We had a really lazy day the day before yesterday, mainly spent on the beach at Sanur, which is sandy and quiet. Both of us swum in the Indonesian Ocean and spent most of the day enjoying a slight breeze in the shade of a huge tree. Despite thinking we were in the shade both of us suffered a degree of us,Nairn which was bit careless.
We did walk around the beautiful gardens of the hotel I.n the morning and were astounded by the size of them, they are a miniature botanical gardens.
In the evening we went for a meal and I had foolishly promised Rosemarie that we could walk around the night market at the end of the street. So after a pleasant meal we wandered off to what looked like a small night market. This was clearly a mistake, not only did we purchase a dress but we also managed, almost magically to purchase another pair of shoes as well. So Rosemarie hit the jackpot two days in a row. Both the dress and the shoes had to be bartered for and I notice that I am left to do that part of the transaction. The dress started at 350,000 and we got it for 205,000 , the shoes started at 200,000 and we got them for a 110, 000. I can't quite get out of my head the idea that we still paid too much for them.
Yesterday we decided to go on a day trip to the north of the island, and we are really glad we did that. The scenery was really interesting, terraced rice fields, clove trees, cocoa plants and farming on slopes which a) look unfarmable and b) which look nothing like farmed land.
We went to a fruit market, which was colourful and to a magical Hindu temple set on a lake with the mountains as a backdrop. We stopped to look at two volcanic lakes and then went to the north coast at Lovena for lunch. Lunch was slightly disappointing as the choice son the buffet was poor. We then travelled to the highest waterfall in Bali, unfortunately called the GitGit waterfall, however in Balinese the G is soft. It was a site well worth seeing.
The mini van we travelled in left a lot to be desired, there were no seat belts and no suspension as far as I could tell. My posterior is still sore, we left at 8.45 am in the morning and returned at 7.30 at night.
The day was enlivened by our travelling companion who shall remain nameless. She came from Georgia and appeared to have little to no idea about travelling. From the first stop it was clear to us and our guide that she was going to be a pain. She could not keep to time, asked stupid and irrelevant questions and wanted clam chowder for lunch. We had the buffet for lunch she ordered a la carte, so when we had finished our meal we were able to go for a walk on the beach which is black volcanic sand. She decided to come back to the minibus 15 minutes after the stated time which is no joke in the heat we have here.
The guide asked me if we could drop her off first on our return and then we could see Kuta, we said that was fine but then she decided she didn't want to be taken back to her hotel but to be dropped somewhere else. The guide and driver had a conversation in Balinese And told her they were not going that way so we dropped her off outside her hotel where she was still demanding that they "hang a right " and drop her off somewhere else. The stalemate ended with the guide opening the door for her to let her out.
These little things are sent to try us. Anyway we both decided tht Kuta wasn't the place for us and we were glad we were in Sanur.
The day ended with a lovely meal and a quiet but exhausted walk back to the hotel.