Got back on Saturday morning...This will be my first J.B.R so go easy and I apologise for the length....
Was to fly out of Sydney at 10am on 17 May with garuda...flight delayed for 3 hours because of fog at the airport. This meant didnt have my first real cold Bintang until about 8.30 that night...Not happy...Flight good...meal ok.
Flew into Bali about 6pm that night with no problems...All official stuff done and out to front of the airport where our driver was waiting for us.
Checked into the Bali Garden Hotel. Doing renovations on front foyer but didnt cause any disruptions. Also started to paint walls and ceilings 2 days before we left. This will brighten the place up even more. Rooms quite large and place is clean. Pool bar excellent. Staff very good and will do anything for you. Only drawback with this place is the breakfast. Not much of a selection.
Here goes with the next 15 days. First night walked up to the B Couple for tea just near the Kuta art market. Nice food though music was very loud whilst eating. After tea went for walk to reacqaint ourselves with the constant sound of taxi horns and "transport, maybe tomorrow," or shokeepers and the constant "you want one more bintang singlet, you want more shorts, yes hello just looking, You want Billabong, give you cheap price, you want one more sunnie, cheap price, I got Oakley".....ahh its good to be back...
The next two weeks consisted of shopping with the human purse I married and time spent around the pool...What a life. Then out at night going to some absolutely sensational restaurants. To name a few, Kin Khao on Kartika Plaza. Excellent. This place worth is going to just to have a look at the toilets. Might sound strange but if any one has been there they will know what I mean.
Drops restaurant on Padma St, food was beautiful as was Kori restaurant on Poppies 2, Bluefin restaurant, Rosso Vivo, Papas Cafe. Went to Indo National, I was happy with my chilli mud crab but wife and our travelling companions werent happy with their meals. Last but not least La Lucciola's, how nice is this place and the food is absolutely beautiful. Also found Breadtalk at Discovery.Very nice
Went for walk down to Bali Hai on the day it closed. the place was deserted aside for about 6 people who were waiting for transfers to other places. The resort is up for public auction some time this month. Hopefully it sells as it too nice a place to let got to ruin.
Watched the F.A Cup and State of Origin at the Stadium. Had a good night but too many Bintangs on both occasions. Oh well you get that
Went on tours to Ubud, Celuk and Batubulan. Wife bought silver at Celuk and carvings at Ubud. Also went on tour to Lovina for the day. Stopped and had a swim at hot springs, wife not happy as her her went a light shade of green. Fed monkeys along the way, cheeky buggers. Had lunch at Lovina. Very nice.
Wife had knee length leather jacket and knee length snakeskin boots made and I had a pair of iguana and leather boots made at Forever Randy, which is in Poppies Lane behind Warung Made. James was great nothing was a problem and went out of his way to show the jacket would be double stitched and how the boots were made. For those three items all up $280AUD and we are more than happy with them as were our travelling companions who also had boots and jacket made.
Did the usual DVD, sunnies and billabong shirts and shorts. On the last 3 days, all the DVD shops were closed, apparently the police were doing a some sort of blitz, though you could still buy DVD's discretely.
Also bought several wooden carvings. Which probably explains why we were 26kgs overweight and had to pay $250 excess baggage on our trip home. Oh well.
Met woman at the pool bar who had her first trip to Bali last november, went back in December, again in January, February, April and on 16 May came over for good. Made me a bit envious.
Well 1 June came all to quickly and had to fly back to Sydney. Didnt realy want to come home. But credit card maxed and have to pay it off for our next trip which will not come quick enough.