Last part of the holiday ..
We left Gili T on the Blue Ocean fastboat and had a decent crossing back to Bali, nothing like the horrific trip going over anyway. Nobody got sick or soaked and the trip seemed a lot quicker. Only just over an hour.
Some of our group headed off straight away to see friends when we docked, and the rest of us hopped on the minibus to get dropped off in Legian and Seminyak.
On the way back we were all shocked by a horrible accident on the other side of the road - a car had been sandwiched between two trucks and by the looks of the wreckage there weren't any survivors in the car.
We were heading this time to the little villa we stayed at last year, Villa Terang in Seminyak. The owners had offered us the choice of 2 villas so we had a quick inspection to see which one we liked first.. Villa Terang 1 was where we stayed last time, and it had a slightly bigger garden than Villa T 2. The villa layout was different in No. 2 but very nice with its own private pool but we opted for No. 1 again as we were hosting a 'wedding vow renewal' ceremony in a few days and thought the extra garden space of Villa 1 would make things easier for the barbeque afterwards.
Stepson had a 'wow' moment when he first saw the villa, it looks pretty stunning when you first walk in - lovely garden and pool, a little oasis. He jumped straight in the pool to cool off after the trip back, then relaxed all afternoon in the sun lounger. He was tired after his busy day in paradise.. Dean and I walked down to Café Seminyak for a snack, then the Bintang Supermarket next door to get some supplies.
That night we had a barbeque for about 16, I was worried that there wouldn't be enough barbecue meat for everyone so Dean called Ricky's Bar and asked if someone could send over a big plate of Mei Goreng and Nasi Goreng - I knew their food was nice AND cheap and they were amazing .. someone turned up on a scooter within 45 minutes and left us the food plus a big plate of salad. We didn't even have to pay for it till the next day.
Next day was Thursday, we got up late, slightly the worse for wear, but ignored all pain and all headed down to Café Seminyak for breakfast.
I had French crepes with bechamel sauce, mushrooms and ham and it was 35,500 plus a cup of coffee it all came to about 55,000 - around $5.50.
I had French crepes so many times while we were there, I still think about them..
After that I went to the pharmacy near the Bintang Supermarket and found they sell my Vitamin A face cream, It was 3 times cheaper to buy it in Bali and no need to go to a specialist for a prescription.
After that I met up with my Sister in law Sue and Nana who were staying in a different villa further down the road, and we caught a ride to Geneva to get some gifts, scarves, necklaces etc for presents.
I've always wanted to visit Biku for afternoon tea and talked Sue & Nana into coming with me. We were so disappointed to find it was all booked out, but Sue is more determined with me and told the manager at Biku that 'it was Nana's birthday, and we wouldn't be able to come back again'. She pleaded with him to see what he could do.
He was the nicest man, he fluffed around a bit and finally came back to say that a table would be ready in 15 minutes if we wanted to wait.. but we would need to be finished by 3pm as he had another booking. Would we be happy with that?
Yes, we were happy with that!. And I hardly had time to look at the menu on the board outside before he was back, ushering us through to our seats.
Wow. We were in a great spot.. the restaurant was very warm but we had 2 fans right beside us. We ordered high teas for 3 and had a wonderful afternoon tea with tiny cakes, scones and cream, lots of little sandwiches, savouries and fresh strawberries and cream. Nana and sue had coffee but I had tea, and it came out in a little teapot with a tea cosy, very cute.
I mentally ticked Biku off my bucket list for this trip. We couldn't eat all the food and brought the rest back in a box.
Afterwards we caught a taxi back to Sue & Nana's villa, just down the road from ours. The taxi driver was hilarious, he kept chatting to us in a strange sing-song way, he made us laugh all the way back.
That night we all caught 2 taxis back to Ricky's Bar, girls in one, boys in the other. We had to drop the plates back and pay for the food they sent us. A few people we knew had turned up there too so we decided to stay and have dinner. On the way there the taxi driver wouldn't turn the meter on.. Sue told him to turn it on and he refused, saying it was broken. She told him again and said we'd get out if he didn't.. he was too slow so she ordered him to pull over and we caught another one straight away.
After dinner while everyone was sitting around, I took my vinyl duffle bag to the leather tailor near the bar and asked him for a quote to copy it in leather. I wanted to see how well he did the duffle bag because I had a really expensive leather bag that I wanted copied.
A few days later I picked the duffle bag up and was so happy with it that I gave him my VERY expensive leather bag from San Fran to copy in black. He charged me 800,000 for the leather bag ($80 Aus) but there is a LOT of detail .. double stitching and extra panels, central pocket, zips everywhere and even magnets that the decorative ties 'click' to so they are held in place. I didn't get it till I got back in NZ so I was worried about how it would look - but it was an exact copy. This leather tailor is amazing, his attention to detail is remarkable.
