Day 6 (con't)
We are finally at the elephant park and just in time for one of the shows which was short & fun more geared towards kids I thought, but nice and informative just the same. I don't really like to see animals do ‘tricks' as such, so I am glad it was quite short - less than 15 mins about.
We were then lead up to the restaurant by our bike trip guides for our lunch, which I must say we really were hanging out for and deserved !! Here our guides said they were now departing and gave us one last set of instructions regarding what was to happen for the rest of the afternoon. They informed us that the buffet lunch was included and showed us where to pay as up to this stage we had not forked out any dollars at all. They said goodbyes, well tried to as the 17yr olds were ploughing thru the buffet already !!!
Poor ole Pa and I were stuck at the desk realising that we had left our credit card at the hotel and had to round up over 7 million rupiah to pay for the days events. We had done a rough estimate at the hotel the previous day but brought lots of Rp as we thought we would be paying the driver and not a company. Luckily as the 2 extra boys were paying for themselves, we rounded up enough which took forever to count out, and off to eat we went. The food was very nicely presented and tasty and a good variety. The restaurant is lovely with a great view right over the elephants bathing pool so you can watch all the happenings while you eat. Of course watching the keepers scoop all the poop out of the pool was enticing us to eat all the more !! Well it sure didn't stop the teens from eating.
So all in all the day cost about $120 (aus) each, which was the bike ride/ transport/ elephant park entry & ride & show and lunch. Not really too bad if you think about how much things cost in Australia to do. I am sure you could shop around and get both for cheaper as the Kalgoorlie family paid for it all before leaving Australia and got quite a good deal.
We were left to wander about and do what we wanted from here and you could que up for an elephant ride which we did. It was quite a wait - over 30 mins - as people suddenly appeared from nowhere (they were not in the restaurant when we were eating) and there would have been at least 50 people waiting to ride. By the time we got to our turn I really could not face sitting on something else that was moving so I had to bow out of this experience I am sorry to say. Maybe next trip. I became the main photographer as the other 6 members of our group took off. It was a 35 min ride and they said it was really great, they went right up thru the back of the forest and saw lots of small dwellings where people lived and it was a great experience. The elephant return is completed with a swim in the pool and a few had a water squirty fight which made it fun for all.
The keepers had the elephants kneeling up on the edge of the pool and you could sit on their knees and have you photo taken with the elephant you had ridden on so that was very cute. The kids loved feeding them and they had an endless supply of food you could give them.
That was the end of that day and it was a very tired group who wandered back to the same bus that had magically appeared at the entrance. Almost all except me were asleep all the way back into town.
Zannzibar on the beach for dinner and I don't know if I was unimpressed because I was tired or just being pedantic. But really it is another place I wouldn't return to in a hurry. The staff were not real friendly, the food average and dogs walking all thru the place.
Day 7
Pa's birthday - started with the usual early morning due to my younger 2 always awake early and a very sore body so we were awake by 7 am. Thank goodness Pa was still snoozing, as I felt guilty that we had not brought him anything for his birthday not even a card !! So I quickly got some notepaper and gave it to the boys and got them to make him each a lovely card which always goes down well. The holiday was part of his birthday anyway and the teens had planned on chipping in and taking him on the ATV buggy ride for his birthday treat.
Well he wasn't asleep for long as about 8am some loud noises started on the roof and we were wondering what was happening. We later found some memo's in a pile downstairs on reception desk informing us that there would be a new roof installed over the next 4 months !!! Well we weren't too bothered, how bad could it be we thought??
Mornings were about to get the shake up for our family .
Unfortunately we hadn't booked the ATV ride and they were full for that day when we enquired after breakfast, but I think that most were relieved as there were a few more aching bodies than just mine and everyone seems quite happy to have a day off and a massage or two.
I took off and left them all about the pool and went shopping. My mission today was to find a birthday cake somewhere!! I guess this was a question I should have asked on the forum before I left but it just didn't occur to me, I am sorry to say, as I must have walked for hours in the pouring rain looking in eating places.
I wished I had known the word for cake.
I was also determined to find both Mr H's DVD shop and Ketuts fixed price shop that I had previously attempted to find on 2 other days but directions I had written in the ‘Bible' had led me astray and I had no luck finding it even after asking people I passed. Ended up finding where Mr H was but told that he had closed and now only did business from home so I ended up ringing him that night and he picked up my list from the reception. Ketuts I still had no luck with, and was running out of time for my cake hunt so I forgo the clothes shopping for today. .
Ended up catching taxi to Centro thinking that surely there would have to be someplace there that had a cake or I could by a whole heap more Krispy kremes!!
