Okay, I know this is late...if you want to read the earlier ones I have put links at the bottom of this JBR, as they dropped off the bottom of the forum already. Funny how life and work grabs you and steals away all your time as soon as you get back! Funny how you suddenly notice what shocking customer service you get at your local mall! Funny how you go to automatically bargain for something, or almost say 'terima kasih' when you are handed your change.
Had this great idea when I was booking our trip. Instead of paying a late checkout fee and having our room longer we just booked our driver for the day. He picked us up at checkout from the Respati Hotel in Sanur and then we went to Ubud to spend our last day with daughter Anna, who was staying on for a fourth week (she only spent the first week staying with us at Lokha Legian, then went to Ubud to help at the birthing clinic there for three weeks). This scheme worked a treat- no extra fee, we were asssured of a driver in time for the airport trip, and it was easy to do last minute things. We were able to offload to Anna all the stuff we didn't want to take back, like toiletries and towels from home, and the first aid kit supplies I always bring with us. We took Anna to the Lotus Cafe in Ubud as she had not seen it, and we got some nice pictures after eating there, but Anna was not so keen on having her picture taken as she was adamant we were a distraction to other people's view of the lotus ponds. Too bad, we had not seen her for 8 months till Ubud so we took those snaps anyway! Later we said goodbye and headed back to Legian for a last visit to Sammy and Suzie's beach bar and a quick meal before off to the airport.
Sammy and Suzie's.
Well, we were based in Sanur the last four nights of our stay but came over to one of the forum gatherings at S&S on August 6 (and back for two other nights too!). Can't remember all the names but was good to meet SmudgeUK, Traveller, C-Shell, her friend Wendy, Balibec and her sister, Perthdodgy, and Tracy.(Forgive please if I have forgotten anyone). We brought our daughter Anna along as she had come the year before with us too and did not want to miss it. What a great evening! Worked out who Perthdodgy was as we approached as he had kindly given a description of himself in one of his posts here planning the night's gathering. It was his height that gave him away, though the paleness of his skin, as he described, came a close second as a clue. (It was encouraging for me to meet someone with skin as pale as mine!) Got a buzz from seeing Shell's friend Wendy on a 'Bali first-timer high' - when you have an 'addiction' you recognise the symptoms of a raw recruit..haha. Got some good shopping tips from Bec and her sister. Tracy and I chatted for ages on a couple of nights and I still remember the lovely story she told us of how one of the room staff guys at her hotel would put fresh flowers on her pillow every day when her room was made up. What a sweet gesture..one of those little memories that make Bali so special. Smudge is a regular, having settled in Bali, and was a 'lifesaver' for Bruce. The first night we went to the beach Bruce was still sick, and nursed one beer all night (now for him, that IS sick!). Smudge asked what he had taken for Bali Belly and the next night when we came he produced something called Gastrostop for Bruce to try. Well, it did the trick and Bruce came right for the rest of our stay. On the third night we went Smudge and his friend Made had his dog Samantha with them (hope I got the dog's name right). It has to be the healthiest dog I have ever seen in Bali..a German Shepherd I think, beautiful coat, bright eyes and such energy.
Anyway, back to the first night...we all went on to Garden View Cottages for a quick drink and a loo stop before crossing the road to La Monde for dinner. We were probably not the noisest group they have seen there, but we did have a roaringly good time. Good form decrees that what went on stays with those at the table, so to quote Forrest 'and that is all I have to say about that.'
