Courtneylogic - Marketing, Music and Other Musings

It’s been a while since I have done a monthly mix tape (apologies for that), however with May just kick-starting now’s a good a time as any for my next instalment. So here goes…

I don’t know if it’s due to my recent “relaxing” holiday to Bali, but of late I have been listening to a lot of artists that you would classify their tracks as “chilled”.

Here are some of my favourites:

Underwater Bride – Passenger

How this guy is not more famous, I will never know. I just adore his voice. He also does a mean cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence.

Day 7

Alarm goes off at 6am; I’m tempted to turn it off and go back to sleep but then I remember we are off on a cycling tour with Bali Go Bike in the hills around Ubud.

We’re supposed to meet our driver in the lobby at 7am but we get there a little early so take the opportunity to call Dad for a chat (our first of the whole trip, oops!).

It’s a long drive up to Ubud as we navigate through the Denpasar traffic.  We are joined on the tour with Sarah from London and a couple from Switzerland who are staying in Ubud. We pick up one of our guides, Gede, on the way to the coffee plantation where we get an explanation of how Kopi Luwak coffee is made. Despite it being the worlds most expensive coffee, mum isn’t game enough to try it knowing where is has originated from. The Swiss couple in our group did buy a cup of the “cat poo coffee” and said it just tasted like normal coffee, this made me laugh. I don’t drink coffee at all, so I just stick with the lemongrass and ginger tea samples which are both great. We meet our two additional guides, Ketut and Made, who will join us at the start line along with another 8 tour members.

Coffee and tea tasting at a coffee plantation, Ubud

By now it is almost 10am, so our next stop is breakfast overlooking the Mt Batur volcano and crater lake. The volcano is currently inactive, but you can still see where the lava flowed down the hill during the last eruption; nothing grows there. The banana pancakes were especially yummy. With our tummies full of food we are ready to start cycling. We are each kitted out with a helmet, bike and cycle gloves and off we go. Mum only made it about a km down the road before her bike chain fell off and ripped the bottom of her pants. Good start!

Breakfast overlooking Mt Batur volcano and lake

We continue cycling over the very bumpy gravel roads. I didn’t actually take in the scenery too much because I was afraid I would fall off my bike so instead I kept a constant eye on where I was peddling. Our first stop is to watch a cock fight. The arena surrounding the fight is full but we still try to sneak a peek. That’s until the crowd scattered when the cock starting jumping about, that was it, I was outta there. The cocks have these big spikes on the end of their claws and I was having none of that coming near me.

Back on the bikes for a smother ride through a little village where we stop to admire a traditional temple and one of the statues made by the locals for the Nyepi festival. We continue riding along the narrow roads; it’s all down hill riding so we don’t even really have to pedal at all.

Nyepi Festival statue

The scenery changes again, now we are riding through rice paddies. We stop to allow Gede to explain how the rice is grown. It seems like such a pain staking process for so little result.

Rice paddies in Ubud

Back on the bike and through another village where the children yell “hello’ from their houses while we dodge piles of rice drying on the road. Ketut shows us the Indonesian President’s holiday house/compound. It is full of animals; it’s like a menagerie. Back on the bikes for our final leg, we pass more children who run out onto the road to “high five” us. I struggle the last 5km – I think the combination of the heat and a few hills has got to me. So, Made joins mum and I for a more leisurely ride back. We had a few people in the group who kept a pretty fast pace, so they made it back to the finish line a little before us stragglers, but I’m happy to say Mum and I weren’t the last to arrive at the family compound. With a much-needed bottle of water, we settle down for some lunch of traditional Balinese food. It was so yummy and the grounds and buildings in the compound were stunning.

Ketut’s family compound in Ubud

Before the day ends, we get a quick lesson in playing traditional Balinese music instruments. Despite our lack of skills, IMHO we all sounded pretty good. It’s a long drive back to Seminyak in the busy traffic and I’m pretty sure I doze off a couple of times.  

