Gorillaz - Tomorrow comes Today.
Well here we were ... tomorrow had come today and we were leaving Island House. We had grown very attached to the place after just 4 days. I dread to think the scene I would cause if we had stayed any longer ...they would have been dragging me out kicking and screaming I fear.
Rob and I had some business to attend to back in the real world via the net that pagi.
Not a bad place to conduct business ..hey?
We had some breakfast prepared by the rather sullen Ayu again which was just ok.
Strangely she and another staff member did all the cleaning of the bedrooms and bathrooms before we had finished packing etc. You would think that they would have waited until we were gone?
There was a large group arriving in the afternoon and had booked out 4 of the villas for a wedding. I just love that idea, like I've said before. What a great way to celebrate your love for each other with your family and friends.
There were plenty of comfortable spots to read and take in the scenery here. Personally I have trouble reading in such a location surrounded by beautiful distractions.
Rob and I took one of the scooters down to The Beach House restaurant to settle our accommodation bill. The place was buzzing with staff organising flower arrangements, table settings etc. for the large groups arrival.
We eventually paid our bill after it took a few attempts to get a connection on the eftpos machine, this was finally achieved by taking it down to the beach and holding it skyward :0)
We thanked Mark (the manager) wholeheartedly and again told him how idyllic we had found the villa and how much we would love to return. He seemed very preoccupied and explained with a visible shudder that our replacement was a bridezilla... so with a toot and a wave we left him to his organising.
Rob with his big sister Pam.
I had left our hand processed coconut oil 'liquid gold' on one of the kitchen shelves during our stay and whenever I had entered the kitchen (which wasn't often when Ayu was 'in house' ) I had noticed that our oil had taken up a new position and was always tucked behind something else. I had my suspicions about this and was thinking Ayu was itching to get her mitts on my 'gold'.
Hey if she hadn't of been so prickly I would have shared it more than willingly. She watched me intently as I retrieved what supplies we had left in the fridge and I left the kitchen greedily clutching our oil to my chest. Mine all mine.
Rocky fast boat was transferring us and Ketut wished us well and merrily waved us goodbye.
Matur Suksme Island House, Sampai Jumpa!
Mushroom Beach.
It turned out after we had hung around at this beach for awhile that the conditions weren't right for boarding here. So all the passengers piled into the back of some the 'butt busting' Utes and were transferred to another location further up the coast. I think we started off at Mushroom Beach but ended up around near the public boat office.
We all hung around here for about a half hour in whatever shade we could find whilst the boat was unloaded and then loaded again.
This was my little shade tree opposite the Mighty Agung.
It was another quick, smooth and uneventful trip back to the mainland thankfully.
I was really going to miss Nusa Lembongan and I look forward to the day when Rob and I can return and explore more of the wonders of this lovely little island.
Our transfer to The Kamuela in Sanr was waiting at the harbor for us. I spotted him easily as he was dressed all in black (sweating profusely..poor thing) and had the hotels insignia on his shirt.
It was a relief when we got in the car and cranked up the air con to high. We received a warm welcome at Kamuela and were shown to our rooms with enthusiasm.
Rob and I had booked a 1 bedroom villa with a small plunge pool, Pam was heading home that night and via the booking emails I had explained this to the reservations staff and they had said it was no problem that she and her luggage hung out in our villa with us for the day.
Luke was booked into a ground floor Spa suite which he was happy with, I can't say I would of been so happy in his room though. There was a strong smell of mould in it. I think it came from the air-conditioning (a bit of a worry) which I found almost choking :( Luke was cool with it though.
Apart from that everything else looked all shiny and new and he liked the modern feel of it and the roominess. It seems that K was formerly the Aston and they are still working their way through the stocks of it's merchandise :)
Our villa was just ok and was obviously one of the original rooms, quite a few of the things in it were in disrepair and the most painful thing was the cracked and splintered floor boards leading from the bedroom to the bathroom. I stubbed and jabbed my toes a couple of times on these in the next few days. I had pointed them out to our smiling check-in guy on our 'arrival grand tour' and he smiled and said they are due for renovations. I didn't mind too much we were only here for 2 nights and the rest of the hotel seemed comfortable, homey and friendly. The Kamuela also came at a really good price and I did keep reminding myself how totally bloody, spoilt rotten I had been accommodation wise this trip.
Unfortunately I haven't any pic's of the Kamuela.
We relaxed for a little while and then struck out to have a wander around this South end of Sanur where none of us had ever been.
After a bit of window shopping we decided upon Massimo's for lunch which was pretty much empty but looks like it can seat 'A Lot' of people, I understand it's been around for quite awhile this one.
Lunch was good and we went the Italian route from the large menu. I did have an issue with my strawberry daiquiri, which obviously had arak in it. I have a very low tolerance for this rocket fuel and the waitress didn't have any problems taking it back and replacing it with a Pina colada, like Pam was having and which tasted fine.
After lunch Luke went his own way whilst the 3 of us went in search for Wina Optic where we had organised to pick up all our specs we had ordered way back in Kuta which, seemed like weeks ago! They weren't ready and waiting for us but were still back in Kuta....Pam got a little stressed about this (as she was flying out that night) but I assured her I was sure it would be fine when I could see they had made a phone call and one of the lovely ladies was getting her motor bike gear on. They organised to bring them to our hotel later that evening.
Pam was keen not to waste her last hours and got her shopping mojo on :0)
She picked up a nice leather overnight bag from a leather store whose proprietor is a very friendly guy with an infectious laugh. Rob and he hit it off and had a lot of laughs (a couple at their wives expense) whilst the owner got busy altering a belt for him that Rob had taken a shine to.
Then we hopped in a cab and took off to Hardy's, I was feeling a little woozy and sat it out on the padded seat next to the Foot Fishy thing. Pam was happy with all her purchases here and picked up some last minute gifts and a really nice skirt for herself.
It turns out that none of us took any photo's for the rest of this day, maybe because we could feel the holiday winding down, now we were back on the mainland.
After squeezing into her jeans that were now fitting a little snugger than 2 weeks ago ;0) her airport transfer arrived and Pam was whisked away into the night with the declaration that she would return! Ah another newbie that had fallen hard for the place...love that.
We 3 didn't need to think about getting into our jeans just yet so we wandered up to Charming which I had heard great things about. The guys loved their meals ...lunch had been enough for me but like a trooper I continued my research on Bali's best frozen Margherita it got a 6/10.
Charming had a 'wandering' band which I must admit I always look upon with dread. I need to do some research and come up with some stock standard requests that some of these bands might know, be able to do a half decent job of and whose lyrics won't leave me squirming in my seat, waiting for the torture and the focus of the room on our table to be over.
When this one arrived and we ran through a list of artists that they might know until we hit on Neil Young (none of us are fans) but we thought at least it would be a low key song that wouldn't draw much attention to us whilst the guys continued to eat their meals...is it correct etiquette to continue eating whilst being sung too...it feels very awkward ?
Oh god what a terrible choice "Heart of Gold" is a melancholy song that has a line in the chorus "and I'm getting old" and it just seemed to drone on ForEver ...I felt like climbing under the table! ...After that I decided to order a Martini to see how they measured up.. a good 7/10 with added points for it's anti-melancholic properties :0)
We wandered back to the hotel through the beautiful balmy Sanur night stopping at some stalls, chatting and laughing with some locals and feeling mighty fine :0)
Sad and Old? Not a Chance!
Sampai Jumpa!
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