Have you ever noticed that there are no caravans in Bali. Call me nuts but I reckon if you had a few self contained campervans, that were banned from going near Kuta, you'd have a pretty good little business. Imagine driving around Bali with your own clean, sparkling toilet wherever you went. Paradise.....
My two weeks in Bali were interesting for a couple of reasons. I discovered that shopping is a disease. You can normally tell when someone is coming down with it. It's just about always set off by a sign that reads '70-80% Off Sale'.
I also discovered that you could catch this bug.
I'm not normally a big shopper and we usually avoid the name brand shops but on a recent trip to KL we discovered that it's always worthwhile popping into these shops to check out the sales. Likewise in Bali. Every time I saw a shop that promised 70-80% off I was never disappointed. Hell I almost cried when Quicksilver in Kuta Square burnt down because I never had a chance to check out their sale.
Even Matahari and Ramayana had sales on and they're always cheap. So cheap in fact that the wife came home with 14 pairs of shoes this trip. Apparently she's half centipede, half fashionista. I still giggle every time we eat at the food hall in Ramayana in Denpassar, Diarea.....Great name. Good food and cheap. Just close your eyes when the little cockroaches scurry up the walls. A mie goreng was 80 cents (I can't find the cent symbol on my keyboard) and crepes with ice cream and banana were $1.40
I bought two Eiger base ball caps for $10.00Au each. I've never climbed anything taller than my nans old Morton Bay Fig Tree but I like Eiger gear.
We were buying surf shirts from the markets for 35000-40000rph. I soon discovered I could get the legit shirts from the various Quicksilver/Billabong shops for 199000rph. I'm all for taking it to the man and buying the knockoffs because the legit gear is so ridiculously expensive in Perth but when I can buy the good gear for around $20.00 then I do.
We went to the usual Surf Factory Outlet on the by-pass road, Roxy Outlet near Bali Bakery (I love the Bali Bakery) and the Billabong Factory Outlet nearby. The wife managed to destroy my faith in humanity. If she knew how much it hurt me every time she took out her credit card, she'd stop shopping......in about 40 years.
We shopped at the following local shops for surf wear:
Alief Shop
Jl Kartika Plaza (Directly opposite the Dynasty)
Good quality gear. He can get just about anything you want within a day and stocks some winter style surf wear. Prices are good and easy to come to an agreement. The girls bought denim surf brand shorts for 30000rph. We've shopped here just about every trip because of the variety and quality of the clothing.
Margret Shop (Yep that's how it's spelt)
Melasti Art Markets Melasti street number 83D
(0361)749912
We've been back to Margret a lot. She will barter but once she knows you and you come to an agreement everything is pretty much 30000rph. The quality is good and sometimes it's just nice to go somewhere you know.
We bought movies (all legit of course) from:
Jimmy Disc Center
Padma Street Legian
08123807786
Standard price throughout Bali. Quality so far has been good.
Jimmy employs his brother, Jack, and a couple of other drivers. Jimmy and Jack speak great English and Jack worked on cruise ships for 10 years before getting married.
Jimmy is an authorised money changer and is one of the only guys I know who actually has a tour operator's licence over there. They're great to use to visit the Safari Park as they know when all the show times are and will get you there five minutes before so you get a good view.
They are both great with kids and very funny guys. Jimmy is also a magician, he'll take your money and makes it disappear. Kidding. He was a magician at one of the local restaurants when he was younger.
Obviously we went to Unagi and Biarritz. The girls liked Biarritz better simply because the things they sell are different and it's a little newer but the wife still managed to make me feel so sick when I saw her pile of shopping that I had to sit on one of the dad chairs out the front. Something I mentioned in a previous posting from our last trip was the time we went to Unagi. We'd never been before so found it quite funny when the lady who was helping us walked away with our basket......and came back with a trolley. B!tch....
I took over a Garmin GPS that had Bali maps loaded on it. I got my sister to take it over one trip last year and she had them loaded at The Pro Shop Kite and Surf Bali Sanur.
Jl Cemara 72 Sanur
(0361)284260
jankie@bali-kitesurfing.org
www.bali-kitesurfing.org
The maps are great, half the price in Perth and have all the various points of interest on them including restaurants, ATM, shops and even military bases....why would I want to know where they are? Anyway I took it everywhere with us and marked a few things of my own. One of the street I think that would be interesting was near Biarritz.
It's Jl Kunti (easy one to remember). Some drivers use it as a by-pass when the by-pass road is chockers. But there are a few nice little shops along its length. Hair bits and piece shops, cushion covers and various craft shops with prints and statues. It's one place I want to check out on our next trip.
One things about the Bali Bakery, it's next door to a hospitality wholesaler Modena (Isn't that a brand of sanity napkin?). They stock hotel quality cookware and table wear. Obviously more expensive than Matahari but far better quality. I bought a three stack of tiffen wear from Modena for 230000rph $30AU and bought a similar one from Matahari for 180000rph $22AU after 30% discount but the one from Modena was way better. They have cookie cutters, woks, cutlery, just about anything you can think of for the kitchen.
Funny thing is I bought a wok while we were stuck in Robinsons Denpasar when the heavens erupted. I cost me $3.00 and is made of aluminium so it was really light. I've seasoned it by rubbing it with oil and salt then burnt that off. It works a treat. Rate the $3.00 wok.
We had a set of leather chaps made for my daughter. They sell for about $40.00 in Perth. They cost us about the same in Bali but were made to fit perfectly and were exactly the same as the sample we brought. I think we could have got them cheaper but the workmanship was so good.
Donny
Bunisari Sreet No 15
08174725690
He also does jackets, vests, shoes, boots and gimp outfits.....just seeing if you're awake. Do a search on Ebay for leather chaps and scroll down. Make sure the kids aren't in the room. Now in 10 minutes I want everyone that did to raise their hands. You know you did and if you didn't you will when the kids are in bed.