Bali, Day 8: Quad Bikes and Teppanyaki

Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,700 per AUS $

Today's weather: gloriously sunny morning, overcast afternoon

We were all up early today to get ready for our next adventure; quad biking with Aussie Bali Adventures. I had booked this a few weeks in advance when all the girls agreed that they definitely wanted to do it. It was another thing we were all really looking forward to. I woke the girls at 6:15. We had ordered our breakfast for 6:30 even though it doesn't officially start until 7:00. We had let the staff know the day before that we had an early start and they were happy to oblige.

Our breakfast arrived right on time, and we scoffed it down before going to reception to meet our driver. We made a stop at another hotel to pick up a girl who was going horse riding. The drive took about an hour and once we got past the Seminyak traffic, it was quite scenic. We drove along huge ric e fields and saw all the ladies bending over to plant the rice. Even though it was early, it was already quite warm. After a bit of a bumpy ride, we arrived. The company is up near Canggu at Yeh Gangga Beach and with an Australian owner, it's very well run and most importantly, the equipment is all kept in good condition and services regularly. The owner, Shifty, introduced himself and we were directed to the lobby area where we were offered a drink, given the safety instructions to read and a waiver to sign. Shifty explained to us, and a group of boys that were there to ride motorbikes along the beach, to just be sensible. He was very clear about things, that this was something to do just for fun and not extreme sports at all.

After a while, we were lead to the quad bikes and shown how to use them. Because the bikes are all automatic, it was straight forward; accelerator, front break, back break. After that, we were off. We went straight onto the beach and rode North. The beach was sadly pretty dirty; there was rubbish everywhere, but the further north we rode, the cleaner it got. We all used this time to get comfortable with the bikes. We started to speed up a bit and chose our own paths along the beach. We them turned onto a road for just a minute before turning onto dirt tracks that run along side the rice fields. Oh my, what an amazing view it was. The fields were so green and seemed to go on for ages. The track here was quite narrow so we barely went above 10 kilometres an hour during this part.

We stopped along the way for a quick drink (included in the price) before continuing. We went through a local village and once again, went quite slow. There was barely any traffic going by, but there was a couple of times that we had to squeeze past a truck on the narrow roads. There were a few kids around, waving to us with big smiles on their faces.

We made our way back to the beach and once again rode North. We were feeling much more confident by this point so Sami and I were having a bit of a race. Even at this time, the fastest we went was 25-30 kilometres an hour. It turns out Sami is much more of a daredevil than I am so she won. We looped around and rode North again with another quick ride on the roads before pulling back in to the company's head quarters. We were once again ushered into the lobby area where we were given cold towels and drinks. We chatted with Shifty while we waited for the girl doing the horse riding to return. We all had a great time doing the quad biking and once again, it's another thing I'd happily do more than once. At $85 per person for a single person quad bike, it's pretty good value for money. We had a good 1.5-2 hours ride, and it included hotel pick up and drop off. It's an awesome way to see a bit more of Bali and it was such a beautiful, scenic ride. If you're not into extreme sports, I'd still recommend this. I personally felt it was quite tame in regards to the speeds we went, but it is meant for fun and a bit of sightseeing so that was fine with all of us.

We got back into the car and made our way back to Seminyak. The ride home was much quicker and by 11:30, we were back at the villa. We were so happy we still had the entire afternoon free. We had had an early and quite small breakfast and we were starving. Mikhala and I decided to walk down to Werkudara road to a place called Swich which is similar to Subway but with tasty, fresh ingredients. It was about a 5 minute walk down Double 6 from the villa. We ordered for ourselves and Sami and Courtney and waited for it to be made. It didn't take long before we were walking back again. The all sat down at the table in the villa and dug in. The sandwiches were delicious!! I'd definitely reccomend going there if you're feeling like a meal a bit closer to home. The 4 sandwiches, drinks and 2 serves of fries it cost us about $30.

When we'd finished eating, we had a bit of chill out time. We all got comfy in the aircon of one the bedrooms and watched TV. We agreed that at about 3:00 we'd get up, and head out. The girls wanted to do a bit more shopping along Legian Road so a bit after 3:00, we made our way out. We had a quid stop at reception to ask them to make a reservation for us at a restaurant. Sami loves this particular restaurant and it was her one request for our trip. I'd heard many great things about it so was keen to give it a try. The lady called, and made our booking so dinner tonight would be at the Padma's teppanyaki restaurant.

