Bali June 2013 - Day 7 HNR - The rest day was not so restful.....

Bali June 2013 - Day 7 HNR - The rest day was not so restful.....

Awake a little later today, with a trickle of rain as I wandered outside. I am sure this will burn off though and be a lovely Bali day. 

The plan, for Sunday is to stay in and enjoy the villa, and have a drink and “hang out’.

Scotty made everyone else omelettes for breakfast, I stuck with a piece of toast. 

The rest of the morning we sat around the pool and had a couple of beers. This villa is just magic to be in. KAMPUNG means “village’ in Balinese, and its certainly standing by that name. We are having such a great time, just being here with our mates. Sometimes, you take a risk with so many people, but we have a great group of really good mates here. 

We were running out of mixers and snacks etc, so Hugo and and I hopped onto the scooters an set off to Bintang Supermarket. We spent just over a Million on bits and pieces, and also some more breakfast supplies. I was hoping that they might deliver the 2 big boxes and bag of ice for us to the villa, but no luck. For your reference, they will deliver anywhere in Seminyak as long as you spend 1.5 Million Rupiah. Now. 2 guys, 2 scooters, 2 big boxes and a bag of ice...hmmmmmmm  NAH !  Not going to work. So we had carried the stuff back to the Villa, and then walked back to get the Scooters a little later.

I decided to go and get some fuel for the Moped, and there is a small warung tucked way down the back of the alleys. The guy put 2 litres in, for a cost of about AUS$1, and I headed back to the villa. I got a little sidetracked and went on a bit of a jaunt around the area behind the Villa. There are literally hundreds of Villas here, all connected by a series of laneways just wide enough to get a car down. I could see Villa signs for places I had researched this year and last. 

Mick then suggested we hop onto the Scooters and head down Double 6 to a Warung for lunch. Warung Murah is close to the beach end of the right hand side, just after the turn into Padma Utara. Lunch for Litsa and I was $8.60 inc food, a coke and a Bintang ($2). Nicely prepared curries and Indo dishes, in big serves. This was our initiation into Warung food, and it was impressive. The chicken skewers were also a winner with everyone. This place was busy, and I see why. This is the ‘cheap’ Bali that everyone raves about, and to this point, I have generally avoided. Silly me !

We also wanted to get to Merry leather to get that stuff made again... They don’t open Sundays. A quick trip to Miss Debbies, and there was us and one other bunch of Aussies there.. WOW.. it was DEAD. Miss Debbie was so nice as usual though, and Litsa and I managed to spend about AUS$90 on stuff. I got a couple of T-Shirts for 45,000 rupiah each too. Happy days.

Miss Debbies

Back at the Villa, Sunday session was briefly interupted by 4 of the party having a massage on the daybed. I was not allowed to be rowdy, and had to quietly sit on the lawn forcibly listening to Enya on the sound system. I kept myself amused by drinking my duty free bourbon for an hour. You can fit a few in if you try hard...... fact

The rest of the afternoon is a blur. Usually we would have gone out to a beach front bar, Potato Head, Ku De Ta or similar, but with the BFC in full swing (Thats my own personal Bali Financial Crisis), we had a much better time hanging in the Villa. We laughed so much, that we were crying. Tears of joy of course.

We pretty much partied till Jodie arrived around 9pm. She had read my blogs, and as we had somewhere to squeeze her in, she spontaneously booked tickets 2 days ago and headed over to join us. So now.. we are a party of 9.

OH.. We also tried ordering Macdonalds onlione again. Yeah right. We got confirmation, gave the correct address and it never showed up. Mick ended up driving his scooter to the one on Sunset to go get some, ordered, then realised he didnt have enough cash, so a delivery driver followed him home WITH our Maccas and delivered it for us anyways LOL.

For your info..... 402,000 Rupiah buys a LOT of Macdonalds here !

I went to bed around 10pm, feeling a little less fitter than when I woke up. 

What a day !

Bali - June 2013 Day 6 HNR - Finding Nemo

Bali - June 2013 Day 6 HNR - Finding Nemo

Its raining. And, I mean pouring down. After waking up to what I thought were shotgun rounds going off around 2am, I heard distant rumbling most of the night, that I put down to either storms a way off, or Mt Agung about ready to blow its top after a 48 year Hiatus. As it turned out, it was the lesser of the two evils, just rain.

Karin and Hugo were sitting outside their room, and mentioned the gun shots. Karin had put into google “ gunshots last night in Seminyak” and an article popped up about 5 terrorists getting shot after plotting bombs in 3 tourist locations. I wish she had read the date of the article out though..... 2010 ! So I raced over to the computer and Ipad and madly started looking at the online news agencies and trying to google what sized body armor I should be buying. As it turned out, there were no shootings, and it was probably just some fireworks - PHEW !

Scotty offered to make us all breakfast this morning. Bacon, eggs, pancakes. He did a stirling job of recreating the ones we had at Madu a couple of days ago too. The best thing is, as he was cooking, the staff here at the Villa were washing up around him. He had a grin from ear to ear.

We spent the morning sittting around the villa relaxing. 4 of us booked massages at 10am, and the same girls from day 1 came back to the villa and massaged us on the huge daybed. I am not a big fan of massages, but this was absolutely brilliant. I only got a medium one, but its the best I have ever had, $13 with a $2 tip, in our villa. Yes please, more of that this week for sure.

Litsa and I and Scott and Karen had booked Bali Dolphins about a month ago online. Yesterday, one of the staff came to our villa, collected the cash, as promised and at 12.30 today another staff member came and collected us. If you are considering booking. DO IT. Also don’t be afraid about transferring money to their account if they ask. They are legit. If you do the ‘pickup cash the day before’ method, don’t use AUS$ as they will sting you on the exchange. The official rates about 9400 and we got 9000 from the lady who got the cash. The trip to Benoa Harbour took around 30 mins and we, along with around 30 others signed in, and waited for our boat ride to the pens. The trip across by skinny long boat takes about 3 -4 minutes. On this day, the weather looked ominous, with dark dark rain squalls off in the distance heading our way. You can take your own camera across, so do this, but get a waterproof bag for it, as there is limited cover at the pens. Once split into groups of 6 , you hop into the pen with your trainer and dolphin. A platform is submerged about stomach deep. The water is warm, and relatively clear, but not crystal. A small army of fish swim around you, waiting for the bits of extra food that break off when you feed the Dolphins. NEMO was our Dolphin. A 5 year old 70 kilo female, who is in top condition.

