Back in Bali - woop woop
Got the death plane back to Bali on Friday 4th June and it was actually fine despite not meeting international safety standards, even included an in flight magazine and a 'breakfast' of a curried roll and a piece of cake.
Hung about at the airport for a bit sorting out flights with Air Asia, which was made difficult by some bogan Australians confusing the poor girl, but at least we are now actually set to go to Singapore on the 10th June.
Used the official taxi service to get into town, but after we dropped Matt and Claire off, the driver still managed to fleece us price wise. We wandered around with our backpacks trying to find somewhere to stay in Seminyak and it did not go well, so Nik left Hannah on the roadside in a shady spot outside a posh dress shop to go and find somewhere to stay. Unfortunately, there were no rooms at the inn anywhere, esp no cheap rooms, so we have ended up staying in the Seminyak Paradiso Hotel which is out of our budget and really lovely, with huge room, air con, hot water, bath, swimming pool, breakfast, towels, bed linen and the piece de resistance - the flushing toilet.
We had a dip in the pool and a nap before going out for a bite to eat, back to Indonesian food after Flores, and had tasty and cheap rice and noodles. Then we met Matt and Claire in Kuta for drinks, on the walk down, Nik had a special moment and walked across wet cement, so his flip flop footprint is a part of Bali forevermore! Ultimately the four of us ended up in the Vi Ai Pi bar, which is on the rooftop of a building and had an amazing covers band (feat the cool Asian guys we saw when we were in Kuta before) doing dance tunes, rhianna, tina turner, oasis - legendary. There were also fire dancer girls (impressive) and 2 for 1 cocktails which after the Flores arak issue, were totally delicious. We spent much of our time enjoying the band and watching a rank old Indonesian man with a prostitute. Later in the evening we went upstairs to the club, where some Swedish do was playing, but we went in the Midnight Lounge (air conditioned!) for 20k Mojitos (less than £2 and delish) and lying on a sofa bed. There was also a girl who opened the door for people on the way in that every now and then took her clothes off and did some seriously impressive pole dancing, she became our friend. The boys did lots of dancing, in fact, at one point, Nik was dancing of his own volition when Hannah was not. The snake hips are unstoppable.
In essence, we drank a lot, danced and sang a bit (Jai Ho and the Black Eyed Peas a highlight from the band), then ate crisps and went to bed. Although one notable thing: on the way home, when Nik had to make one of his old man toilet stops up an alley way, a woman on a moped drove up and while he was in action so to speak, offered him a 'happy time'.
Saturday night, I feel the air is getting hot…
Hannah awoke with yesterdays headache, but we went to breakfast (where even the waiter basically said Hannah looked rough) and it was NOT bread and honey. Instead it was poached eggs, bacon, fruit juice, toast, bread, butter and jams. There was even salt and pepper - omg. It was excellent.
Hannah then had to convalesce while Nik hired a moped and went to find somewhere to stay from tomorrow in Legian that was more affordable. He did an excellent job, securing a room for 70k which is just less than £6 a night. Then in the afternoon we went for a walk around all the main parts of Seminyak which looks like a swanky town in France or Spain. It is designer boutiques with white floaty dresses mainly, silver jewellery and posh homewares, like sinks made out of a shell for example. It was fab for some window shopping. The best shop was a posh supermarket food shop type place that had actual posh cheeses and stuff.
Afterwards, we walked down Seminyak beach, which had gigantic and ferocious waves all across the shore that properly roared. It was also a proper soft sand beach which was a nice change to walk on. We walked the whole way down to the beach gate at the end of the road where out hotel is, stopping on the way at Ku De Ta, which is a super swanky bar with loungers and a pool and beautiful people in not many clothes. It was a good spot for watching the world go by. En route to the hotel, we also found an excellent shop that sells everything near our hotel and Hannah purchased crisps that look like chips and have free dip in the packet. De-lish.
Had a dip in the pool before getting ready for dinner. We met Matt and Claire in the bar area at our hotel, and were most impressed that the bar lady gave us all incense to keep the bugs away. Found an excellent curry house in the road we are staying in, which had a proper tan door oven and everything and had some delicious dinner, which included home made mango chutney, mint dip, tamarind sauce and home made popadoms with big seeds in them. They also gave us free pakoras as a starter. Tasty.
