Day one and we are awake again at the crack of dawn, no alarm clocks here just the Cock-A-doodle-oohs of the roosters and the last croaks of the frogs in the pond. We throw on some clothes, now isn't this nice, one layer of shorts, tops and sandals not three layers like we have been doing at home. We sit out on the balcony and watch as the day begins. The girls set out the offerings, the Bali cats slink around underneath waiting for the birds that will appear to eat the rice, I am so pleased that the birds stick to the higher offerings and not the ones on the ground below. A tiny fat puppy appears out of the bushes and stalks the cats, we laugh at his antics, sure enough all he gets is a scratch on the nose for his trouble, he has a lot of growing up to do before he can match it with the cats.
It's now 7am and time for breakfast, as we walk to the restaurant we are greeted by the day staff. Cries of, you have come back, welcome, when did you arrive, make us feel at home. We sit in the restaurant which faces onto Jl Kesumasari at our favorite table, the one where we can both watch the narrow road and the comings and goings of the local people. It's so nice to be back. We have breakfast, juice, toast, eggs anyway you want with bacon and tea for me. H gets his first hit of Bali Kopi, so strong that the spoon stands up in it, well almost, he gives a sigh of delight, that man has an iron constitution I'm sure.
The staff waits until we have eaten and then come to talk, we discuss the occupancy rates at the hotel which we are told is about 30%. The small spa/massage room we are told has been closed for the last few months, this makes us sad, as the girls who worked here were beautiful, prices were cheap and they did an excellent job. The other staff are all on reduced hours. This is the first time we hear the current reason for the lack of tourists, we are told that all of the Aussies and Europeans have gone to the World Cup and maybe after it's over Bali will get busy again. Maybe they will come to Bali on the way home, they asked us what we thought. we thought we didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I ask H what's the program and he says Jalan Jalan. We decide to go to Hardy's to buy our necessities and we set off with the big beach bag that has seen many a Bali shopping expedition over the years.
Our first stop is the Kodak shop moneychanger opposite Hardy's we have never had a problem changing money here and never use any other money changer in Sanur. Later on this trip we were tempted by a higher rate at the moneychanger in the arcade at the Trophy Pub. We had sat at the pub a few times and watched people going into this moneychanger and reappearing apparently happy.
One happy customer loudly told his companions what a great deal he had got and asked if anyone else wanted him to change money for them. We also asked an Australian who had just changed money there if he had had any problems and he said no, it still bothered me that it seemed too good to be true. H needed to change money and decided to give it a go. AU$200.00 AT 7245, we were given 1,049,000 rupiah. Hang on AU$100 @ 7425 is 742,500 double that is 1,449,000, where is the other 400,000. We are shown the calculator which clearly reads 1,049,000, we insist the calculator is wrong and we are told, you change somewhere else, hmmmmmmm, they get a good lecture from me and we leave.
If it seems too good to be true it probably is and I wonder how much these two guys made from all of the other unsuspecting tourists that have wandered through their doors.
Back to Hardy's, we have bought teabags and coffee from home to drink in the early mornings as we sit on the balcony prior to breakfast. We decide to buy a jug and susu and gula, then there's a supply of bintang, soft drink,water, some snacky things and mossie coils for the balcony just in case. We also purchase a spoon a knife and some fruit.
We stand in the queue at check out waiting our turn, a young Balinese man is ahead of me and he is having a problem paying his bill. The young man is counting his money and asking the cashier to take this item away and again and again this happens. Finally as he counts his money again and hands back another item I say how much do you need, I will pay. Both he and the cashier are totally confused at this point and don't understand what I mean. l lean over the counter and say put these items back up here, (you could clearly see that most of the items he was buying were for a baby). I said now ring up all the items, now how much more money does he need. It amounted to just under 10,000 rupiah. Here we were with our basket full of goodies and this lovely young man couldn't pay for a few necessities and his shortfall amounted to just over $1.00,he didn't want to take my money, he kept saying no madam, it's okay madam, madam won the argument, and H said with a smile never argue with this madam she always wins, the young man grinned from ear to ear.
This set the routine for the rest of our stay. We decided to do a little for everyone that we came into contact with, the taxi driver who took us back to Stana Puri Gopa gave us a smile like you wouldn't believe and bounded out of the car to open the doors for us when we gave him 25,000 rupiah for a 13,000 rupiah fare. We always left a tip on the breakfast table and in the room on check out, we tipped in all restaurants except one where we had extremely bad service and food and just couldn't wait to get out of there. Whenever we purchased something from the shops, markets or at the beach we paid the bargained for price and then added something extra for the seller. Usually this only cost us a couple of dollars at a time. I am not in the habit of saying what we do to help when we are in Bali or anywhere else but the people really are doing it hard and if everyone just gave a small tip I am sure it would help. I now realise more than ever just how much you can buy with 10,000 rupiah.
We unpack our purchases and off we go again, jalan jalan to Donald's on the beach for a great lunch and some more people watching, One of the locals is delivering a jet ski on a small truck. He attempts to drive along the beachfront and gets bogged, within seconds the place is crowded with young men all with a solution to the problem. Each solution results in the truck becoming even deeper bogged. As quickly as they arrived the crowd is gone and the truck remains bogged. A Kijang is driven onto the beach and a cable is attached to the truck, the crowd reappears and the beach rings with laughter as the crowd pushes and the Kijang tows. Then just as it looks like the truck is there to stay it comes madly swaying out of the bog and heads straight for the tables of tourists closest to the beachfront. My heart was in my mouth, I was so pleased to see the tourists scatter and the truck heave off in the opposite direction just in time to avert a tragedy in the making.
We head back to our hotel full of our first day in Bali and lay down on that giant bed to read and rest up for dinner. We both fell asleep within seconds, I dreamt I was in Bali and I awoke to find I was, that was so weird. We went to our old favorite Madelo's for dinner and we were greeted with open arms and huge hugs all round. We came back to earth with a thud when we were told that Agung (Andrew) had gone back to the village to stay as there are not enough tourists, we were so looking forward to seeing his smiling face again. The other staff are all on reduced hours and are afraid if things don't pick up the restaurant will close as have many others including Istana Garden another favorite of ours for many years.
Many times on this trip I was to feel such an upsurge of anger towards the people who have caused so much tragedy worldwide and bought such hardship to the people of Bali. Our friends though would always leave us with a smile and an optimistic, 'maybe next month things will be better', I sincerely hope so. Neither of us wanted to leave for home 3 weeks later and we both agreed that this was our best stay ever.
Coco