after 21 glorious days in Bali reality has hit home, 14 degrees on our first day back and work is still there.
Spent 4 nights at Sanur at the Peneeda View, lovely hotel with great staff and beautiful grounds. Our room was very clean and tidy with a great outdoor bathroom. I thought that the dogs at Sanur where in much beter shape than in Kuta/Legian.
We ate at some fantastic places, our 2 favs where the Villa Shanti (on the beach front) and the Star Bali Cafe on the main road.
Martha Tillar at Hardys in Sanur just outside the supermarket. The stall holder there has a cabinet full of Martha Tillar, so I bought the whole range and had the price discounted as well. The face scrub is fantastic, but I still have wrinkles!!
Tried to buy more at supernova but I had been beaten to it, not a jar in stock!
Spent the next 17 days in Legian at the Melati coffee shop apartments. Fantastic as always, the staff are gems, loved Gilbert, Made, Agus
The coffee is divine Best in Bali, as are the tandori wraps. good place to try lunch or Dinner, you will be pleasantly suprised !
The shops around this area were really quiet but the owners didnt get too aggresive or too pushy.
We ate at many places but again our favs are
The Trattoria in eat street at Seminyak. Outstanding food and service. We had 2 meals here and it was fantastic both times.
Blue Ocean, again great meals at good prices,
had the front table here on the first night and had a run in with the tennis coach but more on this later.
Le Monde was also a good place to eat, had a meal at Kumala Pantai and was dissapointed.
Flying piano was also a good feed and enjoyed the band playing and sang songs of our choice however the balinese lady dancing to the music is bazzar.
Didnt have an issue with smoking in restaurants this year as they were mostly half empty, so not siting on top of other patrons.
HOWEVER Did have an issue with the tennis coach.
Our first day on the beach at legian, friends arrived from Austalia so we took them down to the beach, girls all sitting on the lounges
boys all standing up and looking at the waves when I hear "hey boy you want a tennis lesson" to my 10 year old son. I jumped up and said something like "F..K off you filthy pedophile". Our friends were aghast at my language and manner to this Balinese man looking to give my son a free tennis lesson, so after some quick filling in they understood. My husband has missed it when he asked my son, but got the message and we all thought that we may see him again.
Well we did, 2 nights later while we were having a meal at the front table at Blue Ocean, he walked up to my son and said again"hey boy, you want a tennis lesson". Husband jumped up and ran to the footpath as he was pissed that he missed him the first time ,and stood so close to him that he couldnt move and again said something like " Yes I want a tennis lesson,You can be the ball while I hit you around the tennis court so listen carefully you fifthy F&%king Paedophile, you come near my son again and I will give you a lesson you will never forget, so F..K off and leave my son alone" The whole restaurant stopped and listened as did the masses walking past! including the hot boy that our daughter had been eyeing off on the beach much to her dismay. Never a dull moment around my husband .
Two days later on Legian beach as my husband and son went for a walk, the tennis coach was walking/stalking in the other direction. Husband made a bee line for him and walked right up to him and said" Im watching you". As the boys walked every afternoon, they saw him almost every day and did the same thing to him every day. We all made a point of telling everyone we talked to about him, and on the beach we watched him when he was there and as he approached people we would tell them who he was. All the Balinese know who he is and what he does and I cant believe that he hasnt been run out of town. He is a deterant for Bali as a holiday destination. I know that paedophiles are everwhere, this one is running rampant and nothing is done to stop him. We did our best while we were there!! enough about that piece of Sh.t. Didn't get a photo of him but can supply a description if you need one.
Onto the dog poo, I didnt recall seeing as much dog poo on the beach and streets last trip as I did this time. It was EVERYWHERE.
And the saliva. Do Balinese men have excess production of saliva? I have never seen as many men spitting as I have in the last three weeks. Perhaps I havent noticed it before, what a filthy habit. Enough of my whinges and onto shopping.
We bought a beautiful day bed and two small tables at Geneva. Day bed cost 1800,000 and tables cost us 200,000 each. This shop is fantastic. If you go, allow a couple of hours to look through it. Also bought lamps , table wear, light fittings etc at geneva. This is being shipped back by Bali bargain hunters as we did last year.
Other goodies were ceremonial umberellas in double 6 street 140 thousand each, and a stone water feature, carved garden pedestals with bowls and a stone balinese lady. Cant wait for it to arrive.
The boys had fantastic boardies made at Selumbung surf wear in Jl Abimanyu seminyak, for 50,000 a pair. Good quality and made to fit.
Also had a leather jacket made for our son for the motor bike at Hero leather in Singosari St Kuta, for 500,000. Really pleased with the result, fake Harley logo and all!
Spent a day at Dreamland, my favourite beach in the world. It is still beautiful, clear (but dangerous) water and white sand. There was a dead shark in the water ( 4 foot tiger shark), husband pulled it out onto the beach and it was hilarious. People screaming and running out of the water like he was Steve Irwin with a live shark. After everyone had a look at it a local fisherman dragged it back out into the water. Half an hour later a bus load of Japanese arrived and not long after that the shark washed back onto the beach. It was so funny, they were all screaming and carrying on ,while everyone else just sat there, seen it before!!
Waterbom was fantastic. The new Boomerang ride was brilliant and we all had a great day. We had friends with us and another group of friends staying at the garden view with a heap of other friends, so there were about 30 of us at waterbom . The kids had a ball however, Waterbom was quiet, no-where near as busy as same time last year.
Really enjoyed our holiday but did find bali much quieter than last year. We can only hope that Garuda still fly direct and that the terrorists leave bali alone. another attack would really be the end for the poor Balinese.