We had to catch up with an old friend from the Kumala Pantai who now works at Potato Head so yesterday we hailed a Bluebird taxi from the KP.
Over the years I have been in many a Balinese taxi but this driver from hell was by far the worst we have ever encountered...he was very polite but an absolute maniac driver...one would think that after travelling to Bali so many times I should have more sense than to continually jump in the front seat...from now on I am going to be the real gentleman and give the front seat to Mama Jo!
We eventually arrived at Potato Head in one peace and the first thing that jumps out at you is the façade of old shutters that completely surround the building...really dramatic, well worth seeing , sorry now that I did not take a photo of it.
The second thing I noticed as we hopped out of the cab was a younger version of Arnold Schwarzenegger parading around with no shirt, bald polished pit bull terrier head, muscles in places most people haven't even got places and with a 'get outta my way 'swagger ' or I will kick sand in your face'...he actually reminded me of a condom full of marbles... but that simply set to tone for the rest of the afternoon.
We entered the 'Lillan' area and were immediately impressed by the modern arena style décor, lounges, pools etc.
I had often wondered how Potato Head had got its name but after 10 minutes there I soon realised that the name Potato Head must come from the patrons...some of them are REAL Potato Heads :)
The day beds, lounges and pools were full of the scantily clad 'beautiful people'...never seen so many posers in one place in my life, but the cake went to the grease ball dressed in sandals, long white pants, long sleeve opened neck white see through shirt, gold rim sunnies and a thick chain around his neck that looked like it had been made out of the 2 dollar gold coin rings.
It was hot and I was tempted to jump in the pool with the water nymphs but soon realised I did not have my black Speedos on, only my old comfy Bonds 'Y' fronts...but given what those in the pool were wearing I didn't think anyone would notice, besides my 'Y 'fronts had 4 times the amount of material than some of the other patrons cossies...but she who must be obeyed was not happy with the idea...probably jealous!
Naturally we were the oldest there by about 30 years and the continual thump, thump, thump of doof, doof music soon played havoc with these old ears so we looked up our old friend, paid our respects and decided to walk back to the KP via the beach.
We were originally going to drop into Ku De Ta on the way but had had enough of the 'beautiful people' for one day.
After a 30 minute walk we were sitting in the Champlung Warung, then the Crystal Palace Warung just north of Jl. Double 6 enjoying a nice cold beer in more familiar surroundings.
Drifted onto the Tekor for another few Bintang Draught (on tap)...very good and highly recommended.
Dinner was at the Blue Ocean. I must admit this has never been one of my favourite places...last time we were there (5 years) the place was full of cats (under your feet) and we sat opposite an ex-pat European who had his little pet dog sitting on the table and letting it lap the beer out of his glass...this could have been the same glass that I might be drinking out of later.
We had walked past the blue Ocean the day before and was tempted to give it another go but I was just not in the mood to put up with a load mouth, well-tanned, Pom who delighted in entertaining everyone with in ear range.
We eventually had dinner and no complaints about the food BUT when it comes to Myers's Rum and Coke I am a real common sewer...I enjoy it, and can pick a local substitute instantly...I had pre warned the waitress not to sell me a Myers's unless it was the real thing...you guessed it, it was a local substitute (home brew).
I refused to drink it and sent it back with a message that I will not be paying for it.
We waited another 15 minutes and no sign of a waitress coming near us so I asked for the bill, 10 minutes later asked for the bill again and 5 minutes later asked for the bill again...by this time the adrenalin was flowing through the veins at a very rapid rate and I measured up the security and thought you are not big enough between the tits to make me pay and extra 50K Rp for the so called Rum .
The bill finally came minus the Rum, so that probably saved my life...that adrenalin has strange effect sometimes.
Back home to the KP and climbing the stairs to our first floor room and grandma dates up grandpa...hello I thought...but it turned out to be a false alarm.
That Mama Jo has a weird sense of humour sometimes.
I spent the rest of the night on balcony overlooking the pool with my Grants duty free, Carol King, Chris Rhea, R.E.M, America and Rod Stewart.
All in all a good day and Potato Head is definitely worth a look.
Cheers Hoolz
P.S. Clovis...I knew you just had to read it (...)