And now there were four......
It's been a while since my last JBR ...life and work just gets in the way! It's at this stage, so long after the holiday that I wish I had some notes!!
To recap - there were 23 of us in Bali for my nephews wedding.
We stayed at Melati Beach Apartments in Legian; after the wedding 11 of us then toured to Lovina and Amed and back to Sanur.
Then husbands and children went home.
With everyone gone we were down to just the four of us; one sister and me sharing and another sister with her husband. A gloriously relaxing fourth week in Bali. ..no kids, no husband! I have never been away from home for that long before and I was interested to see whether it would be enough time to get homesick but unfortunately it had the opposite effect. I didn't want to come home. This may be a reflection on my boring life!! LOL
Our choice of Rama Gardens was based on several things. We really liked the area; on Jl Padma, right near the corner of Garlic Lane. My sister had stayed there last year and enjoyed it. And of course the price was right. 350,000rp per night for superior rooms. (Deluxe were 450,000)I really shouldn't be going on about this hotel. I mightn't get in next time!! We met many Australians, especially West Australians and Darwinians (lucky things) who had been staying at Rama for years. It was a lovely change after Griya Santrian; it was small and personal and had very friendly, accommodating staff, who had been there many years. We had the superior rooms as they didn't have any deluxe rooms available. They were slightly smaller with the vanity in the room and a smaller bathroom. I was a bit turned off at first, having the vanity in the room but it actually worked out really well. One could do hair, make-up, clean teeth etc while the other was in the shower or toilet. Although it's an old hotel it is well maintained. We even had a plasma television and DVD in our room. I can honestly say its one hotel I would return to.
One downside is the noise, although it didn't bother us as we were on the ground floor but we did notice it on our first night when we were upstairs. You can hear the music from Hulu's around in Garlic Lane.
This last week was initially for my sister to get her dental work finished but they were so efficient she had already finished, so we spent the week doing all those bits and pieces that you usually run around doing on the last day!!
We each had our own mission!!! Mine was to find some Crocs. I absolutely love my "Cleo's" (these are the Crocs sandals that have two straps across the foot)so I thought I'd like a pair I could wear in a Melbourne winter. They had to be a style called 'Celeste' in orange and size 10. I had no luck; only went up to size 9. I'm still to find them here in Melbourne, I might add. The Croc shop in Richmond is my next stop.
We were just around the corner from Ambiente where I had a pedicure; very professional. Sister had a reflexology, also lovely. We went back another day after some shopping and had a foot massage...very relaxing, although watch out for your little toes; mine were very sore where the webbing was pulled too far and split.
Places we ate included: Rama Garden, Wayan and Friends, IndoNational, Drops, Glory's, Gosha's, Yut'z, Breeze, La Lucciola's and Ocean Blue. My brother in law would wander down to IndoNational everyday for cap chay for lunch. I also came to enjoy this delicious vegetable dish but more often than not found it was just too hot to sit down to a bowl of steaming veggies with broth. I have since made it at home. It's especially good if you need a vegetable hit!!
As I've mentioned before I hate haggling so it was nice to visit Ketut in Garlic Lane and just stock up on a few things. I really like those sarongs that are sewn together with the elastic around the back. I bought several of those as they would be great to pop on at home in summer.
Twice we walked down Jl Legian. One morning we started at the top end at Divine Diva and zig zagged our way down to the Bintang Supermarket where we finally caught a taxi home. We just window shopped or went into those exclusive little shops that sell things like snake skin handbags or one off designer dresses etc. We didn't buy anything much. I did get a couple of photos put onto canvas at a Fuji store. I had the photos on a memory stick; black and white pics of the grandchildren. They were very helpful and popped the images onto a computer and cropped them and they were ready the same afternoon. They cost $10 each for about A3 size!!
Another morning we started at Bintang with our objective being to buy some beads and silver jewellery. The shops next to Bintang are fabulous for beads. There's one there that sells loose beads. If you make your own jewellery, they had a wide variety of beads from plastic to gemstones. The one next door sells costume jewellery at really reasonable prices. I went a bit mad!! Think I'll have to have to use eBay to off load some of my old stuff to make room!! We then walked and looked in all the jewellery shops along Jl Legian. The prices varied so much but we managed to pick up a few bits and pieces along the way. We fell into a taxi and headed home to the pool.
Every time I go to Bali I look at the paintings and I think everyone was sick of me sighing and saying 'I'd love to buy a painting.' So this time I did! The shop was just down from Rama Gardens in Padma - Bali Bulan. The reason I never bought one before was because I never knew how much to pay. My sister set me straight; 'how much would you be happy to pay for one?' Simple as that! So I figured I'd be happy to pay $50 for a large 1.25 metre square abstract one. I still have no idea what they ‘should' be. I had it taken off the frame and rolled to bring home. In hindsight I probably should have done some research on getting it stretched back home here!! It's going to cost a lot more than the cost of the painting. I have read here in the archives that a few of you have stretched them yourselves but this is 1.25 metres square...don't think I could manage that. Another thing is that it has cracked. It has lines on it that are raised and as I rolled it back up these cracked. I'm hoping it won't be noticeable when it's stretched. Then again the paint may just crack even more and fall off! I might have to do a 'Better Homes and Gardens' DIY job on it!!! LOL
Well that's my lot. I've probably left out heaps but ask away and as usual I'll be lurking on the forum everyday for my fix of Bali.