We walked along Double 6, stopping to look at a few shops here and there before crossing over to Legian Road, changing some money and then starting the real shopping. We got some DVDs and CDs before popping into a few other stores before going to one of my favourites; Somwhere. After having a good look around, I settled on a top for a friend and a black maxi dress for myself. There was a very similar dress at Bamboo Blonde that I had been eyeing off and considered going back for. This one had nicer material and it was $30 cheaper so I was a happy girl.

After Somewhere, I popped next door to a jewellery store called Filthy Gorgeous. They have two stores; Legian Road and Garlic Lane and have recently been becoming more popular thanks to a Bai Facebook group. Mum had seen photos of some of their products and they were right up her alley. I ended up buying a pair of earrings and a matching pendant, but she won't be getting them until Christmas;)

I had had enough of shopping by this time. Courtney and I decided to walk back and leave Sami and Mikhala to shop a bit longer. We cut through The Haven and spent a bit of time at the communal pool to use the WiFi and FaceTime our families. The mozzies were going mad, so we went back to the villa to chill out. Sami and Mikhala got back not long after and shared their shopping goodies with us. Dinner wasn't until 8:15 so we agreed to go down to the Padma a bit early and visit the markets before dinner.

We left at about 7:45. There was a bit of traffic on the street so we got out and walked the rest of the way, looking here and there but not buying anything. It was a short walk down the road to the Padma. We walked through straight to the restaurant. We were welcomed in and shown our seats. Because we were wanting teppanyaki, we were seated around one of the teppanyaki grills where all the cooking would take place right in front of us. We ordered drinks, were given our special teppanyaki aprons and our chef came and introduced himself. The cooking began. First up for an entree was an Asian salad and grilled vegetables. I'm not much of a veggie eater but I gave the asparagus a go. Sorry mum, I'm not going to start eating it regularly anytime soon.

Next up was the seafood; prawns, snapper and tuna. I love my seafood so I was very excited for this part. The prawns were cooked beautifully and the chef even cut off the heads and legs. He actually kept the legs and fried them so they were crunchy and served them to us. He told us it was like a prawn cracker but I was very hesitant to try it. When the other girls all have it ago, I told myself to toughen up and do it, so I did but only 1 bite. It's not something I'd eat again because, hey, it's prawn legs. He set the grill on fire with the help of a bit of wine. If you want to see the video, go here to my Facebook page. The snapper and tuna were also delicious. Each time after the chef had cooked one of the components, he told us which 3 of the dipping sauces in front of us to have it with.

After seafood was the chicken and beef. With his very sharp knife, he cut them to precision. The chicken was a bit on the dry side, but the rest was great.

To finish up was fried rice that was once again cooking right in front of us. The garlic went on first with a sizzle, then the rest like spring onions and carrot. He cracked a couple of eggs onto the grill and scrambled them up with his knife. I loved watching the knife action. Just a clickety clack, tap tap and scrape and there was a meal in front of us. After our meal, we paid the bill ($150 for 4 of us, including the teppanyaki, 8 drinks and a big bottle of water) then got in a taxi back to Villa Coco. We were all very tired from our early start so we spent a bit of time watching TV until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.

 

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Bali, Day 7: Shop, Eat, Love

Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,710 per AUS $

Today's weather: a beautiful, sunny day. Overcast and a bit of rain in the evening

I managed to almost sleep in today and woke up a bit after 7:00. I got up to enjoy the villa in the morning light before going to the communal pool to use the wifi; it's just out of reach from our villa. After FaceTiming with Mum, I headed back to the villa just in time for breakfast. For breakfast at Villa Coco, you order what you'd like the night before and request it at a certain time. It's them simply delivered to your villa at that time. I find the options a little bit limited, but how many choices do you really need for breakfast?

After brekky, we all got dressed and ready to go out; today we were going shopping. We had 3 destinations in mind; Kuta Square for Matahari and the Discovery Centre, and the beach markets. After changing money, we jumped in a cab to go to the markets. Up until this point, we hadn't really done any market shopping so we decided to make a quick stop there. I ended up buying some of those cute elastic waisted shorts that I wear as pajamas and 2 pom pom play suits; one for me and one for my sister.

The girls bought a couple of things including play suits, dresses for themselves for their mums and Courtney bought a couple for her little girl at home. It was then back into a taxi to go to Matahari.

Matahari is my go-to place for make-up and perfume. I came back perfumeless, I got quite a good haul of make-up, a nice ring and a gorgeous clutch handbag that was 50% off. The others also got quite a lot of make-up. It's so much cheaper to get in Bali than in Australia. I usually stick to buying Maybelline. For mascara that I would pay about $15 for in Australia, I bought for about $8 here in Bali. We all agreed that the payment system at Matahari is not great. It takes so long for to get through with the ladies figuring out which items belong to you, enter it all in the system and figure out any discounts.