Just as we walked into our hotel room, Dad called to ask us if we felt the Earthquake. What?! We turn on the TV to CNN to the news that there was an 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Banda Aceh only 30 mins ago and they have announced a tsunami alert for the whole Indonesian coast. We have no idea where Banda Aceh is so Dad leaves us to find out more details using the Wi-Fi by the pool. Looking at Google Maps, Aceh looks a long way away from Bali, but we head up to reception to find out more. The receptionist has heard nothing of the earthquake but tells us not to worry, Aceh is on the far northwest tip of Indonesia whereas Bali is on the far southeast tip. If the authorities give orders to evacuate, then all the guests will be taken care of. This settles our nerves a little, but we decide to head up to the Commonwealth Bank ATM at Bintang to get some emergency cash out just in case we should need it.

While we are there we cant resist a spot of shopping, so while mum is busy buying a necklace for my sister Dad calls for an update. He has been putting together a plan of attack for us, should we need to evacuate – pack our bags and get a taxi straight up to “Ubu” (Ubud), the highest town in Bali – he has clearly been on the net researching. I don’t have the heart to tell him we are currently shopping up a storm and are about to head out for dinner!

To be on the safe side we decide to have dinner at Me’nu because it’s close to the hotel. I don’t really remember if my meal was good, I was too distracted reading the latest news on the earthquake on Twitter and quelling our sisters/friends fears through posts on Facebook. I can see why people back home would be worried, the news reports were quite distressing, but there was certainly no panic on the streets of Seminyak, it was just business as usual.

We head back to the hotel, grabbing our passports from the safe on the way back to the room. We pack our bags as Dad suggested while watching the news reports on CNN. Happy to know that all our purchases fit in our two bags and we are under the luggage weight limits – this might call for some more shopping tomorrow if we survive the night!

Dad calls at 8.15 to tell us that the tsunami warning has been downgraded – how does he get this news before us? Either way its good news, we can relax again. I’ve managed to get myself a headache, my first of the trip, which I think was due to the stress of the last couple of hours, so I turn in early.

It’s our final full day in Bali tomorrow :o(

Day 8

We get our first sleep in of the holiday and I’m sure we would have slept longer had Dad not called us at 8am to see how we are after last night’s events. I’m sure he was more worried than we were, although I know I would have been the same if the situation were reversed.

Knowing we can add more weight to our luggage we decide to head to Geneva Handicraft for more shopping this morning. This place it great – 3 levels of bowls, plates, tablecloths, pillowcases and clothes all at a reasonable fixed price. Shopping heaven! We managed to pick a few items (of course!).

I’ve wanted to do high tea at Biku tearooms since we arrived in Bali and today I finally get my wish. My first cup of Early Grey tea for the whole holiday is great and the cakes, sandwiches and scones were all so yummy and very filling. Certainly no need for lunch today!

High tea @ Biku tearooms, Seminyak

We jump in another taxi to Bintang for, you guessed it, more DVD shopping. We wandered along the street looking at all the silver jewellery – the Balinese sure do know how to make nice, delicate jewellery. Taxi back to the hotel, where the smiling face of Wayan greets us. He isn’t working tomorrow, so we say our farewells and offer him a final gift for being so helpful and making our holiday so effortless and special. Again we are unsure if 300,000 RP ($30) is too little or too much, but he seems quite overwhelmed, so we’re happy.

We have a quick final dip in the pool before heading to Jimbaren Bay for a seafood dinner on the beach. I want to get there early to get a table at the front, so we jump in a taxi at around 4.50pm. I’m adamant that we go to Lia Café for 2 reasons; TA forum members say it is the best and I don’t want to be ripped off like last time I had dinner at Jimbaren Bay.

Our taxi driver is the best we’ve had all trip but he isn’t quite sure where Lia café is located. Luckily I know the location so just ask him to drop us near the Keraton Hotel. The taxi driver explained that the construction workers in Bali only earn $4.50 AUS per day. Taxi drivers are a little better off, however the taxi company takes 70% of each fare and the driver has to pay for their own petrol. So they actually only take home around 17% of the total fare. Tips are always welcome! Knowing this you can see why some drivers try to do non-metered trips.

We wander along the beach a little and stumble upon Lia café. Lucky we decided to get there early; we actually snag the final front row table just as another couple arrive behind us. I am shocked at the prices as I take a look at the menu – last time my friend Tara and I paid close to 1 million RP for our meal, whereas this meal is likely to cost us around 1/3 of that price. We chill out watching the sunset over the water while drinking Bintang’s and eating lobster, prawns, barracuda, squid and clams. Ahhhh, this is the life! So happy we made the trip to Jimbaren Bay for our final dinner in Bali.

