First week spent at the Adhi Dharma, second week moved onto the Ramada Bintang in Taban this was also a good location, central to lots of great places. Had a great day at the waterbom park,even though it was crowded with kids from a couple of local schools there for the day. It was still was nothing like the crowds we get at the parks over here.
The cousin decided to give this day a miss, after the steps at the white water rafting.
We got a cabana and that was OK but probably not needed.
I love these parks and have a laugh to myself when out of my boys and hubby, Im always the 1st one to trial all the steepest and fasted rides, they wait to see if mum survives. and then its oh if she can do it I better not be a whoose. I'm in my 40s, I sometimes question myself that one day I will have to grow up and slow down. in the mean time wooh! hoow!.
It was our second week and still there were so many things I wanted to do, off we went to the Taylor to have my cane lounge cushion covers remade, we went to the guy down the street next to the waterbom park I took measurements and also an old cover off an old one seater cane lounge we inheratered and had them all made matching in bright orange fabric, at first I wasnt sure about the colour but when I got them home, I love them. The taylor gave me the quote which I was very happy with and told me How much material it would take as I was feeling very adventurious and had planed to purchase the material in Denpasar, (turned out the taylor said he would have charged me less for the material, oh well next time I will know,)
We got a taxi and headed off to Denpasar, we went to a steet where there were lots of material shops and no sooner had we stepped out of the car when a women pounced on us and took my arm and took us around to different shops. the taylor had given us an idea what to pay, lucky as they were trying to charge us a bomb.
A couple of kids approached us when I was in the middle of the dealings, they were pulling at me and begging for money as I was trying to pay, I really felt terrible and felt like I was about to be pickpocked of robbed I got stressed and even got to the point of asking them to get away from me it sounds terrible but I really felt threatened.
When we had paid we were ready to get out of there, we had the taxi wait and the lady asked if I had anything for her, I'm guessing she also gets commission from the shops she gets sales from. I would have liked to have visited the markets but if that was a small taste, no thanks that was the first/only time Ive felt threatened in Bali.
I had brought some gold with me from home(old charms,broken chains and an old ring that was just getting wasted in the draw)and planned to have some Pandora charms made. I had the name of a jeweller that had been reconmended to me and while we were in Denpasar we paid a visit. I was trying to explain to the jeweller what I wanted and my hubby says to me, do you think he really knows what a Pandora bracelet is?,(Your kidding right! this is Bali). The guy then goes into another room and returns with a charm someone else had left with him to copy, I said oh yes, this is one I also had planned on buying and so I ordered as many as he could make from the gold I had, it took about 3-4 days and he charged me $15 each charm to make with my gold, (he made 3) he also repaired some old box ball chains I had and put a new clasp on a gold braclet all up for $7.50.
When I returned to pick the charms up they didnt really wind on very well and so I left my P bracelet with him and he fixed the problem and had them delivered to me the next day. I had a quick look in the gold street but nothing really appealed to me.
Would have liked to have explored in Denpasar more but didnt feel secure, maybe next time.
Had some $2 coin bangles made with the names on them, they look so nice.
The Pool at the Ramada is just beautiful and so we tried to spend a bit of time enjoying it, they had lots of activities on all the time, my 13yr old son being the only one to partake in the volley ball one day I thought it was great that the activities guy spent a good hour playing with him (wouldnt have happened in Aust, it would have been cxled due to lack of interest). and then there was the day that the staff versed the guests in soccor on the beach. hubby and sons had a great time.
The pool lounge narzies were out in full force and I noticed one asian guy whom was there alone would turn up in his leather jacket, helmont and boardies everyday and hog 3 at a time in different positions around the pool, one in the sun ,one in the shade and one over the other side of the pool. he was funny, he reminded me of the lost soldier on Gilligans Island, the one that dosnt know the war had finished.
My cousin (1st time trvller overseas) had settled into Bali by now and was enjoying little adventures out on his own, getting massages and afternoons around the pool. Yep he was addicted, yet another one addicted to this wonderfull place, He even decided to stay another week on his own ( after all it was winter at home and he had the time off) we went down to the Garuda office but couldnt get him another flight home for 5 weeks and so he had to come home with us, vowing to return soon.
We had brought from home some kids tshirts and hats from my hubbys work, (a big name food manufacturer) to give away and one day he set off like santa clause with a sack over his shoulder( him and the cousin did have many offers of Bali tshirts with the sales people singing out we have king kong size for you). our 1st stop was the DVD shop that had spent many hours with our boys searching for dvds and had given us a good deal on our DVD player, we gave them some things and one lady a hat that she had requested for her hubby as she had no children for the Tshirts. we then stopped for lunch and while there 2 little kids approached us selling the little leather bands which my son purchased, we then gave them a tshirt each, well that was the best, the smile beamed from ear to ear and he proudly showed it off to some other tourists after we bid goodbye.
we had spent about 1 hour having a rest and lunch and then wondered up the road to do some more shopping when I noticed a man my son was buying some cards off had on the hat that we had just given to the lady in the dvd shop only 1 hour earlier, I said to him, hey where did you get your hat from? (lauthing to myself at how quickly the hat had made it up the street) he then said proudly I got it from Australia, I asked did your wife give it to you? he said no I got it from Australia and then he went very quiet and wouldnt say anymore, We then wondered what deal had been made with the hat (only in Bali!). more soon