Benoa Harbour

Litsa and I and NEMO

Bali Massage for NEMO

Does this Dolphin look happy ?
YES SIR !

Interacting with the Dolphins is truly an amazing experience. From kissing, to cuddling, feeding and simply watching Nemo. I was watching Litsas face a lot of the time we were in the pool. and she was lit up like a little kid. Thats what they do to you..... these animals are so smart and so sentient, that you know they are having as much fun as we are. Sure, Nemo gets 10 kilos of fish to eat a day, but as we left, other dolphins in their pens were jumping around and playing completely naturally.

We got some amazing photos thanks to one of the staff who was running around the whole time with my camera. Make sure you tip these guys well if they do a great job. We got one aweome photo of Litsa and I holding Nemo while she opened her mouth and sang, that is now our new Facebook photo and will probably get blown up to adorn a photo frame in the house ( far away from the print that Litsa bought on the beach yesterday).

I have read lots of positive reports from Bali Dolphins. I can only add one more. This was the highlight of the trip so far for us.

The trip back to the Villa was not so much fun. It took us just on an hour. The road from Benoa to the big roundabout was chockers, and then up Sunset to Seminyak and then... all through Seminyak. I just wanted to get back and wash the salt off and have a beer around the pool and show the guys the photos and videos of Nemo :)

We set off around 6ish to Taco Beach Grill for Mexican. One of my favourite places, that I discovered last trip. We booked for 8, and probably half the crew liked it, the rest not as much. Bob, the owner, greeted me warmly like old friends. The place is still small, but the staff move with a faster more determined pace these days. You can see the business has grown in the past 12 months. The menu has also expanded, and some of the starters represent more interesting, USA centric, things, like Buffalo wings and KFC Chicken. We had the Nachos to start, which were awesome, the Chilli Chorizo Fries (fantastic) and the KFC Chicken and the Buffalo wings. The chicken was OK, not outstanding, but interesting to try. OH, we also had the chilli poppers, which I loved. Stuffed chillis oozing gooey Mozarella in a fried panko breadcrumb..... what could be wrong with that? Mains were an assortment of the Burritos and soft and hard shell Tacos that they are famous for. I stupidly ordered 4 tacos, and only managed to eat 3, they seemed to have grown in size in the last year too. Litsa loved her Texas beef burrito with its smokey BBQ sauce, but she too, couldnt eat it all. For me, its still true true Mexican food. Bob even makes the Margaritas exactly like I had when in Mexico, slightly more sour than the Tex-Mex version. After dinner, Bob wandered in and gave me a gift of a Taco Beach T-Shirt. Now I am a certified Emergency Margarita Technician ! Bobs one of those great Ex-Pat characters you meet in Bali who give your holiday just that little bit more zaniness !

Taco beach grill

Litsas Burrito and Margarita !

After dinner, and I am ready to burst on beer and food, we ride the scooters down to Legian to see if Merry Leather is open. Karen and Litsa both want leather goods made. of course at 8pm they are closed. But at least we found it. Onto BILLYS for a drink is the call.

Garlic lane, is more famous as the home of Ketuts fixed price shop and Miss Debbies. But it also houses BILLYS. A bar, unlike most of the others nearby, that actually FULL of people. It looks like half of Australia is here tonight. The band are great, they actually sing the correct words, and are in tune. The drink prices are also reasonable for a bar.

I stayed for half a beer. My gurgling was become a little bit too volcanic for my liking, so I decided to hop onto Scoopy and go home leaving the other 7 to their mayhem.

Once home. I knocked myself out with a sleeping tablet and turned the aircon on, pulled the mozzie net around the King bed and BOOOM.. slept..

Drinks at Billys in Garlic Lane

Litsa found 'DOBBIE' The Bali House Elf !

Too many shots I think !!!

Until..................

Around 10.30pm (apparently)

I heard the bedroom door open, saw a bunch of camera and video camera lights go on and.......

BANG BANG, BANG....BANG... Crack...BANG

They had put firecrackers inside a huge cooking pot and put them in my bedroom.

Bastards

Litsa then, threw herself on me, not realising I was extremely groggy from the sleeping tablet, and proceeded to tell me how much she loved me. Someones been feeding my wife shots by the looks of it !

After a while, with my complete lack of response, except for a snarl and a reminder that I have a long memory, they left me alone. I put my earplugs in, and went back to sleep.

Apparently, after that, they swam, laughed and then crashed within an hour.

All I am saying is.... I am writing this feeling very chipper - they all look like crap :)

AND.... TODAY.. IS SUNDAY SESSION DAY !! MY TURN !!

Bali - June 2013 Day 5, Glasses, shopping, beach bars

Bali - June 2013 Day 5, Glasses, shopping, beach bars

(Apologies fo delay.... 4 of us just got massages around the pool in the villa.. I am all groggy from the bliss of it all)

Awake early (again), walking out of the aircon bedroom into the stunning gardens of the Vill Kampung into the humidity reminded once I’d peered through the bleary eyes that our first full day in Seminyak awaited.

Breakfast is not included in the Villa price. This is probably the only drawback of staying here. Everywhere else we have stayed or considered booking threw in breakfast each day. And for the rental price, the owner would probably do well to reconsider that position to attract more people to stay. In saying that, it seems this place is booked out for much of the year anyways. 

To fix our hunger, all of us headed the 2 mins around the corner to Seminyak Cafe for breakfast. Litsa and I both had the SUPER ELIXIR, which is a drink of lime, ginger and sugar over ice with dry ginger ale, and then tucked into English breakfasts. A suggestion for anyone eating at the cafe, do not try and make any changes to the ‘set meals’ as it will only end in tears of frustration and lots of time between courses. For some reason, everyone else’s meals came in at around $15 inc drinks and ours jumped to $25. We can only put this down to me shaking my head 15 times at the mistakes made. Truly, unless I have my allotted hours of sleep every night, I am an intolerant individual. The makeshift roosters rocking in late must be to blame !

