My wife and I along with two friends had a jump start to Bali this trip. We were in Darwin for a week and it only takes two hours to get to Bali from there and the flight was great with Garuda.
We stayed for 22 days this time and since it was our friends first time and our 15 th we had a great time. We stayed at the Kuta Beach Club for the first ten days and of course our wives just shopped and shopped. You know it does not matter that you have been 15 times the ladies will always find something to shop for no matter what. My wife always has shoes and clothes made every time and they always fit. The only trouble is getting to the tailor or shoe maker, you see there are about thirty shops between the KBC and where we have to go. Now this is only about 50 meters to get there but it still takes almost one hour. We have been to the shops between this area many times but there is always something new or at least the girls say so.
Now is the time to teach Bob a trick or two. I told him what we do is go up a little ways and have a beer and wait until the girls catch up and just repeat it. One day though we got as far as Bali Aussie and the girls were at the Leigian markets and did not come out for almost one and a half hours. Well in that time many beers went down and by the time the girls got there we were the ones in trouble.
Anyway it is always a lot of fun seeing your old friends and making new ones. The first day past and it was time to go down to the beach and have a drink with our friend Wyan at his little stall on the beach at the end of the Kuta markets. Now this is where the fun started.
Remember it is the first time for our friends so we let all the sellers on the beach have a good time with them. I can speak enough Indo to understand and say what I need to if the price is too high for our friends. It is so much fun watching new recruits deal with the sellers. We know most of them but there are always new ones and they can get a little pushy at times.
Anyway Bob had his first taste with someone wanting to pluck the hair from his ears then another one wanting to do his eye brows another nail clipping and so on. Watching the both of them is just so funny I have to walk away and laugh.
Most of the ten days went the same except we went to Chill for a great reflexogly massage and it was great. It was so good the girls went back three times. I took Bob to a regularly massage but set him up a little. I spoke to the girl before hand and asked her not to do it but to ask Bob at the end of the massage if he wanted a happy ending. She did this but Bob did not know what she meant so she started to show him and all I heard was No, No not that from Bob. Of course at dinner that night I asked Bob what the yelling was about when he had the massage and it took some time for him to convince his wife that I set it up but it was a great talking piece for the rest of the trip.
You know one thing you do with newbie's is to tell them not to buy everything but to be selective but some ladies just cannot help themselves. This happen to Bob and Pam and on the day we left they had 68 kilos. We got through OK as my son and family had come over so we all went through at the same time.
After Kuta we went to Candi Dasa as we usually do for five days and stayed once again at the Rama Candi Dasa now known as the Rama Ocean View. We hired an APV and I drove up which only took about one and quarter hours. If you know the way which I do is to get in behind someone and just keep going. As you know the road rules are if it is bigger than you give way otherwise just keep going. While there we went out fishing and caught 20 or so little snapper and gave them to the locals that took us out. My son, Bob and five year old granddaughter went and yes Bob got sick. When we got back he then told me he always gets sick but wanted to go so good credit to him. It took him three days to get over it then back on the Bintang. If you get out and about there is a lot to see around Candi Dasa. Most things you have seen before but taking new people around is just as much fun. We spent a lot of time in the pool with our two granddaughters so much that their mother had a good break. Every time someone would ask if it was the first time to Bali I would speak in Indo and tell them not mine but Bob's first time and it was on again trying to sell him something. I think he came home with ten watches, eight pair of sun glasses, wooden motorcycles, hats ET and he blamed me for it. I guess he was right.
The trip back was a little different because when you get a little over half way you come to a set of lights. Now before you get there about 100 meters the arrow on the road is pointing in the direction you want to go as a matter of fact there are about three arrows painted on the road heading south. OK Bob was the co pilot and direction finder coming up to these lights when I said to Bob are we going straight ahead he said yes and I asked him why then is both lanes cars in front of us coming towards us and the ones behind us turning to the left. Just before this 100 meter stretch I know now is a side track off to the left you are supposed to take. Well we missed it and heading straight towards the oncoming cars. The cars came straight at us and veered to our right blowing the horn so as you do in Bali I blew mine back. Then a good thing happen the lights went red and the cars stopped so all I could do was turn to the left a bit and travel with the traffic going west to east and then I turned right through the red light heading south. Of course Bob got the blame and all this happen with two policemen watching and shaking their heads but did not come after us.
Now back to Kuta for the rest of the trip and more shopping in Denpasar.