We flew to Bali from Brisbane with Pacific Blue on the 1St of March.
Apart from no TV and no radio the trip was uneventful.
It was a long six hours and as I had previously said probably the longest conversation Mrs Hools and I have had for 36 years.
Straight through VOA and into the Masa Inn within 1 hour, said hello to the staff, unpacked and straight over to the Bali Agung just in time to see a loud mouth 50 year old drunk Aussie get flattened for being a drunken pest and terrorising the shopkeepers, street kids and tourists.
Apparently the drunk had been a real nuisance for weeks, even walking up the street naked.
It was good to see and certainly shut the load mouth up.
I wished I had snotted him myself but I can only talk the talk now, my walk the walk has got up and left me.
The 2nd day in Bali was just an R&R and catch up with the locals in Poppies1, but day 3, the 3rd of March we shot over to Sanur to catch up with Bloodyron and Irma at SBV.
Ron has renovated the area around the big red esky with a Bamboo Gazebo type construction with bamboo table and chairs and looks quite impressive, I wonder if he stole the roof back from SS&S?
We spent a great afternoon over there with Ron and Irma, Hillary and the Kuta Kowboy, Pieter and Rhonda and MJK and his lovely wife.
Although we prefer Baldies side of the island it is always good to catch up with Ron and some of the characters that stay there or drop in for a beer. My apologies for anyone I missed naming, but the brain cells are still a bit befuddled.
The 8th of March was a BTF and Facebook friends meeting at S&S and I agree with Bloodyron, why wait until 5pm to have a beer so Jo and I decided that we would walk up to the Kumala Pantai at 3 pm(with a few refuelling stops)and have a meet and great with a few of our friends who work at the KP.
Although we don't stay there anymore we have been friends with some of the staff for quite a few years and if we don't drop in and see them they will still look us up at the Masa.
After a few Bintangs we waddled down to S&S.
There were quite few people there and although I don't usually go to S&S it was great to catch up with Smudge and Dennisc again and meet Carmel (cpbulli),Gerry, Ginny, Pennyp, Huflungdung and their partners.
It was obvious that some people were a bit apprehensive about using their forum name, but as for me I could not give a "rats", love me or hate me that's who I am.
I was busy yakking my head off when a dark shadow loomed over me and kissed my on the cheek.
Straight away I thought hello, Sherbert is here, but then I realised that he was still in OZ by this time a velvet smooth feminine voice was whispering in my ear "Hello Hoolz, this is ??????????????, I won't talk to you here but I will catch up with you on the forum".
I looked up only to see a Angeline Jollie style figure silhouetted against the Bali setting sun about turn and rejoin her party 30 metres away.
I nearly fell of my stool.
It is nice to know that old Hoolz can still drag in the chicks from 30 metres.
After I realised who it was I started to think "was that the Mafia kiss of death" and quickly checked for signs of an assassins laser guided telescopic sight flickering on my torso and looking over my shoulder for that 6'4" man mountain son of hers with the BB gun that she once threatened to sic onto me.
After I had another Bintang and nothing had happened I thought what a lovely gesture just to come over and say hello.
I am from the old school and chivalry will not allow me to kiss and tell, so this little secret will always just remain between myself and Bintangplease :)
Several groups ended up at Mozzarella for the rest of the night and it was ice cold watermelon juice for most of the next day.
Now for the Bogans food guide for common sewers.
We actually ate every where and found that we did not really need to leave Poppies1 to get decent feed.
We ate on the beach and at every eatery in Poppies1 with the exception of the Bamboo Corner, I simple refuse to eat there until they start to clean their toilets out at least twice a year.
Our favourites are;
Secret Garden:
(a new owner and renovated bamboo garden furniture with fans)
Pies (with sauce of course), pasties,chicken steaks and schnitzels,pork snags and mash, kranski and mash, good salads, every meal was good and the Bintang very cold.
Bali Agung:
Always get in a bottle of REAL Myeres's Rum for me and the meals get better after every drink.
Havana:
Meals are always good, if hungry try a Shashlik, or a large rack of pork ribs. Draw back is looking at Che Guevara and listening to Cuban and Spanish music.
Swell bar:
All meals are great with the exception of Thai Beef Salad.
Tree House:
Small meals, very good, very cheap, similar to Bamboo corner but with clean toilets, I had a Tree House thin and crispy pizza and it was so good that after a long day on the beach at a beach bar I decided to get another one as a take away and snack on it through the night.
Mrs Hools offered to carry it back 100 meteres to the hotel for me.
A very bad mistake!
Pizzas are suppose to be carried flat not swinging from your arm in a plastic bag. By the time she walked up to the hotel and talked to every shop keeper and their family my Pizza had been hanging of her arm for an hour. Finally when she got back to the room she unceremoniously threw the Pizza on the bed up side down. when I finally opened up the bag it looked like a dried out technicoloured yawn jigsaw all scrunched up in the corner of the box.
It was still tasty at midnight though.
Ketupat: By far the best meal we had. Only went the once, but it certainly wont be the last, the Chicken Curry is guaranteed to clear your sinuses out for three days. It was highly recommended for Indonesian cuisine and I agree, but it would be nice if they include a pie in their menu :)
Over the years at the Masa we have met a wonderful 63 year American name Danny.
I won't go to much detail about Danny except that he is not enjoying good health and is currently in WA visiting friends in Margaret River, Kalbari and Denmark
Danny is an American Vietnam Veteran who still teaches at a University in Japan, he has not been back to the US since 1972.
We usually share a few Bundies and coke or a glass or two of red wine.
Danny has been friends of the family that own the Masa for over 35 years and the relationship is so strong between both parties that at the 35 anniversary of the Masa in February they planted a tree to honour the relationship.
The tree had been grafted onto another tree to symbolise the friendship of the two families into one, they have planted the tree in front of Dannys usual room by the front pool area.
You can tell when Danny is in residence by all the ashtrays, coffee cups and red wine bottles outside his room.
What a pleasure to know this lovely man.
Speaking of pleasures, we caught up with Petra (Vicki and Greg, who also now Danny) and were also staying at our hotel. They had just delivered some walking frames to an aged care home that Imagem is involved with.
Another nice couple who we shared a few Bintangs with.
That is just about it from me, we had a wonderful twenty days just doing as little as possible, although if somebody knows of anyone who would like to take Mrs Hools shopping every bloody morning for 28 days in Aug/September please let me know :)
Over the years we have met somewhere around 25-30 members of BTF and have enjoyed the company of each and every one of them.
I think it is important to continually have these meet and greets to put names to faces
So far every one we have met has just been your average friendly next door neighbour type and not one has had a tail, a trident or horns growing out of their head, but I haven't met you all YET!!!!!
Cheers Hoolz