6 of us then headed over to Supernova to go see Hendri at Winna Optical. Thanks again to TripAdvisor individuals who take the time to post reports, or reply to the myriad of questions people ask for this info. I managed to order 2 new sunglasses and one plain glasses all with prescription lenses for less than AUS$200. Litsa got 2 pairs for just over $100. Pretty stoked with making that trip over. We’ll go get the completed items on Thursday before we go home. I will update on how the process goes later for those interested. Hendri and his staff we able to organise 4 of us with multiple pairs within 45 minutes. Well done !

We then headed off towards Kuta Square - which we were told 2 or 3 times was only 5 minutes away. Of course these were Bali minutes, which like Bali meters are way bigger than anything we are used too. We had to stop at numerous shops for the girls to look into and Hugo found a Harley Davidson shop, so he simply had to turn some Rupiah into Harley products he couldnt get at home (for even close to the same price). A quick refreshment stop at Segodo (I think thats its name) for some $2 Bintangs and a sit down and I opened up google maps for it to tell me we were only 600 feet from Kuta Plaza. Glad we did stop there though, because as soon as we got into the plaza, the shiny shiny of a shoe shop had the girls attention............ Now as anyone who followed our exploits last year will attest, if there is anything that will bring Litsa and I to arguments, its the price paid for shoes in Bali. I have learnt my lesson, I simply walk out of the shop, feigning complete disinterest and go look for nice toilets in case anyone should need one in the next 30 mins. For everyones info, the one in Burger King is quite nice and well kept, but there is generally a short queue to use it.

BAGUS WATCHES. Here we are again. I had recently sold my ‘TAG’ watch to a mate, who desperately needed the clasp to fix his genuine one. So I was a dress watch down. All I wanted was to replace that watch, quite a simple task you would think right ? Nah.. I am not sure if the model I had is outdated ? But it wasn’t there. I can only hope that the new stock they get in every day will mean that it arrives whilst we are here. Litsa picked up another nice blingy chronometre, and some more Tiffany, but I walked out watch-less. 

By now, the heat of the day had intensified. We’d all just been in Bagus wandering for 30+ minutes, and we needed somewhere to eat and drink...... it gets messy now.

For those that don’t like domestic issues in foreign countries, please skip the next couple of paragraphs.

I’m a control freak. No arguments here. In fact, sometimes, I should seek help for it. Luckily I have friends who generally cater to this flaw, and are happy to follow me around, enjoying whatever adventure I take them on. Today, they, and particularly my wife, had that level of commitment tested severly.

I guess my love of different foods is pretty obvious to most ? And for some weird reason, probably to do with my assorted trips to the USA in a previous life, I love eating Buffalo Wings. Those are deliciously deep fried chicken wings covered in a spicy vinegar sauce made famous by the city of Buffalo in Upstate New York. Dip these into blue cheese dressing and BAM...if made well, I am in heaven. Whilst cruising Facebook one day, as if by magic, an advert popped up for BUFFALO WINGS AND RINGS in Kuta, Bali. This was a new restaurant in Beachwalk, up the beach road in Kuta. I made THIS our destination for lunch. So with the other 5 in tow, we hoofed it North under the guidance of Google Maps, who told me quite clearly, we were only 4 minutes away. Once again, these were Bali minutes. Did you know, that between Kuta Plaza and the Beachwalk centre, its actually 700m? thats 700m with little or no shade. You also pass, conservatively, around 50 more more accesible and probably better places to eat, that are also air-conditioned.

When you do arrive at the Beachwalk, with your wife, who by now is starting to look sweaty and bothered, and has pointed out the 40-50 OTHER places to eat, you have an issue of actually finding the restaurant. There are absolutely NO signs for it. The 2 escalators are strategically placed at the points most likely to cause even more annoyance for the rest of your travellers as well. By now, Litsa is starting to openly swear at me. I start yelling that I am simply trying my best, and I start running in circles trying to find this stupid restaurant. 

Its on the 2nd floor, on the Southern end... and... has no toilets !

We sit down, in the non-aircoditioned restaurant and we are the only ones there. Below us on level one, there are around a dozen more famous eateries, all well attended by happy diners, but by God.. we are here now, and we will enjoy it........... or then again we wont.

Litsa went looking for a toilet, but gave up 20 mins later, when she could’nt find it. She came back to the table, about ready to punch me. Long suffering wife.... I can hear my mates mumbling this under their breaths.

We ordered food. Only to find, 3 of the hottest sellers, are out of stock (On a Friday at lunch - you are kidding me). When the orders did come out, and at staggered times, with Scottys last, just to add insult to injury for him, the comments varied from Great to Average. My wings, were overcooked, but the sauce was great. The Blue cheese not so good. Litsas salad was, in her words, crap, and Hugos burger was lovely. The prices didn’t justify the effort to get here though. When we left, I felt very very dissapointed. Its going to take a lot to get the trust back of my fellow adventurers. I have already posted a review on TA to warn other people about the shortcomings on the place.

When we made our way back to the Beach Road, and walked past the other food places (all full), I could feel the daggers in my back from my lovely lovely wife. Eeeeeek

I got us into a minivan, with a negotiated rate of 50000 Rupiah for 6 of us to the Villa, and it was time for a quick swim then a nanna nap.

Around 5pm, it was decided we’d take the girls on the back of the Scooters down to the beach for a drink. We ended up at Crystal Palace just South of La Plancha. We’d spent some time there last year, and knew they had half price cocktails till 8pm. We found some beanbags, a table and ordered. The sunset was going to be a corker again for us. Ahhhh, yes, I was back in the good books again, with Litsa all smiles.

