JBR Bali August 15 - 30 2008
We flew to Bali on my birthday, 15th August on Garuda. It was terrific once again to have inflight service. The flight left on time and meals and drinks on board were abundant. Down side was the extremely loud American fellow with the booming voice. One lady nearby suggested he was the type who gave some Americans a bad name! Another suggested we pool resources to cover an upgrade for him to sit in business class. Eventually stewards asked him to sit correctly in his seat. Talk about thick skinned!
We purchased our VOA quite quickly and waited in queues for Immigrasi. Fortunately a new officer arrived and we went straight through. Collecting our luggage was event free and Davey was waiting to drive us to SuriWathi. We were in Legian within an hour of landing. How fantastic to be out on the street mid afternoon rather than Jetstar times, late in the evening.
SuriWathi Hotel
We were welcomed with open arms back to SuriWathi, hello Mrs Tina, hello Pappa/Mr Trebor. Welcome back to SuriWathi. We were shown to our selected room 16B and felt pleased to be back in Bali. There are now 8 computers along the far restaurant wall and open 24 hours. Costs 3000rp (about 40c) per 30 minutes and the connection is fast. You can connect your laptop also ( not wi-fi). The reception, waitresses, gardening staff, room boys all stopped to chat and welcome us back to Bali.
The hotel is full and was also in July and is fully booked throughout September. Gail from Mooroopna is here, SirFin/Jon and family from WA, Pieter and Rhonda, Julie arrived a week or so later and Smokey/Peter and Carol arrived Sunday. Kermy/Karen, Jacqui, Petron/Sharon and Peter. We/they sometimes stop for a chat if we/they are on our/their patios, its really nice. We know them from the BTF.
Robyn and Phillip have been here for 3 months and they are returning to NSW this week. They were neighbours to Chris' Dad.
Winada took us for a tour of the two 2 bedroom villas, alongside hotel. The both bedrooms are huge with separate bathrooms. There will be a large kitchen area and lounge. One smaller pool is shared by the two villas. All walls except bathrooms are hand wood carved. They may be completed by December.
They will not be modern, more traditional Balinese in style. The current hold up is with the carved panels. I hope we can book one for our next holiday. Price hasn't been finalized, but I expect most affordable.
Winada invited us to come over to their home at 10 o'clock. Sons 8th birthday and they were having ceremony and suckling pig. Trevor came and stayed for a few minutes then left me with the family. The ceremony was mainly with the son and priest, then Winada, his wife Made and daughter also joined in. The feast had been served and Winada invited me to share their feast, tradional Balinese food. I tried all of the dishes, although I was still full from my breakfast. I felt very honoured to be there. I met their Mother and second daughter/sister Made Wathi, married to Agus the driver. Older sister Wayan Suri wasn't there......... get it, the name of the hotel is both older daughters names.......SuriWathi
An older couple, first timers to SuriWathi reserved their lounge chairs one day (ex Garden View) and headed off shopping. Trevor politely mentioned to them that the practice is not on at SuriWathi. Oh bugger that for a joke! Its so rude and the practice need not start here too. There are only 8 lounges so in all fairness only those wishing to lie on the lounges should use them.
One older guest was walking with her daughter one afternoon and got hit by a motorbike. Poor lady, she broke her arm in 3 places, first broken bone in her 75 years. The BIMC put a pin and screws in to hold it together and bandages with sling. She continued her holiday in Bali and always had a smile on her dial.
House of Komang.
We ordered a new suit for Trevor (1.2million) made from Italian cashmere, very light weight and soft grey. We have a wedding in Sri Lanka in January! I brought over some fabric and ordered a three piece Mother of the Bride outfit (100,000 for camisole top and skirt and 170,000 for unlined jacket).
234 Leather
I gave Tommy another chance and ordered a new brown leather jacket. I wear a leather jacket to work most days throughout Winter and sometimes Autumn and Spring. I had a mini war with Tommy a few years ago after the dye in my black jacket went to navy in parts. She eventually remade the jacket. I have been greeting her politely since and decided it was her turn again this year. 234 Leather is in Jl Sahadewa, facing the beach about mid way along. I collected my jacket 5 days later and it fits well. ($125)
Soul Sisters
Along Jl Legian south side of Glory restaurant on the Three Brothers lane corner, sells many styles of dresses, jackets, skirts, tops, in mainly like stretch lace. They will make to your size, change lengths etc.
