Paid for VOA in Oz $'s and seeing the exchange rate was well over par expected some change. No change given so I asked for change and was told the charge was OZ$25. Guess it would be too much trouble to give change to thousands of travellers each day.
Stopped at money changers and got $100 in rups. Lined up and paid for taxi to Tune Hotel in Kuta for our $13.60 per night. Staff welcoming and friendly. Room tiny but bed fantastic and arriving late, it seemed perfect for the price and our arrival situation.
Checked in dropped off bags and walked to Stadium Sports Bar to watch the soccer final and sink a few beers. Cost 100k to get in and dua bir cost 53k. Quenched our thirst and bought a couple on the way home to celebrate our arrive and retired to our own rooms for the night.
This is where it gets ugly, we were both awoken at 5.30am and the noise continued until we left. It was a mixure of screamin kids, singing and loudspeaker lecturing. Got up and looked out the hallway window and discovered we were right next door to a school. Never again! grrr.
Left our bags at reception for 7000k per piece and headed off for breakfast. Had a delicious omelete and juice at Made's warung. Checked out some places for accommo and had trouble getting anywhere near the internet prices and as much as we tried all we could get was almost double the price as a walk in.
Went to an internet cafe and booked Barong in Poppies II on the internet ha that fixed that problem. Had a back room, room ok, breakfast pretty ordinary.
Caught a bike taxi each to Bintang supermarket and thought we were going to die as they rode like bats outta hell. Gave them a tip for the excitement. Got off heart pumping, felt I was "Alive" and very happy to arrive unscathed. Loaded up on supplies and caught a proper Taksi back.
Driver friendly and talked and negotiated some tours. Arranged a sunset tour to Tanah Lot for 200k for the following day. Took supplies back, went to beach for a few cold ones and went somewhere for dinner. Had a couple more at Piggies (BEST hamburgers to be consumed here yum yum and chippies not to bad either) and headed off to check out the night scene.
Noone much at Paddy's, Engine room or the Bounty and found the crowds at Sky Garden and much to our surprise were serving various FREEEE cocktails and Tapas from 10 - 11pm. So many floors of entertainment and a beautiful sky garden on top floor. Loved the fire dancers on one of the floors. Had a great time, dancing, drinking, chatting, eating and checking out the various entertainers. Got tired and left no2.FTB to it. No. 2 didnt make breakfast, so we went for an early lunch.
Went shopping at Mataharis walked down the beach had a massage near Poppies II and just made it back to meet driver for 4:00pm start to Tanah lot. Shopping heaps cheaper here and bought lots of things (sarongs, t-shirts, caps and a few cold ones). Walked around and enjoyed this scenic part of the coast. Sunset no good as it was a cloudy night.
Back to town and had dinner, drinks at Piggies (again) and off to hit the night scene (again). Back to Sky Garden, had a great time, left no.2 behind, caught a bike taxi home the LONG way, got home at some ungodly hour, and off to sleep.
No.2 missed brekky again (didnt miss much), checked out and our driver was waiting to take us to Ubud. Had a magnificant breakfast just up the hill from monkey forest. The original plan was to have lunch at Ubud but after breakfast, we werent hungry for any lunch. Walked around and checked out the Monkey forest and back to the car for our trip to Mara River.
PS skippin ahead a bit info for Mic - Last three nights decided to get separate rooms and No.2 liked the look of the pool area at Tungjung Inn and at only 300k per night with breakfast thought this was a bargain. NOT SO ! Am thinking we may have been in the old rooms. My room was so disgusting I asked to change and got an upstairs room which was 100% better but still nowhere near ok.
Ground floor bathroom had mould half way up the walls and both my pillows were so mouldy they should have been binned. No top sheet. No toilet paper, floors hadnt been washed in months. Aircon worked well. Room with fan only was 100k.
No.2FTB decided my no.1 choice was a better option and moved the next day. I stayed put cause I couldnt be bothered packing up and carting luggage down stairs etc. Upstairs room was ok except for the stinking water coming out of the shower and sink tap.