Things we Did... Shopping
One of the most interesting things we did was visit the Ubud Markets. We have been to plenty of markets in the Kuta area, but the markets in Ubud were so much better. We spent a few hours there talking to store holders, taking lots of photos kids and buying bits and pieces. I liked it because the locals also shopped there for fruit and veges, and it made you feel like less of a tourist. We generally found that things were a little dearer in Ubud than on the coast. I bought a pair of silver earrings and a large packet of vanilla beans at the markets.
Another place I shopped in Ubud was Ubud Bead (Monkey Forest Rd). This place has a huge variety of stones and beads that you can either buy and make into jewellery yourself, or for a small fee, they will help you design and then make a piece for you.
I already had a necklace and earrings made from red coral, and had a gorgeous bracelet made to match. The necklace cost me over $300 here in Australia, and the bracelet only cost me $10 in Bali. Such great value, and the bracelet is beautiful. Once we got down to Legian, I noticed that there are a lot of these shops around - they must be owned by the same people. There was a particularly large one on Jalan Legian on the way to Seminyak. Highly recommended.
We purchased most of our DVD's this trip from Jimmy Gorgeous at Jimmy DVD (across the road from IndoNational). Jimmy is honest about the quality if you ask. We also hired a DVD player for our entire stay from Jimmy and managed to get him down to 15,000 RP per night. While in Jimmys store one night, we saw a magic show that he does - it was fantastic! Jimmy also is a driver/guide if anyone is interested.
As a larger person, I did not find many clothes to buy, but managed to pick a few things up - a couple of things at Magi Shop (Raya Kuta just up from the beach), and a couple of Bali t-shirts in Poppies II. I am a size 20 in Australia, and found that the size 5 in Jacque Ruc (Centro) just fitted, but I didn't buy anything because it was all a little too unstructured for my liking. Mainly I just hung around the pool in a sarong, and found lots of lovely ones on Double 6.
I purchased a couple of pairs of shoes at Centro - they have some really nice designs at the moment. As I am a size 40 in shoes, I found that a lot of the styles that I wanted had been sold out in my size. When will they realise that it's mostly western people shopping there, and buy more medium to large sizes?
I also purchased some make-up at Centro. Anna Sui is very cheap, and so is some of the Lancome. One day I actually made the trip into Kuta to specifically buy makeup, but once I got there, I was overwhelmed by the amount of sales assistants that followed me around. No joke - at one time there were 6 hassling me at once, and I just couldn't stand it any more, and left. I felt very overwhelmed and intimidated with people trying to spray me with different perfumes, asking me to come to their part of the store, shoving things in my face to see if I wanted to buy it etc etc. Not a pleasant experience and one which I hope will never happen again. As it turns out, I ended up going back to Centro with Nate one day and purchased a few more things because they left me alone more when I was with him.
I found some gorgeous Indian style sandals in Jalan Sahadewa in my size one morning while wandering the streets, but found that the girl working there wouldn't come down from 200,000RP. I thought this was too much, so didn't buy them. At the end of my trip, I thought bugger it - I'll buy them, and of course went back and she no longer had my size in the colour I wanted. Murphy's Law! Luckily, I visited ET Shop (Jalan Legian just up from the Bintang Supermarket) and they had the exact same ones in my size for 100,000RP. Bargain!
I purchased a replica Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch from a little portable stall within Centro. It's gorgeous and I love it. It keeps good time and I've already had lots of comments on it. I think I paid 300,000RP for it...
Nathan buys a lot of business wear while we're in Bali, and this trip was no exception. He bought quite a few business shirts from Matahari (very good quality), and also some very nice pants. I'm not sure if they're the real deal, but he doesn't really care. The shirts that he's purchased from Matahari in the past couple of years are still going strong. He also managed to find a really lovely woollen jumper in Matahari.
Nate also bought some gorgeous Armani jeans from a shop in Ubud, and a really nice pair of Levi's - I can't remember where he got them from though.
He also bought a few obligatory Bintang t-shirts from the vendors around the KP as well as the under the counter (better quality) Billabong etc. They've all been washed a couple of times now and they seem to be OK quality.
This year wasn't a huge shopping trip for us (for a change!), so all in all, we were quite tame. I did find that a lot of storeholders were starting at ridiculously high prices this year in the bargaining process. A couple of times I just said no and walked away because I they were blatantly trying to rip me off.
Coming up... Restaurants and what we ate...