Trevor and I met in February 1993, engaged January 1994, married 12th August 2006.
Arrived in Bali for honeymoon Thursday 17th August.
Flew Qantas.
Spent first 2 nights at SuriWathi (room #16a) in Jl Sahadewa.
Over to Sanur for 4 nights with Denise and Bob at Vila Shanti (room #39).
Up to Rambutan Cottages for 3 nights (room 107).
Overnight at Pacung Indah (suite #1)
7 nights at Suri Wathi (room 17a), Denise and Bob returned home after 5.
2 nights at Tegal Sari in Ubud (room #24)
Last 3 nights back in room 17a at SuriWathi.
Flight due to leave at 10.45pm, Qantas, left 12.15am.
Arrived back in Melbourne in fastest time of 4hr 40 mins on Saturday 9th September.
Our Qantas flight arrived in Bali at 12.25pm and we headed quickly thru VOA then queued
for a while in immigrasi, before collecting our bags. No white crosses, paid 50,000rp for taxi to Suriwathi and arrived by 1.30. Trevor hadn't stayed there before and was suitably impressed with the standard of the rooms, pool, gardens etc. We checked into room 16a same as March 2006
Oh that feeling to walk out on to the streets and see the familiar faces, but most importantly the glorious smiles. Ayo, ayo, ayo.
Amazing, as we walked up Melasti we were greeted by Eddie. We see him somewhere in the area each trip and he still remembers us. He used to see stuff out the front of Uncle Norms years ago.
We ventured into OURS for lunch and were pleased to see the familiar faces then walked across the
Road to French Leather to be measured for leather jackets each. I hadn't previously bought a red
Jacket so that's what I chose. Trevor went black. His first leather jacket in a couple of lifetimes!
Went for a walk around the block and found the INTAN almost fully demolished with huge holes
filled with rain water. There is one new multi storey block being erected along Jl Pantai Kuta so
looks like a huge new resort to fill the land. We caught up with our massage ladies, Ketut, Susan etc opp old Intan then walked down to S & S for a chat and cool drink. Met Perthdodgy, Linda, Jeff, Roger and a few others. Walked across from SW for dinner in old Indo, Breeze. Lovely Desak and Alex run the new restaurant for a young Aussie lady from Geelong.
Next day went down to the early morning Melasti markets and bought some bananas, just cause we could afford them, unlike prices in Melbourne, and bought a few pair of knickers and tops for our
sponsor children.
Later that morning went to Toka First to order a new ring for me, I took over the stones. We also wanted some ring sizes changed, a couple of bits and pieces altered and a harmony ball, gold plated. Kay also gave me her ring which she had made a few months ago. It was terrible. They remade the ring and I hope she is heaps happier as I was. The worst part of going to Toka First was they needed to keep my wedding ring for 3 days. By crikey, I'd only been wearing it for 6 days and I really didn't want to be without it. Oh well, I did survive!
I called into Matahari to top up my lippy collection at Revlon but unfortunately their stocks were real low. (The colourstay Overtime are 105,000rp, mascara is 25,000rp and I bought a powder compact for 105,000rp)I also called into Supernova to try some of the Martha Tilaar products, in the Biokos range. I was pleased with what I bought but disappointed with their available stocks. I also bought one of their lippys but gee it has a strange scent to it. I worked it out days later, smells like Jaffas, you know that orange chocolate scent! I visited there another 2 times to buy all that I wanted. As a new bride, I must keep my husband happy and contented at all times, and must keep my lippy on and skin glowing! Thanks to Revlon and Martha Tilaar!
Met up with Jess and Mark for dinner at DROPS. Interesting, while we were there, sitting on one of the front tables, inside the restaurant, Jess nudged, ‘there's the tennis coach' who had spoken to Mark earlier in their trip. We made eye contact and he came over and chatted to us for a while. I showed great interest in tennis and he gave me his name and mobile number, I recall he said his name is Putu. Jess took a couple of photos. This guy may have evil intentions, don't know. He said he uses the Padma courts. He said he coaches tennis and is always looking for tennis partners. (Probably he partner, you pay). We saw him again later walking up Jl Padma, around Wayan and Friends and across to Casa Padma again.
Drops is a lovely restaurant. Beautiful presentation of their food although not large meal sizes. Suits me right down to the ground. I think our bill came to about 100,000rp per person and we devoured desserts as well! You are given a free dessert offer when you leave for next time. Unfortunately we didn't use ours but would have been nice to call in for a coffee and dessert.
Saturday morning we walked along the sand to La Lucchiola. Took us about 40-50 minutes plus time spent under an umbrella as the skies opened up. We had a serious downpour although full on flooding style! I had never walked along the beach further than Jayakarta previously so found it really interesting to see Kumala Pantai, Zanibar, new Outrigger, etc along the paved pathway. We got to LaL about 8.30 and waited for the absolutely handsome, gorgeous, spunky, (yeah, I know, newly married as I am, but good eye candy is very good for ones health) to get the restaurant ready to open by 9. They sweep, mop, set up tables etc. There was quite a few who arrived soon after opening. We sat up the top floor and loved the view. We both over-ordered and over ate. Aaah, what the heck, you only get the opportunity to go to breakfast at LaL every now and then. The menu on Saturday and Sunday is far more extensive than weekdays. I couldn't resist the Sweet Tooth, as most of us girls had had during our March SWB trip. Trevor has more traditional bacon and eggs and added hash browns. He really enjoyed the hash browns but wasn't so keen as to offer to sleep with the chef if he could obtain the secret recipe, unlike our friend Di!
Around lunchtime we headed over to Sanur. Denise and Bob arrived about 1.30 from Melbourne. Bob had broken his leg 7 weeks earlier and only had his leg out of plaster for 10 days. He was using 2 crutches, but they took full advantage of the wheelchair at both airports thus received top attention and their trip thru VOA etc was heaps faster and easier.
Oh for us all to be back at Vila Shanti, What a feeling!
We met Jules later who was also staying there and we went to our traditional restaurant for dinner, Bonsai. Bob and Jules went down by taxi, as Jules had sore feet at that time.
.......more to come later