Popped into Adopta co - op shop,( which I think was set up by David and Moira and others to help the widows and their children of the bali bombings.) Hubby orders tshirts and polo tops with his band logo. The logo for the tshirts is printed on and the logo on the polo tops is embroided on. I ordered long sleeve tshirts for my sons motor bike club with logo. In all we picked up 32 tops and the girls did an excellent job. We are very very happy with the results (no spelling mistakes either...lol.. )
Of course we then had to have a drink at Bagus pub! before lugging all this stuff back to our hotel.
Off to Sanur with Tam_tas and family for serious shopping! Went to Jennys shop 29 Sindhu market where she has set prices. (no bartering!!) Bought a heap of bags and clothing. The new walkway is so much better now they have widened and paved it and the breakwaters with their pavillions on the ends are lovely, but because the restaurants cant have any fixed verandahs on the beach anymore its not the same. I noticed trees have been planted on the beach so perhaps when these grow and provide shade the appealing look will return. Organized with our regular driver Artana to pick us all up the next day for a trip to the elephant park and ubud. Artana is a great driver with a wicked funny sense of humour and a newish, double air conditioned, very comfortable car/van. (I dont know about the conversation he was having with my hubby in the front about massages with the extra add on benefits and which ones to go to and how you go about asking for these "extras" and how much they cost!!
"Excuse me fellas....the wife is in the back!!"....not that they cared......lol.. It is interesting to know how much they charge!!!...lol...I would want a lot more!!!!!!
We went to newest elephant park "bakas" where Tams mum and son went for a ride and had a great time. A few years ago I went to the other park "adventure" and I think I like "adventure" better. They both had the same set up, you had a choice of park, dinner, ride or the whole package if you like. Both are not cheap but something you should do once anyway......if you want to! Then we were off to Ubud . Had lunch at Indus Restaurant, fabulous views and food. Then market where we all managed to buy more stuff. Then monkey forest. I was a bit concerned about the monkeys here because a couple of years ago I was at this monkey forest and the monkeys were very vicious but they were lovely, very sedate and cute.
Tanah Lot....wow! I love this place. Its awesome! You can be blessed by the priest if you wish. I dont know what it is but this place is special. Dont know about the snake and bat....lol...but you can have your photograph taken with them!
Next morning hubby left our video on the seat at Diva's cafe where we had breakfast. Luckily Eddie, one of the staff jumped on his motor bike and came chasing after us to return it. Very honest, so then we ate at his restaurant on many occasions and discovered all the meals were yummy and very cheap. No main meal was over Rp20,000
and breakfast was Rp9,000 for continental and Rp10,000 for american.
At the Aneka hotel they have karaoke every night, so this particular night with Tam_tas and her family, drinking pina coladas we talked my hubby into (pushed) singing because the ones who were singing were....hmmmmm....horrible!. We ended up having a great fun night!
Next day we moved to the hard rock hotel......hubbys excited!...hes home!!....any ones whos a musician or just loves music would love this place. Its a big themed hotel ,
with everything revolving around music. The pool is magnificent, the deli has ice coffees to die for, the rooms are great with radio/cd player, their own radio station, own recording studio etc. etc. They upgraded us to a deluxe room but we have never been in a normal room so we dont know what the advantage was except for access to the VIP pool which is smaller and more private than the big pool. Tam_tas and her family joined us on their last day enjoying the pool with its waterslides, pool bar, mini spas, sand island, waterfalls etc. They wished they had stayed at the hard rock hotel too!
Hubby picked up skivvies he had taylor made for all the band members (wasnt easy trying to explain what a skivvy was) but the end result was perfect. Lets hope they fit too. Next we planned a trip to the orphanage where we sponsor a 13yr girl. First we picked up one of the older girls who use to be in the orphanage but now works at a hotel in legian in the office. She took us back to her flat to freshen up and show us her flat. She is so proud of her flat and what she has achieved on her own. Wow! one room with a small bed, make do dressing table, small wardrobe, tv on stand and in the corner behind a wall was the bathroom with squat toilet and square trough for washing. No shower, she just uses the bucket to splash cold water over herself! Next picked up Trifena (sponsor girl) they were just finishing dinner. (boiled rice with a little bit of vegie swimming around in stock and a drink of cordial. We went to bali mall where the girls were glad to order burgers!.....lol.. Then it was shopping time....gee! do they know how to shop. We always say get what you need!...well!....20 pieces of underwear, one pair of jeans each, one top each, 3 pairs of shoes for one and 2 pairs of shoes for the other... oh!... and a pair of socks! and we were done!.......exhausted!.. All up $90 aust so thats not too bad, we dont mind really, just glad to help them and make life that little bit easier. Hubby did buy 2 pairs of jeans for himself for $8 each.
Arranged with Helen from the Helen Flavel foundation for one of her drivers, Made, to pick us up and take us to Singaraja to meet our sponsor child "ardika". We first met Dewi, one of the foundations organizers who explained what was happening and to fill out paper work. Dewi explained the new learning centre being built next door was where our childs father is helping to dig the foundations. Off we trot to met him. Lovely man, hes a labourer but doesnt really work for anyone. The foundation is employing him and others to built the learning centre so at least some form of income will be coming in. He jumps on his old motor bike and leads the way to the school but all the children have been sent home early because of examination. Never mind, so its off to his home to meet the family and Ardika. What wonderful people, so thankful we are sponsoring their oldest child (two younger brothers). Our guide Dewi explains how poor this family is and how hard it is in these remote farming areas.(what a reality check it is to visit families like this) Three families live together, grandparents, a brothers family and our family. The family were so warm and friendly, especially the grandparents. Grandmother came running out to greet us pulling on her top but not doing it up, so floppy boobs greeted us....lol Even though this family is poor and struggle to feed themselves Ardikas father asked us if we would like a coconut drink. Of course we said yes because in the past we have learnt the balinese will be offended if we dont take them up on their hospitality. So off he went, climbed the coconut tree, chopped down the coconuts, jumped on his motor bike to fetch straws from a local corner shop and presented us with our fresh coconut drink! How wonderful! We handed Ardika our goods we brought from aust - Backpack of school stuff, colouring in pencils, pens, rubber, spiderman art books, spiderman pencil case, map of australia (which they were all interested in) various other bits and pieces. Hubby handed the father an envelope with a small amount of money inside, said our goodbyes gave Ardika a hug and off we went (with a lump in my throat fighting back tears) to meet Helen Flavel at Lovina. Absolutely wonderful lady, dedicated, caring, committed human being. Had a wonderful chat with her and hello to June and Wendy. Helen was telling us about her meeting the day before with headmasters from schools in the area and the most important thing she said was "we are not Indonesians or Australians or Americans or Canadians etc. we are caring people who care about other people" How powerful is that! My hat goes off to you Helen and all of your team working for the foundation.
to be cont..