Just Back Report

Jenny from Canada

February 2002

At Sammi and Suzi's

Feb. 14th

Picked up by Gray Line representative, got to Wina Hotel, given a large room on the top floor of a separate cottage, lots of room for 3 beds plus big washroom, air conditioned and fridge also.

Feb. 15th

Went to Denpasar by blue taxi, several ladies were following us along trying to direct us to only certain shops, and approx. a dozen hawkers were waiting outside each store for us. There were joined by a group of kids begging. One guy even had the nerve to say "just buy bracelets from me and I'll leave you alone" after my daughter had bought 2 sets of these bracelets from other people. We bought one lot of fabric each but would have bought more if we had been able to look around in peace. Left and got a blue cab over to Victory Tailor in Kuta to have dresses made for the kids. Went up to Brisbane Tailor for my own stuff but when he heard I paid 300,000 rp for the fabric he wanted to charge me 600,000 to make a jacket and pants so went back to Victory Tailor, the woman Oma said call me at home, my husband is a tailor and we will make the pantsuit and whatever else you want for a good price. They made it for 300,000 rp plus 5 other items for me at good prices. Her home # is 081 236 00523. When we left my older girl was about 1/2 block behind us and some ladies told her to come for a "free manicure". Then they tried to grab the younger girl's arm and take her also but I went there to see what was going on and of course they demanded money. I had to go to the PT Kuta Central Moneychanger as we had given all our rp to the tailor for a deposit. These ladies had the nerve to demand 250.000 rp but only gave them 40,000 - 20 for the hands and 20 for the feet as they said that's how much the younger girl would have been. Even felt that was a rip off.

Went down to Sammi and Suzi's but they had just left (5:45 pm), weather not too good. Ate at hotel.

Feb. 16th

Went to Kuta market stalls and bought some t-shirts etc. Never did find Kuta Art Market, everyone we asked directed us to their shop to try to sell us something. Asked at the police station but didn't get proper directions either. Went on a half day gray line tour to Ubud to the woodcarving market, got some good carvings fairly cheaply. Also saw a fire
dance at Celuk.

Feb. 17th

Felt that kids were paying too much for t-shirts (sometimes 85,000 rp) so took a taxi over to Toot Sie in Sanur, great prices, great stuff in stock, didn't have enough money and no ATMs nearby so they had to call their boss who came and put it on my credit card. Took taxi home and took 1/2 day Unforgettable Sunset tour with Gray Line, to Tanah Lot temple. Rained at sunset tho.

Feb 18th

Took full day tour to Kitimani, took us to one of those buffet restaurants but was 1/2 price for kids, 40,000 for adults and 20,000 for kids, not much more than eating at our hotel. Found the market stalls at Tampak Siring Hot Springs really cheap, got a great silk sarong for 30,000 and other bargains. Ate at Poppies Restaurant in Kuta, kids really liked it.

Feb. 19th

Took the Eastern Bali tour - saw the Barong and Kris dance, then went up to Besikah temple, there was a landslide so had to go by a roundabout route near the coast, saw lots of great little villages. Got some great batik fabric at Klungkung fairly cheap.

Feb. 20th

Went to Waterbom park, great day, sunny, got sunburns, had a great time. Found a great jacket on the mannequin at Eli Tailor, assistant had to wake the tailor up (who was sleeping under the desk). Turned out great, my favourite of all the clothes I got in Bali. Ate at Green Gardens Restaurant, they have a free 5 minute massage and drive you home after dinner to your hotel.

Meant to get this out Wed. but our hot water tank decided to start leaking so had to deal with that hassle.

Feb. 21st

Took the Gray Line tour to Northern Bali, saw the beach at Lovina and a northern monkey forest, saw a huge section of raw earth where the landslide had occurred about a week before. Dropped in at Sammi & Suzi's; the older girl got a tatoo, bought some bracelets, watches etc. Their friends were talking about the lack of business/customers; it was hard to even get a chance to talk - was trying to talk to Suzi and one woman was constantly tapping my arm; another trying to massage my foot. Ate at Green Gardens after.

