Howard picked up Margie from the airport and swung by my work to pick me up and to leave clothes for me to change into when we return. We had previously arranged to have dinner with Ben and Michael at Vihn Vihn Vietnamese in Richmond. Unbeknownst to Margie we also invited Adrian and David, old friends of hers, and when she saw them she was really surprised! Had a great meal as usual. We got home to pack in readiness for our early flight the next day.
Day 1, 9 April 2010
Woke up at sparrow’s fart in order to get ready to be picked up by a taxi at 6:30 am and arrived at the airport at around 7 am. Our flight leaves at 9:30 so we had plenty of time to shop at duty free. The ticketing agent was named Gabe and he was only able to get us two exit row seats. I’m not sure why it was that hard for him as the flight was nearly empty and we were able to get a whole row of exit seats once we had boarded the plane. We felt very privileged as Gabe put “Priority” tags on our hand luggage. However as we looked around we noted that everyone had these so we weren’t so ‘special’ after all!!
As is always the case, of course, there were small children in very close proximity to my seat. Whenever I fly this is always the case and I have come to accept this as a fact of any travel that I take. This time it’s with a loud American mother who seemed to think it was her children’s inalienable right to scream, kick and run around without the slightest bit of supervision from her. And that naturally, everyone on the flight needed to hear her booming voice detail every word of her dull and boring conversations. (I noted that her Australian mother-in-law actually moved 3 rows away in order to avoid being seen with her). In light of all this we decide at 10:30 am that a G&T – the first of many – was in order, after all it was 5 pm somewhere in the world!
We fly into Denpasar in a bit of rain, get our Visa on Arrival (US$25) and line up to go thru Customs. See the sign that says Drug Smugglers Get the Death Penalty. Nope, couldn’t miss that AT ALL. Takes about an hour to get thru customs as there have been 5 planes that landed within the last hour, ours being the last. As it is we are basically the last people to get thru.
Walking out of the airport you could just feel the humidity envelop you. Our driver supplied by Alu Bali is waiting for us and we have a 25 min drive to our villa in Seminyak. Howard and my last trip here was over 14 years ago, I don’t remember most of what I am seeing. We do remember however, the beautiful tropical plants which are so lush and colourful.
The traffic is absolute chaos and the motorbikes weave in and out of traffic, nobody seems to agree on road rules (are there any?), cars turn in front of you without even a warning. Blinkers are unheard of! Cars pass one another even if there is oncoming traffic. THIS IS SHEER MADNESS!! My brake foot keeps popping to the floor – as if I could have anything to do with stopping the car!! Takes me about a week to get over this!! We see up to 4 people on one scooter, babies just a few months old being held by their mother or father or some other sibling. Most Balinese are Hindu who have a strong belief in reincarnation and kismet but really, this just seems to be tempting fate. Margie later comments that they must be used to the traffic from an early age and therefore get to know the system early on. (What system I think?) I previously read about people hiring a car or a scooter here – I believe that we are all a bit mad but what level of madness would make you want to drive here??? I ask one of our drivers if there is a driving test that must be passed and he replies yes. I am thinking that they probably just bribe the test supervisor!
We get to Alu Bali and are greeted by Lea and Weira, our lovely reception people. Lea takes us to the villa and explains how everything operates. It is a beautiful place, open air living with a private pool off to the side. We booked on a recommendation from a girl that Howard used to work with. I am a bit hesitant because some of the reviews on tripadvisor have not been all that great but Howard and Margie quite like it.
The villa was outdoors with a ceiling and
The landscaping is beautiful with Japanese Palms, gingers, gardenias, mother in law tongue and haliconias. Just gorgeous ! The bathroom is outside which is initially quite cute. But not, as Howard pointed out the next day, the best at night when you have to go and then get bitten my mozzies!
The villa (number 2) gets sun over the pool unlike some of the others. After a while we realise that it is a bit tired and could do with some upgrading, especially given the price. Lighting in the bedroom is non existent but I don’t have a problem with that as in my opinion bedrooms are only used for two things – sleeping and sex! There is no hot water in the basin in the bathroom or in the kitchen and even in the shower the water temperature kept fluctuating. Also no coffee or tea making facilities were provided.
We needed to change some money over and the villa’s driver Edi takes us to their preferred money exchange (unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it). Having read horror stories of people getting ripped off I am a bit guarded but this is just so easy. Fill out the form with the amount you want to exchange, sign it, then they show you on the calculator how much you will get back. The exchange we got was Rp 8,350. They take the form away to a window where the cashier exchanges the Aussie dollars for rupiah and then they bring it back, count it out, let you count and voila, there you have it! Howard is our financial controller so we put AUS$200 each into a kitty and he will pay for everything until we run out and need to replenish.
We decide to go to a store to get some nibblies and get some mixers. I pick up a packet of Yakult and go to pay for it but Margie says to take it out of the kitty – I’m thinking well it is 7,000 Rp but then I put it into perspective and realise it’s like 84 cents. We spend over Rp210,000. When dealing with this currency it is hard not to get caught up with the thousands when in reality, you are dealing with cents!
On the way back to the villa we stop at Nirvana restaurant to have the first of many Margeuritas. Cost is Rp55,000 for three – about $6 which also includes a smaller glass of margeurita as a sampler. It contains the same thing as the bigger glass so not sure what that was about.
We get back to the villa and use the safe in our room. This is great because it means that we don’t have to take our passports and money with us all the time. Howard not too sure as the safe is not bolted down but I tell him not to be so silly, who is going to walk around with a hotel room safe in their hands? A few days later he sees someone on a scooter balancing a hotel room safe on their head with one hand on it and the other on the steering!
We decide that a drink is in order and I get them ready while the others get ready to have a swim. The pool is beautiful, there is an in floor cleaning system and the water is so refreshing. It is so humid here, they tell us that the wet season was about a month late this year so we are still in it although we don’t have too much rain during the trip. While we are in the pool there is a knock on the door and the boys that we eventually name ‘our angels’ come in to light the mozzie coils and the candles and turn back the beds.
We are all feeling a bit hungry so get showered, have a few more drinks and then go out to find a restaurant. Howard is leading the way, always thinking that a better restaurant will be just around the next corner. He wants us to have our first meal in Bali at a really nice restaurant that has some ambience. I am sure that we walked halfway to Kuta, Margie is starting to get blisters on her feet and I just want some food. We finally stop at some shitty little warung that had a few people in it and order one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. Nonetheless at least we are eating and drinking Bintangs!
We have nothing organised for tomorrow except for a 2 hour massage at 10 am followed by a poolside lunch as part of our stay. Howard is telling us that he will probably have a massage for 10 minutes max. No way will he have one for 2 hours. NO WAY!!.
We finally walk back to Alu Bali and have one last nightcap. Having previously given reception our breakfast order we get another knock on the door and the angels come back to set the table for breakfast. Feeling very tired we call it a night.
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