I Love The Way You Are Baby - Day 10

Leaving Eco Village.


Modest Mouse - Float on

As I pulled away Luke's s@#t stained mosquito net the next morning I uttered the words we both thought I would never say ......" I would like you to take me for a ride on your motorbike please".
We were blowing this popsicle stand!. 

All 3 of the switched on villa owners in the area had replied to my emails. Two of them within a couple of hours. Fantastic quick responses!

The winner was the email that I received at around 6am from Tom. He was offering 40% off because we were booking within 14 days of arrival.!

He requested a prompt reply because he was going to be unreachable for the next couple of hours. I tried to reply to him but ...it was put to the test.
The wifi dropped out, our phones were out of credit, I thought it unethical to use the reception phone to book other digs and when Luke tried to get the GPS location of the villa it showed it a couple of miles offshore in the ocean!

Now....for years I have had my issues with Luke still riding motorbikes after a major accident that put us all through hell and back.

When Pam later told Darien that I had gone into town on the back of the bike, with a look of shock he said "Geez she must of been desperate"!

I was, I wanted to be sorted and checked out of here by 12 at the latest.

Luke and I spent an hour standing at a small grocery stall in Padang Bai trying to get credit on our phones but for some unknown reason we didn't have any success at all. I had some trouble a few times loading this particular simpati card during the trip.

We went back to the Village and I used their phone to call Jack and asked him to please try and load some credit on my phone, which he often does for me.

We found the others at the poolside cafe having breakfast. I won't go into detail about the state of the 'Village's' breakfast but it was ALL extremely bad!

"Ok Luke 'Plan B', we get back on the bike and find that GPS mark, the villa is on the beachfront so we get as close to that mark as we can without riding into the drink".

We left the others to pack. Pam took care of mine and Luke's gear. Time was getting on, it was 10 o'clock and Candidasa was about 20mins away.

Luke was a happy man riding around again. I felt safe on the back but had a couple of "watch out!" moments.

We stopped to fuel up and I got the call from Jack that the credit was a 'go'. Your a champion Jack! I tried all 3 numbers to reach the villa owner but no one picked up, he had become 'unreachable'.

Luke later realised he had handed over $16 for his fuel instead of the required $1.60. .He beat himself up over that one for days. Not over the cost but he thought he 'had it together' when it came to the money. Damn those momentary lapses of rupiah reason!

With me on the back of the bike navigating, by precariously holding Luke's phone in the air and following the little blue dot that was us moving along on the GPS map, we ended up on a dirt road that was about 2 km's long with about 6 streets leading off towards the beachfront. There were lots of villa signs but none for Villa Anjani so the search was on.

"Permisi mana Villa Anjani "? (excuse me where is Villa Anjani?) I asked the question of everyone we came across and each time we were directed back in the direction we had just come from.

We rode up and down that dirt track about 20 times. It was looking like Anjani wasn't going to happen. I kept reminding myself to keep smiling and enjoy the scenery.

Then it got to the point when I just couldn't 'hold on' any longer. The bushes on the side of the road looked very thorny so on the road it had to be. Luke was a little way down the hill with instructions not to look. Oh no, midstream I heard a motorbike but thankfully it sounded like it was becoming distant. Then I glanced behind me and from around the bend and through the bushes I could see someone heading our way.

I'm pretty sure the poor guy got a glimpse of my shiny white butt, as I struggled to pull my shorts up whilst running back to the bike .
I really could of thought out the location better but when a girls gotta go she's really gotta go!

I was back on the bike when he approached us sidestepping my trickle.!
A little mortified I asked my question and with a wry grin he pointed us onward.

We decided to take one of the streets that pointed to other villa's and we came across the staff at one that were able to tell me that Anjani was near Villa Gils.
Ahhhh progress we had seen that sign. Terima Kasih! When we got back to the main track a nice guy on a bike that we had asked earlier happened along and said "You still not find Anjani"? He offered to lead the way. Terima Kasih!

If sh#$t luck's good ...maybe a pee in public has the same effect :0) It all suddenly fell into place.

The villa's staff had been contacted by the owner and knew that guests were a possibility. The manager and the 2 lovely ladies that took care of us so well during our stay  met us at the gate when the guard dog stirred up a raucous and they showed us around.

The moment we walked through the door relief washed over me. Now this was more like it!

The entrance



View of the entrance from the second storey.

We only poked our head into one bedroom before we were organising for the villa to pick us up from the Eco Village in 45mins. at 12.

