Mrs Beemay said We're going to Bali, Beauty I thought,she's won Lotto. No, you're paying......that'd be right.....
Packing away, She brought out this huge long cylinder.Whats that for? You can't open it till we get there. ok ....shrug.
Day 1
off to Bali on the flying bus virgin Blue. got on plane, great, a huge bloke behind me,taking up all 3 seats and some ladies in front. After 3 hours, of the man behind and his knees in my back and the ladies in the front getting up and down, I took some heavy duty pain killers I have old crushed spine injury)to have a nap. So I nod off and the big guy behind gets up and yanks at my seat back on his hoist upwards,so I put my head down on the dinner tray and the ladies in front bang their seat backwards getting up and down..........
Arrive in Bali, used V*P V*A,found the person with the sign, got through very quickly, blink and you'd miss us, went outside again looking for our name and found it, so off to the hotel.
Went for walk, faces all looked the same from last time, changed money,and went back to Lumbng Sari.
Just relaxing, knock on the door , and theres the V*P V*A guy wanting his money and 100,000rp for having to come the hotel...........ooops. I blame mrs Beemay for this ,she took the first sign with our name on it and off we went.
It was our daughter ,Honeybee's 21st so we decided to bring her along with us. She paid.......mostly.
We went to Goodies for dinner, its my favourite place for pizza. It was exactly the same as last year, pizza always great. We decided to walk along the beach road home, and thus began the quest for vegemite for Honeybee as we stepped into all the little supermarkets.
Every other step we took brought us another hawker, by the time I got back to hotel I had half a dozen light up toys and a wallet that bursts into flames.
The quest for vegemite was like finding the holy grail.
day2
wife says wake up, wake up, we have to go......thinking theres something wrong, i jumped up...open your present she says...so I open, its a rod an extending rod, what for? you'll see... just bring it with you!
In an out of shops, shes buying more and more.I said how am i going to carry all this...bang on the rod.....it extends....oookaay......its apparantly an improvement on the bamboo rod from last year,it holds more..........
and away we go..............
in and out of more shops, laybys, jackets to be made, doona cover to be made,paintings to be painted,photos to be printed....
wife hands me a bottle of water and asks me for my wallet.why? save you putting down the pole to get it out, much easier for you......and off she went.
so i struggle with the bags back up the laneways to the hotel, unload the pole, grab a bintang and jump in the pool.
wife says don't get too comfy, we have to go out for dinner.
so..Pizza hut it is .
I didn't want to move from the pool and pizza hut didn't sound enticing, but it is waaay different to pizza hut here and I enjoyed every morsel. I was waylaid in Jco donuts and Bread talk. the cakes are delicious here and worth going to........3 or 4 or 6 times.It's in Matahari(the new one) if you haven't been before.
day 3
booked kadek redata for a day trip as Honeybee hadn't seen any of Bali. went to Royal Palace, Ubud markets,ibuoka,tegalalan rice paddies,sukawati markets.
We'd been talking to Kadek for a few months prior by email, he sourced a carver for us to carve a nude cofee table that I could fit in a suitcase to bring home. Really pleased with Kadeks service and the carving is beautiful.
sukawati markets were like a maze, if I hadn't kept an eye on Mrs Beemay and honeybee I might never have found them again.
the only dissapointing thing there was the hawkers in the carpark,they were all over us even when we got into the car. One lady must have tied some string to me,she was everywhere I was ,everytime I turned around she was there, and it took some doing to undo the knots when I got in the car.
I saw Rick Stein rave on about Babi Guling at Ibu Oka, so decided to try it. We pull up out the front and theres cars, buses and people everywhere.I thought to myself,this is going to be terrific.We can see the pig on the counter,all ready to be carved.Honeybee has run a mile,she doesnt like the look of it at all,so she goes to find a drink and smoke while we eat. We go inside, everyone is sitting on the floor, and theres a pile of shoes on the steps. I turn to Mrs B,this is not good. we squeeze into a spot,and after some very loud creaking and cracking of knees and various joints, I manage to sit on the ground.As I sat, I accidentally sat on someones toes, I don't think she was too happy and Mrs B nearly set the table flying. Oh god we have to get back up. WE weren't as impressed as Mr Stein. the fat isn't removed so whatever the next slice is,thats whats on your plate and the spices are overwhelming,not hot,just spicy so you really cant taste the pork. i wanted to ask can i have some pork with my spice please?The crackling was nice though. I wouldn't go back again.I wanted to do it, did,it's done.
We drove through the "homewares ave" I think its tegallalang road. I wouldnt let Mrs B out of the car here,there is so much to look at and buy.I had a sore neck from looking left,looking right,looking left. great to look at even if you don't buy, got a sore shoulder restraining mrs B though.
Kadek was 400k rp for the day, well spent .
Taken home, more bintang and swimming, not bad for a guy who doesnt drink.
wife had organised to go down to franks bar, then dinner on waterfront strip then the beach shack for the show.....she was meeting up with a girl she went to school with many many many moons ago....BUT I started feeling like a furnace on fire, headache, spewy... enough,i think you have the picture,and this was my lot for three days. Luckily mrs b had got some you beaut new antibiotics esp for bali belly, only 5 tablets, but they worked quickly and well. I've put it down to Ibu oka, it was the only place I had eaten that wasn't a "proper" kitchen with food out in the open and that was only a few hours earlier.
more to come
beach shack
safari park
we meet balitassiegirl
the ghost in the bathroom
massage
legends
ketuts
more food