Day2
Well this was a non event day, we all slept in, beds were king size and comfy and pillows just right (these things are important!! No sleep = grumpy mum and then not happy kids !!).
Went down to the hotel breakfast but not that great. No one was very friendly, staff didn't smile, bacon was burnt to a crisp and no pancake man, so generally disappointing especially at 90,000 each for breakfast and i still have great memories of Dynasty breaky's. But we went to Bingtang supermarket and shopped for breaky cereal and toast so ate in apartment on other most days.
Anyway we were adequatley filled up (and it takes a lot of food to fill 17yr olds let me tell you - we were there for quite a while !!)so it didn't matter that it was not 100%. We were all eager now to get out and explore and orientate as we had stayed at Dynasty last visit so had never been to this end of town.
First impressions were that I preferred this end to Tuban and that opinion never changed.
The boys were off to get a sim card for their phones, god forbid they would go more than 24hrs without texting. We went with them and tried to explain about bargaining and give tips but they were 17 and didn't need any help !! We can do this they all cried, so we parted ways and left them to find their own way back to hotel.
It was hard thing to do especially as 2 of them weren't mine and I did feel responsible should they get unstuck somehow.
However, as all parents know you have to let them experience life as an independent operator some time and this was it.
The rest of us had a lovely day of shopping and meeting some locals and the day was over in a flash.
The boys were so exited when they returned (safe and sound). They had bags of shopping and of course, DVD's and were really happy with their purchases. One boy 'J' (we shall call him), what a terrific lad he had done the best bargaining and stuck to his guns and had found some great buys and the other 2 were stunned at just how well he could bargain. They had paid almost double what he could get things for !! They had some really nice billabong shorts and T's and of course about 5 sunnies each (which would triple in number by end of stay!!).
The excitement and enthusiasm was so great to see, they had a ball.
Now I am know amongst my friends as a calm, laid back type of person but I have to admit that I had spent a few moments over previous months wondering what I was letting myself in for... I was worried and the other's mums had voiced concerns over whether to let them out in the evenings and concerned re alcohol and drugs etc.
Well I needn't have worried at all, it all went just fine. AND they often nicked my ‘Bible' to check out bits I had notes on.
I have to say that they were so tired out from day trips and early mornings that nights was never an issue. They didn't ask to go to any clubs and were just happy to spend evenings at hotel pool til late (after 11pm some nights) and then watch all their DVD's til even later.
They did of course give the Internet café very good business as well.
We let them order drinks at restaurants if they wanted and they all tried all my cocktails and even ordered their own a few times. But without sounding too smug they are 'good boys' at home and have all 3 been in the police cadets for last 5 years so they toe the line fairly well with out giving us too much stress.
Saying that we let them find their own way back to the hotel after dinner each night (with a curfew in place and mobile ph) and most nights they did get offered drugs and girls and guns, and they loved to tell us all about it each morning. They even got grabbed in the crotch a few times, which didn't impress them!! Ahh isn't life experiences just great !!!
Smudge came that day at 4pm (as previously organised from home) as promised to our hotel and collected all our donations which is so good of him as he was a bit damaged himself and we had several bags that weren't light. He is doing a great job and I wished I could have learnt more but I will leave that for my next trip.
Off to Indo-national for dinner, which was ok, but really, nothing special and very empty so we wondered what all the hype was about on the forums. We ate at many other restaurants that were equal or nicer for same price.
Day3
Off to the Bali Zoo today as the 8yr old is very into animals so we had to accommodate him. We just got a driver from out front of hotel for this trip. The drive was great to get the kids to see the back end of some of Bali and the zoo was great. Well worth a visit, it reminded me of Perth zoo about 20yrs ago. Some cages were really too small and others were bigger, very good and well designed, so a mix of good and bad. Even the bigger enclosures had really good access for viewing for patrons without compromising the animals. It seemed that the animals were all in good shape, even zoned out if I can say that due to the heat. The boys kept saying they always knew which was the male animal as they were always the ones asleep with their legs dangling and the female was racing about !!
They got to hold a python and the 'touch and feel pen' they loved too.
While we were in the restaurant having lunch, the staff came over to invite the kids to have a play with the baby tigers whom the trainers had out on the grass. That was fun and they definitely were not sedated!! Gosh they are active and strong and the boys laughed when someone was asking a question and one of the keepers little charges grabbed his calf with both paws, boy did he jump !! Got that one on camera.
Back to hotel for a swim and dinner over road at La Monde. Good food, excellent service and very happy staff who interacted with kids and wanted to remember all their names and kept asking me the same question I got all holiday ... why I didn't have any girls?? Just all these boys !! I think they felt sorry for me!! However, it always gave me a laugh. We gave up trying to explain who all the boys were by end of holiday and just claimed em all as my own.
Now food here is not any different to Indo-nat but the atmosphere/ambience is present and we got a welcome drink and happy faces and that was the difference, we would all come back here but not the other.
