Hi everyone as this is my first JBR I hope I don't bore you. Went over 16th June and stayed at MBR again. There was myself, hubby, my brother and friends of ours, wife 65 and her hubby 71. Our friends have never been out of Aust so it was a real eye opener for them but I'm glad to say like us they loved it.
Before we went over I had requested rooms we had last year, rooms 254 with interconnecting door to room 255 for my brother, our friends were in room 253. The rooms are across from reception near the lap pool. Last year I shared room 254 with my sister and we had no problems apart from the ceiling leaking when the people above us had a shower. It was a different story this year as our toilet kept blocking and flooding the floor so they were in and out fixing it four times. our airconditioner kept freezing up, this happened six or seven times so they kept coming up and regassing it, we think it must have been leaking gas. One night it was really hot and we had no aircon so hubby went to reception and asked to see the manager who then gave us another room for the night. Thank god after that they must have fixed it properly as we had no more trouble with it for our last three days. One day we got back to our room and found a lovely basket of fruit had been delivered with a card saying compliments from the manager, I guess they were getting sick of us complaining.
While we were there they said MBR was 75% full which is great but there weren't many tourist on the street at night. I know thev resturants are doing it hard as our friends at the Dolphin told us some days they get no customers and their wages rely on people eating there. We had some great meals there and their T Bones are yummy. It was great to catch up with Mardi, Lulu, Spider and Grasshopper again, and as usual we had many nights of laughter with them. It was great to see the look on their faces when we gave them all the presents we took over for them.
Spent a few nights at the Bali Aussie, did miss Charlie not being there as he use to keep us amused with his antics. We went their one night for tea and hubby ordered soup then laces it with Sambal sauce, I ordered a mixed grill, picked up what I thought was tomato sauce and poured it on my meal, took a mouth full and realised I had used the Sambal instead. My mouth felt like it was on fire, I don't know how hubby can eat his food after pouring it on. Lee was really great she took my meal and got them to cook another one. I can tell you after that I always read the sauce bottle before I used it.
Met up with Wayan the cleaner from MBR who looked after us so well last year, he was so excited to see us and must add he looked after us so well again this year.
Puri Rajah is still undergoing renovations, to us it looked like it would be awhile before it reopens but then again they work so hard over there we could be wrong. We use to watch them doing the pool from our front door and it was always a hive of activity. One day after it had been raining we watched them all with buckets and forming a human chain they emptied the water out of the pool, amazing to watch.
Had a few brunches at Tanjung Cafe, next to Puri Rajah, I ate there a few times last year with my sister and the guy working there remembered me and said, you want fish and chips, what a great memory he has as that's what I use to order last year and I must say they are yummy.
Went to Poppies 2 for hubbies birthday tea, it was a great night as we met up with some friends of ours there.
Wasn't all that fussed on the free breakie at MBR as I can't eat spicy food, there was plenty of food and the others all enjoyed it. We went one night for the free dinner which was Nasi Goring or another Indo dish. I opted out and had Fillet Mingnon which was lovely, had that a few times at that resturant and must say it was lovely every time. Went To Joni's and Glory's and had nice meals there.
Did trips to Nusa Dua, Sanur, Kintamani, we had seen them all before but wanted to show our friends. Did a trip to Tegallalang, great shopping there as they don't hassle you and we got some great bargains. I had never heard of this place until my sister took me there last year.Went to the Bali Zoo again, all the animals looked well cared for but I did feel sorry for the Loins and Tigers in their confined space.
The weather was perfect while we were over there, the best weather we've had in the 8 visits. It did rain a couple of days but it didn't matter as the rest of the time it was beautiful.
Did heaps of shopping as usual and got some great bargains. Our grandkids faces lit up like Xmas trees when they saw all the gear we bought for them.
When we went to Sanur I was talking to a lady Sumarni who owned a shop there, she was so excited when she found out I came from Mandurah as she said some friends of hers had her over here last year for a month. She just loved what she saw and said she loved Mandurah, Rockingham and Bunbury. I had a great chat to her. Went into her shop and she asked me if I wanted to buy some genuine Billabong Tee Shirts. I ended up buying some and they were the real thing, don't know how she came to have them as she had them hidden in the back of her stall and told me to keep a look out for Polisi, she told me she would get into trouble if they caught her. I didn't asked any questions and think I got a bargain.
Gopt heaps of DVD's, think we bought back about 170 and had no problems getting them through customs. The shop we went to was buy 100 and get 70 free, the ones we've watched so far have been perfect.
While we were over there my brother got really sick and had to get the Hotel Dr, she reckons he had Bali Belly, she was very good and put him on medication so after a couple of days he was fine. The Drs visit cost him $190 Australian but as he had travel insurance he should get it all back. He also got a lovely basket of fruit from the manager as he ate most of his meals at MBR so they must have been worried he might have got it from their food but as my brother said he could have got it anywhere.
We flew back last Tues and when we left Bali I wasn't feeling the best, on the flight home I felt quite sick. Arriving in Perth we had to declare wood we had bought. We were standing in the huge queue and I suddenly began shaking and I felt really ill. One of the customs officers came up and asked if I was okay and I said no. They were really good as he got one of the female officers to take me straight out where she gave me a glass of water and took me outside. They put hubby through really quick so he could be with me. I'm still not the best, I think I may have some kind of bug in my tummy so will have to visit a Dr if it's not cleared up in the next couple of days.
I'm missing Bali already and can't waiot for our next trip as it's depressing top get back here to this horrible weather.
That's it for now, as it's my first JBR I hope I haven't bored you.