June 2013 - Day 3 - The case of the missing Zeros......
We were all up way too early thanks to the Roosters again. A & K havent been using earplugs, so they have been affected the most. I think my body clock hasnt quite adjusted and just wakes me at 6am Gold Coast time (4am here). This will change as the week progresses (I am writing this at 6am local time, so that theory is working - YAY)
Updating the blog whilst everyone else wakes up and gets sorted for the day keeps me entertained. The staff once again come in around 7.30am to start breakfast for us. This morning its Nasi goreng. Me, well I am not a huge fan of rice at any time. Years of business in China and HK should have fixed that, but honestly, I find it boring, boring and even more boring. The Nasi though, was an eye opener for me. Tasty, spicy and full of crunchy vegetables, it felt like a great way to start the day. Topped with an egg, fried, this was perfect. The usual cut fruits and juices were accompaniments.
Our mission today was to shop in the morning and relax all afternoon.
We caught a taxi back towards Bintang Supermarket with the mission of then shopping our way North along Seminyak Road and then back to the Villa around lunch. The quirky boutiques are not cheap, but the range and quality is fantastic. At the very first shop, I managed to score a really trendy T-shirt for AUS$20. Its not a run of the mill t-shirt and would have fetched 3-4 times more at home. Even though I am not much of a shopper, I managed to fill 2 bags of quality items for around AUS$150. The girls were in and out of places, full of excitment for about the first 2 hours, buying a couple of items here and there. Once the heat got to us all, we increased the pace, stopped less frequently and went on the hunt for Bintang to slake our thirsts.
Bintag Supermarket
We stopped at COCOS on Oberoi, and logged into the wifi and ordered a Bintang each and some sate plates to share (I didnt make my quota of 20 sticks today.... and you will soon see why). The beers were unbelievably cold. The first one didnt even touch the sides. Whilst the 2nd was ordered, I wandered into Cocos market for a look. Its basically a smaller, newer, more trendy Bintang market with a bar attached. Over in one corner, amongst the well packaged foods, you can still buy knock off Rolex watches though :) Bintangs at Cocos were 25K.. and our never ending search for the cheapest Binnie continues (Cheapest so far other than ones from the Supermarket has been La Plancha at 22K).
Quick walk back to the Villa and within 5 mins were are all in the pool cooling down. Once you get away from the stunning breezes we have here at the moment, you tend to get hot very quickly.
The decision was made to go to "Potato Head beach club". I had been told a lot about it, and read TA reports etc, and it had been said that PH was taking over from Ku De ta as "the place" for a good Sunday session. We hopped in a cab and arrived just after 3pm. There was a wait list for a poolside daybed, so we sat in the bar and ordered from the drinks list and food list. Within 5 mins, we were hustled to an empty daybed poolside. WOW.. this place is UBER cool. The staff are incredibly attentive, even rushing over to light cigarettes for the girls. We have all finished our 29K Bintangs and so go looking at the list. Kathrine pipes up that they have a spiced rum punch jug for only the equivalent of AUS$6.90.. OOOOER.. yes please we will have one of those and also a tasting platter of food. The punch arrives and its HUGE !!! We all get 2 full goblets out of it each. About now, I am thinking to myself, wow, these cocktails are really really strong, and this is incredible value for such a stunning location. More food gets ordered, along with "still water" and OH hang on, lets have another Bintang to quench the thirst a bit more.
The afternoon then melds into a fairly inebriated pattern of, have a drink, have a nibble, wander over and get totally confused trying to open the toilet doors the wrong way, marvel at the glass roof and airconditioned toilets, wander BACK past the beach bar, look at the Sea and the sun slowly setting, think to oneself... WOW... I am feeling pretty bloody good right now, sit down, take a stupid photo, post to facebook... Then REPEAT the whole process.
I do remember at one point, Litsa wandering down to the beach to take some sunset shots on her phone. When she came back, I looked at the case, and the bottom part was missing. She had asked a lovely American gentleman to take a photo, and was now blaming the man for losing the bottom half of her iphone protector. Whilst we all brought into question, the sanity of maintaining any sort of diplomatic relations with the USA, Andrew, wandered back down the beach for a look. he came back, shaking his head, and we basically wrote off the case there and then. Around 20 mins later, with a really stupid smile on her face, litsa produced the case from her bra strap. Whoops... forgot to look there didnt we !
OK. now the rest is a but Fuzzy.... but the facts of the matter are:-
Around 7pm, after the sun had set, the candles were all out, and we'd had more than an adequate sufficiency to drink. Litsa wandered over to chat to some lovely gay guys, and accidentally fell off the chair onto her bum. 2 or 3 Staff rushed over to help, along with our gallant Andrew. She was fine, but Kathrine sitting next to me then pointed out, that perhaps I should have stopped laughing, and maybe had helped as well. I mean to say... she DOES have a point, but at this juncture I was too busy trying to focus and marvel at how much booze they got into such a big jug for only AUS$6.90 !!!
OK, we've had enough to drink, the suns down, we really should go home. BILL PLEASE.
GULP... HOW MUCH ??????
No No... they have made a mistake for sure, those jugs of fruity spiced fruit punch that were currently making it hard for me to comprehend so many zeros on the page were surely not really AUS$69 each .... right ??
The wait staff looked at me, looking back at them with incredularity, and then fetched the menu.
Ummmm Kathrine.... Ummmm... You misread the menu love !
Total bill was just over 3 Million Rupiah - AUS$300 for the 4 of us.
Now, before any of you go off half cocked. We spent the taxi ride home laughing at ourselves, and how much fun we really did have for the money. It was pretty easy to justify the expense once the shellshock had worn off. And as they say............ YOU ONLY DO IT ONCE.
Would I reccomend Potato Head ? ABSOLUTELY, would I go again ? Maybe when I win Lotto.
The taxi dropped us at the top of Gang Bugis and the girls wobbled their way back to the Villa and Andrew and I hopped across the road into SOHO cafe for some takeaway. We got what we considered to be enough fat/grease and starch to try and soak up the 3 Mill of booze and headed back. Upon opening the cartons, I was bedazzled by just how crap it was. Never, ever eat at SOHO. I should have just looked at the TA reviews and run like hell. It was overcooked rubbish.
We all hopped into the pool to wake us up, and then basically crashed around 9pm. I am so glad we didnt have a big night or anything LOL
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