I hadn't planned a JBR this time and didn't take any notes mental or otherwise but on second thoughts I would like to ‘share' with you(how I dislike that expression) some of our trip.
Some 11 months ago Jess of Oz emailed me to get on the Jetstar website quick smart !! I punched in our 40th Wedding Anniversary dates for 07 and got $12 each way plus taxes... I rang his nibs and said, 'Do you want to go to Bali?' he was having a 'beam me up Scotty' kind of work day and agreed to pretty much anything that got him out of there.
Our direct flight from Melbourne was brilliant and very smooth. I took a play lunch for the flight and they gave us all a bottle of water. The Thai cabin crew was gorgeous and absolutely no complaints. The return flight was just as good and again with an Asian crew, however, we didn't get any water this time. I'd ordered a meal thinking it would be a breakfast but it was served an hour after take off... and it was bloody disgusting!!
We stayed 9 nights at the Puri Raja before moving up to the more up market Puri Santrian Club rooms in Sanur for 5 nights. We arrived a Puri Raja at some ungodly hour and headed straight for the beach restaurant and I had my first proper Mei Goreng in 5 years. His nibs had a few Bingtangs in quick succession and woke up with his first Binnie headache... the good news is that he acquired an immunity very quickly.
I have never rated the Puri Raja whilst others love it... horses for courses. But as it had been recently refurbished I gave it another go. We had changed our booking from the Kumala Pantai to the PR because of the impending building works. I don't do ‘regrets' and so I won't give it thinking time even though his nibs walked through it a couple of times and said I would LOVE it. His second visit he went up to the second floor to get a better look at the building site and said it was framed up for the concreters. He spoke to a room attendant and he said there was ‘plenty noise'.
'Let's do the TIME WARP again' ! ! The same old faces at the Puri Raja with the same old pack mentality and pig ignorant with it. One day they would speak and another day they would completely ignore you... and F*ck our rooms were placed directly opposite all of them so there was no respite from their ignorance. I felt I was in the nerd group of the Big Brother house and I was offended by it. To make matters worse we were in the thatched rooms, which have only 2 narrow windows with timber bars, the room was like the black hole of Calcutta. Another annoyance was that the bed was a pissy little queen. I tried to get a room change to two singles but there was none available so I had to shut up or put up (I did both). I didn't know that they only have king size beds in the deluxe rooms. We did consider leaving just to shut me up and go elsewhere because the situation with the old regulars was really getting me down and spoiling my holiday (not his nibs though as he doesn't give a rat's arse about things like that)... but I am a friendly person and love chatting to everyone... anyway, it was hard but I learnt to just ignore them and ignore them I bloody well did.
By which time my playmates had all arrived from Melbourne. Tingadding, John and family, Tina G, Trev and their friends. We had a few things planned with them before we moved up to Sanur for some serious matrimonial shagging.
We had a lovely evening at Sammy and Susie's meeting up with a few forumites... I blame Sammy for selling his nibs too many Bingtangs because he later fell asleep at the table in the restaurant we ate at... as we were leaving the Italian manager said, 'If you come back... ask for a pillow'
We celebrated our 40th on the 3rd June. I'm sure Ting won't mind if I mention it was a joint celebration as her husband John had just been given the ‘all clear' so a real piss up was the order of the day. John was absolutely beaming and had the night of his life and we had a pretty good time too J.
One night we went up to Ulu Watu to the Kecak dance with Ting and family, driven by the lovely Dewa Parwita. There are a lot of steps up to (never did find out what was up there) but as I'd had a knee injury last year I decided I wasn't going to risk all them steps so I sat it out. Dewa told me exactly what to do if a monkey approached me. I sat there minding my own business then the group came back... as I was chatting to Ting's sister in law Carol a huge bloody monkey jumped on my left shoulder who then started to section my hair as if looking for nits... then he checked my ears for earrings... by which time another monkey jumped on my other shoulder and looked down my t-shirt in search of a necklace. (Dewa had advised us to remove all jewelry before we entered the temple) I had my bag firmly folded over gripping it tight so they couldn't jump in and pinch anything... anyway, the monkey tried to get in but couldn't so he growled at me and the bastard BIT me. For a moment there I was very scared but fortunately the skin wasn't broken and I didn't need any medical attention. Walking out after the dance I heard Ting shout 'Hey Geri have you started barking yet?'
