Bali, March/April 05

Day 1)
We arrived in Denpasar mid-afternoon after a good flight flying Garuda from Melbourne . Omg it's a bit of a walk to customs from the plane! If we were on our own I would have had no idea where to go..lol..just follow the crowd. Got through customs with not too much delay, got some money changed to get us started and headed out to find our driver.

Got to hotel (Puri Raja) unpacked and headed straight for the pool bar to cool off. After that we went up the road where we found the Bamboo Corner. We didn’t have any idea if this was a good or dodgy place to eat so I played it safe and had a margarita pizza and Jen went all out and had a warm shrimp cocktail in half an avocado (still alive today!). Both were very nice and went well with my first bintang ever in Bali . A smiley little man approached me and began to give me a neck rub with this oil he had for sale. As a Bali newbie I didn’t know how to get rid of this guy without being rude so I just bought it…lol. Has anyone ever heard of the Lawang Tree?? Does it produce oil?? lol...

Went for a little walk further up the street and got jib-jabbed (as we have called it) buying a watch and pair of thongs,. The very nice lady told Jen she had a gift for her and took her to the back of the shop and began to paint her nails... I sat at the front of the shop having a smoke with a grin on my face as I knew that this was no gift..lol.. The lady finished doing her nails in about 5mins and then asked jen for 150’000rp... with a smile I stepped in and gave her 50’000rp and we left before she could start on her toenails too..... Our/jens first lesson in shopping in Bali !

One of the things I told Jen before we left was don’t buy anything for the first couple of days until we get used to (how to barter in Bali) and also the price that you should be paying for the item, so far I had bought 4 things at a very high price but was a lesson for the rest of our shopping.

Day 2)
Got up nice and early and had my first Bali coffee (very nice) and had to learn a few new words (Panas sakali) which they thought was very funny when I asked for a Bali coffee Panas Sakali. The second time I asked for a coffee and asked that it be very hot, which they didn’t understand so I said hot water, water hot with an accent that probably made it harder for them to know what I was on about... I got a coffee and a jug of hot water so at this time I had to try and learn some indo. After a few days I was saying 'saya minta bali coffee panas sakali' and got what I wanted. Then i was told to say 'tolong satu kopi panas sekali' still got hot coffee then 'talong saya minta kopi panas sekali' and still got hot coffee so i dont know which one is correct .

After my coffee fun we went in search of the Double6 Street and did a bit of shopping and found a place called The Blue Star café. This place fast became our favourite place to eat and just sit and have a few bintangs. Jen bought a few sarongs for about 10’000 and some sandals for about 12’000; I got myself a funky cap to stop my half bald head getting more burnt and a couple of batik shirts for 12’000ea. We were so hot we had to go back for a swim and of course another few bintangs... I don’t even like beer that much in Aus but got stuck into the bintangs like there was no tomorrow.
Went up jl Melasti to find a place to have dinner and ended up at a nice little place that we cant remember the name of, but was great food and had a singer singing 80’s hits, was quite funny. Walked up abit further to do some shopping, bought some sunnies 8 for 100’000rp, some raybans that were called 'rayboys', Jen got a few necklaces and bracelets for about 7000rp each. We were so hot we had to stop for another drink before a nice walk back to hotel along the beach.

Day 3 )

Went to Kintamani on a tour that was part of our package with Normy, the company driver. Rained all day but was still good. Went to see a barong dance then off to Celuk where Jen got a silver dragonfly ring, not cheap but a nice ring 140’000rp. Next time we will go to Celuk on our own so we are not forced into one silver shop with tourist prices…Got to kintamani and had a very scary buffet lunch. We were the only people there and the food had been there quite a while I think….LOL I ate fish on a stick, mmmm what a treat, then we had the fun of getting back to our driver through all the t-shirt sellers, wont do that again. Had a look at the rice terrace’s and went to monkey forest. I wanted to go to Sangeh but we went to the one in Ubud wich is much better than Sangeh. Not that many monkeys as it was raining but enough to feed a few without getting swarmed by them. Sangeh is flat and not as pretty I thought. Got back about 5pm and had an early night.

