DAY 16, 28TH SEPT.
Shopping today consisted of a lots of stuff for gifts. We walked along Jl Legian in the direction of Kuta from Seminyak. Got all sorts of stuff, aluminium picture frames, salad servers, pate knives, coasters, elephant incense holder, the lsit goes on. We had a nice walk and looked in lots of new shops. We ended up at Mades Warung for a light lunch. I went back to hotel for a massage and Gary continued on to shop for more silver.
We met Peter & Andie and family for dinner at Café Batan Waru, just outside the BGH. The dinner was very nice, staters, drinks, mains and desert was only RP675000 for 6 of us. This was a great meal, but sad as were saying goodbye to Peter and Andie tonight.
DAY 17, 29TH SEPT.
A bit sore from yesterdays massage. I felt he was a bit too firm at the time but silly me didn't say anything and now I am suffering. I have booked in for a manicure, pedicure and reflexology today. It was just average and I have had a lot better. The Bali Belly is back again so I am staying close to the hotel today.
Spoke to Norman about spray on tans in Bali and he is getting one at his beauty salon. I think this is a great idea for fair skins like me. I would love to go home with a tan from Bali. Relaxing day at hotel. This evening Gary & I went to HANS CD shop in Jl Petitenget and bought a whole heap of cd's and dvd's. Dinner at hotel and off to bed.
DAY 18, 30TH SEPT.
Today we go to Bakus Levi Elephant Park with my son and his GF. We organised a driver for the day to take us wherever we wanted to go. We ended up giving him RP350000 for the day out and he was happy. Elephant Park was okay, a bit dear I thought, RP150000 to look or RP400000 to ride for 15 minutes!!!!!! Staff were very friendly and Gary had fun practising his Indonesian with them. Next stop was to see salt being harvested on the beach at Kusamba. It was just a little shack really cottage industry stuff. The people here told the driver what they do and he translated for us, it was very interesting. The kids were lovely and I got some great shots. We gave them some money and the smallest boys was so funny organising his money folding the notes carefully, but he was much more interested in the coins rather than the more valuable notes. I bought a bag of salt for RP10000 and have been able to bring it home with me, I love bali salt as it has a much nicer flavour than our salt. This was a great experience for us all. Wasn't able to find a place to see palm sugar, but will do that next time. Went to Padang Bai for lunch, this is a beautiful spot and we will be spending more time there on the next holiday. Had a great lunch of fresh fish and drinks for about RP120000 for 4 of us.
Next stop was Celuk to see one of Gary's jewellers. Not much stock still as he was cleaned out a few days ago.
Back to Seminyak and dinner with friends we met on our last stay at Bali Mystique. This is one thing I love about Bali, the people you meet time and time again all with the same love of Bali. Shared a nice meal and great company.
DAY 19. 1ST OCT.
Today we visit Asia Silver with the boys and their GF's. Once again wholesale prices for business purchase so the girls got a great buy here. We managed to spend about 7.8 million RP here......us girls had a great time here and it had some of the nicest stock we have seen in Bali this year. Walked back to Bintang and had lunch at Café Seminyak. I relaxed at hotel and Gary continued with business. Tonight we are dining with our friends Paul & Siti in west Denpasar (near the jail) in Kerobokan. They have created a great dinner for 8 us, all local favourite dishes. Whilst we are dining we are hearing an awful lot of sirens, but Paul says it is always like that. One of the other couples are leaving Bali tonight and are waiting for a taxi to come to take them to their hotel. We begin to wonder why there is no taxi and I think we are all becoming a bit concerned at this stage. Whilst we are looking out for the taxi the neighbour says something about a bomb in Kuta, Siti quickly dismisses these comments as sour grapes as the neighbours were not invited to the party, her words are 'bloody stupid Balinese just jealous cos' we have a party with you' as she is from Java.