Sunset seafood dinner on the beach @ Jimbaren Bay

I notice that the restaurants on either side of us are completely empty, while there is not a table free at Lia café – just goes to show how strong word of mouth can be. Although there is a restaurant a little further up that is packed with a large group of very happy and very drunk Japanese tourists who are enjoying an impromptu karaoke session.

The final bill for the evening comes to just over 400,000 RP – ridiculously cheap considering the amount of seafood we ate. We ask our waitress to order us a Bluebird taxi, but when it arrives its not a Bluebird. We decide to jump in it anyway because we are in a very quite area and will probably struggle to flag a taxi down on the street. We expect to have to pay a fortune to this “rogue” taxi driver, especially when the meter seems to rise very quickly during the drive. However when the driver drops us at Carla Spa just near our hotel we have only paid an extra 10,000 RP more than our trip down to Jimbaren Bay.

Our final visit to Carla Spa is spent getting a cream bath for our hair. Ummm, why haven’t we got one of these earlier in our holiday? It’s so nice and includes a hair treatment, neck/arm/hand massage and blow-dry – HEAVEN! I am again told I have beautiful hair and asked if I am a hairdresser. Haha, I wish I had the patience & creativity to be a hairdresser!

We walk back to the hotel via the little supermarket where we pick up some supplies for the plane ride home – cola flavoured Mentos FTW!

In bed by 11pm, we have to be up at 6am tomorrow for our flight home.

Day 9

I woke at midnight to big stomach cramps and the runs. Uh oh, this isn’t good when we are flying home today!

I spend most of the night flitting between the toilet and bed trying to get some sleep but fail miserably. By the time my alarm goes off at 6am, I estimate I have had around 2 hours sleep total. I tell mum I am skipping breakfast so I can try to get some more sleep. I reluctantly crawl out of bed at 7.30, throw on some clothes, pack my bag and make our way up to reception.

Our airport transfer arrives at 8.30 and it’s a pretty quick ride to the airport. When we arrive at the Jetstar check-in desk it has only just opened. All of our bags are under the weight restrictions – my check luggage is 14.5kg while Mum’s is 18.9kg. The lady behind the counter doesn’t even look twice at our cabin luggage, which are both close to the 7kg limit.

The airport is really quiet so we get through immigration in no time. My tummy is still doing backflips so we attempt to find the Prada Lounge so I can relax before the flight but despite doing two laps around the airport we cant find it. I’ve still got quite a few thousand Rupiah left so I think about buying a little wooden owl I find in one of the airport stores. The lady at the counter can’t tell me if it will make it through Australian customs but I decided to run the risk – after all it only cost me $4.

The incoming flight from Perth arrived late causing our flight to be delayed. We are still sitting in the departure lounge at the time we are supposed to be scooting off the runway and I am getting restless. My tired and sick state is making we cranky; all I want to do is get on the flight and sleep so my stomach doesn’t cause me too much trouble.

I survived the flight without too many visits to the toilet and we arrive back into Perth at 4pm. It only takes us 45 minutes to buy our duty free alcohol (3 x 1 litre bottle of Bacardi for me – woohoo!) and clear customs. Not one of our purchases is confiscated so we’re very happy.

Mum’s first overseas trip was a success! She loved Bali, although 9 days is not nearly long enough to experience all that the wonderful island has to offer.  Mum assures me that she will definitely head back though; I guess she should take my sister’s next time after we left them at home (and maybe Dad too, if he’s lucky!).

Day 4

That sleep in I was hoping for didn’t happen -  I was awake at 7am. So we got up and had an early breakfast. It’s surprising how many people are out and about at this hour. I just assumed that most people would have a sleep in because they’re on holidays (I certainly wish I could).

We’re tossing up between shopping at Ketut’s or water sports with Bali Jet Set as today’s activity. I attempt to call Bali Jet Set from mum’s phone but I think I might be dialling the phone number incorrectly. Just as I am about to give up, Wayan calls down to the room and when I explain our dilemma he offers to assist us. He gives them a call and organises for them to pick us up from the hotel at 11am. How easy was that!