My Anna, much to my surprise, stood up at the gathering on the beach and told everyone a bit about what the birthing clinic in Ubud does, and offered to pass on any contributions people would like to make to the clinic. Sometimes it is hard to be sure of money getting to the people intended so she wanted me to tell you what became of the donations. Altogether she collected 250,000 rupiah. This was used to help pay the hospital bill for a young woman who was in the care of the clinic. This young woman - this poor young woman - was pregnant and her baby died inside her about halfway through her pregnancy. (This tragedy happens to more women than you would suspect). In cases like this labour has to be induced, and the clinic staff did their best, hoping all would be well. Unfortunately the baby was bigger than suspected and they had to transfer her to hospital for a caesarean. Now, in Bali if you go to the hospital you pay all the expenses...no Government aid. The midwife went with her to hospital and stayed with her while she was there for the few days. The bill came to several million rupiah, and it appeared the hospital had also charged for procedures/medication not actually given (yep, they do that). The hospital also expects the bill to be paid on discharge. When you consider that wages in Bali are about 500,000-800,000 month that is a lot of money for a family to find. They will sell what they can if they have to, and unfortunately that sometimes means they sell their rice fields, thereby forever losing the ability to grow enough food for themselves and to sell for other things they need. The donations made at Sammy and Suzie's, and other donations to the clinic, were used to help the family with the bill when the mother and the baby's body were released from the hospital. The family will be grieving the loss of their child, but at least they did not have to sell land to pay the bill. That family does not know you, but it does know of your kindness.
SHOPPING
Some of the things I bought I have mentioned in other posts, but here is a few other items.
At Matahari Kuta we bought a little bottle opener for 8,800, a power board (so we could charge phones and razor and use mosquito thingy at the same time) for 33,000 and an adaptor (to use phone recharger ) 15,500. At the Body Shop in Matahari I got two 200ml tubs of their body butter for daughters-passionfruit for Holly and Nut for Anna and it was only 139,000 for each pottle. In the bookshop at Matahari I bought a copy of Janet de Neefe's book Fragrant Rice for Anna to read and it was 165,000.
At Centro Starbucks I bought a grande cappuchino for 28,000 and Anna got a mango citrus frappuccino or 28,500. Their stroopwaffels were 12,500 each. I bought one of their tall plastic coffee cups with the lids. Mine has this green printed Bali logo under the plastic..great memento and it is the best one of these kinds of cups I have used. I can't remember the price, about 120,000 I think.
In Centro there are many stands selling the colourful diamante hair clasps, necklaces etc. I got a great star pattern brooch of silver and black setting with diamantes for 87,000 and a butterfly hair clasp with mainly golden diamantes for 129,000 and a little green frog brooch with green diamantes on it for 50,000. Now I wish I had bought more back as they are much dearer here!
At the Bintang supermarket in Seminyak I got 200ml Dove Moisture Cream Shampoo for 9,400 which is cheaper than at home. Now I know there is at least one shampoo in Bali I am not allergic to and I will not have to bring my own from now on!
At Hardy's in Sanur I found little bottles of essence. Rawleighs in NZ used to sell pineapple essence which I would add a teaspoonful of to my banana cake ingredients for extra flavour, but they stopped selling it long ago, so I was delighted to find little bottles of Blue Diamond pineapple essence, pandan essence, and coffee mocha essence at about 2,500 each. They also had dtrawbery essence and a few others, but I don't bake so much nowadays so left the others behind. Also bought an iron there for 41,500 as a gift for someone (out of Bali you would need to use an adaptor plug).
MAKRO
(Some of these things are bulk purchases for the clinic to distribute, so my quantities may sound a bit big).
Bottles 'Aqua' water (600mls) box of 24 for 21,994.
12 bars of soap (usual size as at home) for 11,028.
Exercise books-Disney theme pkt 5 books for 12,500.Dora the Explorer pkt of 10 for 8,500.
Erasers pkt of 5 plus 1 free for 4,700.
Pencils 2B 2x12 pencils for 6,400.
Ciptadent toothpaste 35gram tubes, pkt of 12 for 9,150.
Children's toothbrushes pkt of 12 for 10,575.
We also bought some sweets to take back home. One of my favourites is this kind of boiled sweets, each in individual wrappers, then into a bag, two bags taped together. They are called Fox Oriental Mix , 150g sweets in each bag. The pkt of two bags is 10,449. The flavours are accurate and really different and refreshing. You get three different flavours in each bag. They are Honey and Ginger, Green Tea, and Chrysanthemum Tea, but the bag has the names in Indonesian - Permen Jahe & Madu, Teh Hijau and Teh Krisan.