Carrefours.
We wandered around the department store which opened at 9.30 (I think 10 on weekends). I tried to update my Periplus Bali street directory but the later one isn't available yet. Mine is the 2003/2004 edition. You can buy palm sugar by the kilo in the food department. We also bought a box a whiskers for the kitten at SuriWathi which has befriended us. (It has hopped up on to Trevors knee numerous times as we have sat out on the patio). We bought ourselves treats for lunch from the deli dept and an egg poacher like Julies (Hope ours doesn't rattle and roll!). I checked out the top range of pans but they weren't discounted. They are currently 40% off at Bintang Supermarket, upstairs. I bought some bokasih in the chemist like area and we have since tried the Balsem Lang, which as Leonie (I recall) said is very hot. Trevor bought a slab of 24 for 197,000, ie 8208 each, when single cans were less than 7000rp. Ummm maybe that's why I check out prices! Tch tch tch.
RIP Hulus Café.
We headed over to Carrefours on Tuesday morning (19th) and after shopping, Trevor continued in the taxi back towards SuriWathi and I got out at Matahari in Kuta Square, (yay, no need to justify/explaining why I was buying this or that!). Trevor got held up in traffic from Jl Melasti and ended up leaving the taxi east of Jl Padma, over Jl Legian. He had to walk back with ‘our' shopping plus his slab of Bintang cans. Anyway, the reason for the congestion was that Hulu Café (Drag show nightly) had burned to the ground and there were fire trucks and police and shopkeepers were emptying their shops on to the street. I got back an hour or so later to find Jl Sahadewa open but congested. Rubble, plastic bags, trucks, broken glass, the works. Gee I feel sorry for Hulus and the other businesses which have lost their ability to trade. Poor Nengah at Legian Cyber Café lost the cabling to his computers too. There was no roof line or walls or floor to Hulu Café, just well burned timber. Lucky the walls between businesses are brick, so at least the fire didn't burn neighbouring buildings. Buildings at the back were badly effected. There was a lot of water and smoke damage.
Tulamben.
Tulamben is on the east coast of Bali, 10km or so north of Amed. Usually takes about 3.5 hours to get there. Our fast driver had excellent skills. We drove from Legian to Tulamben in 2 hours. We missed numerous trucks by millimeters, motor bikes by a whisker and some cars barely missed at all! If there was an area of congested traffic, we took the left, up the footpaths. To have missed so many oncoming vehicles deserves recognition, considering the speeds. Let me know if you want the details of speedy Gonsales!
We booked into Matahari Tulamben resort which is beachfront. I had prebooked via email. We selected the deluxe room with air conditioning. We drove through many areas of lush crops, tobacco, rice, chillies, corn, peanuts and flowers for offerings, until Candi Dasa, after the Amed turnoff the countryside looked terribly lacking in water. It's quite arid up the east coast. When we arrived at Tulamben it was cool and through the afternoon, we would have worn sweaters if we had some. The evening was cooler also. It's amazing to feel cold in Bali. We chugged up the air cond to add some warmth to our room. Next morning we woke early and went down to the restaurant beachfront and read in the morning light. It was gloriously sunny and peaceful. It seems many divers arrive at the resort by bus then head off home later in the day. Its Galungan today so there are many more offerings, many dressed in ceremonial costumes but plenty of restaurants, shops and dive schools still open. I suppose you earn a $ or you don't!
The resort next door and south is Mimpi, and next door to the left is Paradise Palm Beach Bungalows. Tauch Terminal Tulamben, Dive resort and spa next north again (closest to the USS Liberty sunken submarine).
The divers arrive and appear to have lessons in the pool prior to tackling the seas. It seems so tough to see the small framed Balinese ladies carrying one or two oxygen tanks on their head to the waters edge for the divers. Too heavy for man! The USS Liberty submarine is sunk very close to the shore in this bay. Divers crowd the area.
We tried 3 restaurants and found no red wine, often no Arak. No spirits. Plenty of Bintang. We were the only patrons 3 times.
Shubbaz (Cheryl) and David called in and it was great to sit and chat after numerous emails back and forth. Their driver Leo seemed very polite and friendly. Lisa (our massage girl from Legian, whose village we are visiting) and her husband Made also called in on Galungan on their way back to the village.