We had been really looking forward to this return to Bali, as things at home had been a bit dramatic in one way and another. We had booked the tickets twelve months ago (as soon as we got back from our last trip) so the anticipation was high. We flew Qantas and left Perth pretty much on time. Oh well... A smooth flight, a boring movie, a reasonable meal & a couple of drinks and we're there!!
The first 'Well, that's Bali' experience happened before we got out of the airport. To save hassles with change at the VOA counter, I had bought US dollars before leaving. We waited about 45 minutes in the line as a couple of other planes came in with ours but we finally hit the front desk. 'Sorry, can't pay here with US money, only Australian money. You must go back to the official money changer and pay there'. What the?? We had never heard of such a thing, and could see others paying with US$ on other counters, but of course there's no point trying to debate!! Ran back to the money counter, paid & got the papers without problems but went straight back past the queue to the desk - we weren't about to spend another hour in that line. We thought at first it might have been a scam of some sort, but didn't cost us any extra so we put it down to (all together now) "Well, that's Bali".
Customs put the usual X on the bag with the bottle of raspberry cordial but no problem, through we go and met by a driver from our first stop, the Bali Rani. Denny had arranged our favourite poolside room which was ready when we arrived, so it was a quick unpack, a duty-free vodka & tonic (with raspberry juice, killed two birds with one drink) and out into the street for some Bali smells, atmosphere and friendliness.
It's always great to see someone you bought from a year ago and they greet you with such warmth and remember your name. It's amazing to think how many customers they must have had since our last visit, yet the faces and the names stay with them. I wish my memory was that good! We went straight to Kartika Tourist Information Service and phone shop outside the Kartika Dewata Market where I had bought a Pro XL sim card twelve months ago. Jack, the young man who runs the office smiled, stuck out his hand and said 'Hello Paul' and I nearly fell over with surprise. Walking back later on the other side of the road, the famous Dianne jumped up & greeted my friend 'Cool' by name as well.
We decided our first Bali meal would be at Garis Garis, close to the hotel. The place is gorgeous, the staff are friendly and the food was good but (OH NO!) 'Sorry, no margaritas - no tequila left'. Oh well, a Bloody Mary for me, a Bintang for Cool and this is it, folks - we're officially here!! Of course we had a back-up plan and stopped at Green Garden for some of their excellent margaritas (7.5 out of 10) and dessert on the way back, which didn't disappoint.
The trick to being happy at this lovely bar is to order the next round as the first one arrives, because they take ages to make margaritas, whether busy or not. On our last time in Bali, we filled in a Customer Satisfaction form there and wrote that the margaritas took a looong time to arrive but were still complimentary overall. Each time we came in after that the staff jokingly said 'Hurry, make the margaritas now' and we all had a good laugh. Still took ages though... They have the same duo performing as when we were last here, I love the way they have at least one super-popular song in everybody's language, jumping from Japanese to English to Russian to Bahasa to Balinese and pleasing everyone along the way.
By now we were starting to yawn, so back to the Bali Rani, the pool area looks so beautiful and cool at night, what a shame we're not allowed to swim (it's 11pm)!
Big sleep coming up because tomorrow is a HUGE day - handbag shopping...