Part Three - Umalas
Saturday morning I'm up at 5am and out to the airport to collect our surprise international guest, Shortboy, who has flown in from Sydney for McEvil's birthday. Suffice to say, when McEvil eventually dragged himself out of bed around 9 he was suitably surprised and delighted. Once the shock wore off we went to check out a villa for my 40th in 2013 just up the road, Villa Asta - awesome but 5 bedrooms might not be big enough. Then to Ku De Ta for what I still think is one of the best breakfasts in Bali. Back to the White House to pack up and move to our new, bigger villa, now that there was more of us and our friend Kerri was arriving on Sunday. So 4 bedroom villa with pool etc in Jl Umalas for $AUD175 per night. Was ok... but I was so in love with the White House and Batu Belig, the beach, spa, tailor etc I have to admit I was disappointed. Anyway, that night we celebrated McEvil's Birthday with sunset cocktails at La Lucciola (not on the menu anymore, but if you ask, they make the most divine frozen passionfruit margarita!) and then dinner at Sarong with J & T . Loved it! Different flavours and combinations than the norm. Dinner for 6 of us was about 3m rp but we had A LOT of cocktails and heaps of food! After dinner Baloo, McEvil, Shortboy and I headed out to Mixwell & Bali Joes in Jl Dhyana Pura in Seminyak for some loud drag shows, drinks and dancing. Whilst once upon a time this would have been my scene, now, not so much, so after about an hour, Baloo, Shortboy and I were officially released from birthday duties and McEvil partied on with the new friends he had made during the week.
Sunday morning....All quiet in McEvils direction, so off to Grocer and Grind before we went to the airport to meet Kerri. It was her first trip to Bali (same with Shortboy) so there was a lot to take in. Some pool time was required that afternoon, before we went back to La Lucciola for more Passionfruit margaritas, McEvil was not feeling so fresh and retired for the evening, but the rest of us went back to Hu'u where we sat on the lounges on the lawn and ordered a heap of entrees which we shared tapas style, amazing desserts and even more cocktails. Monday we hired J & T's drive Made and went to check out another Villa for my birthday, and then to Cocoon for breakfast. Unfortunately it was pouring rain for most of the day, but it was still at least 20 degrees warmer than back home in Melbourne so no one cared. Back to Alta Moda for Shortboy and then visit to tailor where my boots were ready. I loved them so much I ordered another flat pair to be made. High Tea at Biku with the five of us was gorgeous as always, quick stop at Bintang supermarket and then quiet night in with delivery from Global Bali just up the road.
Tuesday greeted us with a massive thunderstorm overnight and bucketing rain. With 5 of us now it was easier to get transport than try to get 2 taxis, so fortunately there was a transport stand / depot thing about 400m up the road from our villa and we were given the card of another Made so from then on whenever we needed to go somewhere we just text Made and he would come himself or send one of his drivers to take us where ever we wanted to go. So handy. So, back to Bunana Warung for roti and teh tarik breakfast. Shortboy who grew up in Singapore was in heaven and ordered about 5 or 6 different rotis for himself. The staff were a little perplexed but, for a short boy, he can eat! He was in food heaven. Due to the rain, all tanning activities were off so we headed to Discovery mall and spent the rest of the day happily shopping. Dinner that night at the Living Room was lovely, but a little disappointing compared to previous visits and we all agreed that Hu'u was our new favourite. Wednesday was a day trip to Ubud, where we all did the fish spa - kind of cool, and had Babi Guling for lunch, then dinner with W & N again at Seaside on 66 as they were going home the next day.
Thursday, our 2nd last day in paradise and one of the best. Off to Potato Head for the day. We got there right on opening - just a coincidence, we thought they opened at 8am, it's actually 11! As we were the first ones there we got 3 beds right next to the pool in prime position. We didn't move from there the whole day and ordered food and drinks and enjoyed the stunning day, relaxing drinking and swimming in the amazing pool. Absolute highlight of the trip. Sunburnt and relaxed we had a very cheap dinner a true local warung 100K for 5 of us and then extravagant dessert & cocktails at Jemme - another gorgeous venue.
Friday, sadly our last day, but after 3 weeks, I felt I was kind of ready to go home. Baloo, Kerri and I had a last breakfast at Grocer and Grind whilst McEvil took Shortboy over to Dr Rudy at Galleria for a teeth clean. Packed up our stuff and moved it to J & T's villa. Some last minute shopping in Kuta, back to Stadium Bar to watch Bombers get beaten again. Then all of us and our huge amount of luggage in two vans out to the airport. Checked in with no drama - all 5 of us on the same Air Asia flight back to Darwin. A couple of hours to kill so into the Prada Lounge for 150k each, money well spent as we ate and had a few beers etc, some of us had showers and freshened up. A lovely way to spend our last few hours in Bali. Uneventful flight to Darwin, half empty plane so we all had a row to ourselves. Cleared customs there, had some placemats and our Luwak coffee confiscated. Killing time in Darwin was fine with 5 of us to amuse each other. Then Baloo, McEvil, Kerri and I boarded our flight to Melbourne and Shortboy to Sydney. Landing in Melbourne and being able to get straight off the plane and out the airport was great, because by now, we just wanted to get home!
Now to start planning our next trip. October perhaps?!?