Friday 25th - Visit to Jodie O'Shea Orphanage. Before leaving work we had a quick collection and raised $125 to buy underwear for the orphanage. I phoned to see what sizes they needed and where they usually buy from, so daughter and I headed off to Ramayana to buy them. OMG we have never seen so many shoes, so a little bit side-tracked to have a look at shoes, and the mens department, so many t-shirts, trousers, jeans, better find the underwear! Not very many English speaking staff, so first directed downstairs, then back upstairs and finally find one little shelf of boys undies. We needed Medium and Large for age about 10. With two lovely girls helping us we nearly wipe out the stock and end up with 25 boxes of 3 pack undies. Now to find a taxi to get us to the orphanage, easier said than done, taxis in Denpasar are not quite as prolific as in Kuta! While standing looking up the road with not a taxi in site, we are approached by a man asking if we want taxi, ready to shoo him away he then points over the road and he actually does have a taxi parked in the shade. So off we go to try and cross the road, by this stage we also have a sunglass seller following us and never one to resist a bargain, my daughter ends up with four pairs of ‘Raybans' for Rp100,000 by the time we get to the other side. I have a Google map and the address written out and have looked in a road map at the villa so have a fair idea where we should be heading but as luck would have it the taxi driver tells us he has been there only yesterday. Not 100% convinced until he pulls up at a sort of arch over the road with the street name carved on it exactly as it is on my map! At this point we phone and he gets the exact directions and a couple of minutes later we are there. Such a tiny little frontage, we wonder where 56 children fit! But a bit like the Tardis, once inside it all becomes so much bigger and extends a fair way out the back. We are welcomed and given a tour by a young Singaporean girl who I think is volunteering there. Everything is so neat and tidy and again like when we visited the sponsor children the whiteboard timetable starts at 5am. Imagine asking our kids to get up at 5am for school!! The taxi driver has waited for us, so is asleep on the front veranda when we come out, but soon wakes up and takes us home.
Saturday 26th - Daughters 24th birthday. We decided before we left home that we would have her birthday dinner at The Pearl. I had emailed them to book but they replied that after a lot of no shows they only took personal bookings, so we had called in and booked earlier in the week. The girl recognised our name from my email, so that was nice. During the day husband has cashed about $700 as we are heading to Lembongan Sunday morning and want to be cashed up and organised. Unfortunately, even though we knew it would be 'Bali' expensive we have accidentally taken most of the millions out of the wallet to take away, oops. We arrive and are escorted to our requested outdoor table. Our waiter comes and introduces himself and then we are bought the hand towels, how cute are they! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't been there yet, maybe we don't get out enough at home, but I hadn't seen them in a restaurant before. Next the menu, each one with its own book light attached, now that is a good idea lots of restaurants should add. So, first look at the prices, uh-oh how much money did we leave in the wallet again? Mmm, only around 1 mill, this might get interesting, no time now to run back and get more! Thank goodness we aren't exactly big drinkers, so juices are fine for us ladies and beer for hubby. Quick calculation, 3 mains, does anyone want a starter? Hubby can't resist the sound of the ravioli which at home he classes as not a favourite dish, but whatever. I decide on the duck breast and hubby and daughter go for the lamb shanks, (which are classed as a favourite at home). All the dishes are beautifully presented, and the best part, taste as good as they look. Luckily (unluckily?) we had visited Bread Talk during the day and had bought a few cakes that were waiting in the fridge back at home and had to be eaten, so we passed on desserts. Fairly confident that we weren't going to embarrass ourselves with the bill, we ask to see it and are even more pleasantly surprised, it is only Rp735,000. Bugger, could have tried to squeeze a dessert in after all!