Well here we are at day 9 of our Bali holiday. We are staying in a villa in the southern area of Sanur. There is myself, my husband, his parents and our 15 year old son Paul.
My father in law (FIL) had no desire to come to Bali. However a few days before departure he found out that the villa owner was an old mate from his school days in Merredin, West Australia. FIL is actually Scottish but his family moved to Australia when he was 12 years old. It seems him and our host Ron were very good mates in their younger days. FIL had mentioned that Ron was a 'bit wild' so I was concerned before our arrival. Over the years it seems he has turned into a person who loves, laughter, life and friends.
My mother in law (MIL) and I had compiled a comprehensive list of places to eat and shop in Sanur. We had done this from information on travel forums. When we arrived in Sanur FIL's old school mate (actually they are both ancient being on the cusp of turning 60) saw my list and said ' please ignore the restaurant list and roll with me for a few days'
Well this has turned out wonderful, we have not yet eaten in a restaurant that is mentioned on forums and we have had wonderful meals.
We have so far eaten at
Warung Muslim on Jalan Danau Poso.
Man Fridays English Fish Shop (opposite Warung Muslim)
The Fire Station (on Danau Poso)
Tities Warung (on Semawang Beach.)
Bona Ventura (seafood opposite Mercure)
SaFaRe ( in the south of Sanur)
Sweet Magnolia (on Mertasari Beach)
Basilico (wonderful Italian style on the beach)
Bon Marche (French on Danau Poso)
The Bali Senia for Sunday roast (this place may not suit many people but the food is good old fashioned generous serves of great food)
Blue Sky BBG (really is worth a visit)
Parahyangan (great local food with the ox tail soup being a stand out)
We have been to a private villa for a barbecue with a group of expat aquaintances. This included a fair few bottles of wine and our host forgetting where he had left his car. This lead to a search party heading all around Sanur. However I have been sworn to secrecy and can not mention this incident. Needless to say they found Ron's car after about one hour.
All of these restaurants are within 1 kilometre of our villa, before our trip I had not realised that the southern end of Sanur had all these gems.
A stand out was the short trip to Serangan Island for the fresh seafood. There is even a seaweed dish that we all loved. Sadly I did not write down the name of the dish. I now know that rumput laut means seaweed but this is of no help to anyone.
We have listened to live music at
La Playa (on the beach near the Hyatt)
Bamboo (near La Playa)
And Linga Longa
The beautiful thing to see is the bonding between my 15 year old son (Paul) and his grandfather (FIL). A few stories that have been told have made Paul realise that granddad was not always an old man. Mind you I did have to intervene when a few of the stories came out.
About three evenings ago we went to a small bar on Jalan Danau Poso. There were 4 lovely bar maids working there. I really enjoyed their company. One even put plaits in MIL's hair. I had a great time time chatting with them about life in general. I asked Ron about their monthly wage and he did not respond. I found this odd until Paul and MIL went across the road to buy an icecream.
Ron looked at me and said 'we are in a bloody brothel for Ch**t sake, they do not get a monthly salary.
Cheers for now.