Day 2 was yesterday - hard to remember back that far......
First a question....does jalan-jalan counteract the effects bintang-bintang, do you think?
But truly, it is coolish, so relatively minimal quantities are being consumed. Though the rain is over and the sun came out.
Day 2 it rained till 10 am and I took a hotel umbrella and walked a huge circuit from UVH up to Jalan Raya, to Hanoman St, all the way round to the Monkey Forest. I was surprised to see the newly (to me) landscaped Monkey Forest and got quite confused in which direction to go to Nyuhkuning (saya tersesat!)
Just to digress, don't you love the Indonesian language? So expressive...I mean for example 'berak-berak'....it leaves the English equivalent for dead.! I mention this because I've learnt 2 new words. I won't mention them here, as this is a family forum, but I learnt them from the tv, from an ad for a clinic for men's sexual health. Not to minimise your problems guys, but for some reason these words in Indonesian just crack me up.
So lunch at Laka Leke restaurant in Nyuhkuning. It is so huge now....it always used to have Sobek groups, but how I remember it is individuals at the front and all the groups in one big pavilion out the back. Now...I counted seven pavilions out the back. Great food, great service... I think they were initially a bit thrown that I was alone but once they knew it they kept coming to chat with me. It's like the old days when they'd come & sit down with you. Another forumite said that it's great there at night...I've never been. The Monkey Forest is a barrier at night for me. But I asked the waiter about that & he said you just ring up & they pick you up at your hotel. But I must say that Nyuhkuning is a wasteland - so many derelict shops, and a whole row of shops that used to run parallel to the main street. empty. So sad. Good that Laka Leke is booming - they deserve to.
Then jalan-jalan back to the hotel - just in time for my visitors.
This is when it stopped being a normal day & turned into magic.
The previous day, I had said to the receptionist - I love it here, but the only thing I miss is the sedap malam. Last time it was all around the hotel. Agung, the driver who brought me from the airport,who happened to be standing in reception, said , oh I'll bring you some tomorrow.
So when I got home yesterday the receptionist told me that Agung had brought me flowers and they'd put them in the room. So I have a SHEAF of sedap malam in my room. Can you believe it? How wonderful is that! I feel like a movie star.
So I'm relaxing, waiting for Komang to come to show me her little boy. And when she came, who brought her but Nyoman, who works at the hotel, but had been away at his village. These are my two best friends in Bali, and we spent the afternoon sitting together, chatting and blowing up balloons for little Putu. Magic. I couldn't sleep last night. I felt so elated.
Putu had wanted to swim, but I bet the pool is cold and his mother managed to persuade him it was 'dingin'. All the Balinese are commenting that it is dingin, but it's not to me - just cool enough so that you can walk a long way - so it has its benefits. So then Putu wanted a bath 'with hot water.' Makes you think, doesn't it - because the Balinese ARE cold. Well those who know UVH will know that they have those sunken baths, so we filled it up with warm water and bubble bath & he sloshed about in it happily & kept asking if he could stay a bit longer. Such a GOOD kid.
When they were leaving, Komang and Putu were carrying quite a large number of blown-up balloons. As we went past the swimming pool there was a tiny Australian boy there, with his father. Putu went right over and gave him a balloon. I was impressed.
So dinner....well all the restaurants in the MF Rd were pretty much empty. I ended up at Tutmak, behind the playing field. Lovely tuna steak, though I thought expensive. A fairly small portion - de-LIC-ious, all the same. With 1 large bintang - $90000.
You've noticed I haven't mentioned shopping. I think the shopping report has to be a separate one, don't you?
I've written too much There's not time to tell you about when Quirks was involved in konfrontasi with a person from land of the free, home of the brave.