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The little plane took us back to Bali and we ran the gauntlet of the taxi drivers and porters in the airport and made our way to the outside of the airport where we managed to find a bluebird taxi.. made our way to the Puri Mesari hotel in Sanur. It's a lovely fascinating little hotel with helpful and friendly staff and the glass of iced tea was very welcome. It's at the end of Sanur, which makes everything a long walk away and we made our way up to a cafe over looking the sea to have some lunch and then strolled back along the boadwalk, edged with beach type shops, little cafes and some very posh hotels.. we went out again for supper and found a restaurant overlooking the sea, listening to a live band playing blues at the place next door
First full day in Bali was a trip to Ubud and our silver smithing class. The instructor was fantastic and very patient. We sat in the courtyard at the front of his house, sawing and filing our chunks of silver. Joey made a lovely ring and I made a necklace. We were shown several books of designs and then given paper and pencils to sketch out what we wanted...it took a long time! When we'd finished the cutting out..i lost count of the blades I broke.. the experts took over, soldering polishing etc turning our clumsy attempts into something that looked very professional! Joey's ring looked really good and all I need is a chain to complete my necklace..
After being creative all morning it was time for lunch and we found a great coffee place..their logo said "look like you know what you are doing" and the food was lovely, with very posh coffee!!
After our lunch we set off for the Monkey Forest temple and as we arrived at the entrance we felt the first drops of rain...there were some very ominous clouds so we retired to the nearest cafe called tropical view... and if a tropical view encompasses a monsoon...that's we got! Huge thunderstorm rattling round us and one flash and crack was almost on top of us..I think we all squeaked!! We sat there for more than 2 hours, hoping it would get better/stop, tried to call a taxi and eventually got back to the hotel by the kindness of the girls in the cafe, who called a friend to take us back. The first part of the trip felt as if we were in an ark but by the time we got to Sanur, there was no sign of rain!
Next day - Kuta beach! Joey hired a surfboard and spent pretty much all day in the water..I had a go, not terribly successfully, but i did take a body board out which was lots of fun. Joey was shattered after her day in the sea, so of course we had to go and have a drink in the cafe sardinia and watch the sun go down... especially as they were doing 2 4 1 cocktails!
We set off exploring Kuta by night and found a place to eat just off the main street.. lovely food... shame about the rat we saw under a nearby table.
Since we didn't get to the Monkey temple, we decided to go back to Ubud and have more of a look around. On the trip up in the taxi we noticed that there were a lot of people wearing their national dress and we discovered that it was kuningan, the celebration of the powers of good. There were celebrations going on in every temple and at every ikon we passed. Everywhere you go and everywhere you look you see the symbols of their religion...offerings up high to please the good spirits and down on the ground to appease the bad ones .Every door, gate, road path and bridge has a little basket with a few flowers, a sweet a cigarette or some burning incense, with water sprinkled over with an oleander flower. Their religion seems to play a central role in their lives, part and parcel of who they are. Hinduism, grafted on to their own brand of animist beliefs.. unique and very Balinese.
The monkey temple was strangely enough full of monkeys! Pretty unconcerned about all the people round them..the warnings at the entrance to not take anything in with you were not heeded by everyone, so water and coke bottles and any food was quickly discovered and taken, as was jewellery, glasses, hats etc,, There were some very young monkey babies with their mums...who would casually hold on to their tails to stop them from going too far!...who needs reins!
We left the temple and went up monkey forest road to the royal palace and there was a lion dance progressing down the road!
We got a taxi back.. eventually..i thinks it's murphys law coming into play here.. when we didn't want a taxi, people were falling over themselves to offer us their car.. when we wanted one there was none to be found!
We were planning on going to potato head, a very posh beach club at Seminyak, but as the clouds rolled in we decided that we'd take a bit more time to get ready.. a swim in the pool, a leisurely shower and for the first time I actually put some make up on!
Potato head was a great place! A beach club where for about £30 you revel in the lap of luxury..lovely food, amazing cocktails, an infinity pool, and a great atmosphere! We chose our cocktails with care.. I had a prohibition iced tea that came in a teapot with steam(ish) coming out of the spout.. joey's drink was long creamy and had a lychee... delicious!!
We spent the evening people watching and listening to the dj.. i could very easily go back there..
Our last day in Bali..and having checked the flight times we discovered that they had changed.. good news and bad news..good news meant we had more time in Bali, bad news meant that we had to rethink our plans in Jakarta
WE packed and decided that we would try and fill every moment of our last morning. We had originally planned to go diving, but decided to give it a miss, because of my cold and generally inability to breath properly..so we went snorkelling! Joey had been somewhere before along the beach so we went back there,, and we spotted that they did para-sailing! They offered us a deal for 2 people, so of course we took it.. we went flying!!
An excited whoop and I was off the ground.. it was amazing.. definitely going to do that again one day! Fantastic views from 60 meters above the sea and because we did a dry take of f and landing we didnt even get wet!! The ride out to the para-sailing beach was great fun as we zipped along in a speed boat. They dropped us off at the glass bottom boat where we were snorkelling and we were quickly in the water.. armed with a bread roll the fish came swarming round, nibbling anything that might be a bit of bread,, fingers, arms etc etc!!
We saw more of nemo and his friends and a few fish we'd not seen before.. a puffer fish, a trumpet fish and a school of little tuna.
A quick iced coffee and a small portion of fries to share, a quick walk back to the hotel, shower and change.. and we were only 10 minutes late in leaving!
Bali airport.. i'm sure it will be lovely when it's finished!!
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