Wednesday 15 August
Well today is the day I check out of the Barong and head to Lovina for a few days. Got myself organised and the little packing I had to do done and headed to Quentin's room to get him organised. The 3 boys were flying home tonight and we needed to organise a kerb side wheelchair pickup at the airport. Made arrived at the Barong at 9 am and Marc and Dylan walked over and met us at the hotel. We all piled into Made's van with first stop being the bank. Quentin also found his keycard did not work in Bali and had to have his dad send some money through Western Union. The staff here were very helpful. We put Quentin on a chair and had him fill out the paperwork and then I lined up to collect his money transfer for him. Armed with cash we then headed to Kuta Paradiso to go to the Garuda office. The staff in here were not very helpful. On enquiry we were advised that there were no business/first class seats left so upgrading was not an option. Left the Garuda office without the assistance we required. Thankfully one of the Rotarians had mentioned he had a friend who is the head of Garuda. A couple of quick calls to him and someone called Quentin on his mobile and made all the necessary arrangements. With the boys all taken care of and dropped back to the Barong to fend for themselves we started our journey to Lovina.
Prior to arriving in Bali, I contacted the Adopta Widows and ordered some t-shirts for the upcoming distribution day. I had arranged to meet Ni Luh at the shop at Bedugal markets so that I could visit Cracker's Bar & Grill again. The last visit was on Grand Opening day in October 05 so it was good to see the progress since then. The bar is looking great with all the trophies etc decking the walls. David from Pacung Indah happened to be at Crackers also waiting to see Ni Luh. As this was the first day that I finally felt good again I tucked into a fantastic nasi goreng while there. Had a great chat with David and had the chance to meet the gorgeous grand-daughter.
Ni Luh arrived and I checked the t-shirts and settled the bill. The girls did a fantastic job of the t-shirts with very basic guidelines. I was esctatic with the finished product. Loaded the t-shirts and we were once again headed toward Lovina.
We finally arrived at the Sunari Villa & Spa in Lovina and checked in. On arrival I was informed that there was a big LG function happening there tonight in the restaurant. This didn't bother me as my room was located a reasonable distance from where the event would take place so with a bit of tv noise couldn't see a problem.
After dumping my bags in my room and a quick squizz around, I decided to take the opportunity to relax by the pool for a couple of hours. Well this turned out not to be such a good idea. Due to the function the hotel was full of locals, this is not a problem believe me, the thing that was the problem was watching them spit and blow their nasal contents into the pool water. Now I don't care where you come from, that is a disgusting thing to be doing into a communal swimming pool. There was a couple from England with their 2 teenage daughters next to me who were equally repulsed. It got so bad we ended up calling the manager poolside to voice our disapproval and disgust in what we were seeing. Needless to say I never swam in that pool once. I wouldn't go near it after that.
I did however get talking with this family and we ended up heading to the dolphin statue to have a walk around and shop a little. None of us ended up buying anything but it was lovely to just walk around and chat. We all opted to head back to our rooms for room service and an early night. Must say I don't remember hearing too much of the function that night so can't have been too bad.