I arrived back home on 19th November after 17 days in Bali. We decided to use our frequent flyers and luckily for us Australian Airlines used a Qantas plane on both legs, we got to sit in the first section of the plane which only has business class seats, so my holiday had a great start. I am in my mid 50's and have been to Bali many times in the last 10 years. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at Bali airport was the lack of tourists , the roads seemed almost empty and by the time we left there were even less tourists. We rented a house in Garlic Lane behind Indo National, however Barry will be moving permanently to Bali and the house will no longer be available for rent, so it will be back to Melasti Beach Resort (what a shame) I never felt uncomfortable, however many people must have been because when I went to Matarhari to purchase some clothes the streets were empty, Rajas's is still sitting there all boarded up. We thought we would go and have a sunset drink at the eskys in front of Kuta markets, but they had already started to pack up, even the markets were closing and it was not even 6pm. My heart goes out to all the locals who have a very sad time ahead of them in the coming months, unless people decide to go for Christmas.
Due to the lack of cars this time, I ventured out on a friends push bike mainly between double six and half way down Legian Road, it was great getting around in the heat, it took only a few mintues to get from Garlic Lane to Double six. When I wanted to go into a shop I just parked the bike outside. I usually go for a ride early in the morning and I am back by 8. It was the best fun I have had, my legs and butt got a good workout instead of sitting at a computer 5 days a week. I even rode up to Double 6 to Warung Melati ordered a take away and rode back home to eat lunch, it is a great place to eat you can just point to what you want or simply ask. Not many Australians go there it is mainly frequented by the Europeans. You can get a great meal for 15-10K, however they are only open for lunch. Another place to eat is Warung Italia, same street as the Bali Deli, once again you can point to what you want, or you can order from the menu, it is nothing like the Italian food we have back in Australia. The owner is Italian, but lived in Brazil for years, came to Bali got a girlfriend and decided to open a restaurant (you know how the story goes). This place also seems to be a favourite with expats and Europeans.
Did not do too much shopping for myself, but got some work clothes made for my daughter at Merry's in Ultara Padma, they were back in Java for the first week, so I had to get in there the second week pronto. Once again their clothes were beautifully made, my son in law got some business shirts made in August and they were too loose around the collar when he put his tie on, so I took they back it was no problem at all, they just altered them. They are now the best dressed solicitors in Brisbane in their Bali made suits. If you spend a lot of money on clothes for work the holiday nearly pays for itself.
The house does not have a pool so I just use what ever hotel I fancy on the day.This holiday I used Melasti, Mandira, Puri Raja or Padma. You can certainly see that the tourist numbers are down, I did not see all the lounges around the pools in Mandira and Padma already taken first thing in the morning with their towels. Sitting around the pool is a great place to people watch, you would be surprised what goes on in a pool. However sometimes I felt a bit out of it as I was always on my own. Padma still seems to be the place for honeymooners, I wasn't on my own this time I was with a girl friend who is a teacher there, but we were the only non couple. I did not see any children at Padma this time which was a first for me.
I did not do much shopping just a few pairs of thongs and some of the chunky jewellery for summer. I showed my daughter and like any Mum I am left with what ever she did not want. We made sure to spread around our business by eating at a lot of different restaurants. Brown Sugar is great at Seminyak , they will pick you up for free, it is a great open air restaurant, we also tried Jumbos off the beach road not far from Pappas, Puri Dayu, Posers, Indo National, Bamoo Corner's sister restaurant at Kuta, Café Kesuma at Sanur, Wayan and friends, Yutz. Once again we ventured over to Nusa Lembongan for the day with Villa Wayan, you are taken over in one of the local boats, go snorkelling and have a nice lunch in the open air restaurant. It is certainly not up market with all the trappings of the Bounty but it is what we are looking for and it only costs 270K.
I would not normally go to a night club, but we had planned to go to the re-opening of Peanuts as Bob was going, but when we arrived the music was that head-banging stuff so we wandered down to Paddys, I found it eerie sitting there imagining who those people would have been doing the same thing before the bomb. One of the bar tenders was there when it happened, he still has to walk with a limp. Around mid-night some sexy dancers came on, so I was out of there and back to Peanuts to dance the night away with Christine Bob's partner, Jean Roos Teds wife and as usual the men did not dance, leave it to the females to enjoy themselves. S & S was very quiet the few times I went there, as were all the beach bars,
I think I have covered all the topics, may you all have a might see you at S & S one day