Seminyak, One More Night.

Today has been showery. This morning's walk up the street for any last minute shopping was not so hot. However as it warmed up and the humidity rose from the everyday 85% to a stinking 95% it sure felt hot again.

So it was some new Havianas for Trish, a few more small gifts for grandchildren and family members and then a spot of lunch just beside the Bintang Supermarket which is where this photo was taken. This seems a normal Bali traffic shot!

Then as the drizzle recommenced it was back to the hotel.

As you have probably worked out Bali is very much a shopping for T Shirts sort of place. Other items may be a little cheaper than home but then you won't get the range. Even the cheap Bali knock off watches are not a good deal when you can buy online from China for less. The $10 T Shirt is probably lesser quality than the $12 on special one you can buy on special at Big W!

You will get your good shopping deals, great nights out at OK restaurants for less than at home but for us that's about it.

I chatted with a guy the other day who was on about his 20th Bali trip. They stay at the same hotel, enjoy the same restaurants and have a great holiday every time. He and his wife are still working and look forward to their annual holiday in Bali with much pleasure.

They enjoy the holiday destination. We already live in a great holiday destination ourselves on the Sunshine Coast so really we don't need to travel to Bali for this sort of a holiday.

Don't get me wrong, we have had a great time on our Bali trip, but I am not sure we would come here 20 times or more. Trish sure enjoys all the eating out and not having to cook.

We are now beginning to get our heads around packing and heading home. This seems pretty well in hand at the moment.

The next big decision is where to for our dinner tonight. Right now it seems The Kuali where we had grilled snapper and a chicken curry for last night's meal will most likely win the vote for tonight.

Probably the next post will be from home. We should get to our home around mid morning Thursday. We fly out of Bali at 11:15pm Wednesday and land in Brisbane just before 7am.

We are both planning to take a sleeping pill to help us through the 6 hour flight.

Seminyak, Monday.

We enjoyed a quick vist from the newlyweds Beau and Jess on Saturday just as they were doing the rounds prior to flying back to Melbourne Saturday night. There was even more leftover stubbies and yet another bottle of wine to add to our collection.

I made a pretty good fist of finishing some of the beer off on Sunday but I am suffering just a little today (Monday).  I am usually a mid strength beer maker nowadays so a session on heavy can be hard going for me.

Footy watching took up much of the weekend which didn't deliver good results for either Trish or myself. I headed down the street to watch my game as it wasn't covered on the in-house TV.

The photo above is one taken around the hotel pool. We have booked a late checkout (6pm) for Wednesday and a car to the airport will take around an hour and costs $20.

Today Kuta and the Discovery Mall was our aim.  We grabbed a cab (we have been told only use Blue Bird cabs as they are obligated to use the meter) and around 40 minutes later and at a cost of $4:50 we arrived at the Kuta Discovery Shopping Mall.  We had a good look around and even checked out the Kuta Beach nearby which wasn't too flash just here.

Discovery Mall even has a Marks and Spencer section so sections of the Mall were quite upmarket. After checking out a few places in the air conditioned Mall we ventured out for another look around the local Kuta main street. Perhaps Kuta is where we should have stayed?  There are many more eating options there with large areas of eateries catering for many tastes.

We especially like our Asian food and we found a nice looking place that had Murtabak and the Indonesian form of our Malaysian favorite Koay Teow. The Murtabak (a large thick roti/pancake with ground beef, vegetable and spices inside) was sensational and the Koay Teow was good too. Despite feeling a little queasy along with any associated toilet hassles, I really got into the food.

The tummy has been fine, the Murtabak was sublime!

That's the restaurant in the photo above.

We walked for about 20 minutes then hailed another Blue Bird cab back to our Seminyak hotel. This was a much quicker ride and therefore cheaper at $3!

I might grab a quick swim later today before heading off for more eating and possibly just a little drinking.

Trekking Around Seminyak

Though Trish is still not operating on all 6 cylinders, we headed out again around 10:30 to explore more of the local area on foot.  The litre of water we bought was nearly all gone and our clothes were saturated when we arrived back at our air conditioned hotel room a couple of hours later.

