We headed back to our Vila...isnt it great how u never have to wait for a taxi, our locals should learn a few hot tips off these guys.
When we opened our taxi door we were greeted with a really loud noise..We said to one of the staff at Lumbung..What is that?
"Here in Bali....we call it A FROG!" Beautiful noise and i miss it, if anyone has a frog CD Id love to buy it :)
Had a lay down on the balcony and I swear i heard bigger things than frogs...geckos all over the place and Mum sat inside cackling to Indonesian Idol on the TV.
Both Mum & I had never slept so soundly unfortunatly we had to get up early to meet our shopping agent. We used Sourcing Bali and I cannot praise the professionalism of this company enough. We headed up to (i think) Batubulan (sp??) to Juliani's and to Ubisari's & Balistone we were happy with them all. If anyone would like details further on this feel free to contact me Id be happy to help out.
The shopping day finished mid arvo so we headed back to Kuta and the driver thought he would drop us at the Sari Club. It was a lot more overwhelming to visit than i expected. I was disheartened to see snap happy tourists taking photos standing in front of the memorial smiling as a group. For me I didnt feel like a photo was necessary nor respectful. Each to their own i suppose but it didnt seem right.
We found a Kodak shop nearby and changed some money and then headed down to the beach. Im not big on beaches unless we are 4WD on it which we do at home, we were hardly approached by any beach sellers but it was nice to watch the sunset, also saw someone getting married and i saw someone with a big line drawn around their towel, which really made me laugh after reading the story on here.
We wandered back up through markets and met a lovely family which i did my first haggle with. Im sure I paid too much but it was fun. It was getting dark and being unsure we headed back to Centro...have i told u how much i love Centro?? ;OP
We lurved the bakery and I met another family sitting on the steps outside, their children thought i was fascinating, they took photos of me even and I am starting to think they dont see many people with big kahunas :)
Ok IM rambling and im going to get factual now or u will all fall asleep.
Lock your doors in the back of taxis. We had NIL problems with taxis but u do go down some dodgy backstreets.
We met our beautiful driver Made Jiwa, one of the nicest people I have ever met.
Bali Galleria : Matahari, is not like shopping in K-Mart, u dont fill a trolley and go to the checkout. You pick out something u like, give it to one of the girls, they give u a docket and you can collect it when you pay. So i discovered when security tapped me on the shoulder. I imagine the thefts in these stores are minimal and the amount of staff is amazing, but sometimes annoying.
The Billabong outlet is alive and well and is all the better for knowing me, even when they have power failures I can still shop. OH BTW Just wanted to send a big warm cheerio to the arrogant Aussie who abused my mother in that place! He was a treasure.
We took our driver to KU DE TA for dinner. In my opinion, great for drinks great for the view. But its overrated, This is where I am sure I got bali belly from.But who really knows.
We had our DVDS pre ordered through McShop??/ cant remember, it was from here anyway, very happy some dont work but eh, they are cheap, he was professional and reliable and saved me a lot of time.
Made took us to Nusa Dua, well it was all good until i went to some upmarket shopping precinct which was hot and horrid and a fantastic time for Bali Belly to kick in, i was greatful for the clean toilets though and i would like to thank them for that. I lost my Mum and found Made in the carpark..."OH NO he says" "I get u medicine very quick eh?" We left Mum and he found me a chemist, so handy having your own translator in these times of need! They tried to sell me vitamins Made said "NO VITIMINS ....DRUGS!" I got my drugs and left always keeping an eye out for a safe place to upchuck. The rest is somewhat of a haze, i know i ended back in the Vila watching reruns of Ally McBeal. I was greatful for the DVDS we got earlier in the day.