JBR - PART FOUR
DAY 5: Today I had planned on a morning trip to the Taman Burung Bird Park but we all felt like we just needed a relaxing day by the pool. After breakfast I went with Ramsey to the Kids Club to ask if they would mind dressing him up in the traditional costume (this was part of the program yesterday when the boys stayed there - I left my camera and they took some nice shots of Tarek all dressed up). Ramsey didn't want to do it at the time but agreed to do it today. They kindly dressed him up complete with makeup and frangipani flowers behind his ears. He looked gorgeous. I took Ramsey outside and got some nice shots of him in the hotel grounds. Will add them to my web shots page if you want to have a look.
We met up with Jane, Sven (who was feeling a lot better), Annabelle and baby William at the pool and spent the day swimming, playing and chatting. We ordered cocktails and lunch by the pool and had a very pleasant day. At 5pm we met H elgie in our room to buy and exchange a few more DVD's and PS2 games. Great service!
At 6pm we met up with our new friends - Jane, Sven, Annabel and baby William - in the lobby. We had decided to take the free shuttle down to the Nusa Dua Festival. The Festival was something like Perth's Royal Show but on a much smaller scale. There were exhibitions of food & crafts, dance displays, bird competitions, toys for the kids etc. Different events were scheduled over the week. On the night we went there was a Kecak dance presentation and lots of stalls set up where you could look at and buy crafts, furniture, food and other products. We did not see many other tourists there - mostly locals. Very nice atmosphere and did not get hassled to buy stuff at all which was nice. Jane bought some nice shell bowls and we got all the kids these ‘rockets' that a man was selling. Every kid that saw them flying into the air just had to have one. Of course they only lasted about 5 minutes and then there were plenty of tears and tantrums! We walked out of the Festival area looking for somewhere to eat but only saw a Japanese place (and Maher and I had eaten Japanese the night before). I suggested going into Bualu villiage as there were plenty of cheap restaurants there. We walked for awhile looking for it but were not sure if we were headed in the right direction. A taxi went past so we decided we would ask him to take us. All of us piled into the taxi - Jane and baby William in the front and Maher, Sven, Tarek, Annabel, Ramsey and I somehow squeezed into the back. Only in Bali!!! Only took a few minutes and we arrived in Bualu villiage - a strip of busy restaurants and shops. We went into a restaurant that looked very nice (can't remember the name of it) but they were fully booked. Maher asked the guy if he could suggest anywhere else and he grabs him by the arm, leading him down the street and across the road to another restaurant! We all followed behind and ended up at a restaurant called Blue Ocean. Very nice restaurant, decorated in an ocean theme. Our table was one of those glass-topped display type tables filled with shells (very nice!) The staff were wonderful and very tolerant of our kids who were busily exploring the place, arguing over who was going to sit next to who, spilling drinks (no - actually that was my husband!!!) One of the waitresses nursed the baby for about half an hour so Jane could enjoy her dinner. Sven ordered a whole duck which we all had a taste of - it was absolutely delicious! The rest of our meals were all very nice too. We paid separately and our share of the bill was Rp. 250,000 (AU $32.00) for the 4 of us including a hefty and well deserved tip!
Will leave the rest of this very long JBR until tomorrow (sorry, I hope I am not boring you to tears!!)
In the meantime, here is the link to last rest of our photos on web shots - just copy and paste into your browser and close the space btwn web and shots...
http://community.web shots.com/album/456112764GweVxU