Woke up and made the mistake of moving the curtains to try and see what the weather was like. Big mistake there were 2000 mossies waiting for some fool to let them in. Where's the spray.
Good news is that neither of us have any bites, nothing has been nibbling on the fruit tray and the sun is shining and all the staff walking by are full of smiles and lovely people.
Breakfast with our own private cooks (no one else is in the breakfast room) is fine. Nothing special, eggs anyway you want them or pancakes, toast, tea/coffee and fruit juice. Enough for us and served with a smile. We are definitely feeling happier.
Get back to the room and with some daylight through the door realise that is very clean (she who rules still doesn't like the loo}. We go for a little walk and find the pool which whilst it is small it is virtually out own private pool because no one else is there. Incidently if you were still considering using this accommodation the pool only had half a dozen beds and the depth is over 2 metres all the way around. No good for kids although there is a small spa which they could play in.
Team meeting and agree it is not the best place in the world but it is clean, the staff are nice, we have conquered the mossies, no further sightings of Roland, it is cheap and we do not intend spending much time in the room anyway. Hands up all those who want to stay - unanimous.
Change some cash at a little car rental place just outside the Putu Bali Villa and get an excellent exchange rate with absolutely no problems. I went in, as advised armed with my calculator and good head on, but he counted it out on the counter slowly and precisely. We used this place a few times and never had a problem.
Off to Geneva. Blue taxi and assumed he would know where it was. Never heard of it. Started driving towards Kuta along the main road and we spotted it. Probably advisable not to assume that the taxi drivers will know where you want to go and have a rough address. WOW Cath was in her element. If we had bought everything she wanted we would have needed a container. The prices here are unbelievable but I managed to persuade her to just buy the essentials on the top of the list (no not the big Giraffe which would look nice in the hall) and on the promise that we would return later in the week.. Could not believe we had got out of there with just two carry bags.
Back to the Putu and a welcome cold Bintang in the bar (this hotel is getting better all the time) and the beer isn't too bad either. Just got the beers in when a guy arrived at the reception and saw the girl pointed at us. We thought it was great that she recognised us and then realised we were the only residents. Anyway it was Smudge. We had contacted him before travel and arranged to take one empty case (Singapore gave us a few Ks extra - thank you) full of children's clothes and stuff and he had come to pick it up. Good timing, well I can tell you this guy is surrounded by good karma. He had 3 kids with him that he had just been to the hospital with them for various ailments (cleft palette, anaemia) and over a couple more beers nearly reduced the missus to tears. Even tough old me was choking up listening to some of the stories he had to tell. If you meet him ask him to tell you the recent story of the 6 month old baby they rescued who needed the kiss of life on the way back from the village. The youngest child he had with him was 7 years but looked 4or 5 and she had a serious heart problem. Cath wanted to take her home, she was gorgeous and although it will take some time she is expected to fully recover. We made tentative arrangements to see him again the following week in Sanur. Seriously, seriously if there is anything you can do to help this guy please contact him through this forum. He does a wonderful job in areas that no one else visits and they have no medical care or assistance from anyone other than Smudge and anyone he can rope in to help. Do not travel to Bali with full cases, you do not need the clothes but I am sure Smudge would appreciate them. Anyway it is more space to carry your purchases home without going over the limit (too much).
Rest of the day around our private pool, couple more Bintangs (I could get used to this).
In the evening we ate at Sati Bali, only because it was the only restaurant that had anyone in. Where are all the tourists? Excellent. Probably a bit more expensive than other Indonesian places but very good quality and service. Expensive? It cost us less than £10 with drinks, joke isn't it. We vowed to come back the following day and try the rice table (can't remember how to spell ricetaffel). We lived in Holland for a couple of years and when we were there it was an expensive treat for us.
Later on the balcony we keep hearing this strange sounding bird (yes we are attacking the duty free but it is not the drink) which I cannot identify.
Another day and this place is getting better all the time, we are actually growing to 'like it'. May be it is the Bintangs?