Day 4)

Spent most of the day on the beach and around the hotel and went to Ketupat restaurant for dinner, the best place we had been so far, enchanting atmosphere, great food and good toilet (9/10 for cleanliness & gets points for atmosphere). Not too cheap for bali but well worth it…2 x entrée + 2 x mains + 2 drinks 230’000rp. We went back 3 more times during our trip, one of them I ordered no mains I just told them to bring me one of every entrée they have, she didn’t understand me very well and had to get the manager who also took some convincing that I wanted every entrée but was all sorted out and yummy, except for these very dry beef curry puff looking things, all the rest was great.


Indonesian Restaurant
KETUPAT
Established Since 1990
Address : jl Legian 109, Kuta
Phone : 0361 – 754 209

An open building faces the swimming pool on one side, whilst tables and chairs are scattered around the pool edges. Behind them, for the romantically inclined, are a series of private little cabana's. In the main building a series of small open balconies each accommodate a table for two, overhanging the swimming pool, with larger tables behind them in the room proper.

The food comes from all of the main islands of Indonesia , and to assist you with your choices, the menu has pictures of each dish and a detailed description of it as well as it's island of origin. The restaurant's name comes from one of the sole dishes available throughout all of Indonesia , the Ketupat, small bundles of rice, wrapped in coconut leaves and steamed for hours.


Sulawesi born Rahmat and his Italian wife ,NLayla, recognized the need for a quality restaurant in Kuta offering a diverse taste of Indonesian cuisine; Ketupat was born and was an instant success. Tastes of Bali , Java, Irian Jaya, Sumatra and Sulawesi entwine in a sophisticated village atmosphere" surrounded by a fine collection of Indonesian.

Try the Bebek Betutu - crispy duck cooked in a 'Spiced banana leaf over charcoal or the Keranjang Nelayan - a sumptuous sea - food grill basket served with a "parade" of spicy sauces. Vegetarians are well catered for, The Placing Pakis (fern tips in lime-chili sauce) and Tahu Lengko (soy-cake and bean-sprouts in spicy peanut sauce) are a vegan delight!

DAY 5 )

Have a friend that has timeshare at the Peninsula Beach Resort in Tanjung Benoa and wanted us to go and have a look. Got there and had a free breakfast ( that was the best bacon and eggs in Bali ) and went for a look around the place. This hotel is on the beach has beautiful grounds, great pool, great café, great restaurant, excellent rooms, the beach is very nice with not many people and a coral reef 300m out from shore. After spending the whole day here we didn’t want to go back to our hotel so we investigated what this all cost and if it is just a scam. Talked to about 7 people who are members staying there and drilled them for info and any downsides to this and could really only find one. The cheapest way to get to Bali as you all know is a package deal with accommodation, so with timeshare all you get is great 5 star accommodation for the cost of say the one week you get in your package deal + your members fee + the amount you paid for the timeshare over 25years. I went and had a look at the prices of other hotels in the area which were very expensive so when I sat down and did the maths it worked out the same as this… A 3 week package in a 2star hotel ( if you went every year ) worked out to be the same cost as the timeshare, but you get 5star not 2… I talked myself into buying it to force myself to have a holiday every year.

We stayed the rest of our time in Bali here at the peninsula. Discovered the resort has it’s own resident big lizard and a darn big gecko we christened ‘supergecko’…we were unable to get pics of him though…

Our first day in new hotel was great, went snorkeling and swimming around the reef with many colorful fish, starfish and other little swimming things that are somewhere in between. The funny thing was we were swimming around for about and hour or two and it felt like the water was about 1m deep, went to stand up and it was barely up past my ankles..lol was a fun day. Had our first meal here… Jen had a very hot curry that was so hot she couldn’t eat it so we ordered another meal which was creamy garlic and butter prawns ( same as me )… they were so so yummy and not too bad a price considering it’s a flashy resort only 60’000rp. Spent the rest of the night in the pool drinking cocktails and bintang…chatting with the odd swimmer. Met a funny old English couple that have been coming here for years and love it. Chin chin!