We were so impressed with Dewa that we rang him to take us shopping, however, Dewa got caught up elsewhere but his lovely brother Made was waiting for us in reception. Dewa rang to speak to us asking if it was OK that he sent Made... which it was. Made was just as lovely and very honest. His nibs made a terrible error and gave Made 200,000 rups too much and straight away he said, 'You have given me too much' and handed it back. You have to admire such honesty in hard times. We went to pick up a comforter, bed runner and matching pillow slips that Ting had helped me organise. It was perfect and just what I wanted and my family is drooling over it.
Puri Santrian Club was a welcome change and I loved it from the first minute I walked in. I did meet a young British honeymooning couple and they thought it very ordinary but they had just come from the very plush Oberoi. I told them they should have done it the other way around... it's like sex ... you save the best bit to the last... So they say ! !
Our first day we sauntered down to SS&S but not much was happening, we did say Hello to Bali Charlie and his Mrs who wobbled down on two bicycles J for a quick bevvy. Later Paul and I went for dinner at a beach restaurant where we spotted a very scabby dog with a terrible itch that couldn't walk for scratting. My first thought was that she'd obviously had puppies recently as her teats were huge. Two nights later after going out for dinner we saw the same dog walking round the Club room gardens, she followed us for a short while then veered off. I also noticed she had a fat belly and wondered if she was ‘off' again. The next morning I was sat out on the sun lounge near our room and a dog started barking and growling. The noise was coming from under our bathroom window so his nibs went investigating and found the same dog digging a hole. She had positioned herself in such a way where she could not be seen from the path. The barking alerted the pool staff and I wouldn't let them remove the dog because she was in labour.
The dog (now called Judy) had a slow labour. She gave birth to one puppy then went hours before her next... I checked her regularly giving her water from my plastic travel ‘glass' which I held to her mouth and she drank from it... her whole abdomen was contracting every few seconds. She stood up at one point and her head was bent forward looking very forlorn... but it wasn't much longer and I watched her give birth to her second puppy... then a third. At this stage I left her to it and we went for lunch ... by the time we returned she'd had two more. A grand total of 5. I did worry about the hotel management and their policy for beach dogs giving birth in their posh wing and so I was very careful in not making it obvious when I went in to feed ‘Our Judy' I bought rice and chicken take aways a few times when we ordered our meals, also buying tinned dog food from the supermarket. Judy emerged 2 days later as I was sitting on the sun lounge... she looked at me as if to say 'Where's my bloody dinner?' so I thought I'd best feed her. As I pulled the ring pull and tried to get the food out without a knife she sat there patiently while I struggled... she never growled or snatched and I thought her manners were impeccable. By the time we were due to leave the other guests were aware of Judy and her puppies (they were making squeaking noises and gaining attention) some guests pledged to continue looking after Judy and her family after we left. What I would have liked to have done was contact the dedicated ‘Bali dog squad' and get her fixed so this wouldn't happen again. However, there was simply not enough time for me to do it.
In all we had a great trip. I didn't feel unsafe but I had a moment in one restaurant when I thought about ‘stuff' and said to his nibs 'are you right then, can we go?' and he said 'no' so we stayed. I did tell him later that I'd had a wobbly moment. We drove down past the Sari club and I broke down in floods of tears... I'd like to say I didn't know where the tears came from but I do... they came from a saddened heart. However, I was prepared for a quiet Bali and can honestly say it didn't appear that quiet to me. Kuta was chocker at times as they'd had a 3 day full moon ceremony and the streets decked out with beautiful decorations.
I cannot wait to go back.....