Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,750 per AUS $
Today's weather: overcast with a bit of rain
We were all asleep quite early last night which meant it was up early. I got out of bed at about 6:00 and went to use the wifi by the pool. At about 7:00 I decided to make the most of being up and go for a walk along the beach. I walk down Double 6 and walked North along the beach. I truly love seeing Bali at this time of day. There were lots of people out; walking running, surfing, walking their dogs. The sun was trying to break through the clouds which was a beautiful sight to see. I didn't walk far, I was more focused on just enjoying the sights and atmosphere. I turned back after about 20 minutes and got back to the villa just after breakfast arrived.
After my morning walk, I was hot and a bit sweaty because it was already so humid so it was into the pool for me. It's so nice having your own private pool and just being able to jump in whenever you like and not have to worry about anyone else. The water was great, but unfortunately with the lack of sunshine, I didn't stay in there long.
My friends and I were feeling a bit lazy today. It was Sami and Courtney's last day and we really just wanted to laze around. We decided on going to a spa, but me not being much of a spa person didn't know where to go. I had picked up a brochure for a spa down the road called Eden Green. According to their brochure, they opened at 9:30. We walked down the road, with me turning a different way to go and look at a dress I saw in the window of a shop, telling the girls I'd meet them at the spa. I stopped at a DVD store along the way and they had an amazing acoustics cd playing. Usually I'm not into that kind of thing, but this one was great. I asked the DVD guy what it was and he pulled out the last copy for me. Later that night, we went back again to see if there were more copies for the girls and they had 2 other albums that had gone unnoticed by me so I grabbed them too:) My friends then walked in and told me the spa was closed and the girl said they didn't open until 11:30. Well there goes that plan. We all looked a bit more in the DVD shop, before I walked down the street more to look at that dress. It was a green dress with a low back and pom poms around the bottom. I really liked it but the lady wanted too much and was willing to barter on it. Right now, I'm still thinking about that dress so I might go back and just try to push her a little bit more.
I met the girls at the DVD store again where we all walked back to the villa, me being empty handed and slightly disappointed. As we were walking through reception, one of the receptionists asked us when we would be leaving tomorrow. I told her we had the villa until 2:00pm, as agreed to by one of the managers. The receptionist told us we would need to leave earlier so someone else could check it. I think it took us a second to process before Sami and I just said no. We reminded her that we had to wait in another villa so someone else could have late check out so the next people could wait like we had to. I told her I had emails to show that the manager had agreed to give us late check out. I guess the receptionist wasn't use to being told no and she just said ok. We decided to just hang out at the villa until we figured out our next move. Sami and Courtney needed to pack so we just put on a DVD in our freezing cold bedroom (Sami likes to keep it that way to ease her sunburn) and just chilled out.
After a bit of a nap, we all agreed we were starving so we decided to go out for an early lunch. Poppies Restaurant was our destination. I had visited in July and had a taste of their famous Piña Colada's. Mum had given me some money before the trip to buy the girls one each so Poppies was a must. We got a taxi to take us to the Legian Road entry to Poppies Lane 1 and it was only a short walk down. The restaurant was empty but it was so nice to walk in and have the Kuta noise fall away behind us. We chose a table and I straight away ordered 4 Piña Colada's. They arrived promptly, in the hand carved coconuts. They were a bit on the strong side, but they hit the spot.
We decided on entrees of guacamole and chicken satay to share. I ordered Mie Goreng for my main, Sami had a prawn boat that came in a papaya, Courtney got calamari and Mikhala ordered a club sandwich. We enjoyed our cocktails until the food arrived. With the cocktails being so huge, there was barely room for it. We all really liked the satay and guacamole and before our mains arrived, we were already quite full. Serves us right for ordering so much food. My Mie Goreng was good, but not great, the club sandwich was good, Sami enjoyed her prawn boat to begin with but then decided she didn't like it. We didn't finish our meals because our bellies were just so full.