Hugo caught the eye of some Hawkers, and within 30 mins, was getting a foot massage, having his ears ‘de-forested’ and was buying a ‘genuine Rolex’. Karin also had a manicure, and was busy fending off calls of ‘ Rhonda’ from all and sundry. Litsa broke my rule of NEVER buying stuff on the beach and bought not one but TWO art prints that will never adorn the walls of my house if I have anything to do with it.... arguing about this point, brought much mirth and merriment to the other 6 in the group though, and if by some slim chance I am ever incapacitated, and Litsa does manage to sneak the art past me, I will forever remember this trip to Seminyak and curse individually the name of each and everyone one of the buggers who sat with us when she made the purchase.

The drinks kept flowing and it started to get dark. Crystal Palace doesnt really do good snack food so we made a call to head back up to Seminyak for something to eat. We ended up at Pantarei just near Bintang Supermarket with Greek Food. Litsa has some Cypriot heritage so the call was made for her to take charge and order the food. Beers and cocktails ordered for the 8 of us, she then chose a large Meze plate, mixed dips and 2 large grilled meat platters. The food was quite nice, but as we find everywhere thats not 5 star here, the meat generally gets a little overcooked. The dips were great, genuinely Greek, and the flat bread oustanding. It was great to sit down as a group of 8 around a large square table and finish the day off together. One small negative about the restaurant, is that there are a few ponds in the place, and for some reason, the water doesnt move and we all got mozzie bites. keep this in mind. The bill worked out at $35 a couple for food and drinks. I’d go back.

Back at the villa, a few nightcaps were poured and we all sat around or in the pool until one by one, we wandered off to bed before midnight.

I LOVE YOU BALI !

p.s. Awoke in the middle of the night to what sounded like 5 shotgun rounds going off.

p.p.s. Poured with rain this morning too. First time I have seen serious rain in Bali. I don’t like it very much

Bali - June 2014 - Day 4, On the move to Seminyak

Bali - June 2014 - Day 4, On the move to Seminyak

We had arranged for the Villa in Seminyak to send drivers to come get us around noon. The morning was spent eating a lovely breakfast of Bacon, eggs, banana pancakes for fruit, once again made by the Villa staff at Madu. They really do a great job and are very attentive. After food, we packed our stuff and sat around for a couple of hours relaxing. I even managed to drop off to sleep for a few minutes on the couch. Thats how I know I am starting to relax, when I can do that. Its only taken 3 days, but now I feel like I am in Bali.

Farewells said, we hopped into the 2 cars, loaded with the 6 of us and luggage and headed downhill to Seminyak. On the way, we got held up a little by cremation ceremonies blocking roads. The 13th is a sacred day here in Bali and quite a few specials things are pegged to happen on those dates every month (Hence Mick and Debbie at a wedding and teeth filing etc). We had heard that the main road in Ubud was going to be blocked all day, so we were quite lucky to get out in time.

The trip down took twice as long as going up, but it was nice to see the countryside, and the craft shops and rice fields. Some of the roads we took to avoid the traffic were tiny lanes, I am glad the guy knew the area, because even google maps had me completely lost.

We arrived at Villa Kampung in Seminyak, got out of the car, opened the front gate and..... you could have knocked me over with a feather. Truly, I was not expecting this at all....... Let me backup a bit.

Originally we had 12 of us going to Bali. I had spent hours and hours trying to find Villas to sleep 6 couples in and around Seminyak, its hard work I can tell you. Villa Kampung is not listed on Tripadvisor, features on only 2 or 3 Villa databases, and there is a small 2 minute video on Youtube that looks unreal. When we were down to 10 of us, I contacted Intouch Realty (VillaBali.com) and said we’d probably have to cancel, and try and find a smaller villa to keep costs down. They were very easy to work with, and said they would simply lock one room up and reduce the price, AND.... give us the use of another villa till we left for the airport on the last day. Super Super late checkout (11pm). BARGAIN. When  were reduced to 8, it was way too late to try and find another villa, and really, we were all super psyched to stay at Kampung anyways, so we sucked up the price increase and continued with our plans. For anybody considering a Villa, Dita from In Touch has been a dream to work with. I have zero hesitation in recommending them and we’ll be using them again.

OK.. The Villa.  BLEW US AWAY !

Video of Villa Kampung

Putu, the head of the staff explained that this is the largest Villa compound in the heart of Seminyak. It has 6 double sized airconditioned bedrooms, all with ensuites, and each has its own living area. A huge pool, dining area, lounge area, Pool table room, media room with big screen TV etc etc etc etc, this is 5 star stuff. And... its just behind Bintang Supermarket. I just timed the walk, it was 2 minutes door to door. And, its amazingly quiet. No dogs, no roosters, no bikes, just BLISS !  The pool is warm as well. We have struck it big time here !  The months of planning had finally paid off. 

Putu offered us drinks and Lumpia and some lovely fritters while we chose rooms and the staff moved our bags. I was keen to unpack and then hit the pool. We packed our Bintags into one of the four fridges in the kitchen (Thats HUGE) and settled in around the pool while Putu ordered us our 4 scooters for the week. Organising the scooters was fun, and I ended up with a new Honda Scooby, all shiny shiny. Ironically I am the one with the least amount of bike riding experience in the group. We hopped onto the bikes to work out how to start them etc etc and had a quick run down the alleyways to work out where we were. Not 300m from our Villa, a small Warung is setup selling beer, soft drinks and you guessed it.... Magic Mushrooms (with home delivery) *shakes head*  I guess we are tucked away in the back streets and a lot closer to Kuta than last year, so I guess outside out the walls of Kampung we have to expect it to be a little less hibrow than the last trip.

The girls had booked 4 massages in the Villa at 5pm. The cost inc tips is 150,000 for the girls to come to us. This is probably twice the price in the spas up the road, BUT, Putu explained these girls were the best around, and.... she wasnt wrong. All 4 of the girls said it was the BEST massage they had ever had, truly, this made me happy, as I am due one tomorrow (YESSSSSS). Whilst the girls were lying on the huge daybed getting their knots unwound, us boys hopped onto the scooters and headed down a maze of alleys to the beach. We ended up at La Plancha just on 5pm, and sat on the beanbags having 22,000 IDR Bintangs and soaking up the groovy tunes. Hugo, had a grin from ear to ear. YEP... This is Bali !