Now when we returned to the hotel there was a phone call from ‘Wayan' our supposed airport driver who after a bit of confusion on the phone I discovered that it wasn't him at the airport at all (my instincts had been right) but a mate helping him out as he was busy. I knew he didn't look like his photo !! So I agreed to give him another chance after telling him we needed a decent size van to fit us all in with comfort. We booked him to take us to waterbom the next day and he said we could discuss other day activities with him on the way, which sounded good.
Day 4
Wayan turned up early as the Balinese do - always courteous and punctual - and he was just like his picture but had the same old van from our airport trip that we had to squeeze into yet again and I had to put up with brooding stares from all boys as to what was going on !!... Damn, how to fix this??
I took the easy way out and just made general conversation to enquire how many other vans he might have (none) and then let slip that we wanted to do the bike ride that ends at Taro Elephant Park on the weekend. He said that was good and he would organise it for us and pick us up Sunday morning.
I thanked him and said we would ring him during the week when we wanted to go somewhere else but we didn't use him again, we just found someone else after Sunday.
He rang us a few times but I just told him we were all sick and were staying about the hotel, which wasn't really a lie, as 6 out of 7 all got sick.
What did I learn ?? Don't just ask about a good, friendly English speaking driver but ask about what he drives and exactly how many seats its licensed for (that is important as the Balinese are quite happy just to squeeze a few more in - you only have to look at the bikes zipping past you to know that !!). In addition, the condition age of the car/van matters. It is your holiday, I save hard and long for mine and most places are a good few hours drive in Bali so comfort is a priority, both under your butt and with the a/c.
Well Waterbom Park was a great day out, as we knew it would be, and I have to thank the forumites for advice here on this one, as we knew what to do and expect thanks to answers to my questions.
We got there by early before 9.30 and got one of the last few cabanas, which were just great and made the day so much more comfortable and relaxing for me anyway.
Others were coming up to us for several hours after then asking how you reserve these huts as they stick a reserved sign in a slot in front once you move in which would make others not in the know think that we had in fact booked them.
You can't book them you just have to get there early. Well we stayed all day until 5pm and I really didn't see the kids at all. Even the 17yr olds loved sitting under the ‘bucket' in the kid's pool waiting to be dumped with water. It's a wonder no one gets whiplash or other injury, it is quite a force of water. They had a ball on the fighting log near the swim up bar where they balance on the log and try to knock each other off with big gloves... and it was a freebie no extra charge.
It was quite an expensive day as all the boys tried most things there and with 7 of us including lunch the swim bands needed a few recharges. The food was not great and I ordered an iced coffee which was just disgusting so I stuck to water after that. We were told not to bring anything at all in as you get checked at entrance by security, but we did notice that it was a very relaxed check and they didn't even rummage thru your bags and we had 2 largish ones, which had all the kids change of clothes etc, so we could have easily hidden some snacks and drinks under stuff undetected. I noticed about lunch time that a Japanese family sitting next to us were eating their own food out of little plastic lunch boxes so I guess they had managed to get food in. It's a chance you take but probably worthwhile considering the prices they charge for food and drinks.
A very tired family returned to hotel and all the 17yr olds could not manage to move their butts for dinner (too many stairs on the waterslides no doubt) so they collapsed in front of the TV. They later found the Internet café and had midnight snacks at a restaurant somewhere apparently. We took the younger 2(who were screaming starvation as only kids can do...) off to Poco Loco's, which we had been to 10yrs previously and it hadn't changed. Except to say it was deserted and only had about 4 tables of patrons.
The food was fine and huge serves but the service was really slow and not friendly or chatty and staff didn't smile and look happy to be there.
I was sick in the night so don't know if it was from here or waterbom but I would have to say waterbom was the culprit as food was yuk and lukewarm.
The rain started as we left and kept up all night and all the next day as well which was a bummer.
Day5
A non event as it was really raining hard all day so we caught taxis to Centro and explored that and matahari's. The boys came home with 3 cartons of Krispy Kreme donuts, which we had to confiscate (of course we did !!) just so they would not miss dinner a 2nd night. But they managed to bargain ( read blackmail) us to get them back (we only used them up to babysit a few times thanks to Krispy kreme bargaining power!!). Now we don't have this company in Perth but a few had tried them in Sydney and were in love so they just had to buy out the shop every other day but I really couldn't see the difference between these ones and the shops we have in Perth. They tasted jus the same. I have to admit that I just love good ole plain HOT cinnamon donuts so it wasn't worth a debate for me !!
Dinner that night was at Flying Piano which was only 100m down road from entrance and was in the 'Bible' so worth a visit.
Good atmosphere, cheap prices and service fast and friendly and all meals were great except mine. I had cannelloni, which seemed ok until I got to the middle and discovered that it was still frozen !! It seems that microwaves work the same world over... heats on outside but not the middle !!
I should have complained but I'm not a grump and it was too hot for arguing so I didn't complain and I had eaten most of it anyway. The boys were all raving about their food, so I didn't see it as too much of a drama that 1 out of 7 meals was not great.
Wayan rang when we got back to hotel to tell me he had booked the bike ride and to be at reception by 8.30am. in morn so it all sounded good.. Off to bed we went in preparation for a big day....
Boy, I had no idea !!!
The nightmare bike ride to come....
Cheers Deb