We had a look in a few shops along the street before making our way towards The Discovery Centre. We had another stop at some markets along the way where Courtney picked up generics like Bintang singlets and Raybans for her sister. I bought a painting for a friend (no photo because it's all wrapped up) before being propositioned by a market man. He gave me a tap on the arm and told me to come with him to the toilet. "Great idea!!" I said, and followed along. Just kidding, as if I would do that.

We continued to the Discovery Centre, making our way around the dodger footpaths. We were starting to get a little bit hungry so we stopped in A&W for a snack before continuing with our shopping. We went to the Havaianas stall first as Courtney's thongs had broken a few days ago, and you know that thongs are essential when you're in Bali. I ended up buying a nice pair of Havaianas' sandals too. They were about $35 but that's still cheaper than what I would have paid in Australia. Silly me, I got a size too big but they don't restrict my walking at all. And please excuse the bad pedicure;)

Next stop was Bamboo Blonde. This is a regular shopping stop for me in Bali; I always find something I like and today was no exception. I tried on a number of this before settling on 3 items; a gorgeous dress with a crochet top, a pineapple patterned playsuit and a mint green playsuit with a lace trim. I was very happy with my purchases. Courtney got herself a couple of really nice dresses too and Mikhala got a beautiful maxi dress.

We finally made it into Centro. We looked at shoes, we looked at bags and jewellery and didn't find much that we liked. Courtney bought a couple of bras and then we made our way upstairs to the kids section. We all helped Courtney pick out a few more things for her daughter and I ended up buying some cool t-shirts for the little boys I babysit. Yes, I am the best babysitter ever. The t-shirts were 3 for 2 and the shorts were on sale as well.

By the time we had finished our shopping, it was nearly 2:00 . We had a booking at Potato Head at 5:00 so we decided to skip lunch at Poppies Restaurant and just go back to the villa to hang out for a bit before leaving again. We're planning on going to Poppies on Monday. We got in a taxi downstairs, but not before I asked him if he would use the meter. He said 50,000 Rupiah to Villa Coco. I told him no, I wanted him to use the meter. He told us to get in and turned the meter on, and then once again told me 50,000. I replied with a very firm "No, you use the meter." I don't think he was too happy but he did it anyway.

The traffic was not good so we got back to the villa later than planned. We had some time to hang out in the aircon, because it was hot outside and it was then that we started to feel a bit hungry so we decided to order room service. A couple of burgers, pizza and Pad Thai later, it was time to get ready for Potato Head. Thanks to our shopping today, we all had something new to wear.

At about 4:45 we walked down to reception and asked them to call us a Blue Bird. It didn't take long to arrive so before too long we were on our way. I tend to visit Potato Head during most of my trips to Bali and I was really excited to take Mikhala and Courtney, who had never been before. Mikhala couldn't quite grasp the concept of going, not just for dinner, but to hang out. Courtney was happy to just go with it.

The traffic was terrible along Seminyak Road so we ended up arriving half an hour late. We skipped the que and went down the reservation line. I always make a booking because with a place like Potato Head, you never know if it's going to be really busy or quiet. Today it was busy so I was thankful for my organisation. Turns out I had been given the wrong reservation code so the girl at the front had to search for it a bit, but no problem. We went upstairs and took it in. The waves crashing on the beach, the infinity pool looking over them, the music, the vibe. Ahhhh, I love Potato Head. We were lead to our table and told we only have it until 7:00 as there was another booking. I had request a day bed so while we waited, we ordered cocktails. Mikhala, Courtney and I had my favourite Millionaire Martini's and Sami ordered Midori and lemonade. They all arrived promptly and we sat back and enjoyed them.

Not long after, we were told a day bed was available for us, so we followed one of the girls down to the pool and got comfortable. We ordered a jug of Sangria to share and we drank, chatted and laughed as we watched the sun go down, but unfortunately there wasn't much to see because of the overcast. We decided to order dinner. I had fish and the girls had pasta. Our meals were delicious, although if I were to order again, I wouldn't have got the fish that I chose. There were a couple of components on there that I didn't like, but the rest was delicious.