Around 6pm we hopped back onto the Scoobys and went back up via Double 6 back to the Villa. The roads are unusually quiet too. Even La Plancha was not as busy as last year.  A lot of the shops were empty too. Eerie.

The plan was to go to Moo Moo’s in Legian for dinner. Our bellies were craving steak and 2 vedge, and last year we had looked at the menu and it screamed value. To be honest, after eating there now, I can say its OK.. nothing flash, but quite a good price. The steaks were not very flavoursome, and the servings were not huge. We had a couple of cocktails, beers and the food, and it came to around $40 a couple. Not bad, but I probably wont go back. Mick and Deb and Karin and Hugo wanted to kick on, but we have not had one afternoon nap yet, and Litsa and I are always awake before anyone else around 6am local time. So the 4 of them headed off to Billys in Garlic Lane, and the other 4 of us headed up to Laksmana to go get dessert at Bali Cafe. The traffic up the top end was a bit more chaotic, and Mr Learner on the scooter here, had a few bum tightening moments weaving in and out of the cars/scooters and wayward tourists. Bali Cafe never dissapoints and we had mixed desserts, with me choosing the Apple Tarte Tartin with ice cream that I loved last year. Coffees and dessert was $7 each. 

Outside we were bailed up by some Viagra salesmen, and I stupidly told one that his prices were ridiculous, and that I could get them cheaper in Thailand !!  So it was on, the challenge to get the best price for me between the guys who were now rushing in like seagulls to a chip. I laughed, hopped onto the bike, threw litsa on the back and rushed off. I kid you not though, a young kid was then riding next too me yelling at me with an even better price than I had tried for on the footpath. HILARIOUS ! 

Home and bed beckoned...... head hit pillow.. BAM... OUT !

Then.. The drunks arrived home. All liquoured up on Long island Iced Teas and too much singing and dancing, they tried to get me out of bed by imitating roosters - Bastards !

I just ignored them hidden behind my curtains, mozzie net, and 2 pillows over my head. They wallowed around in the pool for a while and then got bored and went to bed.

Ahhhhhh Hows the serenity ???

Bali June 2013 - Day 3- Happy Birthday Karen.

Bali June 2013 - Day 3- Happy Birthday Karen.

Weather report.... Its WINDY this morning.... really windy. Damn Chillis

The day started pretty much like the rest, me up early, but this time suffering badly from the chilli the night before. Little sleep the past few nights, a hard bed, and a desire mightier than a packet of Mars bar flavoured Pods for the use of my own pillow, saw me puffy eyed and delirious. Hence the mess up with currency conversion, that will no doubt plague these reports throughout the week.

The wonderful villa staff came in around 8am to make us breakfast. This morning it was toast and jams along with a scrambled egg concoction that had very fine pieces of crisp vegetables stirred through it. Fresh watermelon juice and freshly cut fruit also lay on the table for all 8 of us.

After breakfast, we had until around 11.30 until I had arranged a minivan to take us all out on our day trip for Karens birthday. Karen and Scott are very dear friends of ours and also business partners in one of our ventures, they have also travelled with us to Vegas in the past, and are generally the first people to put up their hands when I plan any kind of adventure. I had been in touch with Adrienne from Villa Madu over the previous months to get her feedback and help in planning something special for the day. 

Karen and Scott left a bit earlier and were dropped off at the Monkey Forest with the plan to walk back up the hill and meet up with the rest of us later. We just sat around the villa, feet in the pool, listening to the dulcet tones of Mr Honda chainsaw who started on the dot at 9am. 

11.30 saw us all numbing the audible pain with a couple of home bought beers and a trial of the new Ice Glacier MIX MATCH vodka drinks.... For your info, these are really nice, not too sweet, and around 15000 each if you buy a case.

On the bus... We headed off to find K & S who were parked in the 3 Monkeys having an ice coffee. Scott had sent me an SMS a few moments earlier letting me know he had found the Holy Grail.... $1.40 Bintangs in UBUD. Next door to the 3 monkeys is where you will find them. Scott's leading the BINTANG Index at the moment with that score.

The next part of the trip, once the bus driver had pulled over, and stopped half the islands traffic flow, was to head to a place called Rapuan Cili in MAS Village, not far from UBUD. I had asked for input on nice places to go eat, and until the day before, had us all heading to Sari Organik in the rice fields for lunch. Micko has been to Bali a few times, and mentioned a place he had seen a few years back that had reasonable food, but more importantly, had swimming pools as well, and was also buried in the rice fields. Rapuan Cili.

It took around 20 mins to get there by bus, and if you didn't know about it, you would never find it, its off a side road on JL Mas. It gets an average write up on Trip Advisor, but it's not bad for what we wanted.

It's a very large building, 2 storeys and sits overlooking a plethora of rice paddys. The pools below are blue and warm. The top floor gets a nice breeze too and is fully open to the elements. The food, is generally Indonesian, of average quality and is priced a little higher than the local warungs. It gets called a tourist trap on TA and you can tell from the cars in the car park, that a few drivers will be getting kickbacks for bringing their clients here. Beers were $3.40 for small BINTANG if that's any indication. We bought the bigger bottles at $5 that seemed better value. Be warned though, they don't sell any spirits, only Hattens wine and a small selection of beers. The food was ok, but nothing great. Highlight was Scotty's Balinese chicken, and Hugo's pizza of all things. The pizza oven downstairs is wood fired and in the shape of a turtle. Total for lunch inc drinks was about $20 a head.

After lunch we went down the stairs, ordered some more cold drinks, and headed for the pool. So so warm. so nice. We spent about an hour down there, at no extra cost (unless you want a towel.... thats 7000 Rupiah). It was so nice to laze around in the sun with a great bunch of mates and a full belly. 

We then hopped back into the bus, after playing with a black pet monkey out in the car park. He was so cute, and his facial features were so animated. I JUST LOVE MONKEYS !  He was chained up, or he’d be in my backpack right now !

