The day started at 5.50am with the BP whispering in my ear 'Father Christmas has been & the reindeer ate the carrot! Can we open the presents now?'. After a frenzy of unwrapping gifts & then playing with some of the new toys, we have a light breakfast and then head up to Glo. I've booked the BP in for a hairwash & French braiding while I have my manicure so hubby goes to 'drop off the laundry' and can take as much time as he likes.
Hubby meets us at Glo afterwards and we all walk back together to get ready for lunch. There's a ceremony on Jl Cemara this morning & the one-way road is blocked off to traffic so no taxis can get through. Rather than walking up past the roadblock which will mean we'll all be hot & sweaty, I arrange for a driver outside the Puri Santrian to take us up to the Paradise Plaza at 11.45.
There's a slight hitch on arrival at the Sanur Harum restaurant - despite the fact I've booked 2 weeks earlier by email & have confirmation that we'll have a table inside, they want to put us on a table outside the restaurant. Wouldn't normally be too fussy, but the entertainment is happening inside & it's too hot and humid to sit outside & eat a big lunch. After a few minutes wait, and an apology, we're offered a welcome drink of delicious Eggnog for the adults & shown to a table inside.
There's a guitar duo singing Christmas songs and Christmas decorations everywhere and it's lovely and cool. This is more like it! We choose a bottle of Cape Discovery wine to have with lunch (thanks for the recommendation guys - it was very drinkable!) and then head for the buffet.
There is a huge selection of hot & cold foods, soup, bread, a carvery & desserts. As with most buffets, there is both good & bad dishes. Over all it was pretty good, with the Baked ham accompanied with a fresh horseradish sauce being the tastiest thing I tried. The turkey was pretty good too, but I ruined it with a God-awful gravy & strange tasting cranberry sauce! When hubby sees me return inside from the carvery which is set up outside, he says 'oh I meant to tell you, don't get the gravy or cranberry out there - it's bloody horrible. The one inside is much better.' Too late sunshine!
Father Christmas and his reindeer make an appearance and the kids are invited up to have photos taken (the BP wouldn't have a bar of it - as usual) and then to come up & receive a present (this part she doesn't have a problem with LOL).
The one sour note of the afternoon - while I'm watching the BP go up and get her present, I hear a noise like something being spilt on the tiled floor behind me but don't really pay attention. Hubby starts scowling and saying 'that's disgusting' and I turn around to find that someone has vomited on the floor near the buffet and then hot-footed it away, leaving the mess behind and not saying a word to any of the many staff nearby. EEEEEEW! I quickly look away from the mess & get up and walk over to where the BP is. I'm not going back to the table until the mess is cleaned up or it could start a chain reaction! And I don't want to be put off my dessert LOL.
The desserts are the best part of the buffet, as is often the case, and most are conveniently cut into small, 2-bite, pieces so I can try a selection. Cheesecake, mini custard & fruit tarts, meringue with cream & fruit all accompanied by more yummy Eggnog. Now I'm ready to head back to the hotel for a little siesta!
All in all, I'd say the Christmas buffet at the Paradise Plaza was good value & a nice way to spend the afternoon. It made it really feel like Christmas to us so I'd definitely go again if we are in Sanur on Christmas Day.
We go back to the hotel & I have a Mummy nap while hubby goes to the beach for a massage & swim and the BP hangs out with the girls at the restaurant, drawing and making little frangipani and banana leaf decorations. I wake up when hubby returns & go down the street to Agus art shop to decide on a final painting & make arrangements to collect them this evening. Ketut's wife has bought over a large coloured Barong painting for me to look at (I'd mentioned my 'friend' Dutch Nat's purchase the day before & how I'd seen a photo of the impressive Barong she'd bought for her husband's birthday). It's an amazing piece and although I still love the one of the 3 Legong dancers, I decide to follow in Nat's footsteps & buy the Barong for hubby's birthday which he'll celebrate while we're here, on 28th Dec. My decision is helped along by the fact that I've just received a phone call from Burhan saying my diamond ring is ready & will be dropped off this evening and the price is AU $650, not the original $750 he quoted. The money saved will almost pay for the Barong which has been given to me at a discounted price due to the fact that we bought 4 paintings.
I spot a little spa across the road I'd not noticed before (eyes were always on our painting-in-progress!) & walk over to check it out - not quite solid walls in between the beds but it's a bit better than curtains (frosted glass panels) so I grab a menu then head back to the hotel with plans to go for a massage when I come back to collect the paintings later.
The BP is hungry & very tired by now so we decide to have a light dinner at Sumo the Japanese place near the Puri Ayu. We'd originally planned to go to the beach for our last night but we have one exhausted little girl on our hands so don't want to walk more than a few minutes away.
While we're having dinner I get a call from Burhan, he has arrived a bit early and is at the lobby so I pop back to collect my ring & pay for it. Very, very happy with the end result - it is exactly like the pic I'd given him & all up contains over a 1CT of diamonds set in white gold with a yellow gold band.
After finishing dinner & getting the BP off to bed ( a difficult task tonight - she was crying her heart out & saying she never wanted to leave here!) I pick up the paintings and head across the road for a '4 hand' massage at Anggit Spa. Thought I'd try something different & at RP 100,000 for an hour it was good value. Each body part gets worked on for double the time when you have 2 people massaging you at once. The spa was airconditioned, clean and quiet - until a large, very loud group of Germans walk in for foot massages & the fish spa. Honestly, some people have absolutely no idea! They are talking at the top of their voices, the kids who are sitting at the fish spa are laughing loudly and all 8 of them are chattering away non-stop. I'm glad they arrived at the end of my massage, but felt sorry for the lady who'd only begun hers 10 mins earlier. It just reinforced why I usually avoid the spa places like this one and opt for a solid wall! Won't be a mistake I make when we head for Seminyak tomorrow.
I go for my first night-swim when I get back and am happily floating around solo, enjoying the tranquility when I spot a rat running along the edge and scampering over the wall to the small temple alongside the pool. That does it, I'm swimming like a woman possessed heading for the opposite side of the pool and back to the safety of our room. No more night swimming for this little black duck!
We had a long but lovely day and hope everyone on the forum had a very Merry Christmas too :-)