I woke up at 4.20am this morning and as hard as I tried, couldn't get back to sleep so got up and headed for the daybed on the balcony with my trusty Kindle. It was so quiet & peaceful - the only sound was the crashing of the waves on the beach... until shortly before 6am when it sounded as though a maniac with a chainsaw was on the loose in the hotel grounds. Turned out to be the regular early-morning mosquito fogging brigade... and the porter tooling up & down in his golf cart... and the 2 security guards with their 2-way radios beeping. Can't believe the amount of action at that at that time of the morning, if I hadn't already been awake I would've been mightily P'd off!! Went inside for some peace & quiet but of course hubby & Miss 6 had been woken up by all the racket & I had an hour of "I'm hungry, I want breakfast, when can we go to breakfast?" Aaargh!!
Just after 7am, when we decide it's a respectable enough hour, we ring the other family & tee up to meet at The Deck restaurant for breakfast at 7.30 (of course they have all been awake since just before 6am too - funny that!!).
Breakfast at the Semara is good, the usual selection of hot & cold foods & pastry and enough of a range that I don't think we'll get bored in the next week. The kids are eager to go swimming so the 2 Dads head back to the room to get them changed & I go to reception to see about moving rooms. As luck would have it, the suite next door to our friends is being vacated this morning & the 2 rooms are adjoining. I knew I shouldn't have unpacked when I was killing time between 6am & breakfast!!
After packing I head off with the other Mum to change money (thanks for the tip & directions Island Gal) and for a bit of a reccy of the surrounding area. We walked as far as the junction with Jl Batu Belig & then got in a taxi to head to Legian to get the "hard work" part of the holiday over & done with. I want to get a designer leather bag copied from photos & also to have a favourite top copied & alterations to a few items.
First stop was Tommmy's Leather in Jl Padma but I'm told there's no way they can complete the bag within a week so I decide I'll try Achi Leather in Padma Utara as I'd read a recommendation here on the BTF recently. It's only a few doors down from Shandy's where our friend Johnny works so I stop in to say hello to him, pick up a couple of Sims at the DVD shop next door and then head to Achi.
I'm still not sure how I managed to sit for half an hour in that shop to arrange the making of the bag - the stench of cat urine hit me like a slap in the face the minute I walked through the door! Hope the end result is worth the half hour of holding my breath for minutes at a time LOL.
By this time it's past lunchtime so we head back to Shandy's for a bite to eat & a cold drink before continuing on our way to the tailor across the road from Beach Melati Apartments. Organised 2 copies of my top & alterations to 5 items (alterations are a real bargain, will cost less than $20 - they wanted $30 just to take up my work pants back in Perth).
Get in a taxi after leaving the tailor and head back to the hotel to find 3 sunburnt & exhausted kids and 2 extremely grumpy Dads LOL.
Had checked out the kids club at the Semara after breakfast - probably the best set up I have ever seen - so the kids head off there for a couple of hours (we have 2 free hours per day, anything over 2 hours is RP 6,000 per minute). After a short rest I head off again to Bintang Supermarket to stock up on essential supplies - knife, chopping board, brown sugar, fresh limes & mint. It's going to be Mojito time after the kids are in bed tonight!!
I tried to phone Nirvana to book dinner for tonight but had no luck getting through, thought it would be good for the kids as they have a magician as the entertainment on Mondays & Wednesdays. Looks like we might have to try again for next Monday. Dad of the other family & 2 boys are ribs fans so we decide to go to Naughty Nuri's in Batu Belig instead.
All 7 of us cram ourselves into a taxi just after 6pm & as we were a little distracted by the squirming kids on our laps, nobody tells the driver to turn on his meter. When we arrive 6 of us all scramble to get out & away and leave Dad 2 to deal with the haggling!
All of us order the BBQ pork ribs, except for Miss 6 who chooses a hamburger, we also had a couple of garden salads, 2 lots of potato wedges & 2 serves of "porn corn" (roasted corn on the cob). 3 cocktails, an iced tea, 4 glasses of milk and 2 mango juices. All up the bill came to just under RP 1.3 million. Not bad going for under $20 a head. The ribs were great - I loved the BBQ sauce, had just the right amount of chilli heat & a hint of fresh ginger.
The "shake shake shake" dance that accompanied the cocktails kept the kids amused too, as did the colouring in sheets & crayons they were given.
We were back at the hotel by 8pm, put the kids to bed in one room & then we sat on the adjoining room's balcony for an hour or two of Mojito madness :o)
I am the last man standing, after being the first awake & can't decide if I'm
A) stupid
B) still stressed from all the craziness of our recent months at home or C) trying to make the most of all of our 8 days here.
I'm opting for C :-)