We then headed back to the bottom of Ubud, in the hope of finding the girls a spa treatment, as Adrienne had asked me to keep everyone out of the villa whilst they prepared the place for the party (more on that soon). Every single spa, at 4pm, was FULL !  UGH.. this part of the plan was not coming together. Zen looked the pick of the bunch, but the number of shoes at the door indicated that they were well and truly booked out. For the next 2 hours we wandered around, shopped at COCO and had another drink and nibbles at one of the local places on Monkey Forest Road.

When we got back to the Villa at 6pm, the staff had lined the paths with Frangipani flowers and put up heaps of decorations in the garden. There was also a 3 person Bali musical group playing on the lawn. The table was stacked with a mountain of food, all gorgeous Indonesian delicacies including cripsy tempe, Balinese chicken pieces, hot and spicy vegetable, noodles, fishcakes etc etc. Nurdi, had done an amazing job. The centrepiece was a huge cake of Gold Rice, and the top cone went straight onto Karens plate for good luck. After dinner, 2 Barung dancers arrived and gave us all a lovely dance show. Everyone except Debbie and Karin hopped up to join in at one stage or another, and I am sure the photos and videos will make there way around the Internet. I had also ordered a cake for Karen, and they even managed to ALMOST spell her name right with HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAREN on top. It was a Black Forest ordered from one of the local bakerys and it was yummy.

Mick and Deb had been invited to a wedding and teeth filing ceremony starting at 7am in Uluwatu, so after dinner they packed up and headed down with a driver. It was going t be a long night for them. The rest of us, sat around and chatted, had a couple of drinkies and then headed to bed. I am still exhausted writing this, and hope the beds and pillows at Villa Kampung are more suited to my odd shaped body. At least we will be able to fully unpack, stock up at Bintang Supermarket, and relax on the 8 person daybed. 

In reflection, I like Ubud a lot, but not as much as I like Seminyak. I guess the hills here, annoy me a bit. Walking is a lot harder than down on the coast, and there is not the choice of villas we have on the coast. I am a city boy at heart , and I am sure the Bali purists will go ‘tut tut’ at me when I criticise the place. I dont get into all the ‘spiritual’ stuff that this place is famous for, my wifes the crazy Shaman in our family. I like a good quality feed, a cheaper Bintang and crazy arsed streets filled with Bluebird cabs. Its a pain getting around Ubud unless you have a scooter or a car, and then its painful trying to park. I am really looking forward to my large villa compound, my pool and the beach 10 mins walk away to sit in an afternoon amongst the crowds watching the sun set.

The adventure continues tomorrow............

Bali June 2013 - HNR - Day 2, The worlds hottest chilli.

Bali June 2013 - HNR - Day 2, The worlds hottest chilli.

Good morning,

I am writing this, recounting yesterdays shenanigans with very puffy eyes, and I am very very tired. I have been sitting on the Loo most of the night, looking at the lovely architecture of Villa Madu here in Ubud...... but more on this LATER !

I was awake first yesterday, as per usual. I’d lay awake from about 5am local time and got out of bed around 6.30am. I took a few pictures of the Villa in the morning light, and had a good look around. The Villa is quite stunning. All open plan, with a much bigger kitchen than most, and large wide windows that open to let the outside inside on 2 levels. As I mentioned, there are 2 small bures on a lower level on the property, that a short walk down some steep steps. There is also a small observation deck that sits about 200 feet above the river/stream below. Obviously “Clean up Indonesia Day” has yet to happen as the rivulet is full of garbage at the moment.

As the rest of the party started stirring, Scotty got up and made use of the kitchen to make some eggs and toast. I wasnt sure if I had organised breakky at Madu (we dont have it included in Seminyak) so I figured it was fine. About 30 mins later, Nuri and the staff wandered in to .... you guessed it... make us breakfast !  With only 2 left to cook for, they were not overworked today. These guys here at the Villa are very attentive, they do an awesome job. My only whinge, and its very small, is that we are all quite private people, and would love for them to maybe give us a bit more time alone. The girls for instance, wanted to sunbake topless in the afternoon, and it was very hard feeling comfortable with staff wandering around. In saying that, the villa is kept in impeccable condition, and our beds were made pronto and towels changed twice a day.

The Villa. VILLA MADU

After food and coffee we decided to walk into Ubud centre. The villa is around 500 along a gang just off Ubud Main Road. Around another 800m from Monkey Forest road and the markets. As far as Ubud Villas go, this is about as central as it gets. Its still a struggle to walk in the heat, and I would suggest you getting a moped, or you will be relying on transport from the villa. They have a 6 seater van, thats like new, so its not too bad. The first stop was at a shop to get local sims. I set Litsa and I up with 3.5 gigs of Data and 20,000 IDR in calls (we use data mostly) for 200,000 IDR each. I think the sims are Simpati, the 3G is quite fast and we get good connection pretty much anywhere in Ubud.

By the time we had 4 sims going etc, a good 30 mins had passed. Off we go again and we made it to the big intersection in town to go look for Ibu Oka to make sure we get into the queue for Babi Guling when its ready. For your info, Ibu Oka on the street is undergoing renovations as of 3 days ago. You now have to walk 50m (Thats 50 Bali Metres - translates to 400m) up the road, turn right, and walk another 50m (400M) according the madly arm waving man looking for our business to the HOUSE... yup... Where they actually cook the pigs. They were not due to bring the meat out for a while, but after the walk, and trying to herd 8 people in one group, we all though STUFF IT, lets just sit there, wait and..... drink beer.

Karen riding the PIG !

We went out the back and saw 4 guys sitting turning the pigs over the wood. This was pretty cool to see. Last year, on our whirlwind trip, I only managed to see the tail end of the service of the pigs at the original outlet, and was worried that with my dodgy belly, the trip back to Seminyak would be fraught with danger. I watch a lot of travel and cooking shows, and I knew that this trip I simply had to stay in Ubud, and have a bathroom close by, just so I could say I travelled in the footsteps of the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern.

