After kicking back relaxing and shopping for a week or so in Sanur, we embarked on a pre-arranged tour to Yogyakarta. I booked the return flights myself on the internet here in Aus with Mandala airlines, then searched around for the right tour package from several tour providers.
In the end I paid about $80 per person for return flights Denpasar to Yogya, then about $170 per person for a two full day tour including the Sultan's Palace, Candi Prambanan, Taman Sari and the underground Mosque, a Ramayana Performance with the most amazing buffet dinner, 1 night's accommodation in a 3 star hotel right on Jalan Maliboro (basically the main drag), Borobudur Temple at Sunrise, and then the beach for sunset before heading back to Bali. This was all conducted by a wonderful man called Dimas and his driver from Alam Persada tours in Yogya. They were fantastic and I'd happily recommend them if anyone is thinking of doing this trip.
It's a short 1 hour flight from Bali, and I'll admit it's pretty full on for two days, but in my opinion it's more than worth it. Borobudur itself is reason enough to go.
Had some Kopi Luwak in a specialty coffee shop and I am a convert (was thinking of you Dadvet - I will get in touch soon - I'm addicted to this stuff!) It really is sweeter and nuttier than regular coffee, and worth the money if you can find it.
And if that isn't enough to convince you - Martha Tilaar is cheaper in Yogya :) but that's my secret!!! I stocked up on moisturiser and night cream for the coming 12 months for what I would normally pay for a single Estee Lauder product. Insane! Vital Nutrition 30's was going for about 16,000Rp a small bottle. I was seeing between 18,000 (Hardy's Sanur) - 50,000Rp (Bodyworks Seminyak - shame on you)
On our return from Yogya we spent a few more recovery days in Sanur before getting ready to head to Sesari Bali villas in Seminyak.
Any regulars to Sanur or Swastika in particular would be well versed with Warung Wayan on the corner of the Swastika entrance. I've been eating here for as long as I've been staying at Swastika (18 years) and the food is amazing and always very tasty. Unfortunately, for the very first time, I think it was here that I had my first dose of food poisoning. I hesitate to say Bali Belly because I really don't think it was, I'm sure someone on the forum will be able to diagnose what we had though!
We had skipped breakfast that morning because we were still full from a wonderful meal at Warung Rib the night before, so by lunchtime we were hungry. Hubby ambled around to Warung Wayan to order the usual nasi goreng istimewa for takeaway and decided to get some extra satays as well. We sat by the pool at Swastika and happily chowed down.
At around 7:00 when we would normally be getting ready for dinner, I said to my husband 'You know what? I don't really feel like dinner, I feel a bit bloated from lunch, I might skip it.' And hubby agreed, he said he still felt full and that he could happily have a night in. Mum pootled off to Donald's with a friend and left us behind. Now I must stress, we didn't feel sick at all - not a bit, no nausea, no cramps, just bloated and feeling full.
By 8:30 we were lying down watching TV when I shot up in bed and said 'I'm going to be sick...' I made it to the bathroom just in time, and that was the beginning of an all night session from both ends for both of us! Luckily we were about 15 minutes apart, so we had just enough time to recover and clean up before the next one came racing in. Neither of us have ever been that sick before, in Bali or anywhere else. It was awful.
Now here's the weird thing. We still had no stomach cramps, no real nausea (unless we were just about to chuck), and it lasted about 12 hours. I don't think it was Bali Belly, but I don't know what it was. It took us umpteen Gatorades and whole day to recover properly (terrible lower back pain from chucking!) and I now can't muster the psychological strength to eat at Wayan's Warung again. At least until the next trip.
Anyone have any idea what that was?
To be continued...