Bali 29 May to 5 June
Bali Day 1
We were through immigration in almost no time, I had a little speed bump to negotiate! I had made a mistake on my e-visa, somehow my birthday showed up on the visa as the date I applied for it. When I tried to go through the electronic gate it wouldn’t let me through. I got sent through to a manual desk just behind them. The Officer pointed out what the problem was and started saying I might need to do another visa, I played the age card, “sorry, my old eyes didn’t see the mistake, I’m really sorry!”, he looked at me, smiled, I thought at this point he was after an old school envelope, but no, he was simply thinking stupid old dude, and did a manual entry for me on the spot.
Next we went through customs, we had things to declare, once the Officers there were satisfied everything was in order we were finally allowed into Indonesia, and this part of the holiday began!
We were picked up by Ai and our driver Indra, we left the customs hall at 2:15am and were on our way to our Villa Frangipani. Not too bad at all, only an hour or so from landing to in the car.
The roads were very quiet as you might expect, and we arrived at around 2.50am. Ai showed us around and she suggested the room we should have for stay, the poolside suite! All the other rooms are in groups, we thought they were more suitable for B & C and families.
I was asleep by 5am, and Deb, …. well, it was more like 6:00am.
I woke around 9am and Deb around 10am. Both of us were a bit worse for wear, very tired still. We had breakfast at around 10:30am. I had Mie Goreng and Deb had cereal and a croissant. Mie Goreng for breakfast was something a bit new!
A bit later Deb went through our itinerary with Ai, it looks like a good variety of things, cultural and a little bit of touristy things.
Then we had lunch – Soto Ayam, Satay Ayam, Mie Goreng and Cah Kangkung, delicious.
And we both had a swim to cool down a little. It’s a 20m pool, I did a lap just because I could!
C and family were due to land around 3pm, but their flight ran an hour late, and was without A/C, a very warm flight!! They were FINALLY (in C’s words) off the plane by 4:04pm! Then for the fun bit, immigration and customs. Surprise, surprise, they were all through and into Bali inside 40 minutes, and had found the driver and were on their way! A win.
C and family arrived at the Villa around 5:30pm. It was so good to see them all looking so happy, very tired, but happy. C & K hadn’t slept for a couple of days.
A swim and dinner and they were in Bali mode. C and K had an early night, so much sleep to catch up on. We heard E & E laughing and playing in the pool a little later in the night, such a wonderful sound.
Bali Day 2
We had breakfast together and then it was time to cool off in the pool. We all had a quiet morning and nice chats.
B and his family touched down at about 10:25am and were on their way here by 11:10am.
They arrived at the Villa at about 12:15pm. We all had lunch at 1pm.
It was a fun afternoon with lots of laughs and just settling in. There was a fair bit of swimming, massages a bit later and a festive feast for dinner.
C,E, K, E, S & T had massages in the afternoon
We watched the Villa staff put up decorations over our table for our festive Indonesian BBQ’d Suckling Pig dinner tonight.
Late in the afternoon we went for a walk out the back of the Villa. There was a large wooden swing seat, which of course we gave a swing, and laughed like youngsters, so much fun.
We walked over to a nearby temple. But couldn’t get passed a locked gate.
Then we went over to a point that gave excellent views over the coast. Lots of umbrellas and beach lounges around a club. There was a small good looking surf break as well.
As we walked back towards the Villa about 4 monkeys scrambled over to the Temple. Up over the walls and they took advantage of any and all high points they could find. We got some photos of them in action. It was fun watching them.
Our bbq’d suckling pig dinner was amazing. After everything, and I do mean everything (so much food!) was laid out on the table, B did the honours of beheading the beast, much to the delight of all of us and all the staff. There were lots of photos and laughs all round. The pork was deliciously sweet and moist, lots of interesting tasty salads and sambals, as well as fried innards and innards sausage. All topped off by a fruit plate. So tasty. As part of the ritual everyone was encouraged to have a shot of a local Balinese spirit. Lots of shots were had!
Deb and I took a walk to the back fence to see some stars, there were lots out if you gave your eyes time to adjust. We also found lots of small gecko lizards on the glass rear fence, we love these little dudes.
Out night finished with all the children in the pool and having a great time together.
We love having the families together, and we think they do to!
Bali Day 3 – The Wedding.
