Saturday, 23rd April 2005
Day 2
The one thing you should know before I start this next part of my JBR is that my boyfriend is English, loves his football (soccer to us Aussies) and is a mad Middlesbrough supporter. His one condition of us going on holiday to Bali for my birthday (and him paying for it) was that I watch the Middlesbrough matches with him when they were on. Lucky me had to endure three games throughout the time we were there. I shouldn't complain though as I wouldn't have even been back to Bali if it wasn't for him!
Now that you have all been enlightened with that information, I will tell you that our second day consisted of watching one of these matches which started at 7.30 p.m.
We woke up reasonably late and quickly headed off for our first breakfast at the Patra. We were pretty excited as we both love a cooked breakfast! We weren't disappointed when we got there either. There was absolutely everything you could imagine. We both pigged out that morning and got nearly everything that was on offer. My BF ended up having about 6 courses at that sitting. He told me to eat as much as I could manage so we could fill ourselves up and not have lunch - therefore we would have more time to do things and save money. Anybody would have thought we were skint because of this proposal! (I was reminded somewhat of my BF throughout Micronesian Steve's JBRs! What is it with men and money saving methods!).
After breakfast we felt like we needed a lie down because we had eaten so much so we ended up heading back to the room and then got ready to head to the pool for an hour or so. I am very embarrassed to say that while we were back at our room we had a 'Shazperth moment' after breakfast and experienced our first Bali toilet blockage! We were not impressed! We certainly laughed a lot about it at the time though and lucky for us, we didn't have to call out the staff to help out - we dealt with the 'situation' on our own!
We lounged ourselves in the sun for awhile and then decided it was time to get up and about. The worst (possible best?) thing about Bali is the fact that you loose all concept of time. You are never in a rush to do anything or go anywhere so it's as if time stands still and then again, that time passes you by without you even knowing it. This happened to us a lot while we were there. We ended up deciding to head to Centro for some household goods and essentials (i.e. Bintang). As we were still unfamiliar with the new Bali (remember, we both hadn't been in 6 years), we decided to get a hotel car to Centro. We couldn't be bothered waiting for a taxi to pick us up from the hotel. That's why we decided on the hotel car. We got told the price was 30,000 which I gasped at (you would have though the staff had just suggested they cut off my right arm). My BF reminded me that it's only a few dollars and that back home you would have to pay at least $10 to get to Centro from our hotel. I still wasn't happy though (now it was my turn to act as if we were skint!).
We got to Centro and were, of course, surrounded by people offering us the promotional cards, asking us if we wanted 'transport', women asking, 'Darling, I plait your hair?' and 'Manicure? I give you manicure, darling?' It was nice to hear all of this again and it certainly made me smile.
We couldn't get over how massive Centro was (by Bali standards). Throughout our whole trip, we didn't even venture to all of the shops in there. My BF told me that we shouldn't shop at Centro as it was just like being back at home at a Westfield store and that you don't come to Bali to do what you would normally do at home. I almost agreed with him but then saw the most amazing Tommy handbag I had ever seen. It also matched a gorgeous pair of stilettos I had recently bought (and, I might add, I tried to bring with me but they were thrown out of my suitcase once my BF and his sister had to go through my VERY overweight suitcase to find the 'non-essentials' I had packed to bring with me to Bali). I was dead set on getting this bag. I looked at the price tag and it was AUS$300.00. Needless to say, the BF couldn't understand how on earth I would be willing to pay this amount of money for a handbag so in the interest of avoiding an argument and explaining the whole story behind women and handbags, we quickly moved on. I had a look in Osh Kosh for all of my friend's children and my Godchildren but didn't find anything that caught the eye. I was pretty disappointed about that too. We then moved on to look at the bra sale they were having - for all the girls - this was an amazing sale! These gorgeous bras were going out at something like $3! They had all the matching lingerie too! I had a browse (so did the BF - only he wasn't browsing at the lingerie!) but decided not to buy anything at that stage. We then wandered further down to the Athletes Foot. The BF insisted on me getting some thongs or some trainers for me to wear while I was in Bali as my footwear mainly consisted of heels and ... well, actually, that's all it consisted of come to think of it. He said I was 'daft' for walking around Kuta in heels because of some of the roads. I was comfortable though and was used to wearing heels in all sorts of situations so we ended up checking out a few pairs of shoes and thongs for him and then headed out as I was in need of a coffee.
