So as I said last post, this is our third attempt to get to Bali. Now we’re here the place won’t let us go. By now (11 am Thurs 14 July) we should be at home having breakfast but instead we’re still in Bali. Late last night as we were about to leave the hotel Jetstar emailed to say our flight was cancelled. This really isn’t that bad as Jetstar are paying for the extra day but I was supposed to have a doctor’s appointment in an hour or so. On the bright side they could have waited till we got to the airport to tell us so thank God for small mercies.
So what have we done while here? First day here, Sunday, we were knackered having been awake since 0700 the previous day. We got here around 0800 so we couldn’t get into our hotel room (till 2pm) so we went into town to have a look. In the high heat and humidity this was an effort but we managed. After surviving 50+ degrees in India the temp here was ‘mild’. We walked around Kuta and checked out the beach. I hate being hassled by hawkers but it really put me off when we had to fight through them even on the beach. We checked out the “Beach Walk” mall (I think that’s its name) then wandered around. At one spot we were waylaid by some scammer who was extremely determined. He forced us to tear open some sealed tickets to a ‘free’ raffle and guess what? I won first prize! $1000 USD no less! Now all we had to do was go with him and his mates to some remote ‘resort’ to view it so we could extoll its virtues to our friends back home. So after trying to get away from this jerk for 10 minutes we agreed to go with him but only after he let us go into the shop behind us to get a t-shirt first (which is where we were going when he nabbed us). Once in the shop we bought our t-shirts then got the owner to let us out the back door where we made our escape up this narrow laneway in the direction of our hotel. Back at the hotel we got our room, tried unsuccessfully to sleep, booked a pair of tours for the next two days then had tea and retired.
Next day, Monday, (after 12 hours solid sleep) we arose to go on tour. Looked like a nice day. Started out a nice day. Began as a nice tour. Till we got to our first venue where the heavens opened up. We managed to get no more than 10 steps from the car and we were getting soaked. My $70 sandals and Shane’s new camera getting wet we tried to take a snap of this temple but all we got was a grey misty picture with nothing in it. No matter we’d just move on to the next venue. Again the Bali curse raises its ugly head. The rain just got heavier so we decided to forget it. Over 2 hours in the car and nothing to show for it so we said “Take us back to the hotel”. Luckily the driver, our “English speaking tour guide” who said nothing but just drove, convinced us to at least go to the third and final venue. At Tanah Lot at least the rain had not hit here (yet). We had a pleasant 30 minutes here to take some photos and we were back in the car heading ‘home’.
Tuesday was a full day tour day. We hoped our “English speaking tour guide” who said nothing but just drove would speak a bit more today so we’d know what we were looking at. Our tour went in this order; First was the Sari Anerta Batik factory followed by Artikas silversmith factory. This was followed up with a Barong Dance troupe show called Sila Budaya which was very good. From there we went on to a visit to a Batuan village to the New York Painting Art Gallery. Very talented artists but not our style. The Batuan Temple was next where we were left to wander alone for a few minutes amongst the shrines and other tourists. We then moved on to the Kayun Restaurant for a lovely lunch. After lunch we travelled to the Ubud Monkey Forest. We finished the tour with a stop at Tegallalang rice terraces for a photo stop. For the record the highlights were the restaurant which is still under renovation but is already proving to be a very nice place and the Ubud Monkey Forest which was full of shrieks of both laughter and fear as the monkeys did what monkeys do.
Because Wednesday was supposed to be our last day we just went for another look at Kuta but in a different area from our previous walks. This time we headed to Lippo Mall. This place is fairly big. Definitely bigger than Shane & I expected here. We looked around and ended up buying a new suitcase as the ones we have are not doing the job. After dropping it back at the hotel we returned to Kuta to the Discovery Mall. Another big development. A bit more walking and that was us done. We spent the rest of the day packing and repacking our new suitcase before watching State of Origin 3. In anticipation of a Blues victory I had packed our blues jerseys on top so we could wear them home on the flight. A few hours later as we were about to leave our hotel room for the airport an email arrived from Jetstar telling us that our flight home had been cancelled and we’d be spending another day in Bali (at their expense). Bugger. The Bali curse strikes again but this one we could handle.
So here we are, stuck in Bali for an extra day. We had breaky, sat by the pool for a few hours, met a friendly family from Perth and had lunch by the pool. Shane’s having a ‘SCAN’ (Senior Citizens Afternoon Nap) and I’m madly typing. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be home so I can start the process of having this bung knee repaired. So if you read a post tomorrow on this blog you’ll know we’re still stuck here.
Cheers
Garry