I remember that I have to drop back the thongs I borrow last night to Spa Bali, so we quickly walk up there. Boy, it’s hot already and it’s not even 10am.

Ryan, our guide from Bali Jet Set, is waiting for us at reception at 11am. It takes us around 40 minutes to get to Bali Jet Set which is in Tanjung Benoa, we weave through some pretty narrow lane ways and rough tracks, which has me wondering where on earth this driver is taking us. But we soon arrive at the water sports facilities and are ready to get the day started.

While deciding which water activities we are going to do the owner Rhonda and her two dogs greet us and explain how the day will run – we’re certainly in for a treat. We choose the donut, flying fish and sea walker (which we had been looking forward to doing even since reading about it on TA).

Ready to go!

First off is the seawalker, we head off on a boat with Ryan and a driver to the pontoon in Benoa Harbour. The senior instructor and his 4 assistants meet us and kit us out in a pair of reef shoes while giving us instructions for when we are underwater. Mum volunteered to go first, so off she goes down the ladder and when her head was just above the surface the 40kg helmet was placed over her shoulders and then she continued her decent to the sea bed. While waiting for my turn, I get interrogated by the instructors asking me to marry them or can they at least be my adopted brothers. Cheeky buggers!!  As I descended down the ladder I was quite nervous, but a quick blow of the nose to clear my blocked ears and I’m ready to go. We were 4.5 metres below the sea and the current was quite strong (I felt like I would just float away), so we walked along the sea floor with the help of 2 guides. We were shown to a reef where there were hundreds of fish swimming about. We got to feed them with 2 bread rolls. It was so surreal to have fish swimming right in front of your face including little nemo’s. I absolutely loved this - I would do this again in a heartbeat, although I would like to stay under the water a little longer, 20 minutes just isn’t long enough.

Seawalker - so many fish!

We left the pontoon (and my 4 new brothers) via a speedboat. It was so much fun crashing over the waves, I was laughing uncontrollably. That’s until I remember that I left our locker key with the seawalker instructor back on the pontoon. Oops! So back we go to the pontoon to a laughing instructor and his assistants holding my forgotten key.

When we arrive back at Bali Jet Set we have a donut/waker slider waiting for us. This is the first time I have ever been on a donut; I don’t know why I have waited so long to try it. It was so much fun, I was giggling the whole time we crashed over the waves. Our driver was quite the multi-tasker playing the role of driver, spotter and photographer all at once.

Our final activity is the fly fish, I did this on my previous visit to Bali so I knew what to expect, but it’s a 1^st for mum and she absolutely loved it. Unfortunately our time at Bali Jet Set has to come to an end, we have a quick chat with Rhonda before jumping back in the car with Ryan and head back to the hotel.

That’s us in that flying fish!

We’re pretty exhausted by the time we get back to the hotel at 4pm (and I’m starving) so we just hire a DVD player (100,00 RP for 24 hours) and some room service. The rest of the day/evening is spent watching DVD’s. We don’t even make it out for dinner, but instead fall asleep around 9pm.

Twilight at our hotel

Day 5

The water activities continue today – we’re off on the 3 Island Rafting Tour with Bali Hai Cruises. We chose this tour because it focused mailing on snorkelling which both mum and I love to do. Our driver picks us up at 9.30 and it’s about a 40 minute drive down to the launch spot in Sanur.

We board our fast raft at 10.30, where we sit ourselves down in front of an interesting group of West Aussies, including a couple of guys who start making farm animals sounds. This is going to be a fun day!!

Luckily I took some Kwells tablets before leaving because it’s quite a rough 60-minute ride across to the islands. We cruise past the cliffs of Nusa Pendina, then onto our first snorkelling stop. I have to admit I’m a little disappointed with the snorkelling here; there aren’t that any fish and we only stop for 30 minutes. I suspect though that Mum and I are quite spoilt though having snorkelled the Ningaloo Reef in WA which is quite stunning.