Afterwards, we went for a drink at a posh looking but empty bar and spied some action further up the road, so after concluding the evening we went for a look. It transpired to be a gay bar with men in pants and feathers dancing outside and a mime artiste doing Celine Dion. On the way past, all the dancing boys stroked us 'come on in dahling'. Nik felt violated. When we got back to the hotel a special needs gekko gave Hannah a heart attack by being in an un gekko like location and running very fast.
Sunday….
The next day was Sunday, so after moving to our new digs (genius for £70k - huge room) we had a very Bali version of a Sunday. We went for a stroll down the beach to Kuta, and from there walked down to the shopping centre and the mall in Taban. It was odd being in an actual department store instead of surrounded by the hawkers. Inside there was even a little marks and sparks. We saw a singing competition happening, which wasn't too bad - the Indo's are very musical generally. Then we had an ice cream from the Coldstone Creamery - cheesecake ice cream with added oreos mixed in - yum.
We wandered around Kuta and had a drink for some good people watching, including some right waddlers (a whole family of them in fact in matching Bintang outfits) and a lot of Indo girls who'd gone too far on the skin whitening agenda.
After wandering back up to Legian, we went to an Aussie bar for a few games of cards in an area that was so Australian infiltrated you may as well not have been in Bali at all. Nik was supreme champion at cards btw.
***Monkey News***
We saw a man with a monkey outside the commonwealth bank in Legian. It had a football kit on and would make all other monkeys jealous as he had his own bike! We named him Graham.
We met Matt and Claire in Legian for dinner and had some tasty food at a warung before walking down to have a final flashpacking farewell drink at Sky Garden Lounge before they leave for Java tomorrow. The venue is amazing and goes over loads of different areas. There was a section where the ceiling was an aquarium, some fire dancing boys on a stage, and a room doing all you can eat sushi. (we're considering 10k Taco Tuesday..) We had some cocktails and visited the bar where girls drink for free but it was too much bleach and tight dresses. Luckily, Matt located a pole dancer downstairs so we went and watched that instead. Not as good as the other pole dancer was the conclusion. We had a bit of a dance and checked out the hip hop club, but nothing was going down. At this stage, we also all realised that we were rather drunk on four drinks, Claire especially, so we decided to head back. We even found a chip stand en route.
Monday Monday…
Was not good to us. Both awoke feeling shocking and had to eat an emergency pancake from the warung opposite the hotel. Went in search of somewhere with free wifi (thin on the ground here) and ended up in a posh hotel restaurant for a few hours until the computer died. By this stage, Nik was not well and developed the full on Bali belly so had to have a wee rest. When he came back to life, he needed a burger so we went in search of one down one of the main streets in Legian, which turned out to have no eateries on it! We eventually found a French/Aussie fusion of a café and had a burger there, however this triggered Hannah off.
For something to do, we went to the supermarket. It was very interesting to look about. There is more Balinese wine that you would think. And the fruit section is full of things that look like alien life forms, including monster papayas and a million types of mango. There was also Mr P's nuts, which came in chilli or garlic, and Coffee made by UFC. Both these things excited Nik. Later in Circle K, Hannah got perturbed as there was a section of different brownies, including almond, fudge and CHEESE. Wrong.
Had an early night as 7pm felt like about 9pm, but there is quite a lot of nature around our room, so it wasn't so restful, what with a rat running around in the roof and a bat trying to get in the room (it doesn't have windows everywhere, wooden slats only in some places).
Tuesday
Oh dear. Its full on Bali belly for Nik. Although this is a relief somewhat as he thought he had reached the age of terrible hangovers. His breakfast pancake stayed down approx 2 minutes. As such, Nik spent the day in bed, Hannah pottered around. This included a long walk to try and find an ice cold isotonic drink for Nik as he wouldn't want a warm one no. But then he fell asleep anyway and didn't even drink it!
Had some plain food and played cards at the local warung and then it was an early night for No Limits.
Wednesday - the penultimate Bali day
The illness remains, but Nik was persuaded to walk to Seminyak for bread and jam and a latte so we could also book our hostel for the first nights in Singapore which we leave for tomorrow. Sadly some of our ambitious Bali tourist plans failed to come to fruition due to illness, so we will have to make up for it in our subsequent destinations.
Might go for a foot rub and a final bite of Indo food later, but that's about all folks. Fingers crossed Nik is feeling better tomorrow before the Air Asia extravaganza to Singapore (hostel is opposite McDonalds though which Nik is very much excited about already!)