Next day was Friday 9th August. I was starting to get that uneasy feeling that time was running out, we only had 1 week to go.
We shopped all day at Matahari and Discovery mall, I got ripped off with some sunglasses at Discovery - I thought I was buying sunnies that were polarised and had UV400 protection, I handed the sunglasses to the shop assistant and she took them down to the checkout counter where they were wrapped up. When I left the store I had paid the same price (225,000) for completely different sunglasses that weren't polarised or had any kind of protection. They didn't even look the same.. I didn't realise this till the next day and it was too late - I never had the chance to go back to Discovery Mall and didn't know how I would be able to prove that the glasses had been switched anyway. I decided it was my own fault and a lesson learnt.
That night we all went to Pantarei, just across the road from our villa. This is a Greek restaurant and quite unusual inside, little fishpondy-things here and there (or maybe a little stream joining up into little fishponds). Pretty nice anyway, I love any restaurant decorated with a different style.
Dinner was good, my Moussaka was great and everyone had a good time and the prices were about average.
Next day there was another 'panic, only X days left' moment in the morning. There's always a time towards the end of our holidays when I can't remember what we did the day before yesterday, when I get that awful nagging feeling that the days are starting to blend into each other and that time is running out on 'nothing special' days.
When that happens it's time to organise a special day trip.
So we hired Made (who turned out to be an excellent driver) to take me, Dean and stepson to Padang Padang where the surf championships had just finished, and Uluwatu.
It took about an hour to drive there because the traffic was the usual -(terrible) and we parked at Padang Padang to check out the surf. Nothing much was happening there today, the waves weren't so good, so Made drove us on to Uluwatu, another famous surfing spot. I wish we'd walked down to Padang Padang beach now but we were keen to move on to a better surf spot.
There's a lookout on the cliff above Uluwatu beach, with a café right at the top .. the views across the bays are amazing and it's a worthwhile trip for the day for something different to do. You can sit under an umbrella sipping a drink and watching the surfers way below.
We wandered down the cliff steps to the cafes and shops, had a look at the surf shops and walked back up again and met Made at the top.
Next he took us to Balangan Beach, another famous surf spot and we had a late lunch at Balangan Paradise, a GORGEOUS café/restaurant overlooking the surf and with views to the headland and cliff temple on the right.
Made was very chatty and Dean and stepson quickly got up and walked off to inspect the surf from another angle.. leaving me to handle the conversation on my own. I strained to understand what Made was saying in his broken english, between ESP and some good guessing I discovered that Made's son had been sponsored by someone in Switzerland many years ago and he was lucky to have had his schooling at the International school, which taught him 3 languages.
The sponsor was paying for his son to travel to Switzerland and work there .. Made was very proud of this and talked for quite a long time about it.
When he'd exhausted the conversation (and me) the other two arrived back. How typical is that, girls.
Lunch was very cheap, we paid for Made's too, which he reluctantly accepted, and then he made us walk up to the headland and out onto the cliff edge.
He explained about the 2 temples underneath, one is Hindu and the other is Buddhist but we didn't go down to have a look.
This place is amazing, the views are stunning. I'm so glad we went there and if you ever want somewhere different to visit it's worth the drive.
On the way back to Seminyak Made stopped off at a few surf outlet stores so we could have a browse.. I bought a bag and my stepson got a shirt - everything is cheap compared to the normal full price for Billabong, Rusty, etc but not 'that' cheap when you compare with Bali prices. However it's the real thing..
That night we went for dinner at Malo's, on Jl Nakula (at the end of JL Double 6) a VERY good steak house in Seminyak. The meals are really inexpensive and the steak is fantastic. Nice staff and Malo came over to say hello. We had dinner there again before we left, will definitely go back.
Next day the three of us headed to Bali Galleria and organised getting some photos onto 'canvas'. The canvas is different to last year, it's a tad more expensive but the material is more like a PVC plastic that looks like canvas. It's much better quality than the thin stretchy material we had last year.
I still haven't had them framed, but they won't have to be stretched like last year's so it will be easier. Before I came to Bali I put some pics of our wee dogs on the camera and got them put onto canvas too.
Next place to tick off my bucket list was Potato head for cocktails. I've heard about it on this forum so many times.
All 12 of us headed off in 2 taxis to Potato head, arrived at the entrance to be told there were no places available. It happened to be Nana's birthday again, a few pleas for 'drinks only seats' and we were in!
