Back ground info - we're all from perth; there were 6 of us this trip - me (jess, 26, 3rd trip); gav (my partner of 10 years, 3rd trip); my sister, Bj (2nd trip); her boyfriend, scott (1st to bali though he has travelled most of indo surfing); and my parents, mum (57) and dad (62); it was probably about their 10th trip. We were unfortunate AP ticket holders so this was a trip we had to make the most of!
Day 8 - TUESDAY 3rd JANUARY 2006
Well I slept more soundly last night and woke a much better today. I immediately took what I hoped to be (and turned out to be) my last antibiotic. We stayed in at the LPH for breaky and then decided it was time for some serious retail therapy.
The four of us jumped a Blue Taksi straight to Matahari and did the entire strip. We bought everything from shoes, jumpers, bathers, boardshorts, shirts, joggers - you name it, we bought it. I think Gav and I managed to blow about $400 bucks in about 2hours; not bad at all :)
We walked down to the beach to check the swell and it was up, so the shopping spree ended there and we jumped a Blue Taksi back to the hotel to dump the shopping and get the boards.
As it started to rain, more like pour really, the boys took off on foot with their boards and Bj and I started to make our way down Jl Legian to catch a taksi in the direction we needed to go. And what do you know - no taksi and lots of rain! Before we knew it we were drenched to the bone so there really was no need to get a cab and we just walked along in it laughing at how see through both my singlet and shorts turned out to be when saturated. There were so many locals laughing at us and pointlessly offering us umbrellas for 10,000rps. :)
When we got to Mum and Dad's room they thought we were mental and we stripped off and hung up our clothes and warmed up with a cold Binnie. The four of us sat back and shared our thoughts on our family holiday. So far it had been fantastic, despite sore backs and Bali belly - none of us could complain or wipe the smile off our faces.
It was already pretty late in the day, about 2pm, so we thought we'd wander down to the beach and see if we could see the boys and let them know where we were going for lunch. We detoured through the Padma grounds to the Garden Club area and Mum and Dad took us in to check it out. It really was very pretty and comfortable. I think I could easily handle the free cocktail hours every night (from 5-7:30 incl real wine) and the spot they have their breaky each morning was glorious and perfect for checking out the swell at the front beach.
We sat up there for a while and used Dad's 50,000rp binoculars to watch the boys until we'd had enough and walked down to the sand to wave one of them in and let them know the deal for our arvo. Gav had had enough a came in and Scottie wasn't far behind; so the boys joined us and we all headed over to Indo-national for lunch.
Both the service and food were great. 360,000rp - 12x Binnies; 1x Chay Chay soup; 1x club; 1x chicken burger; 1x ham burger; 1x hot dog; 1x Mie goreng; 1x seafood salad. We all pigged out and had a bit of a whinge about the Air Paradise fiasco with the owners then we were buggered and the boys needed a shower after their seedy surf near the drain.
Bj and Scott were up for a massage and hit the LPH beauty salon, while Gav and I chilled out in the aircon and I took out my braids - I'd had enough and needed my scalp back. After a little sunburn it can get mighty itchy!! It felt great to brush it again.
Because it was so late when we had lunch we all decided to cancel the night's dinner and do some shopping instead. Scott was buggered after his massage and surf so he passed and chilled out watching foxtel while me, Gav and Bj hit the pavement.
We bought something of everything Bali had on offer - sunnies 20,000ea; aftershave + perfume 15,000ea; large nike bag 50,000 (we needed it to carry all the loot we bought); Binnie singlets 15,000ea; Gav and I bought a dining table setting for 8 ppl - place mats, table runner, 2 different types of coasters, bowls, salad servers, chopsticks - all wood for 300,000, we were stoked with the purchases!
We shopped until about 10pm, when the shops started to shut and we didn't have enough hands to carry all the stuff we had bought. We hobbled back to the LPH and woke Scottie up to show him all the loot. It was a fun day and the Bali belly was gone, I was back to normal and ready to run a muck tomorrow! :)