Bruce likes the bags of little mini packets of two chewing gum tablets called Happydent - chewing gum that is good for your teeth and freshens your mouth.
Happydent 24 packets to a bag, four bags together, all for 11,400.
Mentos Mini - four bags each containing 250g (25 rolls) of Mentos sweets for 24,950.
Starburst lollipop jar (50 pieces) for 16,000 .
5 bags of 115grams of Trebor Sherbert Mix packets for 12,681.
They also have a wide range of Yupi jelly type lollies at great prices but we did not need to buy them this time.
There is an Apotik at Makros, within the building, and we bought a box of the Panadol Extra caplets (the 'extra' added is caffeine, not codeine). The box contains 100 caplets and costs 38,400.
DVD's. I printed off H elgi's list before we went and my daughter who stayed at home just highlighted the ones she wanted (turned out to be 142 dvd's, but we got the emotional blackmail thing of 'how could we mind getting her that many considering we were flying her sister to join us for a Bali holiday'). Dropped the list to his shop and arranged for him to drop the DVD's (in three folders that came free with the deal) to our hotel in Sanur the day we were leaving. Easiest shopping I did all trip!
If you see a freebie monthly advertising booklet called Bali Tourist Advertiser (in bookshops, minimarts etc) grab it! It has the best maps for regions of Bali that I have seen, even one for the Amed region and a great one of Ubud. Also has a list of useful contact phone numbers, ie medical, airline phone numbers, consulates, artists, shopping(of course), and a page on using the lingo.
Airport drama!
Well, the time came to go and we went to the airport. I always get a bit choked up as we drive up. It was sad this time leaving Anna behind, and saying goodbye to our driver Made, who is one of our special friends there. We had left one of our three big suitcases with the clinic so they could use it to take stuff to Aceh on the medical aid visits they make there, rather than just leaving it at the hotel for staff to take, but we still had two big suitcases, two carry-on bags, my shoulder purse bag and a roll of paper containing my three paintings. Got everything through the first scanner then changed into our travel clothes in the toilet area and zipped our big bags for the final time and put our Tampertell ties on before heading upstairs to check in. Sitting waiting for an hour or so I suddenly realised I did not have the roll of paintings which I was taking as carry-on luggage. Thought back and realised I last saw them when we loaded up our trolley outside the arrivals/departures doors below. Panic! We had already checked in but a nice man in uniform let me leave my passport with him (well, he insisted) and I dashed downstairs. Checked the scanner machine - nothing left there (thought it might have got caught inside it for a while perhaps) and went outside to ask at the outside information office - nope, no lost property handed in. The guy made a call, but no luck. I checked the forecourt again and then started to go inside...one of the security guys by the scanner waved at me and he was holding my roll of paintings! He indicated I had to put my purse back through the scanner again as I entered. I did so, all in a fluster, then rushed up to get my paintings and spontaneously gave him a big hug, which, in retrospect, I realise he must have found quite startling. As I headed back towards the escalator one of a group of porters called out to me and pointed to the porter beside him. 'He find your paintings, this is man who find them,' he said. . Well, I went up to my saviour, grinning madly, and thanked him. 'This is my lucky day,' I said, 'and yours!' and I whipped a 50,000 rupiah note out of my bag and shoved it into his hand. All the porters cheered and slapped him on the back at his good fortune. Then I sprinted back upstairs and through the counters, as I had heard the loudspeaker call for our flight's passengers to go through to the gate waiting area, and I knew Bruce would be worrying where I was. I collected my passport again and then we were shepherded through to sit for almost an hour in the waiting area.
