Massage: I always go to Baxxi salon up from Marxxxgie salon on the same side in Poppies 2 for massages and cream baths. Prices are very good and the girls are so nice. A cream bath for example is about 30.000 Rp whilst a foot and leg massage is 20.000 Rp. And they are very very good and last over an hour.
Leather: I visited my other Bali son Roni from Rizkxxxy Leather of course. I asked him to make a cover for my Ottoman/daybed thingy. It fits perfectly and looks so good. His business has diminished somewhat too. I hope that in June/July things will pick up a bit. Let's hope so. Roni made my sister a leather coat similar to my first one. In the softest sheep leather, classic and black. Very, very nice. Fits perfectly. She is very pleased. Roni's shop is in Poppies 2 just after the first bend coming in from the beach end. It's down a little lane on the right and the sign and the huge leather coat make it easy to find. Roni is an absolute sweetheart and he now has a tailor who does great work called Chip. Roni had a lot of new designs this year too. Very young and innovative. He can make up anything from a picture or just put something together with your ideas. His designs are really good. I want him to marry my daughter but she won't be in it. (...) Silly girl. I have his contact details if you need them. Of course I did the usual stuff. I meant to mention the storm which took away about 3 metres of sand and half the trees on the beach one night. Very bad conditions. Apparently two local people in Seminyak drowned when they were washed away from the beach. It did a lot of damage. It was the result of a cyclone somewhere off Australia. We shopped too much and paniced that we would be charged megabucks (actually US$16 per kilo) for overdue luggage. I bought a Bali bag (Bobby got it for me of course) and used that for my carry on luggage. It's a lovely bag, next time I'll take that and buy another one if necessary. I vowed not to shop so much next time but hey when in Rome etc.... I hope that my little bit of tourist $ helps just a bit. I collected some soft toys and cosmetics to give to the beach ladies which were very well received. So little to us and they are chuffed. We went to the beach the day after Nyepi and saw the burnt effigies. They also had a market set up on the beach which was great. Shops were still closed and it was a real family holiday atmosphere. The shops opened about 4.00 pm later that day. Another thing we did was go to the ‘expo'. This is like the Adelaide Show but smaller. Basically it's in a paddock, the floor is covered with packing crates (wood) covered in bits of carpet and they have stalls with new products etc on them. Everything from kitchen and electrical goods to scooters to clothing and toys. You name it. The prices were so cheap I nearly died as I'd done most of my shopping by this time. They also had sideshows which were fun and rides. I went on the ferris wheel. omg. It was about the size of double story building (I'm thinking of my unit). Very rickerdy and a man on the engine pouring on water. To cool it according to Bobby. We were the only westerners there and got lots of looks along with the wonderful smiles. They had Balinese modern bands and singers, food stalls etc. It was near the airport and was the best fun. I don't know if it's an annual thing. We arrived and parked the bikes in a paddock and it was chockers. When we left about 10.30 pm it was practically empty. Where did everyone go? We also went to the Hula Bar which was great fun. I should have gotten a t-shirt. I've always wanted to go there as it's written about on the forum a lot. Next thing is photos. I'll try to get myself organised and put them on the net. I've tried not to write my usual short novel this time but it's hard not to keep going. If you have any questions etc. please get in touch.