We were 2 beers in (each) when they started bringing the meat out. We chose a ‘Special’ and a meat and skin pack for each couple. That way you get a good mix of meat, crackle, rice and vegetables. Even though it was still early, a few people were wandering in to get takeout packs, lots of these were locals too. The meat was juicy and succulent. The crackle simply divine, the blood sausage, however, was simply just too hot with chillis to make it nice. I am sure the locals would love it, but it wasnt really to any of our taste. Whatever spices they stuff into the cavities etc, make the pig, just simply YUMMY. On the plate, alongside the crackle, we also discovered what we could only work out to be deep fried intestine. OK... I am a fan of all things weird to eat, but this.. was perhaps just a little too weird. Lots of sphincter humour ensued as the beers started to do their magic at 11am !  The table was pretty much full of empty plates an empty Bintangs, and the total bill for the meat was around $8 a couple and the beers were 250,000 rupiah. Sorry if I wander back and forth between Aussie $ and IDR, thats just the way my brain works. I will of course be updating the ‘Bintang Index’ at most locations, so you know whats cheap and whats not.

After a few obligatory photos of Karen riding one of the stone pigs, we headed off back to town. We stopped at the Palace for a quick look and then the girls and Hugo split towards the markets, and Scotty, Mick and I decided to go ‘exploring’. I knew that further along the Ubud Main road, past Starbucks, there was a restaurant called PAON. Scotty and Mick both love a god feed, so I wanted to show them the menu there, as a possible destination for dinner. We legged it off down the street, and shortly rocked up out the front. It took about 30 seconds of them seeing the ‘Seafood Grill’ for 2 people for 450,000 to convince them we had found a dinner spot. To kill some time, we then decided to walk back towards town and stop along the way scoping out the Bintang Index. Casa Luna had Binnies for 25K + tax just so you know. I am a big fan of the rehydrating power of this marvellous elixir, and it was working a treat as we ambled further back up the road towards the markets. Just on the way back, we found the rest sitting in a Gelato bar having an icecream. Litsa then decided she wanted a pedicure, so her and Karin wandered off and the rest of us settled into OOPS bar next door for their 24,000 Bintangs and a bite to eat.

We chose some Gyoza, Chicken Wings in sticky sauce, Vietnamese beef rolls and some Satay. All great and all cheap. I think the food bill was around $20  :)

Back to the Villa we go, as its now early arvo and we need a swim. Its hot and its humid today. The rain last night has made it a little more steamy than I remember last year. As we got to the turn, I saw MOJOS BURRITOS were open. Oh bugger it, in my never ending hunt for the best Pan Asian Mexican cuisine, I leave the rest to wander home, whilst I head in and order 2 beef tacos. When they arrived, they were the size of a Burrito each and loaded with toppings. I found them a tad too cheesy for my liking, but the Pico De gallo was great, and the beef, nicely seasoned. At $3.80 for 2, I wasnt going to whinge too much. I only managed to eat one and a half of them anyways. Mick, by this stage, had driven his scooter back down to save me the 400m walk back. I sat down, held on, and at mach one, we headed to the Villa.

On arrival, I found most of the party in the pool. But.. What the HELL WAS THAT NOISE ?  It seems the neighbours of Villa Madu have taken it upon themselves to choose this week to clear some land of old wood native forest. The tree thats lying down is about as thick as a VW, and of course now needs chopping into smaller bits with the use of the worlds most of of tune CHAINSAW !!  And it wasnt constant either. He’d run it for 3-4 minutes, then stop for up to 10 minutes. After all the food and beer, and with us due to have dinner at 6.30pm, I was well and truly due a Nanna Nap. Mick had spent some time standing on the wall between properties trying to bribe the guy with 200,000 to bugger off and leave us all alone for the afternoon. He wanted 600,000. UGH an impasse. I got in touch with the managers here and asked them what we could do. Adrienne the owner then tried to talk to the neighbours, but it was all a waste of time. The price for him to leave would now be 1 Million. We thought he’d stopped for a while, as I JUST managed to drop off to sleep, when BAM... chainsaw. OH hang on, thats me snoring.. NO.. BAM.. its the real chainsaw again.

Giving sleep up as a bad joke, we all gathered outside and started drinking. Adrienne came down and apologised profusely, and explained that if we paid the bribe, then the guy would just make it impossible for her in future. We agreed, and let it go. Nuri meanwhile had rustled up some Tempe and Satay for us to enjoy with the drinks around the pool.

PAON - Me on the left with the funky bum bag.

Grilled Platter

At 6.30, we headed off into town to PAON for dinner. Drinks ordered, we all agreed we would each get the 450,000 seafood grill for 2 which also included soups and desserts. The Thai Tom Yung soup seemed to be the most popular and half way through eating mine (that I found to be a little less spicy or sour than I like), Hugo pointed to the whole chillis in the soup, and said.. the infamous words... “ Wayne, those chillis are hot”. 

Now....

I love spicy food. I love challenges, and I LOVE CHILLIS. They however, simply do not like me.

The chillis had ben placed into the soup whole, unbroken, and for good reason.

I picked the chilli up, took a bite, and said probably the most stupid thing that ever been uttered...

“ Hugo, you are kidding me, these are not hot”

He then said...

“ Eat the thing whole and chew on it”

So I did................................................

Oh dear. Oh DEAR GOD.... OH HELL... OH NO !

What ensued was perhaps the most intense 15 minute chilli hit of my life. Full body sweat, red face, tears, nose running like a water fall, me dabbing at my tongue with the cold hand towels, eating packets of sugar, drinking cold water, hot water, ice cubes..... IT JUST WOULDNT STOP !

And the whole time, I am thinking, this is it going in.... whats it going to be like later ?

The rest of the table was in hysterics, taking photos of me, short videos were being sent around the world to mates of mine who know how stupid I am etc etc.  Thanks ladies and gents, I have a long memory.

The food platters then turned up just as I had settled enough to see straight again, and we all tucked into our, lobster, crab, prawns, squid, fish, satay, tuna and salad. The highlight was the Lobster and Prawns and the Crab. The whole thing suffered from being cooked in batches and was a little cold. As usual, the fish was overcooked. This is something we found last year as well. Overall though, the food was excellent and pretty good value considering the venue and location. I am sure we will find it cheaper later in the trip, but we were all happy we ate there. Desserts followed, along with a couple of 240,000 cleansing Bintangs to finish the meal.

