Bali - day three and four
We had to move rooms to less nice one but its still lovely, near the pool and some nature. Nik got up at the crack of dawn and watched the sunrise so he is into nature today. He watched the bats kill things and then go to sleep. He has been taking photographs of the amazing plant life and lizards. He also took a pic of a statue and the camera said 'did someone blink?' - we hope not! (for all you Doctor Who fans out there!)
Nik's early morning adventure let a bug in and we both got bit. Although Hannah's bite looks particularly ferocious. Nik also claimed there was a wild monkey on the roof this morning, it turned out to be a maintenance man.
Nik is suffering from the lack of daily coffee, but got a pot of real Balinese coffee from the bar which cost 50p and was the colour of tar. It did the trick and tasted excellent - one to try Daryl!
Today we are somewhat sunbernard too. Oops. Traveller mistake number one, forgetting the sun cream at the beach.
After our morning swim we decided to walk down for a beach stroll via Legian beach (nicer walk and money changers to use that are not in tents!) then onto Poppies Lane which is as famous as Oxford Street with backpacker types, Nik was offered more Viagra (wanna last long time boss?) and is now getting a complex! The streets were very quiet today and we discovered that it seems to be a holy day where they all sit in temples and bang drums, after going at least half a day without Bintang beer we stopped at our new fav bar Eikon to drink beer and eat fries as we watched the people of bali stroll by. They serve chips with Sambal which is a v spicy chilli sauce. Good stuff.
This evening we are going back to Poppies Lane and to the famous Poppies restaurant (been around over 30 years) which is set in a tropical garden and serves real Indonesian food! ( at last )
Hannah ate Nasi Campur, which is fried rice with a bit of everything around the side, like different meats in spicy sauces, veggies and papaya. Nik ate giant fresh satay shrimps and rice and was almost moved by its deliciousness. He then drank a cafetiere of Balinese coffee which had, shall we say, a cleansing effect!
We then had a couple more beers before Hannah started to get sore eyes and so we went home.
As Nik loves nature today, we spent time watching a lot of gekkos. They are very clever and sit on the ceiling right by the lights so that they can eat the bugs that hang around there. They are very fast and jump without falling off. When we got home a baby one was in the bathroom, it kept falling off though as it is only little. Nik tried and failed to catch it, and it made a new home in a hole in the ceiling.
The following morning, Hannah woke up and her eyelids had gone massive and bright red and lumpy and sore. God knows why! This combined with the multiple insect bites, including one on the face, one on the lip and one an inch long on the ankle, made Hannah feel unwell and she took to her bed. Nik went and saw a man in a white coat who sold him some antibiotic eye drops, and these seem to be working slowly but surely. At the time of writing, Hannah's eyes are now visible again and only a bit lumpy and pink.
While Hannah convalesced, Nik went and bought stuff, like fake sunglasses and tops and a watch. Hannah sleeps, Nik shops.
When Hannah was finally able to rise (looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein with swollen eyes and lips) we went to the beach to watch the sunset, but the weather switched and it went dark, with enormous waves and started blowing up a sandstorm. Very atmospheric and moody but impossible to sit and watch for long. So instead be hopped down to Made's Warung which is not really a warung and is actually now a restaurant, but was amazing Indonesian food. When we were waiting for our dinner, a huge procession of people going to worship went past, all dressed in robes and playing drums and cymbals etc. They do a funny sort of Hinduism here which involves a lot of offerings, every night they make palm baskets and fill them with flowers and food to leave out for the spirits, gods and demons. We saw one bowl with a fish finger in it. We think these bowls might be the reason all the stray dogs look so healthy - steady stream of food.
Tonight Nik ate Nasi Goreng again, but this time it came with more bits and better chicken satay. Hannah had pork ribs with baby papaya and rice which was the worlds hottest (yet most amazing) stew. After a bit of shopping (handmade sundress for £3 - yes please) and a beer, we headed back for an early night and watched Take Him Out Indonesia, which was Take Me Out (no likey, no lighty) but where the men choose the woman. Carnage. One woman sang Alone by Heart as her special talent.
Other notable fact is that in the last two days, Nik has befriended everyone, and keeps talking to strangers.