Apologies for the lateness of the continued JBR's but I am at home with the flu and have not been able to get my head around it. Here is a summary of the next few days and I will see what I can do about continuing on tomorrow!
Friday 1st August dawns, it is a beautiful day. C & K call past and we all troop down for breakfast. Breakfast is had and the day's plan is to chill by the pool and start working on turning our winter white skin into a nice tan colour! The pool towel gremlins had obviously been out in force and we looked around bemused at all the unoccupied loungers with towels on! Luckily the Ramada is not short of loungers and we were able to find 4 loungers easily enough and together albeit we didn't actually get sun until late afternoon because of the shade of the trees etc. Oh well! Lunch was had poolside and I have to say very tasty sandwiches and all reasonably priced. K and hubby made friends with the beach sellers and came back with nothing! Apparently one of them had offered to pluck hubby's balls! What the? Is that the latest? Strange...
One disappointing thing about the Ramada is their lack of happy hour - they banned it a while ago. Oh well.... We had a couple of drinks late afternoon around the pool and then off we went to shower and change for the evening. We decided to do a bit of a walk around the shops and streets and then head for a bite at Gracie Kelly's. This is exactly what we did! C & K & hubby had the steak and I had a vegetarian pie. The meals were a success, no doubt about it.
I can't hold my alcohol as much as I used to be able to and so after a couple of G&T's I was feeling more than a little light headed. That was until C decided to crank it up a notch and by us a sex on the beach (K had a soft drink as he is 15). It was around this time that the band arrived and started setting up. The pub was starting to fill a little. I couldn't finish my sex on the beach as I was more than a little drunk and so started on the water. C & hubby decided that they would match each other drink for drink in rounds and were well on the way to having hangovers to be proud off. K just looked on amused.
I have to admit that the band were good. They really get you going. It is band break time and they head over to us and we all chat. They clock that hubby and I are together and clock that C & K are mother and son and there is no significant other in her life. Two band members make their move on C who is more than a little light headed. Photos are taken (C always brings her camera) and it was here that I advise K in the art of photo-bombing. For those who don't know what photo-bombing is it is getting yourself in a strangers photo (or friend or family) without them knowing. You can if you want have a strange look on your face, adopt a strange pose, or just ensure that part of your body is in that photo - whatever it takes - it is basically, how to ruin a good photo! I know, it's not a nice thing and I know I shouldn't have drawn K's attention to it, because from thereon it was his mission for the next 9 days to bomb as many photo's or video opportunities as he could. He was good at it too, like really good, so good that you couldn't help but laugh. Anyway he managed to photo bomb 99% of the photo's taken that night at Gracie's from C's camera, much to her annoyance but also amusement.
The band strike up and I am invited to sing as they have heard about my melodic voice...are they for real? By now I had had another G&T and was more than ready to grab that microphone and belt out a few tunes with my new best friend, the lead singer. I am being egged on by hubby and C & K who use this as a fine time to take the most unflattering and absolutely terrible photos of me. I am also receiving death stares from a woman who could possibly be in her 50's and who I gather has been a staunch advocate of the band since her arrival in Bali, and who we nicknamed Bintang Sue. I fear there is more to her than meets the eye.
After much applause (from my hubby, C & K) and also from a couple of other patrons placed close by, I relinquish the mike and head over to my loved ones dripping in sweat and ready to consume some serious aqua!
The band break again, and Bintang Sue is up and off her pole position and heading to where the band are (directly behind us). There may have been a few words spoken between the two that are vying for C's attention as it is down to 1 now! Hubby and C are well and truly getting hammered and I decide to have one more G&T.
The band strike up again and hubby has advised them it is my 40th next week so I am treated to a rousing rendition from band and pub patrons of Happy Birthday. It is time for me to sing again, according to the band and so I launch myself into another couple of songs. This encourages a lovely Japanese/Korean girl to come and sing a song. She has the most amazing voice. I feel truly embarrassed now..although I am assured that I have a fantastic voice by my loyal supporters.
It is getting past a time I want to be up. Hubby will be staggering the short walk back to the Ramada as will C. I suggest our departure which is met with some hostility but it is now or never. The guy that is after C was hoping to whisk her away I think, so we make a run for it mid-song. It is just on midnight. Oh what a night.
The next day found both C & Hubby with hangovers to boot - wonder why - and whilst I did feel seedy, I didn't feel nearly as bad as those two as I had plenty of water in between. Anyway the day was spent poolside in the shade with plenty of panadol and water! At least we got it out of our system! Reviewing the photos poolside was a total laugh - and awfully embarrassing as I was yet to find one decent one of me!
