Day 13 dawned to silence.... kind of disappointing really, I had hoped to waken to the sound of lions roaring, and elephants trumpeting.
Not to worry, the view out of the windows was bound to be exciting... but no, apart from some ugly bald birds with big beaks, there wasn't an animal to be seen. They were hiding!!
Well... this was not to be born! haha. I had paid for animals, and by goodness after enduring 12 hours of nighttime boredom, I was going to see animals!!
I think they heard me... because it wasn't much later that a herd of zebra's, a couple of wilderbeast, and a pair of rhinoceros' came wandering past. Oh my.. now this is spectacular!
I'm not sure I would bother staying overnight again, but it is 'such' an experience to look our your window and watch a rhinoceros cropping at grass 10 metres away. Just simply wow!
We packed up, while snapping a zillion pictures, and then with luggage in hand headed off on the 5 minute trek to the hotel lobby. Checked out, and sat down for a very good breakfast at the Tsavo Lion Restaurant. Breakfast was 'much' better than dinner, and the lions once again put on a great show.
At 10am, right on schedule, Nyoman arrived with Mum, Auntie and Uncle in tow. We all piled into the van and headed on up to Kintamani.
The drive was pleasant, though people were starting to squirm by the time we arrived. We took a lot of photo's, were warned away from the rather aggressive roadside sellers by Nyoman, and stopped at a cliffside restaurant for a buffet lunch.
Now I can't comment on the food, I woke up with a yucky cold, and was feeling pretty miserable so didn't eat, but comments were mediocre, and I'm not sure that we would recommend. Which is a good thing because I cannot for the life of me remember the restaurant name.
After photo's were taken, luxuriating in the lovely cool air was done, and we had all piled back into the van, Nyoman started us back downhill and towards his family compound.
Now I had considered using the bathroom at the restaurant, but disgarded the idea as it wasn't a pressing need and I just couldn't be bothered with the stairs.... this was a bad idea!!
The backroads from Kintamani to Nyomans village near Ubud were absolutely disasterous. So I'm sitting in the back of the van, head throbbing, ears hurting, bladder bursting, and we keep bouncing down and over these massive pot holes. Massive. Huge. I swear, some of them were so big I was sure the van was going to be swallowed up whole. And all the while, each little bump, each massive roll of the van had me crossing my legs and praying for a miracle!
Of course.. it also had dawned on me that there was unlikely to be a proper toilet at Nyoman's home, so I was going to have to either hold it, or risk falling into the family toilet hole! :(
Now as mentioned, I have a rather yucky cold, and as we moved down the mountain my ears refused to acclimatise. In fact, it became rather painful and I was even more miserable than before. Luckily we soon stopped at Nyoman's family home, and disembarked (bearing gifts) to meet his family, and see how the wedding preparations were going.
Only one problem...
I'm deaf. My ears are completely stuffed, I cannot hear a thing, and people keep talking to me and I have no idea what they are saying!!
I did a lot of pointing to my ears, apologising, and hiding behind mum and hubby so as not to appear completely rude when not answering the families questions. I decided at around this time, that asking to use the family loo just wasn't going to happen, so I was going to have to hold. It was really quite disasterous...
After a brief visit and a look around the gorgeous family compound, gifts were gifted and we bundled me back into the van and brought me home down much smoother roads, where I immediately went to bed for the evening (after a very relieving bathroom visit!).
The rest of the family trundled up the road to Warung Asia where another brilliant meal was had by all.
As for me, I woke up feeling like death warmed over, but as the morning has progressed things have improved immensely, and I'm now considering forgiving hubby for infecting me with his cold! :)
For the weather watchers amongst you all... today is sunny and warm. A lot of fog was off the coast until about 11am, but that has burnt off and we are now experiencing a lovely warm day.
Quiet one today, with me heading back to bed for a while.
Have a great day everyone!
BaliDaze