We had a late breakfast, 9am, Deb and I both had the Indonesian breakfast again, Nasi Goreng. Very tasty.
It was a very slow day, spent relaxing and for the others, massages and jumping in and out of the pool.
The first cars left for the wedding at about 3pm, and we followed at around 3:45pm.
The wedding was very good. Set on a grassed lawn with an arch of flowers behind them, and the pool and ocean beyond that. Brian and his grooms men were dressed in tan and white, with Brian wearing a hat, Julia and her brides maids looked beautiful.
The ceremony was great, and their vows to each other were beautiful.
After the ceremony the drinks seemed to flow untethered. Brian came over and gave us both a hug. He gave Deb the biggest heartfelt hug you could imagine, it was beautiful to see. From all accounts it was very much a celebration in Brian and Julia’s style.
Bali Day 4
The stories from the reception last night were fun, like a Hollywood A-list party. Everyone loved it, there are a few fragile constitutions around!
We all had a relaxing morning, a late breakfast,10:30am, Nasi Goreng, mmmmmmm.
B,C and families went out at about 2pm for the after party at Finn’s Beach Club in Canguu. Finn’s is set up for Western tourists, and they were all there is there various shapes and sizes. The music was loud, the cocktails flowed and the after party began to resemble the day before party. They all arrived back around 9pm.
Bali Day 5
We all had a relaxing morning, a late breakfast,10:30am.
B,C and families went out for the day together, exploring things Bali, they went to Uluwatu Temple and Monkey Forest, a big statue built in 2018 in the GWK Cultural Park, they went to our hosts and drivers home and a Kecak Fire dance show.
They really enjoyed their day out, the standouts were the Fire Dance (which surprised everyone – it was full of energy, crowd involvement and kicking fire embers, the Monkey Forest – where they witnessed an old Monkey lying on the ground, as tourists stopped to look at it other, younger monkeys came from everywhere working as a team. Taking anything they could from the startled people – such as shoes, sunglasses, hats, phones, etc. Very funny to watch, if you weren’t one of their victims! And then the visit to Ai & Indra’s home, and our other driver’s, Putu, home across the road. It was great for them to see/experience how the locals really live. While they were there streams of children from the neighbourhood came out to see them all. They all had a great memorable time.
Bali Day 6
We all had a relaxing morning, breakfast at 9:00am, Nasi Goreng, mmmmmmm. Massages started at 10am and continued until ours at 2pm.
B,C and families did a cooking class, they helped prepare some of the food we are having tonight in our Balinese Banquet. There were lots of laughs coming out of the kitchen, they all said they had a fun time (and learnt a bit as well)
Bali Day 7
We all had a other relaxing morning, breakfast at 9:00am.
Deb and I decided to have a quiet day today, it’s a travel day, so many things to get ready. We opted for a massage 10:30am
The Villa owner, Robbert, called by a bit before 10am. He wanted to thank us for staying and encouraged us to “spread the word” about Villa Frangipani.
A bit after 10:00am B & C and families went out to a local market at Nusa Dua to explore for “bargains” and experience the thrill of Bali bartering! (Ai gave them all a tip, start at 40% of the asking price and go from there), Carly and family are heading to a Ceramic shop to look at the wares, and then onto The PaD, for a gluten free lunch and then they were all going for some “serious” retail therapy around Garlic Lane on Jr Sahadewa (apparently much research had been done into this).
After our massage we had our final swim at the Villa, had lunch and relaxed. Lunch was delicious, again, but we are both looking forward to a return to less food!
We left the Villa at 8:30pm and were at the airport by 9:15pm
We dropped our bags off and were through security and immigration by 9:30pm.
There was a long maze through duty free and then a bit of a walk to our gate, 6B, downstairs. We arrived at the gate at 99pm55. Boarding at 10:40pm.
We eventually boarded at 11:40, and the flight took off at 12:10am with a 3:50hr flight time. We did well, we had a spare seat between us (Deb window and me aisle).
The flight was ok, a bit of turbulence not long after take off, but that didn’t last too long. I’d forgotten how uncomfortable economy can be after a few hours, particularly on an “overnight” flight. I guess I got maybe 1.5hrs sleep, Deb did a bit better. The cabin was cold, not really suited for travel from tropics to tropics.
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