Shopping
Lots and lots.
Carrefours, Matahari, Discovery Shopping Mall, Centro, Bintang Supermarket, Double 6, Ketuts fixed price shop, Miss Debbys, Biarritz homewares, Tegallalang, Sindhu market, Tootsies, Legian early morning market.
I bought a large baby orangutan painting, sucking his thumb, (Denise bought modern trio and one large painting), 50 or so necklaces, mainly beaded, lots of baby girl clothes (baby how old??, minus 5 weeks!) , clothes for me, balsems, Bokasih, Revlon makeup, some Maybelline, larger black pearls, battery watches and automatic watches.
Legends has extended the interior by knocking down 2 or 3 shops on the gang. The bar is on the left hand side now and its now L shaped with large area to the right. Wonder it is will become too large and lose something?
Bintang supermarket, upstairs. You can buy melamine crockery and its weighed, minimum 500g (maybe this was for special pieces, not all).
I love to buy their good quality pans and usually heavily discounted.
Bonito spa at SuriWathi. Yanti gave me traditional Balinese massage with aromatherapy/lavender oil, 75000rp for an hour (before Lisa arrived down from the village). Possibly not as private behind the curtains rather than separate cubicles. Not certain what was going on in the next bed....
Lawang/clove root oil. The fella rubbed his potion on to the necks of some of our group at Wayan and Friends restaurant. They paid 50,000rp for small bottle, I paid 60,000rp for larger (mini duty free size whisky) bottle. You can top it up with almond oil, preferably, baby oil, or sunflower oil.
New (to me) 2000rpnote. Pale grey in colour.
Mangoes are hanging off trees almost ripe. Ready for the picking any day from now on.
We went to the early morning market in Legian a few days, around 7am. Love to buy bananas (bunch of 10 for 5000rp) pineapples 2000rp each, large avocados 3000. Buy sweeties for the staff. Also bought rose ushes off the back of a truck. In bloom, 7500rp each. Hope to see them planted at SuriWathi. We give the fruit to staff for fresh juice with breakfast.
Dvds. We bought most from H-elgie, but also some from Joe who sells throughout SW (I tagged them all so I can identify the fail rate). H-elgie sells for 10000 each, with deals, eg, buy 10 pay 7. Joe sells for 7500 each, for all. All I want is for the dvd to not stop mid way through!
Also chose some from Padma and Jimmys in Jl Padma close to Jl Sahadewa.
H-elgies wife Tina is expecting, due November.
Some of our girls hired bikes in Sanur and rode along the pathway and road, early in the morning. Cost 30000rp per day and bikes with locks and baskets in good condition. Just south next door to Vila Shanti.
I had a fun ride to the Hyatt. Ting ting ting of the bell, watch out!
Maybelline mascara from Carrefours. I bought a new mascara and opened it. I developed gooey eyes. I bought drops from the Guardian Chemist. No mascara until cleared up. Used mascara again, same result. I know I might be slow but tried the mascara 4 times and each time my eyes went blood shot, sore and gooey. It must be a bad batch. I have contacted Maybelline, see what they say. I would love them to test the mascara. They can have it back as I wont ever use it again.
Leather bracelet boys.
There are lots of boys selling plaited bracelets afternoon into evening. Most boys these days are well mannered and pleasant. Denise bought a couple of bands from one boy last week and another kid arrived wanting a sale too. Denise didn't want more so apologized but no, no more. The second boy then let loose repeatedly with F-off. She was horrified. A local overhead and chastised the boy.
A few days later I had bundled up my coins and met a pleasant sounding boy in the street selling bands. I stopped to give him my coins and Denise arrived to speak to the boy as he had been the swearer. He promised to never swear again and we explained (yes, Nanna) the important of remaining pleasant. Anyway he got our donations and left happy. It would be nice to kid ourselves that we may have helped this boy change his ways, hope so.
We rang Safrudin the pearl man from Lombok and he came to SW with his supply of gorgeous pearls. I always thought him to be quiet feminine, and maybe preferred men,but he is married with three children and wife.
I am an impending Grandma for the first time, due mid June. Woo Hoo, yee haa, Ya Hoo! I was very thrilled to find Mothercare at Discovery Shopping Mall and I expect they were very pleased to see me there too! I also found OskKosh at DSM and upstairs at Matahari, Kuta Square.
First Saturday we visited our sponsored children at SD 3 Sobangan. Some of the girls hadn't met their sponsored children before. Gee it a lovely opportunity we have to meet the children and staff. One girl, Desi, sponsored by my parents lost her Mum a few days prior to ‘sickness'. How sad. I spoke to Agung the Rotary representative and he suggested to give her money to help family (when I asked for suggestions). Desi seemed unaffected by the loss, but I guess her training teaches her to not concern the spirit as it leaves her Mothers body..... The principal was very upset and in tears as she told me.
We drove from Sobangan to Ubud via the ‘back way'. Couldn't find the route again if I tried. We drove thru rain forests, up and down dips, across bridges and rivers, through villages. Interesting trip and since we got to Ubud too early for lunch we kept going thru Ubud to Tegallalang. The caved in road near Ubud market has been fully repaired now and you wouldn't even know that 6 or 8 months ago the hole was gi-normous. We stopped the car and each dived out to grab some special metal objects, more neckware, odds and ends. Everyone was thrilled with their purchases and the prices, no negotiating necessary.
Lunch at Tropical Bale and for the first time their were about another 30 - 40 diners. Service was still excellent.
Called in to Ubud Birthing Centre as 4 of our ladies are nurses. 3 babies had been delivered either day before or over night and we spoke to the Mums. Beautiful new babies. There had been a still birth at the centre earlier and staff were traumatized. Mother to be counselled. I spoke to Ibu Robin on the phone as she was across the road at home. An acupuncturist was sticking pins in 3 ‘victims', treating infertility and diseases. There were a lot of people waiting their turn. Locals are welcomed to attend prenatal classes, enthusiastically encouraged to breast feed and asked to pay what they can afford. Complicated births must be transferred to hospital.
We left a cash donation and all monies are receipted.
Yayasan Bumi Sehat Bali
Banjar Nyuh Kuning
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia 80571
Phone: 0361 970002