Wednesday 14th.
Day 5
First thought I had upon waking was that we were heading back to 'de' again to sort something out with the bracelet. I tend to get all bent out of shape at the prospect of confrontation and rather than lie in bed considering all the possible outcomes of this encounter, I was up with the birds again this pagi. Time to walk off some of my over indulgences too.. Rob was a little reluctant today but said he'd meet me at some point on the beach , probably on my way back.
Boys and their big shiny toys hey. We got a kick out of the obvious pride and pleasure the tractor driver got out of zooming his big red machine up and down the beach each morning. We made an effort not to walk on the tractor tracks he made in the sand in the hope we'd be staying out of his way.
asked if it was ok to take his photo.
I love to watch the antics the dogs get up to on the beach (well most of them anyway... !!) it's funny how the little ones often seem to be the Head Honcho's. I miss my own lovely Lily badly whilst away, I'm not sure how she'd take to this bunch of characters.
There was no stopping me this morning and before I knew it I was down at Kuta beach. I had been mulling over in my mind what to do about 'de' if I found no joy there and when I finally stopped under the shade of a huge tree to catch my breath I spotted a Tourist Police office so thought I'd run it all by them.
As I approached the door I didn't notice the guard dog ...couldn't say the same of him though.
The mesh fence that held him back was less than an arms length from the door and his face was level with mine as he made a lunge for me and did what Rottweilers do, raised hell and looked very ferocious....scared the Beejeezus out of me. Nice doggy you're doing a top job!
I couldn't get inside the office quick enough and I found nobody home but I could hear laughter somewhere further within and wandered back there whilst yoohooing.
In what, I'm supposing was the tea room or should that be teh ruang I found the lovely smiling, helpful and burly Adi and Gusti. When I explained the situation with the jewelry store they agreed that I should be getting a refund or exchange and would be only too happy to lend a hand if necessary and gave me their card with their phone #'s if needed. I asked them to bring along their dog too. Very, very helpful and I felt much better about returning to the store with this card up my sleeve.
I came across Rob not long after near the entrance to Melasti st. and we wandered back to the villa to have a swim and a clean up before we headed to Zanzibar's for breakfast. Needn't of bothered getting cleaned up ...by the time we had walked there we were dripping in sweat and really needed those cold face towels and wonderful juices they provide. Again with the guilts over being so wasteful as I could only get through half of my serve of ba-na-na pancakes deeelish as always.
Can only wonder at the way things are done in Bali.
We wandered up Jl 66 having a look and a shop as you do. Very nice sarong stores along here and I got a really nice pair of leather thongs from Sol and Luna which I can wear more comfortably now we're home . One of the girls back at the villa took a liking to these whilst she and I were having a laugh at me trying to persuade my Fred Flintstone like big toes (only in Bali I swear) into the toe hole.
We stopped into a nice little aircon'd jewelry store in my hunt for a loooong silver chain, until it was discovered I'd managed to step in a dog poo somewhere along the line and traipsed it all over their beautiful white shiny tiled floor. Apologising all the way I left a little red faced whilst Rob chivalrously washed my shoe in a puddle outside the door. We figured if shit luck is good luck things should go well at the next jewelry store :0)
Whilst repeating a little mantra in my head for confidence, we entered 'de' and 'Oh Joy' coming out of the back room was the smiling, switched on and eager to please assistant I had encountered on other occasions 'Yay' I was already feeling much more hopeful as Little Miss 'de' Nasty was nowhere to be seen.
'Joy' right away set about trying to make things right I think, as she got on the phone to her boss and there was a long agitated high pitched conversation had in rapid Indonesian whilst she started sorting through bags and bags of bracelets I'm assuming looking for one of the same bracelets to replace it with.
She didn't know at this point I wasn't going to be happy with this as it was a basic design flaw that made the bracelet unwearable and I needed one that had a different type of catch entirely. So I set about looking for a likely replacement in the store.
When she got off the phone I explained this to her and suggested another I had found that was a few rupiah cheaper even, but she wasn't sure her boss would go for it as it would mess up the books.
She got back on the phone and yet another round of what sounded like very heated bickering was had with my champion the wonderful 'Joy' being triumphant in the end. Phew, no need for the smiling Adi, Gusti and snarling friend after all.
I was very grateful to 'Joy' and she knew I was a regular customer and very much hoped I'd return. I promised I would as I love their jewelry and suggested her co-worker could do with some pointers in the service department from the lovely 'Joy'. Come to think of it her boss probably could too...messing up the bookwork oh pleeeeeez!
We left very happy and relieved and I'm pleased to report that my friend back home loves her replacement and is rarely seen without it looking gorgeous on her arm.
A few more purchases were made along this little strip from Silver berry and a couple of boutiques ticking some more Xmas presents off the list.
Our eldest son Luke was arriving in Bali today and was due at the Villa around 1ish. So we hustled over to catch up with Iluh and get that grand tour. It was wonderful to see her again and Rob now understands my love for the place .
We only just beat Luke to the Villa and after cooling off and a catch up Rob and I beat it as Luke had other plans which involved us making ourselves scarce for a while, hmmmm goodbye peace and togetherness, goodbye skinny dipping in the pool, goodbye our choice of music and movies.... one of our adorable little black holes of need had arrived and we had already been jettisoned!
We went and hung around at Gado Gado for a cocktail or 2, bought some great intricately carved coconut shells off a beach seller and had a long rave to one of the waiters who since I had sat down I couldn't put my finger on where I knew him from. I finally pieced it together and he is the smiling face on the Serene Villa's website...lovely guy and we chatted and chatted and chatted. 3 hours later and we still hadn't got the nod for our return from Luke!
We headed back to the Villa at sunset, how very beautiful and special they are from this coastline.
Rob and I freshened up and wandered along Jl Sari Dewi to Wah Wah Burger for dinner. I just love this place and again we were served by the same wide eyed 'space cadet' of a waiter we had in October.
I'm afraid I didn't really have the patience for him this time around but he took the hint and left us in peace eventually.
Rob wasn't overly impressed with his meal this visit and had gone with all the waiters recommendations. I had stuck to some old favorites and had relished every tender, juicy, delicious morsel.
We were pretty pooped by the time we had walked back to the Villa and the coast was clear too, but we hadn't the energy for even a movie so we toddled off to the cool cool king sized.
Oh Bali daze I miss you.
Malam
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