We've booked the driver Wayan (from Bamboo Shoots cooking school) to take us on a half day shopping expedition today so we have breakfast earlyish & head off at 9.00am.
We originally plan to go to the market in Denpasar but after Wayan tells us it will take up to an hour to get there, we decide against it. We head up to the local market at Seminyak, have a wander around & buy some fresh fruit and Wayan asks at every spice stall about vanilla pods for me. The best we can come up with is some powdered vanilla & I buy a pack of 4 little containers for RP 5,000. I remember we used the powdered vanilla for something at the cooking school - maybe the pancakes? Anyway, if I don't end up using it it's no big loss!
We then head over to the Hypermart at the Bali Galleria, Wayan says the best bet to find vanilla pods will be in the supermarket as local people don't use it. Sure enough, I find packs of 12 pods for only RP 35,000 each so I buy 6 (some for me, some for a friend). It's the cheapest I've seen them so far (Hardy's had them 10 for 50,000).
Bintangs are on special so hubby stocks up. I also want to buy some Olay products but I just can't be bothered - I think I'm starting to get shopped out. Shock, horror - I didn't know it was possible LOL.
Downstairs I'm tempted to buy a leather bag on sale from Matahari but it has no pockets inside, not even for a mobile phone so I reluctantly put it back. Gorgeous but impractical!
Hubby has been craving J Co donuts since the day he arrived so morning tea is iced coffee & donuts. They are so good, we end up buying a box of 6. Don't know how we're going to manage to eat them all before tomorrow morning though, especially as I also buy my favourite bread & butter pudding from Bread Talk.
On the way out I stop at Optik Seis. Last year I almost bought myself a pair of Fendi sunglasses there & have regretted not buying them ever since. They are expensive but at least half the price you pay at home. Oh joy, they still have them & now they are on sale - 30% off! They cost AU $225 but I am overdue for a new "good" pair of sunnies. I have my 2 cheapie pairs that I bought for wearing in the pool both here & at home - the other little babies will be treated with kid gloves LOL.
One more stop - at Biarritz - to see if I can find the round mosaic coasters I'm after but no luck :-(
We drop hubby off at Jari Menari on the way back & then Miss 5 and I decide to try out the "big" pool for lunch & a swim. I've avoided it so far - the huge statue is a bit oppressive I find. Miss 5 starts playing with 2 little girls but as they say "two's company, three's a crowd" and the bickering & arguing gets on my nerves so we head back to the smaller pool in front of our room. Miss 5 makes a new friend there & they spend the afternoon playing in the pool and in our room.
She wears herself out & after a shower, she crashes on the bed watching TV at 6.00pm. I let her have a bit of a power nap as we've got plans for dinner tonight. She stays asleep for an hour & a bit, including during the taxi ride to Seminyak.
We've arranged to meet up with our friends staying at the Jayakarta so off to La Sal we go. This restaurant was my choice as I was disappointed the sister restaurant in Canggu had closed down when we planned to have lunch there the other day.
The food is fantastic & so is the Sangria :-) The owner and the menu is not the only things that are Spanish though (think Manuel the waiter from Fawlty Towers & you'll get the idea LOL). The service is pretty bad - confusion reigns. The waiter doesn't seem to have a very good command of English and he also seems to suffer from tunnel vision. We are a table of 9 & he only seems to want to service one end of the table! Trying to get his attention when he's at the other end is near impossible.
Hubby & I decide just to share some tapas dishes - 7 in all - we have a carafe of Sangria, a couple of cocktails, water & a juice. I also have a coffee & we share the Crema Catalana (Spanish version of creme brulee with citrus custard - absolutely to die for!). It is our most expensive meal so far RP 850,000. Others at the table ordered from the a la carte menu & some had the Brazilian barbecue to share (for either 2 or 4 people). Everyone said the food was delicious - it was just the service that let it down. I don't mind paying top dollar but the all-round experience has to be good. Not sure if we'll go back, compared to Mykonos the other night I don't think it matches up.
We were also overcharged on the bill for some cocktails that we didn't have :-(
The restaurant is surrounded by a pond, including a narrow channel running alongside where our table was - the kids discovered a turtle in there which made their night :-)
I plan to sleep in tomorrow - we check out at midday & so have nothing planned for the morning but relaxing & packing.