Wharfie Chronicle 8 - The Surprise - Friday 13th August
Friday the thirteenth, unlucky for some? Certainly not for me, I'm having a whale of a time with Mrs W, and we have dropped real lucky on the two places we have booked this time around. I love it here at the Sanyas Suites, wouldn't hesitate to book it again.Staff are very attentive without being intrusive, there are some gorgeous rice padis literally across the road, the aircon is great, and the brekkies have been pretty good too.. so today's is delivered to our Villa at 8.30am on the dot. Toast again cooked 'on the spot' , Earl Grey tea, some nice crispy cornflakes and the smell of Jasmine in the air. Life's good !
My good humour is tempered by the fact that I have received emails, FB messages and text messages form my superbly good looking step daughter, ( again, she may be reading), who is making sure that we have got all from here shopping list...eek...we haven't , so what to do ? We are situated nowhere near any markets etc, so , I tell Mrs W that we will have to go have a few hours in Kuta to get all of the things she has asked for. Oh no... does this mean another trip to SOGO? I've gone all of a quiver, and no, it's not because I've seen myself in the mirror, it's just the thought of the Discovery Centre and all its trappings
Readying ourselves for the onslaught, we agree that tonight we will have a special last ,(for now), dinner , and that Sarong was to be the venue. Before we do anything else, we have to return to 'Mien' and pay the balance for our homewares and get them back to the Villa, I'm already concerned as to the volume of the packaging and how accommodating Mr Jetstar are going to be. Mrs W says that if surfboards are never a problem then a small box with some crockery in is hardly likely to be .My idea , and Mrs W's idea of crockery differ somewhat ! Also our interpretation of ‘small' differ too. We are ready to go, and today is very hot, the hottest day of our holiday, and I am very happy to see Mr Bluebird after walking our of JL Cendrawasih and onto Jl Pettitenget. We ask him to take me to the local money changer, then to Mien, back to the Villa, wait, and then take us to Kuta Square. Happily he agrees to all of this, and off we go. Today the rate is a level 8000, I change $400 to last until we go home. If I have any left , its only 205 sleeps , ( I'm not really counting) until we return, so will sit happily in my wallet until it is used then ! The money changer lady comments on my Hermes trademark aftershave, and tells me how nice it smells upon my lilywhite skin...I just look at her, and say softly...'yes...I know'. I get 'one of those' glances as she gives me my money, I give back 'one of those' looks as I count out 32 x 100,000rp notes to make sure I haven't been diddled.
The taxi waits outside 'Mien' , the owner greets us with a big smile, this broadens further as I pay our balance of 1.2mill , and I spy a BIG box that our cushions have been packed into, a LARGE bag with the two bubble wrapped pots and another HUGE carrier with a 'leaf' plate , table runner, and serving dish inside. The staff load up the taxi with our goods, and we return to the Villa. The driver happily chortles as we struggle with all of these bags and drop back to Sanyas. The staff at the Villa ask if we need a hand, I respond by suggesting we need to be airlifted back to Brisbane as we have no hope of getting this 'small crockery' home in one piece!! Mrs W takes note of my sarcasm and admits that she didn't expect it to be that big, ( not the first time I had heard that one girls)
The driver is still all smiles as we re-board his trusty chariot, and must reckon we are right couple of wallies. He then proceeds to take us to Kuta Square, he does this via Jl Raya Kerobokan and Sunset Road, anything to avoid the never ending roadworks, construction and general upgrades happening wherever we go. We give our driver a nice tip for being so helpful and drives off leaving us wondering where to go first. I suggest we pop upstairs at Gloria Jeans and draw up a plan of attack. My gorgeous, stunning step daughter's list contains Adidas shoes, Contact lenses, Aviators, Purses, 'dangly things', and T-shirts. Sipping through my strawberry fruit chiller... ( by the way, good aircon and free wi-fi at Gloria Jeans) we decide that Matahari will be a good place to start, and before long we have got Simpsons and Spongebob T-shirts, the 'dangly things' for her phone and some contact lenses. Easy! I go outside underneath Matahari and barter for 5 pairs of Rayban aviators, and am asked the ridiculous price of 1.5million !! He cheekily suggest I can afford it because I have a real pair of Raybans , (polarised of course), a real Tag watch and Hermes after shave. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I can pick a Javanese from a Balinese, and bartering is a joy with the Balinese, it far too serious with the Javanese... this guys is the latter. So dismissively I upset him by offering him 100,000. He goes mental, and tells me to go buy from the beach, but, at the same time says I can have them for 700,000 ! I give him my final offer of 150,000 and walk away.. he calls me back and says I can have for 200,000. We conclude. I then buy two purses/wallets from a different guy for 35,000 each. So... shoes... and more contacts. I get the earth shattering suggestion...'lets have a walk down to the Discovery Centre'...oh no!