DAY 6)

Not feeling the best today but had booked to go snorkeling so we went anyway as I didn’t want to let the guy down. He took us to our first spot and I leapt in…the current was so strong and, as we were only just on the edge of the reef, the man told us to swim out thata way, so I did. Swam for about 1min or so out to sea, stopped, looked back to see were Jen was and boy did I crap myself, at first look the boat was GONE, I was about 1km away from Jen and the boat ( Jen looked up and did similar upon seeing no boat!)… Swam like a man possessed to get back to them and was so tired by my frantic swim I got back into the boat, Jen was still next to the boat struggling with her leaking goggles and ridiculous flippers, so she got back in as well.. Off to another spot to try again and this time I was going to keep an eye on the boat. After swimming around and through loads of rubbish, plastic bags and chip packets in the water I began to feel something biting me so I swam over to Jen and she was being bitten also, so we got out again and at this time we had had enough for the day.. Went to Turtle Island to paddle with the turtles. Turtles were in a big pool, some very large… you could pick them up, feed them and have a swim if you wanted but the water looked a little murky so we just walked around in it. It was great fun, they are wonderful creatures. More than 20 turtles all shapes and sizes, they swim around you and clamber up to be fed, they felt lovely and unusual to touch. Would definitely recommend a visit to Turtle Island if you’ve never been able to get up close and personal (…not too personal though) with turtles….it’s a wonderful experience and one of our fave bits of Bali .
Then took turns getting to know a sea eagle, bat, python, toucan, big lizard and porcupines! All grouse… Invited to watch a cock fight but declined.
Came back to hotel and I spent rest of day in bed with a sore throat and chest pains while Jen sat around and in the pool sipping cocktails, having massages, getting nails done then sitting up on our balcony watching the fantastic view of the beach and Mt Agung. Jen has a halfway serious tan now and would like to go for a walk along the promenade but feels a bit unsafe on her own at night in certain places, so just ended the day in room…

DAY 7 )

NYEPI DAY

Spent the day relaxing at the resort as all the shops were closed and you’re not allowed out in the streets, was a good day to reflect on all we had done so far and what we still wanted to do with the time we had left. Was a very strange feeling at night, standing on our balcony in total darkness with not a sound to be heard, even the gecko’s were respecting Nyepi..lol. The only sound seemed to be a slight breeze every now and then….we both felt it was a very special time to be in Bali .

DAY 8)

We decided to explore Nusa Dua a bit and there is no better way than on a motorbike. I got a bike from just down the road from our hotel with no license (very risky) and went back to pick up Jen and headed for Uluwatu. The traffic on the road outside our hotel and the road condition was a bit scary but we managed to get through it without the use of mercurochrome. We had to cross the Bi-pass, passed the police, and then turned up a road heading towards the bush. The drive through this area was a relaxing and beautifully scenic journey. Missed a few turn offs but after asking some locals we found our way without much drama. Got to Uluwatu in about half an hour and had to sit down for a drink to celebrate the fact that we made it in one piece. Not many people there as it was off season so when we sat down for a drink Jen bought her drink from one stall and me from another as they all looked eager for our custom. We then went to have a look at the temple, got our yellow sash from the entrance and got some peanuts and cucumber for the monkeys.
I must say that this place was just the most mind blowing, beautiful scenery I have encounted in Bali , the whole place had a lovely peaceful feel. The monkeys were a little hungry and a bit grabby but the little ones were a lot of fun to feed. Some faves were two of the older and bigger monkeys – the two of them sat at different points on the steps up to the top…looked like the two old men from the Muppets, and weren’t shy about reaching out for some food as Jen discovered on her way up …they were not aggressive, just eager….their hands had a warm leathery feel! My god was it hot today, we would have stayed longer but we were both so hot we had to head back have another drink and get onto our naturally air conditioned bike. This was prob our hottest day/experience!
On our way back I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere as we ended up on the
Bi-pass… now that was not fun. I do highly recommend getting a bike to check out the island at your own pace but do stress that it isn’t for the faint hearted or weak bladdered/kneed. It is very dangerous but well worth it if you don’t crash..lol.. And make sure you have a license!!