We stopped at Starbucks for a latte for me. I might add that this was one of the best coffees I have EVER had (and I drink a lot of coffee). Even the BF loved it and he only ever drinks tea. We sat there for awhile just watching life happen around us. I (unintentionally) overheard a women's conversation behind us who was with her children and her Balinese driver. I kid you not, she was talking utter nonsense to this poor guy! That's not what annoyed me though - she was yelling at this poor Balinese man. I couldn't help myself so I turned around and asked the man if he could hear me and if he understood me. He told me he could so I informed the lady (who at this stage was none too impressed) that the man could speak English rather well and that his problem was not his hearing. It amazed me how many Australians found the need to yell at the Balinese as if they were deaf - keep in mind it's their English that may not be terribly good and that there is nothing wrong with their hearing!
After my little outburst and words of enlightenment to my fellow Australian, we headed into the supermarket to get all the things we needed. Apparently, the BF insisted we needed 36 bottles of Bintang. This was news to me. At 6,000 though, I couldn't argue with him. We got a few toiletries there too. I found that some of the stuff (such as shampoo and conditioner, bodywash, sunscreen etc) was pretty much the same price as back home (depending on what brand you were after of course). I then had a look at the makeup and bought a few things from there too. I got some lipsticks that were $7 and for which I pay $30 for at home! I wish I had have gotten more now.
After about an hour of shopping in the supermarket, 5 shopping bags full of 'essentials' and a mere 290,000 later, we headed back to the hotel in a Bluebird taxi which cost us 8,000 (see, the gasp earlier was justified!). We unpacked all of the stuff and then decided to head back to the pool for the afternoon.
As I mentioned in Part 1 of my JBR, we weren't terribly happy with our room. We wanted something with a bit more luxury so the BF and I discussed upgrading whilst we were relaxing by the pool. He decided that we would enquire about it but that he wasn't willing to pay US$100 per night which is what we were quoted upon our arrival.
We then got ready to head out again so we caught a taxi this time from our hotel and found ourselves in Kuta Squate. We browsed in many of the shops and checked out a lot of the things on offer. I found that the prices were very similar to what you would pay back home though and that if I wanted Roxy clothing or something similar then I would only be saving $2 and compromised space in my suitcase (which was very scarce as it was). We didn't buy anything at this stage and weren't game enough to try out our long forgotten bartering skills. We ended up walking back towards Centro and in search of another cheap bar that sold Bintang and instead, decided to have a quick bite to eat somewhere. We weren't that hungry because we were still full from breakfast so of course, the Bintang was given priority.
We stumbled across the Standium Bar and the BF was in love!! The AFL was on though so he wasn't too impressed by that. He said that he would definitely come and watch the football here one night. Needless to say, I was well excited about this thought I could hardly contain myself...
The Stadium was absolutely packed full of Aussies watching Hawthorn and Nth Melbourne (I think). It was funny to be somewhere thousands of miles away from home and yet, feel as if you had just walked into your local pub. The BF was happy with the price of Bintang so we decided to stay. We ordered the nachos (with lots of jalapenos), Bintang and for me, a cocktail of some sort.
After lunch we headed off to the markets across the road and tried our luck at bartering. I bought to hats (the woven ones for girls) and paid 38,000 for the two of them. I thought I got ripped off but later found out I didn't.
Quite pleased that we got our first bit of bartering out the way, we headed back to Centro as the BF wanted to buy a pair of thongs and a pair of trainers he had seen earlier. We compared the prices of these elsewhere and Athletes Foot at Centro was the cheapest compared to the stores around Kuta Square and Matahari. I think we paid AUS$5 for a pair of Reebok slip-on thongs. The BF couldn't find trainers in his size so we left with those thongs and went back to the hotel.
