After the Wedding

After all the preparations, the wedding between my nephew Beau and the lovely Jess went off late into last night. There were around 80 there including about 8 kids. The setting was spectacular, the food great and drinks flowed freely.

It was sure a long way to travel being conducted at Uluwatu on the southern tip of the Indonesian island of Bali.  I have not recovered that well but I am improving all the time. There is a BBQ lunch on at their resort early this afternoon.

Trish and my sister Judy had a ball and have many photos on their respective Facebook pages. Judy has put about 20 photos up on her page.

Right now the two girls have walked around a kilometre into "town". My delicate condition precluded me from joining them. Feeling a little under the weather and walking in 34 degree tropical heat and humidity didn't seem a good idea to me.

We are all being picked up tomorrow around lunchtime to be taken back to Seminyak and the Horison Hotel at Double Six beach. We are there for 8 nights and Judy for just 2 nights. She is flying home with her eldest son Marcus and his family around lunchtime on Thursday.

I think we will all sleep pretty soundly tonight.

Puri Kelapa, Uluwatu

I hope I have spelt the name properly. We are around 50ks south of Seminyak on Bali's southern coast staying at the Puri Kelapa Guest House. It is a little more upmarket than a guest house but isn't expensive. The room is cool, the bed great, not sure if we have hot water and the pool is welcoming if not too warm.

It is around 7am and a little misty. It is extremely humid. We have the wedding at 4:30 this afternoon less than a kilometre away from here.

There isn't tea and coffee nor any food served here at our accommodation.  However the little restaurant 50 metres away is excellent and inexpensive. Cold beer is available at the guest house at $2 a stubby.

There isn't a cloud in the sky and the internet here is patchy but usable.  Let's see if I can post this.

Our room is the end one in the photo below and around $40 per night. Another  great feature is it is so quiet here.  We both got around 8 hours sleep last night and have awoken refreshed this morning. Thank heaven there isn't a noisy nightclub just over the back!

The internet is good enough to get the footy scores.

Judy's eldest son Marcus and his family are here too at the same accommodation. They all went off to an in family pre wedding  dinner last night and decided to walk the 700 metres to the wedding venue. We will await their verdict on walking that distance in the tropical heat and humidity.

A big day is in store for us along with the challenge of getting to and from the wedding venue.  Taxis are few and far between and this is an Uber blacklisted area.  So walking may be our only option.

Bali Update

So we come to the final day of our first stay in Seminyak. The 4 days here have been enough for us. The majority of guests staying here for the wedding are friends of the bride's family and this is understandable. We are not always included in every happening which is fine.  We have had a great time with my sister who is new to overseas travel and her three boys and their wives.

I mentioned about the noisy nightclub next door. When we got back to our room after a day's shopping, eating, drinking and chatting at around 9pm last night the nightclub noise was in full swing and we noted there were 2 sets of earplugs supplied. The noise was horrific and come 9:45pm I  headed to reception to raise my concerns.

We were immediately offered an alternative room to sleep in for the night. Our room is around $100 per night. We were given the use of a single bedroom unit which had a $200 per night price tag. The photo above gives you a hint of what it was like. Yes, that's a private pool outside the lounge window. Despite being at the other end of the hotel you could still hear a little of the nightclub noise. But it was heaps better than room 124!

Last night we negotiated a driver and car to take us down to the vicinity of where the wedding service is to be conducted tomorrow late in the afternoon. Hopefully there won't be a nightclub close by. We did a pretty good deal for our ride as it turns out.

In Bali

I have again been reminded of why flights in aeroplanes are not as exciting as they once used to be.  6 hours from Brisbane to Denpasar is certainly enough time to be spent in one seat doing as little as possible. I listened to a couple of music albums, the odd podcast or two, and even squeezed in several episodes of a TV Series I wanted to catch up on.

Then there was the hour or so spent getting through immigration and customs. Several flights had arrived at the same time and Indonesian Immigration had about 8 counters open accepting new visitors one at a time. Eventually we found our way through and were delighted we had transfers from the airport to our hotel provided.

The Dipan where we are staying is comfortable, small but has all the requirements for a pleasant stay in Seminyak just north of Kuta. There is even a nightclub right next door which has loud music which usually finishes around midnight.  We now know this all too well.  Fortunately I have sleeping tablets which help me overcome the ever present thump thump of the bass.

Everything else is great. Slowly but surely more and more wedding guests are arriving and popping in to say hello.  Quite a few of them are staying here at Dipan.

With so many young people here and all on holidays it is like a week long buck's party. Some of the oldies or those with young families head off togther for a look around or a meal.  Needless to say our want is Asian food.  We have already acquired the necessary Bintang (the local beer) singlets and T Shirts.

There are some great things to do for the holiday maker and it is usually quite inexpensive to do so. As it is a Muslim country alcohol could be expensive but is around Aussie prices. I have found a spot which does 3 stubbies for $5 which is good value.  It is in 'town' and a good 20 minute walk away.

That 20 minute walk in 34 degree tropical heat can sure build a thirst.

We have 2 more nights here before heading around 50ks south for the wedding ceremony on Sunday.  Hopefully the accommodation there won't be next door to nightclub.

But it is great catching up with extended family we haven't seen for a long time.

The photo is out of our hotel room window across towards the noisy nightclub.

Bags Are Packed!

We fly out to Bali around 5:30pm this evening (Tuesday) and it is mid morning now.  Bags are packed, parking in Brisbane is sorted and we think we have everything.

We have been in contact with good neighbours Brian and Edna who will keep an eye on this place for us while we are away, they will do the bins and water the few pot plants from time to time.  I popped over to their place yesterday and sorted out his Kodi for him, and updated many of the addons.  It should all be perfect now.

Other neighbours across the road, Bill and Kaylene gave us a half a plastic bag full of red claw, small fresh water crayfish.  They got hundreds and hundreds of them at a nearby lake where the went for an Easter holiday.  Bill said the place was absolutely packed to the rafters with campers and other visitors.  So we had red claw cooked in garlic and butter along with some fried rice for tea on Sunday and there were even a few red claw left when we cleaned up the Fried Rice last night.

Apart from that it has been all hands on deck tidying things up before heading away.  The lawns are mowed, my hair has been cut and things seem to be in order.

My team played Trish's footy team on Easter Monday (yesterday) and had a resounding win.  Her team has been on top for almost 10 seasons now winning four premierships in that time.  But like all footy teams. eventually the players get older, slower and slightly less hungry.  They have been a top team for so long it now seems it may be time to rebuild.

Weather has been OK with tops a much cooler 26° or so and 16 or so overnight.  A welcome change after the scorching summer we have just had.

Many of the wedding guests are already in Bali and we have had calls from my sister.  It seems the way to go is via Facebook Messenger where you can use your phone via free wifi to make and receive calls.  It works pretty well.  We spoke with Kim yesterday and she and Jay are in Hoi An in Vietnam.  It wasn't as good as a phone call but pretty good no less.  Kim and jay are having a wow of a time.  They had just sat down in a Hoi An bar where the Aussie rules footy match was just about to come on the bar's TV.

I believe we have free transfers to the Hotel this evening.  The bride's parents are flying on the same flight as we are.  The 'official' and legal wedding was held as a very small ceremony in Melbourne on Thursday.  This ensures the marriage is fully legal in the eyes of Australian Law.

Se we are off in a few hours to drive in to the airport.  Better to be an hour or so early rather than an hour or so late!