What a weird entrance, all those old shutters in the walls! But I was really surprised to see how it looked once we got inside the main area .. I had never imagined it would look like this. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who hasn't visited so I'm not going to describe too much, except to say that the sunset photos with the infinity pool and the sea in the background were stunning, and the 'bar' infinity pool on its own is pretty amazing.
Loved it !
Visited the loo, and thought it was funny that there are 3 people stationed outside the toilet doors to simply open the door for you! (Maybe that's not normal).
After about an hour and a few crazy cocktails (served in copper mugs) later, we headed out again to Cocoon, another place on my bucket list.
I was surprised that this place was almost empty, considering it was gorgeous to look at, another beautiful restaurant/club for dinner or drinks.
We all sat around the pool on lounges and sipped cocktails/bintangs, watching the pool change colour from deep blue to aqua, to green in the dark. I paid 100,000 for a cocktail but it was well worth it. I didn't want to leave but we had to keep moving..
Back in the taxis again after our drinks, and off to Seaside in Legian for dinner. We had another excellent dinner there, then walked down to Ricky's Bar and caught a taxi back to our villa.
It had been a wonderful day altogether. Another 2 ticks on my list (Potato Head and Cocoon).
Next day I checked my list and almost everything I wanted to do I had ticked off.. there was just the leather bag to pick up .. but as I said above somewhere, I didn't get the bag back till I was in NZ, and it turned out to be perfect, an exact copy of my bag I bought in the USA.
Wednesday - the day our friends were having their wedding renewal.
At 10am the Hindu Holy man arrived with his entourage of about 10 people and took over the setting up of the offering table. We hung around watching for a while, collected some bits & pieces from the Bintang Supermarket and tried to keep out of the way. The ceremony started at 3pm with the Bride looking gorgeous in ceremonial costume and the Groom looking pretty good himself all wrapped up in HIS costume.
The ceremony lasted about an hour, then afterwards the ceremonial offerings were packed up and by 5pm we were toasting the Bride & Groom and starting to organise our barbecue celebration.
The highlight of the night was when two of the guests (Cate and Alf) arrived bringing a little music band with them, who set up their instruments by the pool and entertained us for a couple of hours with their singing.
They were fantastic, and when they sang 'welcome to my Paradise' it brought tears to my eyes. I took an unforgettable video of Alf waltzing with Nana by the pool to 'Hey Jude'.
Next morning it was our last day, we were leaving just after midnight .. I was determined not to think about going home but the thought of it just kept creeping in. We went to Garlic Lane and Ketut's again, to have a last-minute shopping frenzy.
We walked back along the beach and my watch had stopped that I bought a few days ago so I thought I'd ask the watch man standing alone near the beach to put in a new battery.
I thought it would be worth 10,000 maybe ..
How stupid was that!
By the time I got away from him I'd paid 20,000 for the battery, had bought 2 more watches that I DIDN'T want for 30,000 each AND the beach ladies had nabbed me, I had to buy something from them because they were having the WORST day!!! It cost me altogether about 120,000 finally to get that one battery in .. I should have done it at home.
And not only that, my watch has stopped again. (Haha).
We made our way back to Ricky's that evening to meet up with friends, I went back to the leather tailor to see if my bag was ready and was really disappointed that it wasn't. The tailor was worried I'd be upset but there was no point in being angry, he'd done his best to get the brass clip on the front of the bag but he had been let down by someone else .. yadda yadda yadda.
I was lucky that Cate and Alf were leaving Bali on Monday, and Cate SO kindly picked up the bag for me, brought it back to NZ and couriered it to Wellington from her home in Gisborne. I got it a few days after we were home and I am SO grateful to her.
We ended up with friends at Malo's again for dinner, in Seminyak. After another lovely meal and lots of photos taken, we walked back to our villa and finished off the packing.
Our driver and friend Ketut picked us up at 9.30 and dropped us off at the airport.. big hugs, I'm always so sad to say goodbye to him .. and we started the trek to get into the check-in area.
We paid 150,000 each for no reason at all to sit in the Prada lounge - I basically had a cup of tea and didn't feel like any food - and about an hour and a half later we were boarding our flight. We had exit rows, nice and comfortable, and arrived in Brisbane at 8.15 in the morning. 50 minutes later we were boarding the plane to Wellington and home by mid afternoon.
It's been 3 weeks now and I'm sure we're all relieved that I've finally reached the end of the JBR's. I've been a bit indulgent and stretched them out because I feel as if I'm still there when I talk about it, but thank you for reading them and for all your kind comments.