Day 10, Fri 25th 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. (Julie and I and Jamie had been when he was 14 months old, on our way through from Europe... we stopped in at Sanur for 5 days by the pool; so on that occasion, we didn't really experience ‘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'.
(I have now included some photos of the guitar I bought, for anyone interested...)
This morning we were all up a bit later, but Julie still got to the gym (yes, she looks like wonder woman!) and we still got to breakfast by 8 am.
On the way back from brekky, I stopped by the activities office and sent some emails back to Oz about the AP situation (hoping it could be sorted out for us from back home). Went back to our room and got ourselves ready; today was the last day we could use our ‘return visit' pass to Waterbom park (for those thinking about getting the second day pass, it cost us 200,000 rp - $27 AUS - for the 5 of us, but had to be used within a week).
I needed to stop at the Kodak shop to get some photos put on disc and some TC's changed. I didn't want the gang to have to wait, so I sent them off to head towards Waterbom while I did the business. They also wanted to stop at Breadtalk to get some ‘snackage', so I figured we would be about the same time.
Anyway, I had got photos transferred before at this Kodak shop; the sign on the door said it cost 30,000 rp to do it, and when the work was done and they handed me the disc, they tried to charge me 50,000 rp. (This was a few days ago now...) As soon as I pointed it out to them (the sign is very clear on the front door!) they had a quick conversation in Indonesian, and charged me the right price.
Well, today I had no problems with them charging me correctly, but I think it was a different girl working on the money counter than usual, and when she was meant to give me 1,470,000 rp (changed 2x $100 AUS TC's, 7350 exchange rate), she actually gave me 1,407,000 rp. As usual, I pointed out the ‘mistake', and it was corrected without problem. I think it is relevant that it was a different girl, because the usual girls knew that I checked each transaction carefully, and after the first time, didn't try it on again. Obviously, with someone new, they wouldn't have realised that I checked carefully each time, and so the ‘mistake' occurred.
TIP: try to go to the same moneychanger as often as possible; if they know you check each time, they are less likely to make ‘mistakes'.
You may be wondering why, with all these little ‘mistakes', I didn't start to get frustrated or lose my temper. Firstly, I am a pretty easy going, tolerant guy. Secondly, I had read enough JBR's to realise that this happens, and it's just part of life here; and thirdly, I suppose it's a simple case of ‘buyer beware'. I was always careful when I checked the cash to leave all the money on the counter, so they could not accuse me of trying to pocket some money or something. I always stayed happy; nothing is gained by everyone losing their temper; and I was always aware that they were right next door, and I may need them again later, so no use getting them annoyed with me.
Anyway, having all the ‘business' out of the way, I headed up the street towards Waterbom. I got to the steps outside of Breadtalk, and as I approached, I could hear kids crying and carrying on. My kids. Oh, dear. Here we go again! As I walked up, Julie (with smoke coming out her ears) said, 'Right! Let's go back. We're not going!' amidst three crying and screaming kids. I had no idea what had preceded this; all I could think of was:
1. I shouldn't have left them alone!
2. I wanted to go to Waterbom!
Tried my best to calm everyone down, and explain that if we didn't go today, the tickets would be wasted. We had to sign for them, so they were not able to be given to someone else; they would just be wasted. And besides, I wanted to go! After negotiations which would not have been out of place at a United Nations meeting, it was decided that, just because Dad wanted to go, we would still go. (Yay!)
But some form of punishment was required It was decided that for the rest of the holidays, the gameboy and the playstation would be banned. Now, this may not seem like much punishment to us grownups, but believe me, to the kids (especially the boys) it was a big deal. They didn't realise that we only had a few days left, and so to them this was suitably harsh punishment. Another crisis averted.
We finally got into Waterbom at about 10:30am, and on the way in, Julie noticed the massage place, called ‘Soul Asylum' which is at the entrance to Waterbom. As yet, neither of us had had a massage on our trip. At home, we both exercise a lot (I'm a fitness instructor) and so were looking forward to a few nice massages. But time had got away from us, and with just a few days to go, we were still un-massaged. This was a perfect opportunity. Julie booked in for 11:00am, and we headed to the kiddies pool. I watched and swam and water-slid with the kids, while Julie got her ‘rub'.
She came back, looking refreshed, at 12:00, and told me she had booked me in for 12:15. So we switched. It worked out really well; the kids were busy having fun, and we were able to relax for an hour or so each. Even better, the place was beautiful. I have seen it described here before; you walk up some candle lit stairs, enter a large, cool, dark room, and lie down. They put on an eye mask and give you a portable MP3 player, with some music you choose before you head up (choices like Relaxation , New Age, Traditional Balinese, etc). So with your eyes covered, your ears taken care of, there is nothing to do but lie there and be pampered.
Julie had the back and shoulder massage (called the ‘boulder blast') and I had a focussed leg massage (‘legs eleven' ...where do they get these names??!!); however, with both of these, they included a bit of work all over. With my massage, she mainly worked on my lower legs and feet, and at the end did about ten minutes on my head, neck and shoulders.
The price for all this luxury was 110,000rp - about $15AUS- each (for an hour); however they had a 40% off sale, so it ended up costing us 66,000 rp each ($9 AUS)... great value for one hour of heaven!
The rest of the day was spent playing and sliding. After the dramas of the morning, the kids were on their best behaviour. They also met a little boy named ‘Johnny', who they had fun playing with. For a second visit, we still had an enormous amo8unt of fun. We thought perhaps we may only spend a half day there the second time, but I reckon we were there at least as long as the first time; maybe longer.
Because of the exemplary behaviour, we treated the kids to another go of the Euro bungy on the way out. It was so cheap compared to home, we couldn't walk past it; and they had been really well behaved for the day. They had a ball again, Tara did a million back flips. And Jamie finally managed to do one or two as well. (Ky didn't care; he was happy enough just to bounce up and down!)
We finally left again about 4:45 pm, and walked straight back to the Dynasty. Quickly got changed, and headed out the back and along the beach to the Pantai restaurant for a return dinner there. (This time no voucher, or ‘second visit half price' or anything... just went back because we loved it!)
Had another beautiful dinner and sensational sunset; the kids had fun playing on the beach, even after the sun had set. Like thousands of others, I tried to take many photos to catch the beauty of the setting sun, but no photo can do it justice; I guess that's one of the many reasons people keep going back.
Our meals on this occasion cost 240,000 rp ($32 AUS) I don't have the receipt, but it would have included the usual milkshakes, diet cokes and beer, fish and chips, pasta, nasi goring, etc. And deserts.
Walked back in the dark, kids complaining about sand rash (we told them not to go in the water!) and wet feet. Had a quick shower to rinse them all off, and had them in bed by about 8:30 pm. We had our usual raging night, and were asleep by 11:00 pm ourselves.
Tomorrow: Our last full day in Paradise; kids club, shopping, sorting out our flights, and we go to get some last minute DVD,s, and the shelves are EMPTY!