Aboard the fast raft to Nusa Pendina

Next stop is the harbour at Nusa Ceningan where we eat lunch on the boat. It’s such a lovely area to eat our yummy lunch; the water is just so crystal clear but a beautiful blue colour.  Our boat captain, Honda, seems to have taken a shining to me, so I am again answering 20 questions just like yesterday with the seawalker guys.

We are given the opportunity to do a walking tour of Nusa Ceningan, which we all jump at. The island is very small and its residents are completely self-sufficient. They make their income by farming seaweed and selling it to buyers who export it all over the world. When we first get onto the island I am hit by the smell; the scent of drying seaweed is quite overwhelming. As we wander along we come across some gorgeous local children who have the biggest smiles, they are just adorable.

We jump back on the boat to make our way to Mushroom Bay at Nusa Lembogan which is our final snorkelling spot. The abundance of fish here is so much better than the previous location. Mum finds a piece of biscuit in the water so we share it and feed the fish with it right from our hands. Unfortunately the battery on my underwater camera has died so no more photos for me today. There are fish of all different sizes and colour here, but the 30 minutes goes way to quickly and we are again back on the boat for our next destination – the beach club at Nusa Lembogan where we spend the next 1.5 hours enjoying the facilities. We sit under the beach shelters for a bit but soon get bored so mum heads for the pool while I go snorkelling in the shallow waters of Mushroom Bay. There is more seaweed than coral, so the fish are limited. However, there are a few small rainbow fish getting about. The beach club is really lovely and we check out the accommodation prices while sitting at the bay drinking a cocktail. It only costs $80 to stay in one of their beachfront bungalows for a night. Perhaps we might have to stay for a few nights next time we holiday to Bali.

Snorkelling at Mushroom Bay, Nusa Lembogan

Our boat ride back to Sanur is rough. I have chosen a bad seat to sit in as I am constantly splashed with water the whole trip back. Both my Ray Bans and my towel are soaked. As we arrive back in Sanur harbour we notice that the tide has gone our quite considerably and it has bought out the locals onto the mud flats in search for crabs.

As we’re departing the boat, we say farewell and thank-you to the crew including our captain Honda who yells out ‘I love you, Courtney” as I walk up the gang plank. I’m sure all the remaining guests on the boat heard that, how embarrassing!

We arrive back to the hotel at 6.15; quick shower and we walk along the beach to Mozzarella by the Sea in Legian for dinner. The walk is longer than we expected and made worse by the insistent hawkers along the restaurant strip. We’re getting good at ignoring them though. Mozzarella’s is packed, but we manage to snag ourselves a table towards the front. Our drink order is taken straight away but by the time our entrees arrive, our drinks are nowhere to be seen. Despite the restaurant being very popular, we are actually quite disappointed with it. We wait over an hour for our main meals to arrive and while the staff are apologetic we seem to have had 4 or 5 waiters looking after us throughout the evening who all seem quite lost. Our meals are quite nice and well priced; I guess we just caught them on a busy night!   

We practically crawl into bed after a long day in the sun, hoping for a good night sleep because we have a big day of shopping tomorrow.

Day 6

The plan of attack today is shopping, shopping and more shopping. After breakfast we jump in a taxi to Garlic Lane in Legian. Our aim is to find Ketut’s fixed price store. I have a general idea where it is but after 5 minutes of walking along the street, the hawkers are already driving me crazy so we duck into a restaurant to ask for directions. Turns out we have already past the entrance to Ketut’s so we run the gauntlet of store holders again and arrive at the sanctuary that is Ketut’s where there is an ice cold bottle of water and a big smile waiting for us.

Mum was quick to hit the ground running by picking up a number of purses, t-shirts and shorts as gifts, while I look for some dresses. The store is quite busy and it can be a little difficult to move about, but it is such a relief to be able to shop in peace and know that you don’t have to haggle over the price of each item. We spent almost 2 hours in the store and ended up parting with 1.5 million Rupiah in the process (shhh, don’t tell Dad!), but we walked away with 2 cabin sized bags for our flight home, 6 Chanel purses, 5 shirts, 5 singlets and 3 dresses. Not a bad effort at all!

