Before I do the JBR proper I must get the commercials out of the way for all the kind and generous FORUMITES that donated and entrusted Tricia and I with cash. The money went where it was destined for in the way of food and neccessities at the orphanage. We have brought back itemised reciepts for every rupiah and if anyone wants a copy to
scrutinise you are more than welcome. We feel that this is the right thing to do by making the dealings 100% transparent. There are also photographs of the purchases and the children available.
Thankyou all so very much from Ni Kadek and the children and yes we gave them all the hugs and kisses that you sent !
Left Perth on Friday 29th June with Garuda on the 0715 flight and arrived at 1045. We were two rows behind business class and with a brisk walk to immigration found ourselves first at the desk. Over and done in 5 minutes, walked through to customs and to our delight just about fell over our cases which for some reason or another were wearing Executive Class stickers. ( I know why but I aint telling you ) Out to the car park, into the hotel car and on the beach with a Latte within 50 minutes of landing.
While we were registering in at Novotel I was made aware of two large bags of goodies left for us for Amlapura which contained clothing from the Business Class section of Lufthansa in Holland and a carton of vitamins from Qatar Airlines and you think nobody overses reads BTF ??
Made a phone call on behalf of another BT Effer and delivered cash that evening to a needy family in Tanjung Benoa.
Tanjung Benoa now has a new traditional market, the old one was small and as the population grew it continued to shrink. The new one is purpose built, is a grand white building with a small admin office on the top. Still a great place to shop, funny thing is we say hello to more familiar faces there that we do at the local shops here. Ambience as good as ever and still a delightful experience.
There is a series of restaurants running from the Novotel along Jl Pratama up toward Nusa Dua. There are a couple of changes. Pavilions has been demolished at the front for refubishment and is not in operation at this time. Next door used to be CC's, this has been completely demolished and is now a vacant block, is is alleged that the owner and European operator had a blue, bye bye CC's. Say no more.
Sea Queen has a new name and a new owner. It has been re named Cardoman, we ate there once only as the prices have gone up and the portions down, while the food is good and nicely presented and the staff are unchanged we were not happy. Casablanca remains a favourite with plenty of good food. Best value is still Mini Restaurant where when you order snapper you get two for the price of one along with a 20% discount. Up the road there is a new joint called The Tree two words will do for this Absolutely Fabulous. They have a very varied menu. Could not for the life of me resist the Cottage Pie ( in Bali )turned out to be a ripper and I can only confirm what Wharfie and Rorope said. Do it. A very nice setting with a good couple of muso's
We always go to Turtle Island with a bunch of kids from the village and as more become older they seem to grow in numbers. This year there were eleven. Turtle Island has improved over the years, while I do not like to see anything in captivity: and where it used to be a disgrace: there are now decent clean holding tanks for the turtles and and more spacious cages for the lizards etc. Everything was going well until the children were attracted to a large group of people in a circle. Our five year old littlie was quite upset and ran over to us. When I saw what was happening I was not a happy camper, where is the mentality of grown men that would invite bets and stage a cock fight for the tourists . Much to Tricias embarassment I had a right old go to stop it and paid out on the pair of them. They did actually stop but by the time we were leaving it was on again.
Plenty more to come if you want it.