Doing nothing…

We had set aside today to do very little….so following breakfast we installed ourselves on loungers by the pool and focused on achieving our objectives….The nearest pool was crowded (6 others) so decamped to the Pool Villas deck next door. By now we had sussed that the staff had been trained to say several English phrases perfectly. E.g. "How is your day?" and "How was lunch?" This was deceptive. We soon found that any testing questions exposed the lack of depth of hotel English. Meanwhile, my Indonesian was coming on a treat and I mastered my second word: Lima (Five, our room).

We turned to the hawkers for intellectual conversation. Harris, Rob and Mr Hulk. Annelise purchased 2 sarongs (not one of me) and we listened to Harris's pitch for boat trips to the Gilli islands. They all took an extended lunch break to surf the waves which appeared off the beach at high tide.

Before we knew it, it was time for sundowners…..No clouds over Bali and stunning view of the distant volcano.

Decided to try Square for dinner - apparently the best in town, but we preferred the tent. Paid another visit to Happy Bar. Same band, same happy vibe. Very mixed, predominantly local crowd. In front of us was a rather large ageing European man out with 3 dressed up very young local girls. Must have been his daughter and her friends…..

The band played our requests, with the guitarist rising the challenge of "Freebird" - one of our special songs. I sent over a drink as a tip and when the bill came I noted he'd not opted for a small Bintang as expected, but a double Bacardi and coke at a cost of a week's wages for the average Indonesian.