Shopping. Cooking and Chilling.
Day 3 We made the wise decision to hire a driver as we had a number of stops to make. First was Merry Leather in Legian. SiL ordered 2 bags, one for a friend and one for herself. I had a great chat with one of the guys in the shop. He knew more about Perth and Western Australia than many Aussies. When I asked him if he'd visited, he said 'not yet'. I love this Indonesian quirk - you never actually get a 'no'. Must remember to do this myself!
We then proceeded to Discovery Mall. Despite this being my 2nd Bali trip I'd never been to Kuta. Traffic was horrendous. We spent a few hours there and had some lunch, then went to Bali Brasco and finally Biarritz. Made a number of purchases at each but it was more browsing than buying in my case.
It was late afternoon by this time so we headed home. Walked to Warung Eny for dinner. I had nasi campur which was fine but nothing special. About 55k for dinner and Bintang.
Day 4 We had booked Bamboo Shoots cooking class before we left. Their driver collected us at 6:45 am and took us to Sanur markets where we met chef Irma and our classmates, two other Australians, one with a young daughter. I'd been to a market near Candi Dasa and this one is much more modern and clean. What variety and freshness of food! Irma bought spices and chicken and we sampled banana fritters and other treats before returning to the cars and heading to class.
Once at the villas, we had a light breakfast and then joined Irma in the outdoor kitchen. This was really nice, clean and well-equipped with an overhead fan as well. We all pitched in to peel and chop and mix (though this wasn't required) as Irma explained each step. As one dish was cooking we worked on the next one, with 5 in all. I have to say the chicken curry and beef rending were probably the best I've ever tasted. The chicken soup was also excellent and who knew you could make your own spring roll wrappers? Dessert was green pancakes with coconut - yum - which I'm going to make for our family Easter get-together.
The drive home was appalling, about 1.5 hours due to traffic but we did get a close-up view of Kerobokan Prison, as close as I want to get anyway.
Once home I realised I hadn't had a spa treatment for at least 24 hours so I rang Chill Reflexology and booked an ultimate package for the early evening. The ultimate package is 90 minutes of foot massage and acupressure on the back, neck and shoulders. The atmosphere and service are outstanding. The room is beautifully furnished, dimly lit, pleasantly scented and quiet. You get an iPod to listen to and honestly you'd think you were the only person there. Also you can chose soft, medium or hard pressure before you start, great for people like me with injuries. SiL bought a couple of their CDs of 'chill out' music and they're excellent if you like that sort of thing.
No one was hungry after our big morning in the kitchen so we h ad miso soup and tempura vegetables at a Japanese place (can't remember where) before heading home for some pool time & general relaxing