(Having written while in Bali abt my days 1 thru 4, I shall just stick to random comments about day 5 thru 8....)
On Thursday, we celebrated my husband's bday... we were hoping to have breakfast at Kudeta.. when we got there rather early, abt 7.45am...they were still closed (they only open for breakfast at 8)... so the security guards told us to relax at the beach first... We absolutely shocked by the state of the beach! Gone is the beach!!! All that lines Kudeta's "beachfront" are now hundreds of HUGE cement drums... looks like the beach has totally eroded... we deemed it totally unsafe for our toddler, so we left... If any of you get drunk one night at Kudeta, be sure not to try to venture out onto their "beach"!
Thought to try out La Lucciola for breakfast instead... alas, they too were not open till 9am... so we let our son loose on the beach to build sandcastles for 1/2 an hr... then we decided to go to our old faithful Cafe Moka...
Lunch was had at SOHO... and dinner was at La Luciolla...
Our remaining meals in Bali were at:
Tekor Bali (again)
Bali Deli
Bali Bakery
ACC Minang ( Nasi Padang resto near airport)
Waroeng Eurasia (round the corner from Jayakarta)
Made's Warung 2 (Seminyak)
Shopping::
Found another place on Seminyak called "Personal Affairs" which will soon be closing down for renovations. Everything in their store was 30%-70% off... I managed to make off with a gorgeous gold fully-sequinned wide belt for only (get this) Rp 50,000!!!!
Stopped by CV Rame-Rame (Seminyak st, same side as Bintang supermarket) and got some lovely beaded necklaces... got 3 necklaces for Rp 70,000.
Went to my regular shoe shop (Jln Werkudara) and got 4 pairs of sandals for Rp 30,000 each...
Dropped in on Adi Tailor to pick up the blouse I had copied... It turned out beautifully! I am very pleased with their work.
At some point of the trip, we also found ourselves in Jln Sulawesi (husband was on the lookout for 100% cotton batik material)... its become very touristy there now, with women following you around to all the shops hoping to make a commission off you with the local dealers. We felt very claustraphobic and it did sour our shopping experience... we were not comfortable and as soon as we found what he was looking for, we left like bats out of hell! Gosh, they are soooo pushy and are quite bulldozey! Jalan Sulawesi was not like this a few years ago... wonder what's happened... or is it because times are so bad that they have resorted to this type of system?
Got stopped by a copper once this trip... he was happy to take Rp 50,000 as a bribe... we still aren't quite sure why he pulled us over!!!
At the airport, upon check-in, we were told that our plane was delayed by a few hours... we went to look at the "Premier Lounge" and decided to pay the US$20 per adult (x2) and US$10 per child fees... the surroundings were very luxurious, it has a great view of the ocean and landing strips. Nice bathrooms / shower. Satellite TV!!!! Yay! Buffet was rather crap though... just a couple of soups, some finger foods, salad, sandwiches and dessert. They did offer Bintangs in cans!
Still not sure if it was worth it, though as the fees we paid were for only 3 hours...(time there is limited).. I could have gotten some more shopping done instead at the airport shops!
My son is still whining abt how much he misses Bali... as for me, I've started saving again for the next trip!!!!