We did visit the beach sellers and C and I both had our nails done and i had my eyebrows plucked. She offered again to pluck hubby's balls but I told her with a firm voice, that there was no need and any ball plucking would be done by me, his wife. They all seemed to giggle at this, whilst hubby decided enough was enough and he couldn't deal with a hangover and listening to what they wanted to do to his balls, so he left to go lay down on his lounger. K made some t-shirt purchases and I have to say mastered the art of it extremely well. K only had a limited amount of funds for the holiday so whatever money he had was very precious, and this shined through in his bartering skills and he achieved what most would not be able to achieve, a bargain.
The Sunday dawns and it is WWR day. What fun! I have only done this once and whilst terrifying and exhilarating, I was ready to do it again. Wayan picked us up and we were off to Agung River Rafting. There are 6 of us in total (including the guide). The stairs down were not as bad for me this trip and my legs didn't tremble from the exertion this time...could this be because I took my time? I think so, because it was the same for the climb back. I have to say this made all the difference in the world and I did not wake up the next day unable to walk, like i did in January!
It was a good run we had. It normally takes around 2 hours from start to finish (including the stairs) but this time it took us 1 hour 15 minutes. We literally powered through everything. I had a much better time this time knowing what to expect and whilst there were plenty of funny moments, some of which cannot be repeated, we had a great memory and a great photo of it at the end.
After our lunch at WWR we headed back towards Tuban. We were to spend the rest of the afternoon doing our own thing and we met up again for dinner.
Monday dawns and it is time for K's surprise. K is being treated by his mother and being taken by hubby and Wayan to do some 4-wheel buggy riding. He knew that there was a surprise and for the past few days had tried every which way to get it out of us but we refused to part with this information. As it was they didn't tell him until they actually arrived at the venue and even then he thought it was an elephant ride as it was at one of the places where you do elephant riding. He was stoked though when he found out and they proceeded to have a fantastic morning.
C and I had no such plans and had decided to do some shopping in the morning and kick back in the arvo with a bit of sun and swimming. We had booked our massage for tomorrow at Febris as hubby was taking K to waterbom park. The guys returned full of beans and extremely happy and tired. I somehow had managed to cop a fair bit of sun and my back was looking more than a tad rosy! Again we headed out for dinner - we decided to do IFiori as C & K had not tried here before. I had the fish, K had the chicken and hubby and C had a steak. I love this restaurant, I really do, we came here many times in January/February. Unfortunately shortly after eating I became ill and I dare say this would have a lot to do with the sun! So after heading back to the hotel room, hubby poured aloe vera gel all over my back and my burnt bits and off to sleep I went.
Tuesday 5th August arrives and after another Ramada breakfast, a quick toileting, and we are off to Febris for our 2 hour pamper session and the boys are off to Waterbom. I must say if you want a really good masseuse - give Tini a go at Febris. She has the most amazing hands. We had booked to have a foot bath, reflexology session, head and shoulder massage and a hot stone massage, but given that my back was still a little red, we traded the hot stone massage in for a Balinese massage. I love Febris treatments. Their rooms are so clean and the girls are really good at their job. I also enjoy the no talking, no nothing factor in their massage rooms. C and I walked away from this experience so relaxed we were yawning! We decided to book us all in on Thursday morning (my birthday morning) so that we could all have a nice relaxed start to the day.
We left and hit centro as C needed to start buying some knick knacks for her friends back home. I told her about Dianne shop and we decided to hit that on the way back as no doubt K would want to buy something. Whilst we were in Centro (like about 15 minutes after arriving), hubby is calling saying that they are finishing at Waterbom and they will meet us at Centro. Damn!...there goes my girl shopping time!! Not so bad though, C and I had both picked up a dress each from one of the surf shops in Centro to wear for my birthday dinner, and we had also picked up some fantastically priced metallic slides for your hair with pretty diamante's etc all over them. I have long curly hair and this type of hair slide/clip is the only thing I use to keep my hair up.
C and I are starving as it was well past lunch but the boys had eaten at Waterbom as they used the voucher from those South Kuta discount books you get when you book into a south kuta hotel. C and I just wanted a simple sandwich and ended up at this bakery opposite breadtalk. They did a really mean chicken and salad roll and honeydew melon drink. Yummy. Given that the boys had arrived, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We finished off the late afternoon by the pool and had a couple of drinks to toast the sun's descent!
More to come...