A little while after 8:00 we decided to settle the bill. It came to about $180 for our cocktails, jug and meals. Yes, it's a lot for Bali but divided between the 4 of us, it wasn't much. We decided that instead of staying for dessert, we were going to go to The Pearl. We got a driver from Potato Head to take us back, for a price of 70,000 Rupiah. We seem to have been so lucky with drivers lately. He had some good music playing and we all sang along. We got him to drop us at a money changer on Legian road so Mikhala could change some more money. We walked along, down Double 6 and into the Pearl. We were shown a table, and there he was. Ahhhh, Anthony. He looked at me and said "You've been here before." Oh my, he remembers me. He invited us to sit and the dessert menus were delivered. Courtney and Sami had decided on iced nougat and Mikhala and I had white chocolate mousse. Just before we had dessert, we started to feel raindrops so we asked to move inside. Lucky we did, because it bucketed down for about 5 minutes. Our desserts arrived, and they were delicious. The Pearl never disappoints.

The girls paid while I went to chat with Anthony. No, not like that. I went to confirm my mum and dads booking for January and book my dad in for a massage (Happy Christmas Dad!). All was well, so we went on our way.

Once again, everyone was tired when we got in. We had been on our feet for the better part of the day so it was off to bed once again. Tomorrow, we're off on another adventure; quad biking!!

 

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Bali, Day 6: Tigers, Elephants and Lady Boys

Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,710 per AUS $

Today's weather: Bit of sun, bit of clouds, a lot of humidity

As every other day, I was up early. I had an early FaceTime with Mum before going back to the room to pack; today we were leaving Ubud. The other girls soon got up and also finished their packing before I called reception to have someone get our luggage. They sure are quick at the Beji. Two minutes after calling, 4 boys were walking up the steps to get our bags. We followed them down to start our breakfast. We had organised another day with Yuda (or Yoda as we so fondly call him now) today. He was going to pick us up at 9:00 and take us to the Bali Safari and Marine park before taking us to Villa Coco in Legian. He had emailed me after our last day with him reminding us of a number of things; to be careful when it rains, drink lots of water and to have a big breakfast before our day today. At about 8:30, we were enjoying our breakfast when I noticed Yoda was already at the hotel putting our bags in his car. I went over to say hello and he tells me there is no rush, him and his son, Oka, (our driver today) would wait.

We finished off our brekky before handing in our keys and we were off. The sun was shining down today and we were all so excited. Yoda had already booked us in and had managed to get $5 off each of the $85 package. After a lovely drive talking to Yoda and Oka, we arrived at the park and were so happy to see no lines. Yoda lead us to the desk where we confirmed our booking and paid. There had obviously been some miscommunication as the girl serving us had no idea about the discount. Yoda reassured us that he would sort it out, so we just paid full price. As he promised, he did sort it out and when we had finished with the Safari Park he had the $5 each to give back to us.

Yoda joined us in the park for a while, leading us around and making suggestions about what we should do first to avoid any queues. Our first stop was to get a photo with one of the parks animals. We all decided we would love to get a photo with a tiger, so we made our way into the tiger enclosure where we admired the white Bengal tiger before the photos began. We were the first ones to go up. What an incredible feeling it was to be sitting with a baby tiger, patting it while it just chills out in front of you. Many people say the animals are drugged to keep them calm and I really hope they're not but it's hard to believe an animal would quite happily sit there for person after person for hours. Nevertheless we were all so happy. We each got a professional photo printed included in the photo and Yoda took photos on my camera too.

We had some time to kill before the educational animal show, so Yoda took us over to where they teach the Balinese dancing. None of us were too keen on this, but we did it anyway. I think we concluded that we were all a bit too uncoordinated for it.

The animal show would be starting soon so Yoda lead us to the best seats before reminding us of what to do next and leaving us for the day. The show was fantastic. It's amazing how well animals like rats and guinea pigs along with cats, birds, orangutans can be trained. It's hard to not have a smile on your face while watching the show. Straight after, we made our way to the Elephant show. Once again, it was great. The elephants are amazing to watch and what I liked about this show is that it's so much more than watching the animals do tricks. It's learning about the history of elephant-human relationships and such. Towards the end of the show, 3 volunteers are chosen from the crowd to receive a ring of flowers from one of the elephants. Would you believe it, I got picked. I was so excited. Myself and two others made our way onto the stage, lined up and each had our turn of receiving the flowers. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time.

From here, we went straight for our Safari ride. The park is so well set up for this. We loved driving through and seeing the animals. Yoda had suggested we sit at the back so we had a 180 degree view, and of course he was right! We once again left with big smiles on our faces and how could you not after just seeing so many amazing animals.

We were starting to get hungry by this time so made our way to Uma Restaurant for lunch. This restaurant is more like a food court with options ranging from pizza and pasta to kebabs and Asian food. Something for everyone. Mikhala, Courtney and I enjoyed pizzas while Sami had a burger. It was all about $10 each.