We bid farewell to Ketut and jumped in a taxi to the Bintang Supermarket so I could pick up some after sun gel (I got quite burnt on yesterday’s snorkelling tour). We also stocked up on some chocolates and soaps as gifts (I’ve heard that the Balinese soaps are really nice, there certainly are plenty to choose from). Seeing as though we were so close, it’s no surprise that we visited the DVD stores again to see if we could pick up any of the DVD’s on my sister’s lists – no luck though.

A quick stop at Café Seminyak for lunch was surprisingly good – my savoury crepe was delicious. We planned to visit Geneva handicraft as our next stop, but by this time we are shopped-out so opted for a massage instead at Carla Spa. Mum was (apparently) in desperate need of a back massage while my scalp and neck massage was HEAVEN! Mum also got the customary tiny flowers painted on her nails, which looked great.

Quick swim back at the hotel to watch the sunset from the pool and we decided to have dinner somewhere close. So we’re off to Gado Gado, which is right next door to our hotel and boy, are we glad we chose this place. It is beautiful and the food is magnificent, some of the best I have ever eaten. I had the pork neck while Mum had a chicken dish; both were just mouth wateringly good. We couldn’t resist the black forest cake they had on the dessert list. We were taken by surprise when it arrived as a tasting plate – chocolate brownie, chocolate mousse, blackberry sorbet, maraschino cherries and whipped cream. It was AMAZING! Every aspect of this dinner was wonderful, no wonder it was almost fully booked when we arrived.

My pork neck @ Gado Gado, Seminyak

Mum’s chicken @ Gado Gado, Seminyak

Black Forrest Dessert @ Gado Gado, Seminyak

We called it a night quite early as we have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for our cycling tour.

Day 1

It’s an early start to the day for mum and I – we’re up at 4am for our 7.30am flight. Mum was pretty nervous as we checked in our luggage at the airport and headed through customs.  Well it is her first time overseas, so I guess it’s to be expected.

Our flight with Jetstar was pretty uneventful, tried to catch some sleep but no luck – perhaps I was a bit anxious too. Glad to have got mum a window seat so she could see the stunning outback landscape below.

Thanks to my research on Trip Advisor and my previous trip to Bali, I had quite a good idea of what to expect at Bali airport. Mum and I had a plan that I would buy our visas while she lined up in the immigration line. However, no other flights arrive at the same time as ours so the lines weren’t long. We got through immigration and have our bags in no time (simply brushed off the porters with a stern “no”). We had a few food items to declare so lined up in the correct line with our declaration card, however the officer didn’t even look at our card and just ushered us through. We couldn’t believe it!

As we exited the airport, the humidity that is so well known in Bali hit us like a tonne of bricks. We are met by our driver Kom (or .com as he is better known) from E.R. Tours and hit the busy roads of Bali for our destination – the Pelangi Hotel in Seminyak. Seeing children begging as we stopped at the traffic lights took mum by surprise.

On arrival at the hotel we were greeted with a refreshing guava drink (yum!) and a cool towel. It’s only 12.30pm but our room is ready – woohoo! We are shown to our room by our porter, Wayan, who happily carries our heavy bags down the steps including my awkward backpack and mum’s over-packed suitcase! Our room is exactly as I remember it from my last stay - really quite adequate for 2 people. We settled in and I took mum down to show her the pool. Mum really likes our hotel already – yay!

The beautiful pool area at the Pelangi

By now we are quite hungry having not had breakfast so we decided to go for a wander to find some food. We don’t get far before we stumble upon Me’nu on Jalan Dyana Pura. This place is on my list of restaurants to visit (thanks to Tripadvisor member recommendations) and we’re pretty glad we did stop; the food was delicious. We can’t believe the price of food – it cost us less than $10 for lunch for both of us. While enjoying our lunch we decide we need some supplies for the room so head up to the Bintang Supermarket. On the way we stop in at Softcomp and buy way too many DVD’s  - the sister’s should be happy. Mum can’t believe that her first shopping purchase in Bali was so cheap, $1 DVD’s make her very happy. 

I never made it into the Bintang Supermarket on my last visit to Bali, so I am pretty surprised at how well stocked this place is. We grab what we need and instead of catching a taxi back to the hotel we opt to walk. Big mistake!! We are exhausted by the time we get back and our feet are killing us. I think it’s time to hit the pool. A cool dip in the water is just what we need.  The pool is a lot busier than last time I visited. A few couples and their hoards of wild children have overtaken the pool bar; this should make for an interesting stay!

