Day 2 BALI

Our first day in Bali was quiet. We had a late lunch then in the evening, went out along the beach to a restaurant named the Bonsai. Joan had a mixed sate and I had traditional Nasi Goreng. Very nice food and a pleasant atmosphere on the beach. It cost us less than $20A which included two large bottles of Bintang. Bintang is 5% alcohol, but it must creep up on you as I don't feel it like I would a beer back in AU.


This morning we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and later around 10am grabbed a 'taxi' driven by Wally. He took us to Harvey's, a department store and waited until we had done our shop and brought us back to the hotel for RP60,000. That sounds a bit frightening, but each A$ can be exchanged for RP8,200. Tomorrow he is booked to take us into Kuta for a bit of shopping and he will collect us at about 3pm.

At Harvey's we bought real toilet paper. The stuff in the hotel could be broken by a young mosquito! Same goes for the soap; they supply us with the smallest cakes imaginable. We bought a real sized cake of soap. Joan 's packing skills had failed her and she had to buy a hat. Of course we did stock up on mixers and snacks.

The hotel room is quite nice but as with most buildings here the finish is not tradesman-like as we would know it in Aus. There is some dodgy plumbing and tiling and repairs done look like someone has sent his 13 year old son to do the job. Still, it is comfortable; the airconditioning works well and we have free WiFi in the room to write the blog and send and receive emails.

The grounds of this hotel are magnificent. Water seems plentiful and all the paths are washed down continuously. There seems to be dozens of grounds people busying themselves all over the place. One of the pools is the spa bar where the bar staff are inside a 'pocket' inside the pool. Very smart!
Jacuzzi Bar
Beachside Pool

My friend Paul has a bit of a thing about big things...bananas, sheep, quokkas etc, so I have included a pic of the big lobster on the beach.