After paying our bill, which came to about $90 (Mum paid $40 for the cocktails), we walked a bit further down Poppies Lane to have a peak at the cottages. Mikhala and I will be spending our extra night here so we wanted to see what it was like. The property just kept on going and it was so quiet. There was absolutely no one around the pool so we were looking forward to hanging out there.
We walked back up along the laneway to Legian Road. We decided to go to a spa we had seen from the taxi that was just down the road. The spa is called Smart Day Spa. We checked out the brochure before deciding to go in. I was after a massage and a pedicure, the others just wanted a pedicure. I decided on a Virgin Coconut Oil massage. After a quick foot bath, I was lead to the massage room and asked to take everything off except my underwear. I did as I was told and lay down on the massage bed. Turns out I woukd have a male giving me a massage today. I was a bit concerned about it because obviously I was practically naked but decided to see how it went because I had read about many people having their best massages from males. Boy was I glad I had done that. It was one of the best massages I had ever had. The pressure was perfect and he was very respectful of my privacy. He first checked if I wanted my stomach massaged and when I said yes, he put a towel over my chest before removing the sarong. I loved having the massage done with coconut oil because it just soaked right into my skin rather than sitting on top of it. It was divine.
I walked out from the massage a very happy and relaxed girl. It was then time for my pedicure. The girls had already had theirs and went for a walk along the street while I had mine. The room is kept dimmed so the staff had little torches on their heads. I was really enjoying it and was feeling quite relaxed until I looked into the lobby and saw a rat. A real rat. It was climbing out of a hole in the ceiling and onto the offerings on the wall. I was quite grossed out. I watched the rat come and go and was surprised that no one else seemed to notice it.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the pedicure. For both treatments, it came to about $30. While I was paying, I mentioned to Sami that a rat was coming out of the ceiling and the staff member that was processing my payment just ignored it.
We walked out, got a taxi and back to the villa we went. We chilled out for a bit more until we heard the doorbell go. It was one of the staff members coming to light the mozzie coils and spray the villa. I asked her if the manager, Claire, was around who we had not seen since we had our issues checking in. She was indeed on the premises so I decided to go chase her down. She had promised to make our check in issues up to us but we had not seen her since. The end result was $20 off each night ($80 in total) but I was so surprised when she said she thought the free drinks would be enough. A couple of free cocktails does not fix the fact that we we're technically paying for someone else to use the villa. Although we've enjoyed our stay at Villa Coco, the management issues has really put a damper on it. I don't think I'll be returning.
I returned to the pool to use the wifi after sorting this issue out and the girls came to join me. I filled them in on what had happened and they weren't too impressed either. By this time, it was time to start talking about dinner. I wasn't much in the mood for eating, more so for drinking a very strong cocktail. We decided on just going around the corner to Sang Ria Bar and Grill. It's another restaurant that's very well known for its ribs. I ordered a cocktail to begin with and it really hit the spot. I was feeling much happier.
We ordered bruschetta to start and I decided on the ribs. I needed to compare them to Naughty Nuri's. The girls ordered a beef burger, chicken burger and chicken sandwich. The food came out in good time. The bruschetta's were delicious and we were looking forward to our mains. They too arrived in good time, we got right into it. My ribs came out on a huge plate because the ribs were so huge. Yum! I needed to ask for more sauce, but it was delicious. The meat was coming off the gone easily and I'm sure I had sauce all around my mouth but it was worth it. I don't know if they were better than Naughty Nuri's ribs, but both were delicious. The girls also enjoyed their meals a lot. It's definitely a restaurant I'd return to.
The meal came to about $65. We walked back to the villa very happy. The girls continued onto a mini mart to get a few things while I went onto the villa. Sami had a couple of friends who happened to be in Bali too so they were coming to join us at the villa for some drinks. They were lovely people but I was VERY tired so I said my good nights and went for bed, ready for my last full day in Bali tomorrow.
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