Gary receives a very disjointed call from another friend in Java asking about the bomb in Kuta??? Oh no, not again, please let this just be a mistake. I immediately begin to worry about my boys who are both in Kuta. We send messages to them both and Kris replies that there was a gas explosion in Raja's and there are lots of police and hysterical tourists about. He walked past Raja's and said this is what he was told by police. We have no luck in contacting my other son and I am getting pretty upset at this stage. All I want to do is get back to our hotel and get some information. Gary and Siti go out on the bike and come back with a taxi. I get dropped off at Bali Mystique and Gary continues on to Kuta to try and find my son. Norman is relieved to see me, but is annoyed that Gary has gone to Kuta. He wanted to make sure all his guests were accounted for and safe at the hotel. He asked us not to go out and stay at the hotel. Too late Gary has gone. I watch some TV with everyone else and get even more alarmed. Jessie in reception calls BGH and I am very relieved to hear Ben on the other end of the phone. They are very shaken up and sound upset. I tell them not to leave the hotel. I feel really bad as they were all reluctant to come to Bali in the first place. I then send an email to everyone in my address book to say we are all safe. However Gary is now nowhere to be seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reception says Mrs Caron phone call and it is Andie from Melbourne ringing to make sure we are ok, thanks Andie for this and for letting our families know we are allright. The atmosphere at the hotel is one of total disbelief at this happening a second time. We hear about both Kuta and Jimbarin Bay and Bali TV shows some awful footage of Jimbarin. Much to my relief Gary appears on the back of a bike, he has been with both my sons to make sure they are okay. The eldest is in Ramayana and has a view directly into Kuta square from the hotel, he also had plans to go to Raja's and Jimbarin for dinner, but ended up elsewhere on the night.
We retire to the apartment and watch TV for most of the night. It is really sickening and I feel so sad for the Balinese that they have to go throught this yet again. What a night this 1st of October turned out to be.
DAY 20, 2ND OCT.
We receive SMS throughout the night from concerned relatives and friends in Australia, so not much sleep was had by either of us. I ask my kids to come and stay with us at Bali Mystique as I feel it is safer, but both of them feel okay staying in Kuta. All the staff are very subdued and there is a real feeling of disbelief and sadness here. Gary goes into Bintang to pick up pic's and says it is quiet, but not much different to any other Sunday in Bali. I spent the day by the pool and on the net replying to emails from friends. I see lots of conflicting reports on the net and the TV, and it seems to be portrayed as a lot worse than it is here in Australia. I am very annoyed with the media for doing this. It is nearly Ramadan and Galungan and of course the streets are quiet here. They are saying tourists are leaving in droves and this is just not true at all. Life just goes on under a cloud of sadness.
We make sure we know where the kids are tonight so there won't be any need for panic if anything else happens. I think all of us feel the same we will not be intimidated into fear by these people.
We were saving La Lucciolas for dinner tonight, however neither of us feel like venturing to such a popular place tonight, so we give it a miss. This is a first for us as it is one of our favourite places in Bali.
Gary & I dine with WA couple Gaye and John at Bonitas restaurant in Jl Petitenget Seminyak. Bonita is quite a character and seems to be having a bit of a crisis deciding if he is male or female. He is very flamboyant and a lot of fun. We have a lovely meal here, drinks, entrees, mains, desert and coffee for RP298000. Bonita kindly gave us complimentary drinks, deserts and coffee. This is one place we will recommend and go back to again. The good thing for us is that it was an easy walk to and from our hotel.
DAY21, 3RD OCT.
Sadly today is our last day here in Bali. I have mixed feelings about going home, I think I would like to stay, but I want the kids to go home. I feel a very great sadness for the Balinese people, they are all so worried about us, but what about them, they don't have much to look forward to if tourism stops. I do think they need to get angry and realise that their own country needs to do more to protect them from such atrocities in the future. There is too much danger in Indonesia and they need to stop being an easy target to terrorism. Any way enough of my opinions and onto the last day......
My kids have checked out of their hotels and have brought all their stuff to the apartment. They are all off doing last minute stuff like hair braiding and one is looking for a bongo drum with a plastic top instead of skin. He is successful at a place just across the road from Kuta Galleria near the big round about, I think it was Vickis Handcrafts. For RP175000 he got a great bongo with carvings that he chose and a plastic top, it is great and he had no problems with customs in Australia at all. The girls come back with plaited hair and have picked up a suit and a dress they had made.
Tonight for our last dinner in Bali Norman has organised a group of us to go to Echo Beach in Canggu for dinner. It was lovely, we got there for sunset and watched our last Bali sunset. The place was what I imagine Jimbarin Beach was like 10 years ago, just a few warungs and one place called the Beach Shack that do a great barbeque. All the fish, shellfish and steak are on ice and you choose your own and they barbeque it for you. We had seafood platter, calamari, red snapper and steak and it was all lovely. Approximate price per couple was RP150000, with drinks included.You help yourself to salad rice and baked spuds. It was a great way to spend our last night in Bali. Thanks Norman for organising this for us all.
Back to the hotel so we can all have showers. Last drinks and pic's taken and at 9.30pm we are off in 2 cars, one for us and one for all the luggage.
All checked in, some last minute duty free shopping then it is time to board the plane. I have a few tears in my eyes as we take of and tell Bali we will be back for our first wedding anniversary.