Met up with a local we met soon after we arrived and took him and his wife out to dinner. They chose a place called The Arena Sports Café in Sanur. This is where I had the best steak I have ever had, much better than what we get here in Aus and funnily enough the beef is Aussy export…we ship all our good meat overseas. The meal with veg and chips was cheaper than we can buy a steak at Safeway. Jen had garlic prawns that she thoroughly enjoyed ( I think peninsula prawns were better) and the four meals 2 cocktails and many bintangs was about 275’000rp.

Went for a late night ride on the bike up around all the swish hotels in Nusa Dua, found a few nice little beach areas and a market right up the end of Tanjung Benoa, a great way to cool of and no cars around. Just dogs…dogs, dogs and more dogs! This is something Jen misses….it seems funny not to see dogs everywhere, hangin’ out, sleeping, wandering etc….

DAY 9 )

Got up early to go in search of the GWK, so after another fabulous egg and bacon breakfast we set off on our second danger ride (woo hoo!!)… I wanted to avoid the Bi-Pass and took a wrong turn again and had to do a u turn, this time into the hands of about 10 police. Lucky for me my approach seemed to work, I pulled over and just started talking to them asking then directions to the GWK and after they talked amongst themselves for a bit they just gave me directions and off we went. Unfortunately for us the directions we were given, that I had to take as to not arise suspicion, took us right onto the bloody Bi-pass. We went up the Bi-pass for about 5km before we turned off and was once again a scary ride. On the way we found this place, (Dreamland beach)and went in for a look. We unfortunately didn’t go down for a closer look as it looked like a private club or something but in September this year we will return. Got to the GWK, took some pics and headed up to see this statue that Jen had been wanting to see since she saw a pic of it on the forum. This is an amazing place to visit…..the surrounds are awesome. The statue was huge and the one they are building next to it is going to be taller than the empire state building ( so we were told ). Went down to the base of this new statue ( so far they have constructed the head of Garuda only, and this is immense! ) through this place called the Lotus pond. A man near the gate had two big pythons, one about 45kg and we got some good photos of it around our necks, only 7000rp ea. This place was so serene with its massive white sandstone walls, fresh cut grass with a thin walkway right down the middle and a Lotus pond with two fountains at the end… The GWK center also has several restaurants and well worth a look…

Got back to the hotel and took a taxi into Kuta for a look see. We didn’t stay that long as the constant haggling of people trying to sell us things and to fill out those surveys, I found to be very frustrating, so before I became not so polite I thought it was time to go.

DAY 10 & 11)

Went back to the Puri Raja for a few nights as it is in a good location for shopping. We went a bit shopping mad over the next few days, I got some t-shirts made up for my work, got 90 dvd’s, found this silver shop called Maha Surya Silvers (jl.Padma Utara 517 B, Legian). The silver was very cheap, the jewellery gorgeous and Jen bought half of it! When we got back to Aus we found the same items we bought in Bali in an Ishka shop and what we paid $8au was being sold for $60+! . One thing we found was there are a lot of silver shops around, some look fancy and some don’t. There is no way of knowing the quality of the silver you get unless you melt it down. Some say if it costs more it must be better but I don’t believe this is the case. The 925 stamp doesn’t mean anything either as they stamp their own jewellery, so I guess what I’m saying is if you like the look of it and it’s at a price you like, then buy it and don’t worry if it’s 925 or not because it probably isn’t .


Ok, back to jbr.. I wanted to get a nice watch for myself and for a friend back in Aus so I went in search… The watch I wanted was a Bvlgari and a Breitling, stainless steel face with a black rubber band, was not easy to get a good price… They were asking 1.2mil rp at the airport duty free for this watch and this was a copy as well. Went into Kuta and the most anyone would drop was to 800’000rp which I thought was still way too much. After going to about 10 shops and nobody wanted to drop the price more than that I decided to go into Denpasar and have a look… A guy I met in Bali took me to a shop in Denpasar and helped me to get a good price on a few watches. The fake Gucci watches for Jen were only 8000rp as were most of the cheaper copies and the one’s I wanted were still not cheap at 300’000rp, but for an automatic watch that was very heavy and seemed good quality was not too bad. After that we went to Ramayana’s in Denpasar and they had the same watch for 800’000rp…

Anyway, we saw some paintings of Buddha in a shop on the way back and couldn’t resist getting one. They were quite large and very well done for the bargain price of $45au. Next time we will get a few more. We also got many wooden boxes, candle holders, 3 leather wallets, scented oils and incense.
After an early dinner we took a trip to Tanah Lot to see the sunset. Didn’t get many good pics as digital cameras don’t seem to be good at night shots, but got some great video footage of the place. Got 3 brass Buddha heads at the stalls near where you sit to watch the sunset, had a few bintangs and watched the sun go down…magnificent.

