Sat 6th - Weather was hot, as it had been all week really. It was humid and great to head home every couple of hours for a cold shower and a dose of airconditioning.
Cozy massage again. Even better masseurs this time. No idea what their names were though. The ginger tea is great.
We walked from Cozy to Animale Factory Outlet (about 5 mins walk). Spent about an hour trying on nearly everything in the place and came away with about 8 pieces totaling 1,600,000 rp or about $220. Very pleased with everything though the changerooms were incredibly hot and it was hard to know if some things really fitted properly as they were so stuck to me. My patient husband and I were eventually offered a ‘mineral' water which was sadly at room temperature, but it helped anyway.
For dinner for my birthday we went back to Poppies Restaurant for the Rijstaffel again and it was superb.
Sun 7th - Walked up past Poppies Lane 2 and had lunch at Warung 96 following recommendations from BTF. The pizzas and calzone were great but we were annoyed by lots of 'snake oil' sellers. Not sure what's really in those bottles but it looks very scary. Lunch cost 178,000 for 3 pizzas and 6 drinks.
Bought 4 x 6 metre Bali flags for 60,000 rp in an airconditioned shop on Jl Legian - PBA maybe? I know others have paid less than this but the fabric on these is great and they had the colours I wanted. Also bought some very cute metal Christmas decorations from Cinderella on Jl Legian - aobut 25,000 each.
Walked down Kuta Beach at sunset and had dinner at Black Canyon at the back of Centro. Food was good, cost 607,000 for 6 with 2 non-alcoholic drinks each. There was a huge rainstorm while we were there and a considerable amount of water dripped through the plastic covered roof onto our table which was one of those with great views of the beach.
Mon 8th - our last day. We had decided to try the Bali Safari and Marine Park and left with our driver about 11am. The drive took just under an hour. There were a few people at the park but not enough to need to queue anywhere. We enjoyed seeing the animals and the ‘tram' ride through the safari area. It was very hot and most of the animals were very hot and asleep. Watching the elephant bath was fun.
We chose to cuddle the baby orangutang, Ronnie, for our photos. He was beautifully behaved, played up to the cameras and enjoyed eating my hat. We stayed about 3 hrs, enjoyed ourselves immensely and came home with lots of photos. I'm not sure whether it would be as much fun if it was busy as it looked as though there were facilities for long waiting queues at various points. Fortunately for us it was a quiet day but it makes you wonder whether these places are covering their costs at the moment.
Dinner at the restaurant at Kuta Puri Bungalows. Food was nice but it was a very hot night and they didn't have any fans near our table.
Tues 9th - time to pack up. We thought about going into one of the lounges at the airport but it was very quiet there and we found a nice table in one of the cafes and sat drinking iced teas instead. Much cheaper at about 30,000 rp each.
We flew with Garuda and both flights were on time departing and arriving. Service was efficient though the stewards seemed to vanish as soon as the meal was served.
And now we are home and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Sigh.
Helen