Day 9 - Tuesday (last day)
Its our last day so we aim to pack as much as possible into it. Breakfast is early, followed by a swim and grab a cab again to Tambo Beads for a last look round. If we plan to go to a few shops we ask the driver to wait so he can get a decent fare and we don't have to hail another one.
Despite the fact that the trip takes about 3 minutes in total, the driver, Daniel from Timor has managed to tell me how much he loves Australians and in fact how much he loves me. He loves me so much he insists on coming inside the Bead shop and watches as I browse, chatting away. I'm feeling a bit icky about him by this time, and before he drives me back to the Haven, he's already offered his services as a personal shopper and shipping agent, giving me his phone number as well. Thank goodness the shopping trip wasn't any longer.
Another swim, relax and recover and I collect R, and we grab another cab for a ride of about 500m down the road. Again, the driver, Tony from Sumatra starts calling me Blondie and telling me about how he would take me to his village and how impressed the villagers would be with a blonde woman. Ieeewww.! He asks if I can cook, and before I can answer, he says 'no problem... my sister will cook'. Thankfully this time he realises that it can never be, given the 35 seconds we've known each other. R and I are sending silent messages to each other 'DO NOT ask him to wait while we shop'. Seriously, I'm not looking my best in Bali, what with the humidity, the dripping makeup and wet hair, and the increasing waistline, but both R and I are somehow attracting way too much attention. Neither of us are Claudia Schiffer but there is definitely something we are missing here. Its like a real life Rhonda and Ketut scene every day!
Lunch - we are trying to fit in the last proper meal but I'm still remembering the wonderful dinner last night at The Junction. I run the idea past R, and check their website, but they have a different menu for lunches so we won't be going back there today sadly. (...) We decide instead to walk down the street, grab a cab and find somewhere in Jalan Kunti where there are lots of options.
This is one of the few times that there is not a Bluebird in sight for a full 5 minutes, but we eventually repel all the other cabs and grab a nice bluebird driver who barely says a word to us (thank goodness). He is old enough to be my child!. We ask him to wait at Bali Deli while we shop and grab a bite. This place is amazing. Its like a little David Jones foodhall. But cheap! We eat lunch quickly and pickup a few last minute items. We head to Alta Moda to collect our sewing, thank them and head back to the hotel.
Our Balinese friend Ketut and his kids Finda and Emma are coming for a visit before we leave. We entertain the kids with some art and craft stuff, and ask them to write their names on their artwork. Only now, after knowing them for about 5 years do we realise that Finda is actually named 'Vinda'. Just like Geneva is pronounced 'Geneefa'. Lesson learned.
We have almost no time for dinner, our driver will be here at 6pm to go to the airport (we were forced onto an earlier flight - thanks Virgin!) so we walk fast to Pantarei again as we know it will be a decent meal and its nearby. Halfway through scoffing dinner, Kadek calls to say he's at the hotel and there's nowhere to park. We tell him there is underground parking and we'll be back in about 5 minutes, quickly paying the bill and walking back. We collect Kadek, show him our room and he insists on exploring it all - balcony, toilet etc.
We finally get our bags packed to within an ounce of their weight allowance (we have our own fishing scales to weigh them - sad, I know!), and checkout at the back entrance to the hotel. The lady here is extremely nice, and funny (anything we have left in the room will be hers she says), but we confuse her a lot as we are checking out after 3 nights even though we booked for 4. We did this as we wanted a late checkout, and staying till 6pm would have cost us 80% of the full rate, but booking the whole night at the discounted rate was cheaper. She has to print out a special form for us to sign acknowledging we are leaving early. Kadek drives us to the airport in good time and refuses our offers of money several times. We do end up forcing him to take some payment, but we cause such a scene the Porter who helps us with our bags is very confused. He asks if this is our driver, we say no, he's our friend.
Its a long walk now to the terminal, especially when you are leaving with very full bags, so the porter is 20K well spent. We go straight to the counter at Virgin with not a single person in line.