Yoda had booked us in for an elephant ride at 2:15 so we made our way off but with a bit of time to spare, we stopped at the Petting Zoo. Here they had a beautiful baby lion for photos, but we couldn't be bothered lioning (haha, get it?) up for it, but he was gorgeous!

Finally it was time for our elephant ride. Courtney and Sami got an elephant called Selfi which they loved and Mikhala and I had Lina. We had great guides. Ours was telling me that each elephant had one trainer and he had been with Lina for 6 years. He told me it wasn't about the money, it was about his elephant that he loved. We had a lot of fun with the elephants and shared many laughs.

After our rides, we were ready to head back to Yuda. He was happy to see us and even happier to hear we had such a great time. Back in the car we went to Villa Coco, via the new toll road. Yoda and I had previously discussed the rumours that the road is not so well built. This is believed because it was made so quickly. Only time will tell.

After getting through the terrible traffic on Sunset Road, we finally arrived at Villa Coco. We said our goodbyes to Yoda, who has been nothing short of amazing. When we checked in, we were told we wouldn't be able to get into our villa until after 6:00. Um, excuse me? Apparently someone else had late check out. We were lead to a garden bungalow to use until then, but Sami and I decided we were just not happy about it. We had paid for a full night of the villa which means access from check in time. It was about 4:45, well after the check in time so we were technically paying for someone else to use OUR villa. Not happy at all. Sami and I headed back to reception to talk to someone about it. We tried to communicate our frustrations with the reception and he was not what I'd call helpful. He got on the phone and from the office comes a lady who we once again explained our frustrations to. The best we got from her is "we need your understanding." Luckily, just at that moment the Australian manager walked into reception. I once again explained what the issue was and after a quick chat with the staff she confirmed we wouldn't get in until 6:30. She said talking about it wouldn't help, there wasn't anything that could be done. For some reason they were under the impression that we would be arriving later even though there was no communication on arrival time. She told us to go to the pool bar, get anything we wanted and she would make it up to us. There was no other option.

We spent some time by the communal pool enjoying our complimentary cocktails before we went back to our temporary room. The phone rang right then letting us know the villa was ready for us. Thank goodness for that. Staff came to move our bags and we finally got into our villa. It was worth the wait but we would have loved to have an extra couple of hours in there. Oh well. We got settled and went straight into our little pool. It's a great size for just the 4 of us. When we started to feel a bit cold, it was time to shower and get ready for dinner.

Tonight we were off to Waroeng Bonita. I had come to this restaurant last year and enjoyed the atmosphere,the food and the lady-boy show they have on a Friday night. Tonight I was extra excited though. Little did Mikhala know that I had organised a belated birthday surprise for her here. We got reception to call us a taxi and because of the traffic, we ended up arriving 20 minutes late, but no worries. We were shown our seats and ordered drinks and starters. I had ordered salt chilli calamari and Courtney and Mikhala sharespd some Lumpia. Both were quick to come out and were delicious.

The lady-boy show started soon after. The show was not as good as last year but still very entertaining. The lady-boys are very made up in over the top dresses, make up and wigs and lip synch to things like Lady Gaga. 3 songs are sung before a mini intermission. During the first intermission, our mains arrived. I ordered grilled snapper, Sami had tenderloin steak while Mikhala and Courtney had chicken quesadillas. I think we all really loved the food. I tried a bit of the other dishes as well as eating my own and they were all great and so full of flavour. We enjoyed every bite.

Salt chilly squid and Lumpia

Grilled snapper, chicken quesadilla and tenderloin steak

After the next intermission, the real show began. One of the lady boys came out with a dessert and singing happy birthday. Everyone, including Mikhala, was clapping and singing along. Mikhala hadn't noticed the dessert was for her until they actually set it down in front of her. Her reaction was priceless. Laughing, blushing, her face in her hands. It was perfect. She was so embarrassed but we couldn't stop laughing, especially because her dessert was somewhat of an obscene...thing. It was a willy!! A porcelain male private part stood tall proud in the middle of the plate with fruit crepes presented around it. I'm sure anyone would have been embarrassed.

Our bill came to just under $70. It was a great meal and entertaining night. I'd definitely recommend a visit, especially on a Friday night so you can enjoy the show too. Into a taxi we went back to the villa. I was concerned we were being taken for a ride but the driver reassured me he was taking us a shorter way to avoid the roadworks, and he was right. I was glad I spoke up though because we was taking us down dark and windy back roads. We arrived safely though and I think it was a quicker route.

We were once again feeling tired from our busy day and were more than ready for bed. Looking forward fo enjoying yet another day in Bali tomorrow!!

 

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