Woke up this morning with my knee swollen up and lower leg throbbing. Got me a bit worried about it curtailing my activities so I decided to soldier on as best I could. We decided to have a day close to the hotel in case I needed to rest up a bit so after brekkie we walked (I hobbled!!!) down to visit Dianne at her shop opposite Green Garden Restaurant. Dianne is fixed price and very fair in her prices as well. If she doesn't have something she will get it for you the next day. Hubby and friend bought heaps of tank tops and shorts from her so she was happy. Then we wandered through Centro, bought some dvds (of course!!!) and clothes for my grand daughter. They have a good assortment of souvenirs that make great gifts for those poor unfortunates back home.
We had lunch upstairs at Centro on the balcony overlooking the ocean. The food was only average but the view was great. Then back to the hotel, me for a rest up and the others to the pool. We went to OURS in Garlic Lane for dinner. Our friend Nikki, formerly Bali Aussie, was there and she was so excited to see us turn up. She said that the others had told her that old friends were coming to see her that night but they wouldn't tell her who. She is very happy with her work situation now. After the meal they cranked the kareoake up and the whole staff were up doing the macarena etc. It was a fun evening. Food was pleasant, I had Ikan Pepe (tuna wrapped in banana leaf) and it was really nice.
Friday was a bigggggg shopping day!! First we went to Makro to buy some 50kg bags of rice and lollies to take to the Salvation Army Orphanage. I also had a 5kg bag full of little soft toys that I had gathered up from people at home. The orphanage is near Denpasar so we went there first. They were thrilled with the goodies that we took them. The orphanage only caters for girls aged from 4 years to 17 years. It is exceptionally clean and well run and the girls all appear to be well looked after.
Next stop was my most successful shopping that day. The Tiara Dewata Department Store. Here I bought all my Martha Tilaar products and altogether the 5 items cost $25AU. Also my hubby bought 12 pkts of Sensodyne Gel toothpaste for $3AU (at home they are $9.12 ea). The range of kids clothing is really good and cheap as so I stocked up for my little grand daughter.
Then Bill our driver took us to a local toy store in Denpasar where us four grandies went a bit silly buying presents for our little ones. How can you resist when they are so cheap.
Then off to Ramayana for some serious shoe shopping!!! How disappointing that was!! I only take a size 39 so found heaps of sandals my size but only 1 of each pair. After I finally tracked down a sales girl she went away and returned much later saying that she couldn't find the other shoe. This happened with 4 pairs so by this time I was opening shoe boxes myself trying to make a match but no go. The girls were all standing around but didn't appear at all interested in serving us. Still managed to buy hubby some nice business shirts and 6 pairs of shoes for grandie as well as more clothes. She will be the best dressed kid on the street. LOL!!
We arrived back at our hotel about 5pm loaded up with parcels and my hubby reckons I have thoroughly earned my black belt in shopping now.
Tonight we went (8 of us) to UNS again for dinner and got thoroughly spoiled by our friends Ngurah, Nyoman and Gede. They are always smiling and love nothing better than to have a good chat with us. Once again the food was absolutely delicious. This time we took some first time visitors to UNS with us and they raved about the food and the ambience and the service so were going back to Perth to hand out business cards to everyone they knew. Hopefully that will bring them new customers in the near future. By this time my leg was hurting again so I just had to stock up on frozen margueritas to deaden the pain!!!!
Will try to write some more tomorrow night.