Dinner tonight is at Zanzibar in Legian. There are a few little bars dotted along the beach, which make for a pleasant walk along the beach track. Zanzibar isn’t too busy when we arrive so we get a table near the front. Our meal is beautiful and ridiculously inexpensive - $38 for 3 course meal for 2 people including drinks. By the time we leave, the restaurant is packed and we now know why it is so popular.

We wander back to the hotel and turn in early; we’re pretty tired after our early start to the day.

Day 2

I’m wide-awake at 6.30am so I sneak outside with my Kindle to do some reading and blogging. It’s so lovely to sit in the peace and quiet of the morning amongst the trees and warm Bali air.

I’ve warned Mum that breakfast at the hotel isn’t too exciting; however the view makes up for it. Eating breakfast overlooking the Seminyak beach sure is a nice way to start the day. The Easter king tide caused some big waves to crash on the beach and we watch helplessly as the beach stallholders tables, chairs and beanbags are washed into the surf.

King tide at Seminyak Beach

The Bali heat has taken mum by surprise and she has realized that in all the clothes she packed (which was quite substantial) she hasn’t got any lightweight shorts. I think the best place to get a pair would be the Matahari Department Store in Kuta so that’s where we decide to head this morning.

We’ve just missed the 9am shuttle bus going from the hotel so we will just get a taxi, well that’s the plan anyway, but our plans don’t quite pan out that way. As we’re leaving the hotel lobby, mum falls down the stairs. S*%T! She is in quite a bit of pain, but has 5 very attentive staff members looking after her, led by Wayan, he rubs some special ointment on her ankle and toes which have swollen quite considerably already. We determine (guess!) that nothing is broken however some ice is what’s needed for the swelling so Wayan brings some down to our room. We forgot to give him a tip yesterday for delivering our bags, so for that and for helping mum’s foot, we give him a 50,000 RP tip. Not sure if that’s too much or too little, but he seemed very grateful, which make us happy.

Mum recovers in time for us to get the 11am shuttle to Matahari so off we go into the crazy Legian/Kuta traffic. We spend over two hours doing quite a bit of retail therapy (or damage to our credit cards!). I pick up a pair of leather shoes and leather bag for $30 total (amazing), while mum has no luck with shorts. We also manage to find some gifts for family – ties and Ralph Lauren polo shirts for Dad, sleepwear set for sisters and a few t-shirts for friends.

I was keen to visit Bagus Watches, but we couldn’t even get in the door it was so busy. Perhaps next time.  A quick look in the Rusty store shows us that the prices are very similar to Australia so we wont bother buying any surf wear. It’s now 3pm and we’re pretty hungry so we sit down for some lunch at a restaurant next to Matahari. The food was pretty bad, but the service was even worse.

My sisters and I got Mum a gift voucher for Prana Spa for her birthday so once we were finished shopping we taxied it up to Prana to book in our treatments. I had already chosen the spa package I wanted so mum had a look through the options and we booked in for 10am tomorrow. We ducked across the road to Bali Deli for some more snacks, the cakes and slices in the bakery looked delicious and they even sold Easter eggs which would be the only ones we saw during our whole trip.

When we arrived back at the hotel we had a quick drink of our duty free (Bacardi for me and Kahlua for mum) then headed down to the beach to take a few sunset photos, however it was a little overcast. The surf was still quite rough, so when I stupidly waded a little deep and a wave crashed through I got drenched – camera and all (lucky it’s waterproof).

We liked Me’nu so much yesterday that we decided to try it for dinner. It didn’t disappoint and our waitress was really friendly. I can’t recommend this place highly enough, especially when they play Bruce Springsteen’s greatest hits album through the hi-fi system.

Carla Spa is right next door and mum spots their fish spa in the window, so while she lets the little fishes nibble away at her feet I have a facial. Apparently I have skin like a baby and beautiful hair :o). Mum surprisingly enjoyed the fish spa although it tickled a little at the start and this is the very reason why I would never try it. My incredibly ticklish feet would never survive. Half way through my facial a group of 6 very loud and impolite Kiwi customers arrive and completely disrupted the peaceful atmosphere. They are quite rude to the staff also; if it were me, I would have told them where to go but the lovely staff just got on with the job. The Balinese people are so lovely; I can’t understand how people can be rude to them especially when we are visitors in their country.

