to load us straight on to the elephant for our 30 min ride but we were hungry and wanted to have lunch first. Lunch was very nice with a plate of spring rolls followed by a club sandwich (there were other choices but this is what we opted for) and then I finished off with some coconut and palm sugar crepe rolls. YUMMY!
After we had finished eating we were ushered up towards the loading platform to climb onto Jimmy the elephant for our 30 min ride. Our elephant handler and guide for our ride was Aldi who has worked with Sumatran elephants for about 12 years. All the elephants at the park are Sumatran with Jimmy being the oldest and largest male elephant. Jimmy was being a little cheeky throughout the ride as his friends had all finished for the day and were back in their stalls eating so at any chance he got he was trying to leg it back to his stall. The ride ended with Jimmy taking as for a ride into his bath but thankfully we did not get wet and then Jimmy showed us how he could play the harmonica. We then had a chance to pose for a photo with Jimmy while one of the staff used our camera to take a shot. I don't think this park is as good as I have read that Taro is, but it was still a nice experience.
We finally left Bali Elephant Camp at about 4 pm to head back to our hotel in Kuta. My only gripe was that our driver spoke very little English so there was no talking with him on the way up or back. I love to chat with everyone we come in contact with and learn something new but he did not appear to be very open to conversation. We didn't even get his name which was a shame.
We arrived back at the Bounty Hotel at about 5.30 pm and proceeded back to our room to drop off our bag. I basically flaked it on the bed until Mark rousted me up to go and get some dinner. We opted to eat in at the hotel restaurant tonight. Mark had spring rolls followed by chicken parmagiana with a pepsi while I chose to just have spring rolls with a jug fruit tingle. The total bill came to 181 500 Rp (AUS $24.20) including service and tax prices.
After something to eat we felt a little more energetic and decided to take a walk to the Kodak store on the corner of Jalan Legian and Poppies II to collect the Face to Face engraved pendant I had ordered the day before. Once again it was fantastic. We paid the balance of 195 000 Rp (AUS $26.00) and set off back to the Bounty to have a swim and then an early night.
Cheers
Balibabe