The Water Palace in Ubud

We called Putu our security guard to come and get us, and after a quick look at the beautifully lit Ubud Water Palace we headed home. Home and a couple of drinks before bed, and we were all pretty shattered so straight to bed.

NOW.. this is where the day/night ends for everyone else. Me... not so much.

By 2am...it started.. and then every 30-40 mins, it continued. Its not Bali Belly, I know exactly what it is, its that bloody chilli !   So, here I am now, writing this, through bleary eyes, half asleep and...... ITS KARENS BIRTHDAY TODAY AND I HAVE ORGANISED STUFF !!!

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

They sell Red Bull here ??

And.... the chainsaw just started again

Bali June 2013 - Day 1 - Getting There

BALI JUNE 2013 - DAY 1 - Getting There.

So here I am, sitting in the most gorgeous Villa in UBUD, Villa Madu, its early still and we are all suffering from the long day of travel yesterday to get us here. I awoke, even with earplugs to the sounds of my old Bali mates - THE ROOSTERS ! 

WAIT.... lets go back a little in this tale.

So when we jumped off the plane last year after our awesome foursome trip to Seminyak, I was keen to put a bigger group together and get us back here as quickly as possible. We started off with 12 of us (6 couples), and boy, that was a struggle. You try finding accomodation in Ubud and Seminyak for 6 couples thats not sphincter tigheningly expensive. Through a mix of circumstances, we were then down to 10 of us with 2 dropping out. At this stage I managed to secure Villa Madu in Ubud and Villa Kampung in Seminyak. Plans were then well under way with us getting flights and organising seating to try and be near each other etc. Mick and Debbie, Bali regulars decided to go up early, and they would meet us at Ubud. They managed to get nearly a month off work to go back this time. Lucky ducks !

With a few weeks to go, another duo had to drop out due to work commitments, and an inconsiderate daughter timing her pregnancy so that the birth was imminent when they were away. We were now at EIGHT !  Never fear, we will carry on regardless. We changed nothing re the lodgings, and all just chipped in a few extra $$$ to make up the difference. We didn’t want to lose our chance to stay at the gorgeous villas we had booked.

So yesterday (Monday) we started the adventure. To be completely frank, it was not a great start. Litsa and I decided to start our holidays a little early, and go have Sunday drinks with some mates. So come Monday morning at 4am, when the alarm went off, I was not well. Actually, I was horrible. It didnt make for a comfortable trip at all. At one point I feared I’d be calling for an injection of Maxillon to stem the nausea. As they say, SELF INFLICTED - NO PITY.

Jetstar, God bless their little cotton sox, decided to cancel our Brisbane to Darwin, Darwin to Denpasar flight and send us via Sydney. Great, a 7 hour layover. Well, with 4 good mates in tow, and a myriad of places to eat lunch, it was never going to be a bad day was it ? We landed around 10am, then took the shuttle to International to go drop some bags into the storage, then we took an $80 cab to Darling Harbour (That sure cut into the Bintang budget - OUCH). We had a wander down to Kings Wharf and sat down at Nicks Bar and Grill for a relatively cheapish (by Sydney standards) lunch. 5 minutes in, the waitress managed to tip 3 icy cold glasses of water all over Litsa. YAY that made her day. The food was OK. Highlights were Scotts mussels in Tomato concasse and some bowls of seafood chowder that we all shared. The steaks were OK, but nothing outstanding. We shared a bottle of NZ Sauv Blanc, and by glass number 2, I was starting to feel a little more human. We then wandered around Darling Harbour to kill time, stopping at the pumphouse for some overpriced beers. 

Karen suggested we head back to the airport early and she would try and get us all into the QANTAS club, a heady task given that there was six of us. Into yet another Bintang Budget killer (a Sydney cab) and back to get the bags and go check in just after 3pm for a 5.20pm flight. Karen failed us !!!!  Her usual convincing nature, and BOY can she be convincing, just wasn’t working too well today, and after buying our duty free booze and perfumes, we ended up sitting around the centre section near the bar once you clear immigration etc..

The flight was called, and we were off.

Jetstar obviously shunted half of Brisbane to go via Sydney, as the flight, and A330, was chockers. Litsa and I just watched movies on the Ipad, and tried to snooze. Karen and Scott were way down the back in row 58, and apparently it was kiddy creche land back there.

BALI... landed. YAY

We were the only flight in, but as the A330 was full, VOA seemed to take forever. We were exactly the last people in the queue too. It took close to an hour to get out and greet our drivers who were patiently waiting for us. We had booked 2 cars, so that all our luggage could travel in one and we could all travel in the other. Hugo and Karin have never been to Asia, so I made sure that Hugo was in the front seat and Karin was in the middle behind. Both needed to have a good view of the roads. We were told that it could take 1 hour and 15 mins to UBUD. Scotty threw out the challenge to the driver to do it in 45mins. He certainly gave it a nudge !!  The optional use of lanes was pushed to the edge of the envelope, and the look on Karins face as we hurtled headlong towards multiple head on impacts was priceless. I could see Hugo pushing his brake foot a few times as well sitting in the passenger seat :)

We arrived around 11.30 local time, to find Mick and Deb already in the Villa, and cold Bintangs in the fridge. A quick catchup, tour of the amazing Villa Madu and a couple of cold Bintangs, and it was time for bed. We drew straws for the primo rooms, and Mick and Deb ended up banished to the ‘lower levels’. One of the rooms at the Villa, in the separate apartments,  has a really musty smell, so we have decided that no one will stay in there. Litsa and I are camped on the daybed on the top floor near the media room. Its nice and cool at night.  The whole villa is just stunning. Those on Facebook will see the images tomorrow. The rest of you will have to wait till I can setup the photos in a Blog when we hit Seminyak. At the moment, all our stuff is thrown onto the floor, and we are not really settled for these couple of days in Ubud. Its a lightning quick trip again. Today we are just going to walk around, get a massage, eat, drink and be merry as usual.

Stay tuned.