Feb. 22nd

Picked up at hotel by Wayan Sueta, contacted him by e-mail as he was recommended on this list and the BTF. He was great, good english, (definitely spoke better english than my kids); took us to the Bird and Reptile Park. Was expensive to get in (nearly 500,000 rp for myself and 2 kids), but got some good pics of us with birds. Later went to the elephant compound and got some pics with elephants, (just paid the admission not for the rides). He was going to take us to see some flying foxes but there was a huge thunderstorm. Ate at Green Gardens again, great place, they not only give rides back to your hotel, they give out a card for every 50.000 you spend which can be exchanged for great t-shirts.

Feb 23rd

Got a call at 7 am from Wayan that he was sick and couldn't come, were up anyway so asked the front desk at the hotel about drivers, they said they had some come every day and we could ask about prices; the one we talked to wanted 400,000 rp to take up us to the east, around Padang Bai and Candi Dasa. Didn't feel like we had much choice as we only had a few days left by this point. Went up to Padang Bai and paid 150,000 to be taken around near Candi Dasa for snorkeling, warm water, all kinds of tropical fish, beautiful beaches, wish we hadn't left our cameras in the van. The boat was pretty small, outrigger canoe type so didn't want to take much of our stuff. Saw the bat cave, hundreds of bats. Had to pay to use the bathroom there and it was the worst one we ever saw. Western style toilet with no seat, toilet and floor covered with water, smelled so bad we could hardly get our breath and of course no toilet paper! Stopped at Ramayana dept. store in Denpasar on the way back, got some good jeans and underwear for the older girl. Much better prices than Matahari, we actually found them quite expensive.

Feb. 24th

Wayan picked us up again and went out to Hope Children's Home in northern Kuta. Dropped off some clothes and school supplies and agreed to sponsor a small girl. Took quite a few pictures, my mother's best friends daughter married a doctor and they send containers of supplies to some orphanages in other countries, thought maybe we could get them interested. Seemed really cramped for space, the kids share rooms - 108 kids in maybe 24 bedrooms, they own the front but said they pay 4 million rp a month for the back part which is not all that big. The roof over the common room where they all eat did not look that good. They said they would come & pick us up for lunch Tuesday.

Feb. 25th

Went out to Lembognan Island for snorkeling; tried to book on the Bounty but they had a charter today so had to switch to the Bali Hai. Had a good time but everything was a rush, got there about 10:30 and I think the boat left again about 3:15. Would like to stay overnight if we can arrange it the next time. Went to the Melasti Beach Bungalows to get the younger girls hair braided (heard on the BTF they were good) and the older girl had hers streaked and I had mine coloured. Good prices, much better than at our hotel.

Feb. 26th

Front desk at the Wina called at 11:00 as we were packing and told us we had to be out of the room by noon. We dragged all our stuff down there and put it in a locker room. The front desk was not all that helpful to us; when I cut myself packing my older girl went down for a bandaid and they told her "you can go and buy some". Another time we asked where the nearest ATM was and they told us the Hardrock Hotel; actually there are about 3 or 4 closer than that (we found out later). The lady from the orphanage (Theres) picked us us about 12:30 and we went out there for lunch, took some more pictures, had lunch with the girl we are sponsoring; later went over to a hotel where Teres' husband is the operations manager - Sri Kusuma Hotel, they said we should stay there next time but it looked expensive, said on their brochure $60 US a night! Went and bought a bag for our extra stuff and then to check out the Sri Ratu hotel, were shown a very nice 2 bdrm. bungalow for 300,000 rp and they had some 2 storey ones for 250,000 (couldn't see as they were occupied).

Went back to Sammi and Suzi's so older girl could get her tatoo re-done and took some pics. Got a great foot massage and manicure for 30,000 rp, we had 3 massages at our hotel but found they were quite expensive, some women there were good and others not. Ate at Green Gardens restaurant again and then had to get ready for our 2 overnight flight trip - 10:20 pm flight to Jakarta and then Japan, day in Japan and then another overnight flight home. Got about 2 hrs. sleep total on them, next time we will try to fly straight thru in one day I think. Maybe go to Malaysia for somewhere near Bali first. Customs didn't check any of the stuff we brought back, didn't even ask if we had wood carvings. We had packed them all in one bag re this possibility but they ended up banging around into each other and some chips broke off.

We were so busy in Bali this time we hardly had any spare time, but one good thing about the Gray Line Tours that were included with our package is that they paid your way in to the attractions and you didn't have to worry about guys insisting you need a guide e.g. Besikah Temple. We want to stay longer next time and have some more time, maybe 3 weeks if we can.

Jenny