DAY 12)

Went back to the Peninsula and had some great seafood at a little place opposite the hotel, (cant remember the name) we both had prawn sate’s with some mixed seafood done over coconut husks, omg they were just the best! (and were very cheap too). Went for another swim down the beach and decided to go parasailing. I didn’t tell Jen, organized it and before she knew what was going on she was on the back of a jet ski heading out to the reef. After a very very short lesson on what to do I was god knows how high off the ground, constantly looking at the condition of the straps holding the parachute to me and the boat… They looked ok but all I could think about was if this thing breaks will the parachute fold and I’ll drop like a pin into the 2feet of water below or will I just float back down to earth? Thankfully it stayed intact… As I was coming in for what seemed to be a very fast landing I was a little concerned when they were all shouting at me to BEND YOUR KNEES! To their credit I had a perfect landing and watched as they strapped the chute to Jen and in a matter of seconds she was off to encounter the fun, fear of certain death, and spectacular views of the coral reef and hotels in the area! And all this for $20au for both of us.
Spent the rest of the day just sitting in the pool drinking heaps of cocktails as it was happy hour and they all cost 15000rp. Funny thing though is I drank a fair amount of grog of one sort or another and didn’t get seriously drunk once during our whole trip, so next time it’s one of my missions.
Had our last garlic and cream prawns at the hotel restaurant that night, as we were leaving in the morning, towards what was to end up being a very painful experience flying home.
Got up early so we could have our traditional bacon and eggs breakfast with a nice panas sakali bali coffee…oh yeah I forgot to tell you this part…On our 3rd or so day at the Peninsula I got up a few hours before Jen, and had made myself about 3 coffee’s before she got up. I was out on the balcony enjoying the view when I asked Jen if she could please put the kettle on. Lucky for me I saw that she was filling up the jug with Bali water from the tap!!! ‘Omg sweetie, what are you doing?’ I said, as it soon came to my attention that the night before she had made coffee and the water that was left in the kettle was what I had just had 3 coffee’s from and it was also Bali water….It’s easy to get complacent about using the bottled water for drinking when you’re in a flashier hotel and everything looks spiffo – but it’s still the same water….glad we didn’t get sick. We’ll know for next time!

we packed up and got to the airport with plenty of time to have a look around, the only problem was I didn’t have much rp left and was going to just pull some out of an atm. Little did I know that there are no atm’s in the airport lounge once you have passed customs. So we had just enough to get a couple of drinks and used the visa to buy some Bali Moon, gin, smokes and a can of ‘Pocari Sweat’ just for a laugh ( still considering sending this in to Rove, it’d make a great ‘What The?’). Got onto the plane and headed off home. We had a stopover in Adelaide and when the plane started to descend our ears just wouldn’t pop. The pain was immense, down into my neck, behind my eyes and down my back. Jen had same and was coming down with the flu. Got off the plane and we were both completely deaf…it was so strange sitting in the lounge writing notes to each other as we didn’t know sign language..lol. We were dreading getting back on the plane again but of course we had no choice, so as we descended into Melbourne the pain set in again. My jaw was so sore as I was madly chewing anything and everything I could shove in my mouth trying desperately to pop my ears but to no avail. We both went to the docs later that day and was told that I had a very bad ear infection and was very lucky that my ear drums didn’t burst. Took me 5 days for my ears to pop and it took Jen almost twice that before she could hear properly again…Next time I’m going to o.d. myself on Sudafed tabs in the vain hope that it works. Since then have learn’t that you just shouldn’t fly if you have a head cold or the flu etc., as it can be very dangerous. But not much you can do when you have to fly home.

Well that’s all folks. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, as we thoroughly enjoyed writing and reliving this wonderful Holiday to the Island of the Gods, our newly found heaven on earth..

Jen and Nick