Hi all,
Firstly, a massive thanks to all who contribute to this forum without all the knowledge gained we wouldn't have as good a time...a few examples are : meeting Smudge, Harris at the Cyber Cafe, Sami & Susi's etc.
Anyway, I wrote a fair bit about our first week in Amed so I won't repeat myself there.
I'll start from being at the Padma. It was our second visit there and was so good to go back. We had the same room as last time, so we could sit out in the courtyard and listen to the nightly band and sip drinks etc. Mark, my husband found a new toy to play with at night...he brought an electric mozzie zapper from the Bintang Supermarket...actually he brought two. He spent ages killing any small flying insect - LOL. The only shame was that both zappers were confiscated at customs - apprently their forbidden as they are unstable and could be used as a weapon! I thought they were a good idea as I hate the chemicals used to keep mozzies away - c'est la vie.
Back to Padma...it was very quiet at the Padma but as I mentioned before, there were plenty of seats around the pool. Heaps of Japanese and Singaporeans and quite a few Germans. Very few Aussies. Club benefits were great - we loved breakfast at Bella Rosa overlooking the beach each morning, watching the squirrels playing and the tiny frogs hopping around. We didn't make it to arvo tea each day , but Mark and I left Hannah in the room and always enjoyed a cocktail or two each night.
We didn't do a heap of shopping, but as previously reported, I did get my biokos Martha Tilaar face products - thanks Hools and Dennisc for highlighting these products for me!
Hannah brought a couple of gameboy games, I brought 3 pairs of Bali pants, Mark had a ball in the Bintang shop on JL Legian - he brought the combined lighter/bottle opener/torch for 25,000RP and a nice quality tank top for 70,000RP. We brought 2 polo t-shirts from the lady next to the Pelangi Laundry on our last day as she'd begged us to buy something each day we picked up/dropped off our laundry - we paid 150,000RP for both. We weren't into bargaining that much, just couldn't be bothered. Instead, we worked out what we'd be prepared to pay and stuck to that - usually far more than they would expect. We brought DVD's from a variety of places - most were fine.
Went to the Pasar Pagi on JL Legian but they didn't have vanilla pods - I'll get them when we stay at the Tegal Sari in June. We frequented Bintang Supermarket (I love this place), Loji Supermarket and Kencana Supermarket. We were accosted by 4 girls outside the Kencana Supermarket one day and I didn't want to buy another leather wrist band, so they said could I buy them a drink - cheeky things LOL so I did, they were expecting coke etc but I told them in my very childlike Indonesian that I wouldn't buy them a sugary drink, they could have water or milk. We ended up reaching a compromise and I brought them a flavoured milk! LOL
We ate a Drops again on our last night - love the menu, food and staff. Price is very reasonable too.
Komang Bajing took us to Denpasar for the day - we ate locally in Denpasar at a place that sold only Babi Guling. It was lovely, but we couldn't do it justice as we'd had our usual massive breakfast at the Padma. KB drove us around DPS and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be highrises, businesses etc but it was still very Balinese. Visited Mataharis which was ok. On the way back we went to Supernova and I got my MT stuff - approx. $34AUD and I paid by Visa. I got cleanser, moisturiser & serum. We went to the Bali Cyber Cafe for dinner and met Harris. KB know's him too. What a lovely man. Great menu and fabulous prices. He seems to be doing ok with locals and expats using the internet facilities, but I reckon he'd do well on the food anyway as it's so good.
...Have to go now, will write more later.
Cheers,
Andrea