Day 8 dawned with clear skies and a slight lessening in the humidity experienced of late... it returned, but we had a bit of relief for the morning hours. :)
I had the morning filled with a trip to Sic**ilia Spa for a hair cream bath, hair cut, and blow wave.
The hair cream bath was lovely... I had the most interesting lady performing the task... she didn't smile once, yawned repeatedly, looked off into the distance with a miserable countenance and generally appeared to be most unhappy about being there. She had exhibited the same attitude the day before when massaging Auntie's legs (I just put it down to having a thing against feet), so I was a bit disconcerted.
Fortunately for her, while she is certainly not the most beautiful of the many girls at Sic**ilia Spa, there is something arresting about her appearance, and I was more than happy to sit back and watch her scowl while trying to figure out who she reminds me of.
I still can't figure it out, so I'll probably go back just so I can watch her frown for another hour in an attempt to work it out. That being said, she has lovely strong hands, and gives a great shoulder massage. :)
Following the hair mask treatment, I was greeted by a slightly older lady wielding a pair of hairdresser scissors, a comb, a brush and a smile. After the past hour the smile was delightful!
My sister was a hairdresser, with me as her practice dummy throughout her apprentice years, so I was carefully looking for cuts on the hands, correct holding of combs, etc, etc, anything to show that I was in the hands of someone with training and practice.
I'm happy (and relieved) to note that the hair cut was done very professionally. It was in fact the first time ever my instructions have actually been followed exactly. Normally when you tell a hairdresser you just want a light trim to even things up, they take an inch off to remove the chance of fluffy damaged ends. This time, nope! She just evened it all up and cut a minimum amount off.
Next was the blow wave... now I have a lot of hair. It takes ages to dry it all, and I have sat for an hour and a half in Perth hair salons getting my hair straightened. This time it was a little different.
I'm not going to describe in detail the technique, but think very fluffy hair, comb coated in hairspray, and smooth.... It was effective, but undid all the good the haircream bath had done.
My overall opinion... I feel more secure in a professional hair salon, and while I have no complaints, I wouldn't go back to get a hair colour treatment or anything more drastic than a trim.
Still love the spa however, and have no hesitation in recommending others to drop in and give it a go.
250k and two hours later and I am heading back to the villa. My hair didn't move for the entire journey :P
We had originally hoped to spend the afternoon at Biku tea house, but when we called to book they were already full. So we will organise for another day.
So at 3pm Nyoman picks us up and we head North. Firstly Auntie wants to see Kerobokan prison.... quite depressing really, and the tales Nyoman told were heartbreaking. But we did a simple drive by, commiserated over the terrible lives being lived by those inside, and headed away feeling grateful for being out not in.
Next stop was Echo Beach... we wanted to check out the Beach House to see if it would suit us for dinner. It looked great, so we booked an ocean view table and after a quick drink and a few photo's we headed on to Tanah Lot.
What we had failed to realise, is that it had been a public holiday the day before, and that a LOT of tourists from Java were going to be busing over to Bali to visit the temples. And I mean a lot. There were at least 150 full sized coaches pulled up around the packed parking lot.
After navigating through the myriad of market stalls, and standing at the top of the stairs leading down to the temple, I stood and watched a steady torrent of Japanese and Javanese people making their way down, and then back up again. It was so busy you could barely see the stairs for the people.
The temple hadn't moved, hadn't changed, and the sun was in the wrong hemisphere for a good sunset shot, so we headed back up and out (purchasing postcards so we have a good photo to share :P) collected the mobility challenged at the top where they had halted, and made our way back to the carpark.
Oh my.... the stream of tourists coming into the temple grounds now was astonishing. You couldn't get out, there were so many coming in!
Uncle eventually forged a path through, with us grateful for our shuffle caterpillar practice as it kept us together through the crush. When we popped out again into the carpark it was an absolute sea of buses. So many... I just can't describe it.
Buses trying to squeeze into van parking bays (and somehow managing it), buses going the wrong way down one way lanes, buses packed 5 deep and 10 wide forming a solid mass of glass and steel, and in amongst all of this, small vans waiting in vain to escape from the whole mess.
It took 45 minutes, and some valiant work by the parking attendants, but eventually we got through, and out on the open roads again we headed to Echo Beach and dinner.
Oh dear...
It seems that the crowds who had managed to escape from Tanah Lot had diverted here. It was quite busy, and we were very grateful that we had booked an ocean view table. Except there were people sitting at our table. Ummmm....
Okay, they had double booked... and a party of 30 who arrived before us takes precedence. Not to worry, they found a couple of spare tables at the back of the restaurant, next to the kitchen, and managed to seat us. Now we had a quandary.
The Seafood BBQ at the Beach House is 'the reason' for coming. But the lines were massive, and we were starving. We asked the staff, and the wait time for anything off the BBQ was going to be far far too long so we ordered off the menu instead.
The food was lovely. I had the pork ribs, which I can recommend. The meat fell off the bones, and the marinade is gorgeous. The rest of us had pasta, mee goreng, pizza, greek salad, and sate. All were enjoyed and plates were clean at the end of the meal.
Dinner for 8 (including Nyoman who joined us), including entree's, mains and two rounds of drinks (juices, bintangs, and cocktails) came to 950k.
Unfortunately travellers belly seems to have hit a number of our group, and emergency trips to the bathroom were in order both at the restaurant and at home.
I'm not going to go into details, but in the case of Master 2, I am very glad that we had spare clothes in our bags. And I definitely recommend that you always carry tissues, wipes, a sealable plastic bag, and a change of clothes for your younger members with you.
Enough said.
An early night for us all, with mutterings about never leaving the Villa, and how we will starve before we venture out into the crowds again.
That being said, morning has dawned, I'm hungry, and I'm about to make everyone (who isn't attached via bungy chord to a toilet) shuffle down to the beach for breakfast. :)
Oh... and the skies are blue, birds are singing, clouds are skipping across the sky, and all the Balinese people are well into their days. Today is apparently their Holy Water day, and those of Hindu faith headed for rivers, lakes and the beach this morning to wash themselves.
What a lovely custom.
xxx
BaliDaze
P.S. I'm determined, next time I come to Bali I will speak Indonesian!! Feel so rude expecting everyone to speak in my language, rather than their own.