We stop off and have another drink on this hot day, and we have a quick chat about what we are going to do tomorrow on our final day. I suggest we discuss over dinner when it's cooler and don't feel so 'harassed'. Reaching the Discovery Centre , I skilfully manoeuvre Mrs W past the entrance to SOGO, ( I knew I would find a use for that blindfold), head straight up the stairs by Bread Talk and into Optik Melawi.. Here I buy a case of 30 1 day Acuvue, ( 160,000) contacts and some Renu solution,(7000). That just leaves the shoes, and this turns out to be the biggest problem, and one that we fail to resolve. Monumentally beautiful child has asked for red or yellow Adidas with silverfish stripes instead of white. I know a shop in Kuta Square so we head back up Jl Kartika Plaza and find the shop... he has none, and suggest two more stalls in Jl Legian. Off we go on our trek, to Bemo Corner , and head back towards Seminyak... popping in and our of every shoe shop, I return empty handed, and fail in the quest. Word of warning to anyone going soon, the roadworks along Jl Legian are HORRENDOUS... it's quicker to walk than get a cab, and the road is barely wide enough to walk along, plus get traffic past you. Worst I have ever seen.
At last, I can see brake lights, that means the road is going back into two way mode and I can get a cab back to the Villa. This we do quite quickly and having escaped the madness, we are soon back in the tranquillity that is Sanyas. We drop off all of the days shopping, we have, by now, acquired enough to open our own shop, and again, I start thinking how to get it all back home! Time for a quick dip in the pool, don my pink boardies, and enjoy a nice cold drink for the fridge. Shower, and time has gone so quickly that we need to ready ourselves for dinner.
As a pre-amble, I suggest we have a cocktail at 'Barcode' , this is half way along Jl Pettitenget and sort of opposite Warung Bonita , ( another cracking little place), it has only been open for 7 months, has quite a good following and owned by a Dutch gentleman. We are greeted, and told that it is happy hour, and that if we buy 2 drinks the third is free. However, Mrs W is more than happy with one cocktail, and although I manage to down 2 small Bintangs, I tell the waiter that he can have my 'free one'. He is very happy with my offer and brings me another tray of popcorn to enjoy while we wait for Sarong to open
Drinks here, for a new trendy place are reasonably priced, and again, is somewhere I can recommend for drinks... the menu looked good also, but we never ate there so can't comment on that. So, we walk the couple hundred meters back towards our Villa and head in to Sarong. We make sure we are nattily dressed and can meet their dress code criteria, and I walk up to the Maitre D... you can only imagine my disappointment when he tells me they are fully booked through until 10.30pm... this is my own stupid fault , I knew I should have made a reservation. I tell him that it is our last night in Bali and to call me if there is a cancellation. However, he tells me there is a lovely romantic outdoor candle-lit area that is available, this serves a restricted menu , but full bar list ... so we can't have any 'full' mains and dessert, so, I'm on a bit of a downer, but Mrs W thinks it's a great idea to sit outside
So what about Sarong? It's beautiful, semi decadent, very ornate, very French looking, but very Asian influenced on the menu. Service is impeccable, and we are shown a wonderful menu of meals that we can have outside. I take one look at the quality and selection and wonder how good inside must be !! We order a Keema Naan with Tandoori Mango chutmey and mint yoghurt, Peking Duck rolls and Hoisin Sauce, Vegetable Samosas, a very spicy variation on Tom Yum soup and Prawn Dumplings and their own take on Dim Sum... what can I say... it was absolutely sensational...and I couldn't eat it all... and became quite glad I hadn't paid for expensive main course inside.
When we had finished our meals, I asked to see what dessert I could have, plus the cocktail list... and it was at this point I decided to spring my ‘surprise'.... I turned to Mrs W, and told her I thought this was the best holiday we had ever had together, and how lucky I have been to have been married ten years ( almost) to the woman of my dreams.It's her warmth, her love, her drive , passion for life and indeed, her sense of humour that keep me going ! and oh...those eyes and that smile ! I don't know what I ever did to deserve this girl, perhaps I was a good boy in a previous life. From my left hand pocket I produce two small cloth bags... one containing two Platinum wedding bands, and the other a 2.08 carat , Princess cut diamond ring ...set on Platinum knife edge setting. Now, she knows we have these rings, because obviously she was with me when we purchased them and had them made, but she had no idea that I bought them with me on holiday.We had taken advantage of a big discounted sale in BrizVegas a month or two ago, and I had always promised Mrs W a 'proper' engagement ring when I could afford it, and also to celebrate our 10 years. Well, I decided she shouldn't have to wait until December and our anniversary, and I couldn't think of a better place, in front of better people to slip them onto her finger
Anyone who knows me really well, will tell you I'm an old softie, and the tears rolled down my cheeks as I told her, while fumbling the rings onto her finger , how much I loved her, and always would. She said it was such a wonderful idea, and would treasure the moment forever. She gave me a big hug and commented on the two girls sitting opposite us who must have thought I had just 'popped the question' . The diamond sparkled gleefully close to the candle on the table, and I thought now would be a good idea to ask if I could have a new TV... but I'll leave that for another day
We paid our bill, and Mrs W admired her left hand all th way back to the mirror, and also the bloke hanging off her right arm .....
Thanks for reading, and all of your very kid comments... tomorrow is our last day ..damn
Love to you all ...Wharfie....xxx