Day 9 Cont.
While T and I were having dinner at the Corner Cafe the heavens opened and it absolutely flogged down which was quite nice to sit and watch until we realised it wasn't going to stop anytime soon and we still had to get home so we grabbed some take away for a still sick W and headed out into the rain, trying to stay smart and stick to the sheltered walkways, which if you know Poppies 2 there aren't many of. We succumbed to the weather and stopped at a shop to purchase a couple of brollys but they only had the 1 left so T got that and I got a poncho, for a pretty good price too I thought considering they had us in a position where we needed them and couldn't really afford to barter too hard, we took our new purchases and put them into action, as we turned into our lane we were amazed at the amount of water running down it, at least ankle deep for most of the way but we forged forward into it and finally made it back without too much drama and added yet another amusing tale to our Bali adventure.
Up early again today and off doing the usual shopping and looking thing, then back to base were the day was spent lazing around the pool and unit. T arranged for a couple of girls from Poppies 2 to come and braid her hair so I sat and chatted to them all and had a few Binnys whilst this happened.
Next day was Tatt day, my first ever tatt was happening today and the nerves were building a little I must say but I was commited to doing it so off T and I went to a place on Legian st called Shotonk's, T's eldest bloke had a tatt done here last time we were over and it was a nice clean and sterile looking place and not too expensive plus the blokes there do good work, I commited myself to my beloved Sharks for life and T got an additional sun and moon to compliment her sun tatt she'd had for a while. After all the nerves it wasn't that bad I'd have to say and after it was over we set off on another marathon walk up town, then back to base for the regular slushies and Binnys plus a few bets on the horseys at home for good measure, we were feeling bad for poor old mate and W as she was still pretty crook and he was doing the right thing and staying with her but they kept telling us to go and have fun so that's what we did. We'd arranged to meet some friends at a favourite place of ours, Jokers Bar and Grill, for dinner which we did and had a fantastic time with our Bali buddies both old and new.
Next morning we're happy to see that W is feeling a bit better and is keen to venture out for a spot of shopping, so after a hearty Town House breakfast, for 3 out of 4 of us, we head out, via Bluebird of course as she is still a bit weak and not too keen to do much walking but shopping is what she wants to do and that she does, cramming the last 5 or so days she's spent in bed into the few hours we were out, it was good to watch, W and T shopping queens at work...
To celebrate this shopping extravaganza, you guessed it we headed back to the Town House for the usual Slushies and Binnys, lucky it was our second last day as we were going to need some serious rehab when we got home.
Last day today, so a touch of sadness mixed with excitement as we were being picked up at 7.30 to go on our much anticipated push bike experience but would miss our last Town House breakfast. We headed off into the traffic and emerged 2 hours later at a coffee plantation that was, for T and I who aren't coffee drinkers, a bit on the dull side though slightly interesting and amusing to find out that the so called connoisseurs of coffee drinkers are actually drinking coffee made from mongoose poo and paying handsomely for the priviledge of doing it, given we'd been in the bus for 2 hours we just wanted to get to our starting point and get going. After another half an hour in the bus we reached Kintamani and our starting point, we were fed a small but tasty breakfast of 3 pieces of Banana Fritter and strapped to our bikes and let go. To say it was a fantastic experience would be selling it a bit short, in my opinion anyway, the majority of the trip was downhill with a couple of uphills to keep you interested, the instructors were very informative and the stop offs along the way were very interesting, the only thing I think I could comment on for the experience to be better would be for them to employ a photographer because a lot of times you see stuff you'd like to photograph but don't want to stop and loose the peloton plus there were no photos of us in action on the bikes for us to show our friends and encourage them to have a go at this trip as well, other than the trip out to the start point the experience was a really good one and I'd recommend it to anyone. After a very tasty lunch at their compound we were bundled back into our mini bus and back into the traffic crawl to our base camp. Tonight being our last we hit the Slush and Binny feast with vigour and as luck would have it being Friday night the usual spit roast buffet was on so our last meal at the Town House was an awesome one indeed, we finally headed out to the airport with our trusty driver Gede and we started the long wait until we were able to board our flight for the nightmare 2.05AM flight back to reality.
Seriously though I love our yearly trips to this place, even with the constant 'why would you want to go there' comments from the idiots around who have never left the country let alone experienced somewhere as beautiful as Bali is, I seriously even had one goose ask me if I was scared of what the savages might do to me over there???? Happily we've managed to expose another couple of friends of ours to the beauty of the people and the place and they are coming back with us in September, the only downside being it's September 2013, but my daily visits to the forum help me get by and I feel like I spend every lunchtime in Bali, albeit via my computer. One thing I intend on doing for sure next time is head down to Sammy and Susie's for a few Bintangs with Di and the crew from the forum as I've always wanted to meet some of the others on here that understand the IT factor of coming to this place, I tried to find the time this last visit but just ran out of it, along with too much stuff to do, and in the end and missed out.