One bonus when flying Virgin is the duty free liquids you can purchase... I make the most of this opportunity to pay $16 per litre of vodka as I think we have decided future trips will be with Jetstar wherever possible, and they don't offer that service, sadly. We again get the dreaded bus to the aircraft but once on board I notice a young couple carrying shopping bags and the guy is quietly vomiting into one of the bags. Being stuck on a bus with a vomiting person, in 30 degree heat is enough to make me join him in sympathy, so I try to focus on something else and pray for this bus ride to end quickly.
Once on board the plane, the staff do the right thing and remove the sick passenger, and the bus comes back to collect him. I feel so sorry for him, but honestly, I've been sick on a plane before and I'd much rather be in a hotel bed than stuck on a plane. I hope he got back through Customs easily and on the next flight.
We sleep most of the flight mostly because we are trapped in our seats. I do have to hurdle over the passenger in the aisle seat at one point and I'm sure I recognise her from our local Spotlight store. I pray she doesn't recognise me as she was a very cranky woman. Again there is no movie or anything at all to watch or listen to.
We get through Australian Customs in record time, are greeted before the baggage carousel by the man from Quarantine and we struggle to name all the items we have to declare - its just too early for my brain to be working properly. Its 5.30am in Melbourne but only 2.30am Bali time, so we rattle off a few items, he approves us, we grab our bags and are out within seconds. We got through with Palmer the dog made of Palm leaves, some Vanilla Pods, Saffron, Wooden utensils and some tea bags.
We've often had discussions with drivers in Bali about how our Taxi drivers at home won't take a short trip, and how we live near the airport, and the Balinese drivers don't get it - any fare for them is appreciated. So its almost comical to watch our Melbourne Cabbie's face drop when we tell him we are going to Airport West and Keilor Park. He'll make about $30 and be back at the front of the line within an hour, but the sour look on his face is enough to curdle milk. What a contrast. Again R and I exchange knowing looks and almost choke trying not to laugh. The cabbie is silent and looks quite grumpy until he drops me off and he finally warms up with a ‘have a nice day'. Honestly, people wonder why we prefer to holiday overseas.
Once home I dump the bags, put a load of washing on, and grab a few cheap DVD's before heading straight to bed for a few hours.
We've had a great trip - possibly one of the best, we found lots of new experiences and enjoyed some old favourites. We have laughed a lot - mostly at the little differences that we love about Bali.
As always, we are already working on plans to come back more often. I see some kind of mini import business in my future.
A few Random musings:
Traffic - we didn't get stuck in any really horrific traffic, however our driver did have some amazingly long commutes between Seminyak and Nusa Dua - up to 3 hours at one time due to the conference. Other times were 1.5 hours. We did also cancel a planned night because we had been told traffic was insane, particularly around the big roundabout on Sunset Road.
Rain - No less than 2 different locals told us this, and I've since also heard it told to other friends who have just come back from Bali - the locals have some conspiracy theory about the government doing something with lasers to the clouds to keep the rain away! I didn't get a clear story, but basically it has something to do with the deadline for the new roads being built, and how its not allowed to rain in Nusa Dua or anywhere that would slow down the roadworks.
We had a long discussion with the locals about the lack of a DVD shop in Benoa, and how it would be good to have one there.... apparently shop rentals can be as low as $100 per year, however the 'payments' required to the police to keep the shop open are over $120 per month.
Exploring... I've just realised that for some reason, I always investigate the shops to the left of our hotels.... I've walked miles, on both sides of the street to the left hand side of both the Haven and the Novotel...yet I have very little idea what is on the right hand side. How weird is that. Note to self - next time, turn right.
One of the garden maintenance guys at the Haven was cutting the lawn one morning as we left breakfast.... lots of lawn clippings on the pavers... not surprising seeing he was doing the lawn by hand with hedge clippers. Only in Bali!
thanks for reading and for all posting your own JBR's. it keeps me going until I get back to Bali myself.