Hi again,
Thanks for all your nice replies here and to my email. To answer some of the post questions - the silver Guy - Have to ask the lady who put me onto him if is ok to put his name here. He is her personal contact and I don't want to upset anyone - think it should be fine so stay tuned.
As for pricing over there. When I was there the rupiah was between 6300 - 6800 and the prices I got were same as usual. I shopped at Geneva for homewares and a few regular fave places here and there where they know me so no real increase. As I have so much stuff at home after many trips I've backed off a bit. I'm buying a lot more at Bagus Watches as they have great gifts from pens, keyrings, scarves, jewellery and of course watches. If you have a good look and go upstairs there are bargains to be found.
Hotels are the problem now as they've all gone up in new contracts next year - it's the onslaught of the Russian Tourism market. They are there in droves and from 2 - 5 star so all accom types affected. Of course this is all priced in USD so we are struggling now with our horrid dollar value.
Any was back to my trip...
Last day at Sienna I got a call from Mr special which was a day earlier than anticipated as I told him to find me at the Hard Rock on the 20th. Any way rang from the boat he was on and was at the villa in just over an hour. I had 18 people there including massage ladies so think he showed guts to face the group and cop the teasing about us going on a date!!!!! Gotta love that group dynamic. Days later I faced the same with his group at his hotel - I was actaully shy - ME!!! Pitiful.
Any way we went out - very nice and romantic including sunset at the beach - a nice walk - nice dinner - slow dancng in rat infested lane way on the way back to villa. Home by 9.30 as kids had set kerfew - A very romantic first date. Enough of that now!!!!
Next day moved to Hard Rock and had a suite there - loved it. I'm a sucker for Hard Rock as love the pool and location and a day at the Cabana with someone special is always a must do. Funnily enough I got to do that at long last as the kids went with the group to Waterbom.
As it's my kids 7th trip to Bali they are quite the little bargainers and know a lot of people especially around Poppies 1 so my friends were renting them as personal shoppers by the half day basis. So half my time with Mr wonderful and then we would all do stuff together. Four of us on the bike and off to Sammy and suzies and dinners and beach and stuff!!!! It was a good balance. Kids think he's cool so that's of course the highest praise you can get.
Had dinner at Ifioris as my group had that bonus special that was in some packages. The set menu was awesome although I didn't get that as had no voucher. Still think this is one of the best menus around and compared to Ausiie pricing a joke. After this and several Lychee martinis we went to KuDeTa for more martinis. Very nice and relaxing.
Went to Bali Safari park for the day - Mr wonderful went surfing with my blessing. Loved the Safari park as a one time deal but I'm all parked out being from the Gold Coast with all the Worlds here... Bali Safari really did impress me as I had no idea how much they had done there - is quality. The time with the Orangutans is just unforgettable - I guess I would go back just for that.
One of my boys and another then got ear infections so it was a few trips to BIMC who are excellent!!! First time I had to use them and as good or better than where I would have had to go here on a Sunday. My son only got the all clear to fly the day we left but my girlfriend ended up stuck in Bali an extra 5 days - poor soul - with her son.
We rang the insurance mob I use and upon receving the medical report by fax covered all acccm and got new flights for when they were ready. This meant a change of airline by the way as there were no seats - school holidays - so was pricey. Nice to know it works when you need it.
I had organised a dinner get together as had so many people in Bali at the same time so a great chance to catch up. Had it at the Lokha and we had 70 in for the night. Was fun and raised some money for an orphanage with raffles and a bit extra on the meal price. Yeah yeah yeah - the singer was tooooo loud. Notice after a few drinks though I had the microphone a lot. The pool and pool bar were left open longer so any bored kids could have a splash around so that worked realy well. Great spot for a function.
Was awesome to meet so many face to face that I've ony ever talked to via email or BTF or sometimes phone. Loved it and thanks everyone even the ones who came the next night as got the dates wrong!!!! You know who you are.
So weather, shopping, food, accomodation and company were great. Post Bali blues hit hard. Didn't see the man right away as he was sick and I was certain that was just a line... Wasn't though and all is going really well. We are in fact going back to Bali for 8 days in December Thanks Garuda - Love YA!!! - just him and me as my kids are away camping with their Dad.
If that hasn't got you sick with joyful envy I'm also going up on the Virgin innaugral flight on November 27th for a couple of days - Dirty job but someone has to check em out... Now that we have direct flights about to commence I'll be able to go up more often. It's been agony not having the direct flights. Hope they can get their final approval - looks messy from where I'm sitting.
So that's about it folks I'm sure I'll think of something else but for now time to have brekky and get ready for work - already late!!!!
happy travels
Nicno x