On the ride back a couple of times I had, 'arms in the air WoooHooo' moments. 

Unfortunately there was also a  heart in the mouth moment when I thought we were going to be the meat in the sandwich between 2 big old, dirty rubble trucks. 

We were stopped on a hill when the front one started to roll back and we had no place to go, Scary.!

I stopped off at reception when we got back to 'check out' and Luke went on to make sure the others were all good to go.

 Luke and I conspired to down play how great Anjani was and he told them that it was just ok and at least it was clean.

It was interesting at reception when a very friendly young guy (finally met a 'smiler' when we were leaving) who I think was in training. 

He wasn't too sure what to do when I told him we were leaving early because we weren't happy. I said it all politely and with a smile. 

He consulted another lady who was sitting further back in the office about 10m away. 

Strangely from that distance she called out and asked me why I wasn't happy. I called back to her that it was dirty, noisy and I had found a big dirty bug in my bed. She just nodded and asked if we would like to try another room. I told her we had made other arrangements. 

All of this happened with a group of 4 people complete with luggage waiting to check in and one of the owners of 'the lodge' tapping away on her laptop in the lounge area. I glanced at the newcomers and shrugged apologetically.

They didn't charge us for another night which I thought they might. Good, I didn't want to fight that battle. Funnily enough they charge for the hand soap that was in the bathrooms which was the only incidental in the rooms. Ah well definitely not worth worrying about because we were out of here and I wouldn't be looking back!

By the time we had got the bags to reception the Villa driver was waiting. 

When we arrived at Villa Anjani, Pam had one of those "Is all of this for us moments"?..I love that :0)

ALLLLLLLLLLLLRIGHT!

 Alabama Shakes - Always Alright (Live in Sydney)

Yes indeed ...all of this and for less than the 'Village' per night ,was for us.
We had definitely landed on our feet this time around. Now let us never speak of the Eco Village again.

Within minutes we were being served a snack which included some freshly squeezed juices, I added a healthy slug of duty free to mine. We organised massages and our laundry definitely needed some sorting out.
I had mentioned to the manager that the younguns were heading home tomorrow evening so the laundry needed to be back by then. He must of put a rush on it and it was ready a couple of hours later.

The massage ladies arrived so quickly we had to ask them to wait a few minutes whilst Pam and I had a quick dip to cool off.
Everyone we met during our stay was from the local village including the manager. I thought it was really great that the Villa owner was supporting the local community.

We all had an hours massage on the waterfront.
Bliss!

Luke and Matt had there's with a cocktail.

I had no problem with surface touching here. The villa was immaculate.

Daz and Maddie were the only ones that could make good use of the Honeymoon Suite at the moment so the honor went to them. 

It was beautiful with a massive bath/double shower, dressing room, lovely furnishings, views to die for and look at the size of the bed!

The bedding was wonderfully soft and luxurious. Some of the best doonas and pillows I've ever used.

I should have checked out the labels. I will next time :0)

Looking up the coast to Candidasa. It was a 10 minute drive away from Anjani.

Checking out Nusa Lembongan, where we were headed in a few days time. 

I was keeping a look out for falling coconuts too :0) 

A couple had dropped whilst we were at Madu , the ones here looked ripe for the picking too and we found one on the ground the next morning next to the tree behind me.

There's a large coconut grove next door. 

That's the Honeymoon suite up top and Pam had the Master bedroom below that.

Pam's room had a double shower too.

Pam was in a picture taking mood again, surrounded by all this beauty.

Boy talk.

We 'ate in' that night although I was armed with a list of good restaurants in Candidasa (thank you TA) the vote went to enjoying the Anjani.

The kitchen is beautiful and huge with all the mod cons.

Luke and Matt kept the ladies busy with their Black Russian orders and us entertained during dinner. 

It was Matt's last full night and he was in a party mood. Min had left behind her Especial Kahlua so he needed to seriously address that.

This is karma Darien for all those annoying pictures you were taking of me that night!

Dinner was delicious and the Villa had the range of Hatten wines on hand to choose from.

The White is definitely doable but I didn't go for the Rose'.

My lovely inside/outside bathroom.

I'm thinking there were a few stories going around the village of our arrival antics, including the Ibu that had gotten caught with her pants down but that was the furthest thing from my mind as I snuggled into the sumptuous, cloud like, bug free bed. 

My only regret was that we only had 2 nights here.

Selamat Tidur x