Day 4, Fri 19th Nov
For those unfamiliar with my family, we are:
Me/Dad/Pete (42)
Mum/Wife/Julie (36)
Jamie (9...boy)
Ky (5...boy)
Tara (5...girl) yes, twins.
This was our first real trip to Bali.
My photos are now uploaded; you can view them at:
http://community.web shots.com/user/bigpete3941
just remove the gap between ‘web' and ‘shots'.
Up again at our usual time of 6:30 am... Julie headed to the gym (crazy....) I headed to the balcony with a coffee. Kids played playstation and watched TV until Julie got back and we took off for brekky.
Had our brekky in the buffet... no venturing out again after yesterday's adventure. Cost 189,000 rp again, but it wasn't a nice brekky. Food was OK, but the kids argued like there was no tomorrow (how many times did we tell them next time we came to Bali they would be staying with Nanny? Made no difference!)
Went back to our room, got ready, and then caught the ‘Dynasty shuttle bus' ... a free service up to the Kuta Art market. I think it ran three times a day, but each time we caught it, we were on the 10:00 am bus. It's not really that far up to the Kuta art market, but it saved a bit of time (and sweat!) by getting the free shuttle, and we used it two or three times through the trip.
Looked around Kuta (lots of 'No thank you's'!!!), mainly in the Matahari shopping centre. As we had the kids with us, it was a stressful shopping trip... trying to keep them amused, find what we needed, and get a bargain as well (those parents out there will know what I mean...)
Ky had ‘blown out' his sandals, and we really needed to get him some new ones. And you know how it is when you really NEED to do something with kids.... Say no more.
In our travels we walked past Raja's. At least I think it was the bomb site one. Looked like it, anyway. I pointed it out to the kids, and that actually quietened them for a minute or two (before they started up again).
Walked along the beach back to Discovery. They had a big yellow tent thingy set up out the back, so we could see where we were heading to. Stopped for a milkshake (and Bintang) at a café at the back (beachside) of Discovery. Very refreshing... recommend to stop here for a drink, especially the caramel milkshakes! (about 70,000 rp for 5 drinks). It was the one on the right as you look at the centre from the beach side.
Still looking for sandals for Ky (Grrrr... don't I love this kind of shopping!!!) via a quick stop at BreadTalk. Bribed the kids with the promise of a visit to ‘Amazone'... Bali version of timezone, upstairs at Discovery. We paid 15,000rp ($2.00 Aus) for 12 tokens. All of the games were either one or two tokens to play. All of the usuals... basketball shooters, car racing games, Air hockey, all the same things you get here. Some gave tickets, and you could cash them in for prizes. Great value for money.
Finished (had we bought the sandals? I can't even remember!!!) and headed back towards Dynasty. Stopped in at the money changer (Kodak). I was a regular now... they knew me, and they knew I checked carefully each time. Guess what? No ‘mistakes'. (although our dramas in this shop were far from over... more later!)
Flushed with cash, we encountered another problem familiar to parents. The all too familiar ‘I need to go to the toilet' call.
We stopped in at Febris; very close, and while the family did the ‘business', I checked out the menu. Looked pretty good (we were to come back here a couple of times for meals later in the trip.) We continued our journey. Wanted to find a particular Mac shop... for which I had a business card; so we grabbed a bluebird taxi, and the guy knew where it was and took us there (5,000rp... flag fall ...the meter didn't have time to tick over!)
We were greeted by cool drinks of water, a seat each, and a lovely warm welcome. Chose many movies, a few PS2 games and a few music CD's. Also arranged to hire a DVD player for a week (200,000 rp for 7 days. Was that too much? $28 Aus for a week seemed ok to me), and got a taksi back to the Dynasty. Our bluebird had gone, and the shop people hailed us a passing one (no choice for us.) I asked the guy how much back to the Dynasty, and he said ‘25,000 rp'... I don't think so! Quickly negotiated a better price, and got us home for 10,000 (‘good for me, good for you').
Got home (it seemed like home now), set up the DVD player and mucked around for a bit, then got ready and headed towards the beach. We intended to walk up the beach to the Pantai restaurant for dinner (highly recommended by many). We got out to where the beach sellers were, and were surrounded. Michael (the guy who approached us on morning one) welcomed us by name and escorted us to his ‘shop' (they don't forget, do they!) We did some quick dealings; I bought a leather belt for 30,000 rp (probably paid too much, but seemed reasonable to me) and Julie was haggling for some watches and stuff.
She wanted this particular watch; sports type. I told her I had seen them in the little shop up the road for 40,000, so not to pay any more than that. Of course, Michael told her those ones in the shop are not waterproof; mine are... that's why mine cost more.
Yep; she went for it. Told him she WOULD be back if it didn't work in the pool, since that was the only reason she was buying it. (Guess what...)
Made it to the Pantai without much cash left... (good to know they take credit card!) by about 5:45pm... perfect time to relax and enjoy the sunset.
Let me say, the food here is good, without being great. However, the view is worth a million bucks, and the freedom for the kids to jump off the ledge, run up and down the beach, and just come back when the food was ready was priceless. We did see Ma Jolly, not 100 metres up the beach, and it looked beautiful, too. Same view, but a bit too fancy for us with our kids. Looks like it would be nice for a couple looking for a special evening. (We're just regular folk!! LOL)
The price was about 280,000 rp (about $38) and included all mains, cocktail for Julie, large beer (no Bintang here!!! Had Anker instead) for me, drinks and icecreams for the kids. So for 5 people, I thought that wasn't bad.
Walked back up the beach to the Dynasty.
Tip:
If you do this, they lock the back gate into the resort at 6pm, so you need to walk up the side alley all the way to the front reception area. No big deal, but good to know it happens!
Kids stopped for a night swim before heading to bed by 8:30 pm. Julie and I put on ‘Million dollar baby' (perfect quality) and got to sleep about 11pm.
As you can see, our night life was not huge and raging; but our days were so full, by early evening we were ready for some quiet time.
Tomorrow: Shopping in Kuta without the kids (God bless kids club!), Gracie Kelly's and Febris for dinner.
Any questions along the way, please shoot them at me... happy to oblige!