I got a bit trigger happy with the camera when we got back and went made taking pictures of the sunset. I had never seen anything so beautiful before. I am not sure if you appreciate the beauty more because you have time to appreciate it as you're away on holiday or because the Balinese beauty just outdoes anywhere else. I must have taken about 50 photos in that one afternoon.
Time had gotten away from us again, and before we knew it, it was time to head out for the long awaited football match. Middlesbrough v West Brom.
We had planned on watching the match at Gracie Kelly's - the Irish Pub at the Dynasty so we could also get dinner. Friends of ours had been to Bali just before us and told us we had to try the food at GK's as it was awesome (this recommendation came from a very fussy eater so we were looking forward to it). When we got to the Dynasty, we decided to have a look around and I must admit, I wasn't terribly impressed by it. That's my opinion though. I did love the pub though. It was very cute - but a bit disorientating being in Bali and drinking at an Irish Pub!
When we got into GK's, BF realised that he had been mistaken. He presumed that, GK's being an Irish Pub, they would have a big screen TV televising the football matches. He was gutted to find out this wasn't the case. I was more or less pleased though! I thought this meant that I had gotten out of sitting through an hour and a half of torture! The BF had a brain wave though and decided that we could walk up the road and see if the Stadium had the match on. We could go to GK's another time for dinner. I was a bit annoyed by suggestion because I was looking forward to trying their Shepard's Pie! I decided not to make a fuss though and so we made our way to the Stadium.
We got prime seating for the match - BF was well pleased! We decided just to get something small to eat there and maybe venture out a bit later and get something else to eat. I ordered the Vegetable Mi Goreng (with LOTS of chilli) and he got the Nasi Goreng. Both absolutely delicious and both unbelievable cheap.
The BF saw how miserable I was sitting watching the football (even though secretly I enjoyed people watching from where I was sitting), he offered for us to go home. Again, being the loving GF I am, I told him we could stay and watch the end. A fair few people turned out for the football (i.e. soccer) matches that night - I was quite surprised. I didn't realise how many English actually ventured all the way to Bali. We didn't meet any of them though as they were supporting West Brom so the BF didn't want a bar of them! (They certainly do take their football very seriously don't they?!)
After the match, (I can't even remember who won - that's how much I was paying attention) we ended up heading to Green Garden Restaurant. Now, what a cute place!! So unbelievably cheap and such good food. I ordered an omelette which was less than $1 and he ordered a Club Sandwich as we were still reasonably full but wanted a little something. The service was very good. The guy that served us must've made at least AUS$10 in tips that night because everybody adored him! He was a real sweetie. The Green Garden Restaurant is a very simple place so if you do go there, don't expect it to be anything flash, all I am saying is it was really good value and a great find for us. The BF then decided we would come here to eat all the time! I wasn't having that though - I wanted a bit of variety so we agreed to compromise on that one.
After our quick meals, we headed over to the DVD shop across the road and handed the girls in there a list of DVDs we were after. They found most of them for us and the process was very quick and easy. We ended up getting about 140 between us and paid 10,000 each for 100 and then received 40 free - pretty much all of the DVD shops have that deal going or something similar. I can't remember the name of that DVD shop but the quality of the DVDs were really good. Again, like most other stores, they let you view the DVDs before you buy them. We had no problems with any of them.
By this stage it was about 11.30 p.m. and we were reasonably exhausted. I had the option to venture out for the night but decided not to. After all, this was supposed to be a relaxing holiday...I also didn't fancy carrying four shopping bags full of DVDs around Kuta for the rest of the night. The BF seemed very pleased with my decision.
We then caught a taxi back to the hotel and decided to call it a night...or, should I say that I did. I then realised the reason why the BF was so happy to be back at the hotel - there was another football match about to be televised that he was dying to watch and he didn't think I would want to stay at the Stadium Bar for another hour and a half to watch it so had inadvertently persuaded me to come back to the hotel for an early night - how thoughtful!
The site was becoming a familiar one to me now...the BF in bed, with a Bintang, watching the football...I decided to capture that Kodak Moment forever in case he ever forgot how happy Bali made him and to persuade him in the future to come back to Bali - one look at that photo and I am sure he will be sold on the idea! Men are so easily pleased!