Anyway, I did get a Black Forest cake from a restaurant there - the bread shop didn't have any whole cakes unless you've ordered them. I paid 250,000rp ($30) for this cake which is about the same you pay in aussie so not cheap really but I was past caring.
Got back to the hotel and smuggled it into the teens room and checked it out.
It looked good enough to eat !! Doh !! However, It also looked like it was frozen, so the boys decided to test this theory with a knife, which then got stuck in the cake - YEP it was a frozen one alright !!
Bugger.. What to do it was already 6 pm and I wanted to take it with us to dinner. Brainwave came to me and we stuck it out on the balcony to thaw out and off we went to dinner. Being Pa's birthday it was his choice and he wanted to return to La Monde. Off we go, only for me to have to make an excuse and go racing back to hotel realising what a stupid thing we (I) had done leaving a cake out on the balcony with all the Bali nightlife (wildlife) enjoying it !!!
Cake rescued and a nice dinner had by all. They gave Pa warm welcome and free drinks all night and sang him happy birthday and gave him a huge big free pina colada cocktail all decorated up in Balinese fashion.
Can't fault this place, food, service and prices all just right. And of course, by now they knew all our names and knew the boys VERY well as it seemed they had been going there most evenings for their snacks both before & after their Internet sessions.
It seems they had been having some deep conversations with the staff about girlfriends and ‘other' topics, so they had really formed a bond here with these guys.
Back to the hotel room for another rousing chorus and many lighting of candles (my young one still loves to blow them out) which I had found on a previous day in the bingtang supermarket.
The day was at an end but boy I was aching and wished I had taken some time out for myself and had a massage - oh well, to bed we go.
Day 8
Awful wake up to roof banging which was annoying as the younger two had actually slept in for once (I think we were wearing them out) but we were not going to be doing any sleeping in it seems.
We got the grumpy teens up, god knows how they were still in bed thru all the noise, but they claimed they were trying to switch it off and sleep thru it.
They were booked in for white water rafting so we dragged them up and out for breaky and sent them all on their way. I abstained from this trip too as the 8 yr old had seen the pictures in the brochures and was too scared to go. Now I would have .. Yes really.. because I have done it in a past life (well it feels like that somedays!!) when I was younger at any rate in New Zealand. But it was not to be.
I had a lovely relaxing day, did some shopping, hung around the pool with junior and had my hair braided for the 1st time ever and had the works done, feet & hands and leg massage while trying to keep an eye on the swimmer. Could have had it all done cheaper elsewhere but it was convenient and they did a good job as none of my braids fell out.
The big boys returned from a successful day on the Telaga Waja (?sp) river. They were full of excitement and adrenalin still I could feel. They were glad they didn't choose Ayung river they said as this one was terrific, rapids just right and fun had by all. Not too many stairs but food at end not really edible they said so none of them ate.
Whilst the boys were in such a high and hungry with it I thought we would try somewhere a little different for dinner and chose Pappas for their volcano pizza.
I didn't tell anyone about this until we got there and there were a few alight when we arrived so they were very enthused. Especially since one of the 17 yr olds works in a pizza shop here in Perth.
Now I am not really sure what to make of Pappas, it was certainly well populated when we arrived and everyone seemed to be very posh or dressed up. We all felt a bit like the poor relations!! I wondered if that was why they herded us all upstairs and put us in the back corner !!
Anyway, their prices were crazy, even the teens noticed the price hike on all meals and drinks compared to what we had been paying other nights. This was unusual as they tend not to notice these little details especially when we are paying !!
Now I know it is still cheap by Aussie standards but it was in many cases triple what other places were charging. Saying that their service was 100%, fast and efficient, nothing to fault there and their toilets are beautiful - even arty in fact - worth a visit even if you don't need to use them !!
Their pizzas were nice and tasty and quite a big size, more than enough for 2. All the boys were happy with their meal choices and they lit the volcano pizza for us twice to give the kids a thrill and for us to take a better photo.
So, can I recommend it?? Yes if you can accept their prices. The only negatives were that there were no childrens menu choices and the 4 cocktails we ordered all tasted awful.
Back to hotel with a very nice driver from out front of Pappas who had a lovely new van with great seats and his claim to fame was that he was the man that trained one of the forums popular drivers - Dewi parwita. So, we kept his card as he fitted the bill perfectly and seemed to have good English.
The boys go out to shop and do their ‘stuff' but this humidity is killing me and I am off to bed even though it is early.
This turned out to be a very good decision as there was not much sleep to be had this night....