Sunrise and Sunblock were up fairly early and after last nights eye openers were ready for a day of exploration but our main aims were a sim card, hair plaiting and money exchange. The buffet breakfast at Matahari Bungalows was ok considering it was included in the room price 888,500 total for the two of us for two nights .Tea/coffee, juice, noodles, banana crepes, fruit, toast. The pool and gardens were beautiful and since the rooms and restaurant were set back off the road it was all nice and quiet. We crossed over the road to the mini mart and a fellow set me up with a Simpati sim card. I think it cost me about $30 with 100,000 credit. I had gotten some prefix numbers from this site to use, but couldn't get them to work, so my phone calls home to oz were a little expensive but texts were fine, otherwise it had great service everywhere we went.
We walked down the road to a PT.Central Money changer, recommended by our hotel driver. The rate was 7,950 and they were great, all above board, it was reassuring for first timers as we were. I changed $500, OMG! I had almost 4 million dollars, lol. We then went back up Jl. Legion, or maybe it was down, I had no idea where North was! I made my first purchase (...) a pk of two magnetic surfboards, a chance to practice a little bargaining and see how it worked. After that I bought a nice white cotton dress for 60,000, then another and another and another for similar prices. 'Helloooh, Transport?'. .. 'Bike?' . . . 'taxi?'
We jumped into a Bluebird Taxi and although the trip to Kuta square seemed like we did the same block a couple of times cost us less than $3. While sunrise was looking for some girls who had been recommended on this site for hair braiding, Sunblock and Sunrise came across an alley like place full of clothing. O-M-G!! It was like the little beetles walking into the spiders den. Only those who have experienced this could understand, was this Kuta Markets??? Does someone know?? I have read on this site to be careful about pointing at items of interest, I remembered a little too late, but the pointing very quickly turned into whispered mumblings of . . 'see that one, up there, the one on the left, its got . . .. ' but we were happy with our few purchases and moved on. Sunrise the coffee addict was both surprised and pretty happy to spot Gloria Jeans, where we were greeted with ice cold face cloths, and sat to recover from the capture of the spiders den.
Across the road from Gloria Jeans, outside of Matahari, we found some hair braiders, Annie and her 16yr old married daughter who was expecting her first baby. I have long, very thick hair almost to the top of my jeans, I have a Lot of hair. It took two girls over an hour to plait it all, finished with foil and beads. They did a really, really good job, it cost me 250,000. TIP: Settle on a price a little under what you want to pay, as when it is finished they will hit you with a request for a tip . ..in whispers 'oh I do really good job, looks nice, take a long time, you give me good tip, boss gets all this, he not pay us much'. Still not having much of a handle on the monopoly money, sunrise tried to give 2 x 1000 notes for a tip and they giggled 'no! that's just lolly money'. Sunblock also had her hair done, short hair above shoulders, no foil, just beads and elastic, 150,000. This is also where we met Harry Butler #9 , he was funny, flogged sunrise 3 magic wallets for 280,000, probably too much, I don't know.
We nicked into the supermarket next door, I think it was Carrefour, had a wander around and a giggle or two, bought some munchies and drinks. Coke was less than a $1 a can. Then back to the hotel for a swim and a cocktail.
We were daring and had lunch in a Warung in Mataram street, recommended by a young local girl in one of the shops. Nasi Campur, it was soooo good, it was very spicy and our mouths were on fire but so full of flavour. It cost us 30,000 for the two of us.
We had dinner just up the road from our hotel at Eikon. Very nice, talked to one of the fellows there for quite a while, we paid less than $15 for a beautiful meal and a cocktail.
After a huge day, we had a night time swim and fairly early to bed. It was only our first day and we done so much, seen so much and laughed so much, that we felt that we had been here for a least 2 days. We already love Bali! More to come . . .
I have tried to add a link to my facebook photos, if anyone interested.