After a much needed sleep, only interspersed by my wife thumping me in my back with those loving words ...'stop bloody snoring'... it was Sunday, 8am, time for our first breakfast at our hotel. I hoped they were to be as good as ever, and I was not to be disappointed. My first visit , (no, it wasn't the toilet, as the Rendang has stopped all expulsions Red Adaire style), was to the toaster rotisserie. Plate in hand, I feed the hungry machine with slices of bread. I'm sure you never get the same two back !! I scan the fruit on offer, my favourite passion fruits are on show, together with melons of all colours, pawpaw, pineapple, but alas, no jackfruit. I take my plate , my fruit and a nice concoction of coriander and guava, and I'm happy to see we have a NON SMOKING section for us to sit in. I think there is nothing worse than trying to enjoy some of the most beautiful food in the world whilst choking back passive smoke. So, I'm looking at the Ocean, I'm enjoying my fruit , I'm enjoying the rest!! Normally, at home, this frustrated chef takes charge in the kitchen, and although my signature dish is Indian Lamb Shanks, the receivers never seem to appreciate the full repertoire of my culinary skills
Up again from the table, and yes , they are all there, I pick them off one by one as I walk past... the polite Japanese, the arrogant French, the obnoxious German , the dour Russian...good to see they are all back....(more about the Germans later)... I first go to see Ibu Omelette( private joke) and ask her for Eggs Benedict... she replied with some phrase to which I replied 'did you just say bollocks?'..(another private joke).. we both fell apart laughing, and she knew straight away which other forumite had put me up to this. I had made a new friend, easy to do in this hotel. She then looked out for me every day to make sure my two fried eggs were done to perfection. My eggs are accompanied by bacon, those wonderful baked beans ( is this a good idea?) , beef sausage, and YAY!! They even have HP sauce . I return to my seat, I begin the feast. Ahhhhhh....there are pool towels on a good proportion of the loungers, but, surprise surprise, there is no-one on them. I remark to my wife that if I go down there , they will be back at the pool towel guy quicker than I've been dashing to the loo. I hate the sheer arrogance of these people. Just who do they think they are? I even witnessed one guy 'reserving' different loungers for different times of day... he was so blasé . I need a plan. One thing about the Novotel is that they do not restrict the number of towels they give out, or, have any sort of policy about reserving loungers, ask anyone, they shrug their shoulders, they seem scared to upset the European business. Me, I couldn't give a rats , so I take them back !!
After breakfast we head off for our first of several trips to Bali Collection. We catch a Bluebird, it drops is off at the main entrance , and we are security screened as we enter. Good to see all the shops are open, and all the restaurants are too.... On the way, I had stopped at the Kodak Money changer by Bumbi Bali , and I got 8650 for my dollar. I was dragged around Sogo like a lost puppy, and I'm sure I can now mentally picture the whole place for anyone needing inside info. We went to the Polo shops, the D & G shop, the supermarket, every bloody shop. I found the sanctuary that is Starbucks and enjoyed an ice tea lemonade. The pistol whipper had a soy coffee which cost an arm and a leg. We came away from Bali Collection just before my shoes had run out of leather and we decided to go to Bualu Village to see our friend Sukhti who has become a 'must visit' on our trips. Sukhti has a little stall about 6 shops down from Tropical restaurant. Disaster !!! The shop is closed, fortunately , my wife was there only 6 months ago, and other shopkeeper's recognise her. We enquire as to Sukhti's wherabouts and we are told she is very sick. My heart sank, and we had trouble in languages trying to ascertain what had happened. From hand signals and broken Bahasa I managed to establish that she has had to have a hernia operation and must rest. I hope she is OK, and will be the first place I go in March 2010.
Feeling a bit down, I decide it's time for a drink. So we walk all of 80 metres to Tropical restaurant, and are greeted with those nice cold towels and some garlic bread (that seemed to be short of bread!) We had a Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng, a lime juice and a sprite , all this for 135000rp, cheap at half the price! Back in a cab, and got dropped off at Coco supermarket which is half way down Jl Pratama in TB. I managed to get the new Hannah Montana DVD,..(no, it's not for me), and a Bali Gamelan CD which I thought would be nice as background music when we have friends over. We bought some snacks and I asked Wayan Wife if 25 condoms would be enough to get us through the night...well, the first 4 hours at least.
Back to the hotel for Happy Hour, straight to the beach we ordered a cocktail called 'Envy' and 2 Bintangs....these were for me. (72500rp) We then decided to have dinner at Surya Café down at the bottom end of TB , this had been recommended to us by ANNIEKINS ... we got the taxi, but sadly it was closed, and we never got to experience the food... again, come March this is on my must do list!! So, the driver took us back to Casa Luna . Really enjoyed my chilli honey chicken, darling wife had grilled prawns. We had complimentary arak, and I had 3 Bintangs for the price of 2 .Nice food, in a great area, and we thoroughly enjoyed this
Time for some sleep as we have had very little over the last two days, so back to the Novotel, had a lovely cool shower and turned in for the night.
I never bought those condoms by the way ...... to be continued