After breakfast this morning, I walk up to Glo for my waxing session - first time for me to try this in Bali and, without going into detail, it was professional & reasonably pain-free.
Walking back to the hotel I stop again at Agus for yet another look at our painting - this time it's complete. Very, very happy with it and I tell Ketut Teker's wife we'll be back to collect it and the others we've chosen on Christmas afternoon. Merry Christmas to us :-)
We've arranged for our driver Jaya to pick us up at midday, for a drive to Candi Dasa. I'd wanted to spend a few days staying there on this trip but hubby was uncertain as he's never been there. I knew once he'd seen the place he'd change his mind so we spend a while driving around looking at what's there & then head to the Rendez Vouz restaurant at the Alam Asmara Dive Resort for a late lunch/early dinner. The restaurant overlooks the ocean & the views out to Lembongan & Lombok, as well as the coastline of Bali are spectacular. The cool breeze coming off the ocean is very welcome too!
We have the best cocktails of the trip so far here - a 'My Berry' which is Vodka, strawberries, fresh ginger, a dash of lime cordial & soda water. The food was fantastic too, the standout being my grilled snapper with tomato & chilli sauce, pineapple salsa & 3 times steamed coconut milk rice. Hubby's spaghetti marinara was also very good but he was suffering food envy after tasting mine! We shared a coconut meringue pie with coffee for dessert - I felt like I was on an episode of Gilligan's Island (who remembers Mary Anne's coconut cream pie?) but it was delicious!
The restaurant is hosting a Christmas Eve charity dinner tonight for the Yasa Kerthi Orphanage at Amplapura and the kids from the orphanage are spending the afternoon at the hotel practising their performance. The children all file into the restaurant & come to say hello and the BP follows them back out to the pool alongside the restaurant to watch the goings on. Next thing I know, she's sitting folding banana leaf into little boats ready for the buffet tonight & helping to clean leaves & franginpani flowers out of the pool. When the kids start rehearsing again, she's entranced and doesn't want to leave so we decide to just hang out, relax and enjoy the show. 2 of the older girls performing had the voices of angels, it was a pleasure to hear such talent.
I'd read the flyer for tonight's charity event and, as the hotel was arranging donations of both unwanted items and money, I asked where the donation box was so we could contribute. The man from the orphanage said 'but this is not the real show, only pre-performance, we don't have the donation box here yet'. A quick call from the restaurant manager to reception & the box is bought down early. He had tears in his eyes as he said to me 'I thank you for your kind heart madam'. I know it is probably a stock-standard reply when tourists donate, but it seemed sincere & heartfelt, and he wasn't the only one feeling a bit teary after that!
The kids are treated to icecream after their rehearsal and the BP is asked if she'd like to join them. It was beautiful to see her sitting alongside the pool with all the kids, all eating icecream and, despite the language barrier, playing happily. She had a great time & it's another of those great impromptu Bali experiences that we'll all remember for a long time.
It's now about 5.30pm so we tell a reluctant BP that it's time to leave. She's disappointed that she won't get to see the kids in their makeup & the 'real' performance but I don't really want to be driving back to Sanur in the dark, plus I want her off to bed early as I know we'll be in for a pre-dawn start on Christmas Day!
A quick stop off at Hardy's to pick up hubby's glasses (all up RP 2,500,000 for new lenses and a new pair of Ray Ban frames & lenses which was great) and a couple of bottles of vino for Mr & Mrs Claus and we head back to the VPA to prepare for the big day tomorrow. On the way past the restaurant to our room, we stop in & the kitchen kindly gives us a carrot for Rudolph.
Merry Christmas from Bali everyone!