The plane trip from Bali to Brisbane was not the peaceful sleeptime I anticipated. I managed to lay down across several empty seats, but the people in front of me had a toddler and an older child who squealed and laughed at each other and generally performed the whole trip. Instead of calming them down (as the lights were dimmed and it was obvious people were trying to sleep) the two women played with and tickled them and let them climb all over them. Aaargh! At least I can sleep on the next stage from Brisbane to Auckland, I thought. No such luck! After the mea,l as we were settling down to doze off, a call came over the plane asking if there was a doctor on board. There wasn't, just some paramedic type guy, and when the cabin stewards moved the sick man to lie down on a row of seats across the aisle from me, they all stood around and talked to each other and occasionally to the sick man, for the rest of the flight! The sick man had bali belly I think as he was vomiting a lot and had the shakes. They kept swabbing him with cold water. The sick bags they took from him they put in a large plastic rubbish bag behind his seat, right next to me, instead of taking them away. Yuk! By the time I got home I realised I had been awake for more than 24 hours with maybe only one hour's sleep.
Well, we had a wonderful holiday. We didn't buy so much this time, and dropped some of the things we planned to do in favour of having a few quieter days. Staying three or four nights somewhere then moving on suited us well as it is easy to move when you just throw a few things into your bags and go. We saw places we had not seen before in Bali, like Amed and Lovina, and will probably return to Tegal Sari in Ubud and to Wawa Wewe II Cottages at Lipah Beach near Amed again some time. I use my 11th album picture of sunrise at Wawa WeWewe II as my new desktop picture as ot gives me a sense of such peace. I discovered my new digital camera produced brilliant photos, and that my previous poor efforts were more the camera I was using than my technique...what a relief! (For the record, it is a Sony DSC-S60 Cybershot camera, and I got a memory stick for it, though it has some memory built in. It is 4.1 megapixels and has a 3.0x zoom. As I did not anticipate printing off A4 or A5 images I did not use the default of 4m, but went down to 3M for my pix, which gave me more space on my memory stick).
OUR DRIVER
And last, but not least, another plug for our driver. He is part of the magic of Bali for us. He is about the same age as our girls and we consider him a friend now, as he has driven for us many times and we have got to know each other. His name is Made Wira Sanjaya, but of course we just call him Made. His cellphone number is 081-3387-63718 and his email is madebagus2002@yahoo.com. He is a young guy, about 23years old, but has impressed us with his excellent driving and good english. (He texts in better English than I do in Indonesian!) He is based in Seminyak and drives for a 'boss' - and is so popular with clients that he gets to drive the nicest vehicles in the fleet. (Made knows the location of the Birthing Clinic on the outskirts of Ubud, so if you were planning to drop donated goods there during a day's outing he would be a good driver for the trip). Generally a whole day's outing is about 300,000 during peak season, but you could negotiate 250,000 in quieter times. We have often tipped him over this negotiated amount, though, as he is worth it.
And of course, here are our photos...just copy and paste the line to a new window and join the words 'web' and 'shots' together (take out the space) then click 'enter' key and you will have the site. It just has the htt thingy at the start, not the three w's. community.web shots.com/user/kiwicarol2005 I should tell you that I have uploaded them as quite big pictures (so they can be used as desktop pictures) so they will take a while to load if you use the slideshow feature...just go make a cuppa while you wait for them to all download. About the Webshots online album site - It is free, so you do get advertising on it, and the odd popup, but that is what you get with free sites.
Finally, thank you everyone for all your advice we have gleaned from your JBR's and the archives. We used it to choose some of the places we stayed at and visited, and we hope we have been able to offer useful information too. Bali is different for everyone, every visit (part of the magic!) so some of the things I say, and our impressions, may be different to yours, so Bruce and I don't mind if you disagree, or have different impressions of places we have written about.
My previous JBR postings for our 2005 trip---
JBR - FIRST SIX DAYS, LOKHA LEGIAN
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200508/67657.html
JBR (2) UBUD, KETUT'S PLACE, TEGAL SARI BUNGALOWS
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200508/67927.html
JBR (3) LOVINA, ANGSOKA COTTAGES
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200508/68115.html
JBR (4) LIPAH BEACH, AMED, WAWA WEWE II COTTAGES
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200508/68369.html
JBR (5) SANUR, RESPATI HOTEL
http://www.balitravelforum.com/archive200508/69181.html