We walked back to our hotel while eating an ice cream from the little supermarket close by. In bed by 10.30, looking forward to our day at the spa tomorrow.

Day 3

The driver from Prana Spa picks us up just before 9.30am where we will spend the next 3 hours being pampered. This spa is just magical. When we arrive we are taken through to the change rooms where we are given a robe and slippers to get changed in to while our bags are kept in a secure locker.

We meet our masseurs and they take us off to our own private rooms. I chose the Ayudervic Simple bliss package, which includes Prana’s famous Shiro Dara (hot oil massage) while mum chose a hot stone massage followed by Shiro Dara. My treatment started with a foot bath and massage, which was lovely but tickled a little. My masseur giggled each time I wriggled my toes and tried so hard not to laugh. Next was a full body massage, which was just the right pressure. However, my favourite part was the Shiro Dara. I lay on my back with my head tilted back slightly, so that when the oil dripped onto my forehead it slinked down into my hair, which felt just divine. My head, face and shoulders were then massaged very carefully. This was so relaxing that I dozed off to sleep a few times and I am not the type of person to become so relaxed during a massage that I fall asleep. Each time I woke, I jolted a little and I got a little giggle from the masseur. I could have lay like this forever, it was amazing.

Once the treatment was over, I was given some beautiful cold peppermint tea, then shown back to the change rooms. Actually, I think I may have floated back to the change room! A quick shower and back to reception to wait for mum to finish her treatment. Mum loved her massages as well, despite the hot stones leaving a few red marks on her back (to be expected). Prana Spa is quite simply an oasis and despite being considerably more expensive than other spa’s in Bali ($249 for both of us), it was a great day of indulgence.

We spent the rest of the day chilling by the pool. One thing that annoyed us with the pool is people who claim a pool lounge without actually using it. On numerous occasions we would go down to the pool to find towels, books and sarongs on sun lounges but there was no-one in sight. One morning I even watched a couple come out of there room still in there pyjamas, grab two towels from the pile, put them on two of the few sun lounges that were under shade, then skip back to there room. If you’re not going to use that lounge straight away then IMHO you shouldn’t be able to claim it. The pool attendants should occasionally do a round up of rogue towels on sun lounges that aren’t occupied. [rant over]

The beautiful grounds of the Pelangi Hotel

Mum was running low on cash so we took a taxi up to Bintang supermarket to use the Commonwealth ATM. While we were there we picked up some jewellery in a store across from the supermarket and also visited Silverberry although nothing took our eye. We bought even more DVD’s at Galaxy DVD and Softcomp before taking a taxi up to Jalan Laksmana (Eat street) for some dinner.

I was keen to try Divine Wonderland for dinner but the taxi driver didn’t know where it was so I asked him just to drop us near all the other restaurants. As luck would have it when we emerged from the taxi we looked up and he had dropped us right out the front of Divine Wonderland.

There were no other patrons in the restaurant, which isn’t a good sign, however I had heard great reports about the food so we thought we would give it a go anyway. Part of the reason I wanted to eat at Divine Wonderland was because of the décor. It felt like you were entering into the tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland. We ate at a giant Edwardian table sitting on giant chairs. I had pork belly and mum had smoked ribs, both were great meals. We decided to skip dessert because the mains were quite filling already. As we were finishing up our meals more patrons arrived which was good to see because it really was a great restaurant with friendly staff.

Dinner at Divine Wonderland in Seminyak

We wandered along the street for a little bit and apart from Ultimo, Trattoria and Mykonos being packed out we didn’t find it as exciting as Jalan Seminyak. So we jumped in a taxi to Spa Bali where mum got her nails repainted (they use OPI nail polish) and I got a pedicure. The facilities are quite nice and although it was 10pm at night, it was still quite busy. I didn’t really think through my choice of footwear (closed in wedges) suitable for a pedicure. The receptionist at the spa kindly offered me a pair of thongs to borrow so that I could walk home while the nail polish dried. We haven’t got any plans tomorrow, so might try to have a sleep in.