The photo gives you an idea of how crowded the streets can be with motorbikes and cars everywhere. The traffic moves slowly, so despite appearing chaotic, the slow speeds means it is kind of safe. Our long 50 kilometre trip from Uluwatu 3 days ago took well over an hour with speed rarely exceeding 60kph.

I had to wait to get this photo with traffic everywhere, in reality it is very quiet in Seminyak according to the shopkeepers, and even the restaurants have very few diners in them after dark.

The walk this morning was great and we discovered even more places to buy singlets, watches, T Shirts and other bits and pieces. We did discover the Bintang Supermarket which was huge. I grabbed a few 500ml cans of Bintang just to supplement the supply chilling in the hotel room fridge.

All looks good now.

I reckon a swim in the hotel pool will go well after we duck out for a quick bite to eat for lunch. There is footy on TV tonight at around 6pm. If it isn't on the in-house TV there are several local bars which have it. We won't miss out.

I think we have done most of the walking we want to do today. Hopefully Trish's tummy will be 100% tomorrow and we can venture further away, but this time by cab.

This below is the view looking out from our hotel room window. Many of the rooftops are actually shops. Beyond the trees in the distance is the beach. The beach and all its trappings are around a 5 minute walk away.

The Horison Hotel, Seminyak

Now this is the kind of Bali I remember. Shopping, hustle and bustle, narrow streets, food places everywhere and as hot and steamy as!

Our Horison Hotel is near Double Six beach which is 5 mins walk away as you turn right out of the hotel. Turn left and there are more eateries to enjoy. There is Indonesian, Chinese, Greek, Italian and your basic western fare all over the place.

The hotel has around 150 rooms and is great value at around $60 a night when everything is accounted for. Much of the price was a 'special' deal and this price includes breakfast. We even have the footy on the in-room TV. We have stayed in much worse and paid a lot more money.

This is my sister Judy's first trip overseas and she has had a ball. She has now been fully introduced to travelling. It has been an eye opener for her and has opened a whole new world of experiences.

Judy has just left to catch her plane back to Melbourne this afternoon. But during the 40 or so hours here she has crammed as much shopping, eating and drinking as she possibly could into that time. Her case is now full of T Shirts, singlets, watches, shawls, hats and other bits and pieces. Judy has loved it.

We too have a smattering of similar items. I haven't been able to find exactly what I wanted to buy but what I have found will be ideal. I will now be able to toss out some old singlets, bathers and the like and use a lot of the stuff I have bought here.

We have been here for over a week now and both Trish and I have minor taste of Bali Belly, but nothing which will hold us back. There were heaps of left over drinks from the wedding so when Beau and Jess turned up here to pick up Judy for the airport this morning he dropped off a dozen stubbies, 2 bottles of Sauv Blanc and a Blue Pyrenees sparkling.  So we are right for drinks now!

The photo is from our 4th floor petite balcony overlooking the hotel pool.

Today will be quiet. We'll pop out for a light lunch and another little look around and possibly end up down on the beach for a stroll. Of course there will be drinks around 5 prior to having a meal somewhere. Messenger from Facebook seems to be how people keep in touch here.

Our free wifi is great. Last night I watched a TV series episode streamed via Kodi. It worked fine.

About to Return to Seminyak

Having a go at Blogger on the phone and using the Blogger app.

We have both now recovered from over indulgence at the wedding. The day after the wedding I awoke at around 70% and slowly improved as the day went on. 

There was a meal given by the hosts on the Monday afternoon as well as heaps to drink again. I enjoyed my food but managed to struggle through 4 stubbies. Trish who had awoken around 100% was slowly sliding back to 70%.  She came back to our accommodation to rest up.

I wasn't far behind her. But today Tuesday we are both fine again.

We have enjoyed breakfast and now waiting for our car to arrive to take us back to another hotel in Seminyak. My sister Judy will accompany us.

Judy has one full day left before she heads back to Melbourne. We still have over a week to go.

It will be spent looking around, walking, shopping, eating and drinking.