Friday - we are really slowing down now, it had to happen sometime, so not a huge amount to tell. I wasn't able to get onto the net at the Kartika all day Friday, so when I enquired at reception I was told by the nice girl there 'that the government have broken the internet'. I interpreted this as their being a problem with the island's link, but as I walked around Kuta that evening all the internet cafes were doing a roaring trade, so??? Oh well, no drama. Spent most of the day today lying on the grass overlooking the beach, had a yummy club sandwich and helped J to polish off yet another box of Krispy Kreme's. Her indoors went to the gym again in the afternoon. She was very happy with the Kartika gym and felt a little better doing a little bit of working out. The only thing was the weird and very fat Chinese man who sat on the bench press in his thongs watching Chinese TV, he didn't do any working out, just sat there all day, three days in a row. Ok??
We went to the tailors again to pick up even more gear. When we walked in Damien seemed a bit embarrassed about a large Dutch lady who was very insistent that they had stolen some material. She had given them 4 metres of material to make a suit and was insisting that there should have been some left over. She was being really obtuse and in the end J had to step in (as Damien is just way too polite) and tell her straight to give it a rest. The thing is she wasn't exactly a size 10 if you know what I mean and that was probably what Damien was having trouble telling her.
From here we walked up to Ketupat, which had been recommended on this forum. I think J and I ordered badly. I had the Nasi Campur and J had the mixture of Indonesian curries. There was a bit that looked and tasted like (mind you it's so dark, you can hardly see what you are eating) cat food. I think it was Tuna. The girls enjoyed their Beef Rendang and Laksa, but I don't think we would go back here to be honest, mostly because I was sick when I got home and it could only have been something that I ate here that didn't agree with me. I was fine once I chundered but that just puts you of if you know what I mean.
Saturday - kept it steady at breakfast after last night's chundering and then we went shopping up in Kuta. I thought I'd try the black markets. I have to say I've been pretty lazy with bargaining, so I'm not very good at it. I thought I'd done pretty well getting 5 t-shirts for 180k, but then I got dragged off to another shop. (the owner actually took my bag from the first shop, so I had to follow him and I should have put a stop to it at that point) In the end I bought a pair of denim shorts off him, which were very nice, but I got ripped off paying 190k for them. I ended up getting another pair the next morning in Tuban for 70k. Oh well I guess I'm learning.
We had some lunch at Gabah Gabah, as J and N had gone to look at the Niksoma Hotel for another trip. We had a yummy lunch here, the Mie Goreng was especially good. Had time for a quick dip in the afternoon, while the wife went to see the weird China man at the gym, before we went to Melasti for a final massage and for the wife to get a manicure. The Melasti has been excellent I have to say and very close to the Kartika, although I will try the Fabrisi if I stay in this area again.
It started to pour so we were in a dilemma as to where to go for our final dinner. We had thought of Poppies, but most of their tables are outside. In the end we opted to go back to JP's in Seminyak. It was a little quieter, the band a little quieter too, but we still enjoyed it and loved the food as always. An Australian lady came over to our table and asked us if we had posted a comment about JP's on the balitravelforum. What a coincidence, quite hilarious. She was a local expat who also loves JP's and was chuffed that we had mentioned it.
Sunday - we did some final shopping this morning. The wife got a pair of Reebok trainers for $60 which made her happy and we have just checked in at the airport. We got away with 51 kgs check in luggage. We were almost at the front of the queue and the check in guy was a trainee, I think both of these things were a factor. We were going to get some duty free at the airport, but one of the staff told us that Qantas wouldn't let us take on anything over the 100ml because of the new air traffic regulations. Has anyone else come across that? We assumed that it would be ok as it is with most airports. So we have just had some lunch at the Bali International Lounge restaurant which was not bad for airport food and we'll be heading off soon.
We've had a great holiday, good company, great food, seen lots and done a fair bit of relaxing. We have talked a lot about where we would stay on a return trip. We will definitely return to the Komeneka and the Sofitel hotels, not so sure about the Kartika though? I think we might have to continue this conversation back home.
Thanks to all for all the tips and I hope my JBR's did not go on too much.