RAIN, CEREMONIES AND 60 SHADES OF GREY

It has been a quiet few days as Bali is currently celebrating it most important 3 days plus of ceremonies and holidays Raya Galungan… All the families get together at the ” home village”.., and await the return of the ” deceased relatives” who must be suitably welcomed with gifts, offerings, and other ceremonies. Wednesday was the ” important day” and Bali was extremely quiet…hardly anyone on the streets…If Nepyi Day is their ” 3 day of silence” then Galungan is their 3 days of…going mental… The shops where full to the brim with families and as the Children are the most revered there was TOYS AND MORE TOYS.It is also the time that families seem to make significant purchases as there was specials on ” big ticket” items like Washing machines,televisions, white goods and more. Because it is the day you have all the family members getting together there is specials on food items too…like 50 kg bags of rice, garlic, washing powder, spices and pet food too. We brought a water cooler for the bench…it does both chilled and hot water. Unfortunately because most of the Balinese are not working due to family commitments, and because it is seen as a holiday…the taxis that are working seemed to think they could get away with dodgy things like… Driving in circles…and when you point this out..oh sorry I thought you meant XYZ shop…or meter shows 30,000 but they say…oh no 50,000 minimum as holiday. We have had several thunderstorms with heavy downpours…. so if we want to go out we just wait until the rain passes and then take off our shoes and wade through the water to the end of the laneway and get a taxi. Wednesday night we went to a restaurant we had seen excellent reviews for…De Bali… Not sure if it was a bad night for the cook or because of it being holiday season but the experience was not a good one…service was excellent…but the food left much to be desired… The mixed sates where stone cold.. And brads ” prawn curry ” was 4 small unpeeled prawns swimming in a sea of mediocre curry sauce with a few veggies. My Ikan pepes ( fish steamed in banana leaf) was woeful… It was supposed to be whole fish in banana leaf… I got tiny cubes of fish swimming in chilli tomato mixture… The rice that came with both the meals ( sate and fish) was a very small dried out mound… We did leave them a neutral feedback…as the food wasn’t horrible…just not what it was expected to be…and certainly not worth the prices.Thursday was their ” Boxing Day”…. It was chaos… People everywhere…crowds and confusion…very hectic. We tried to see a movie TWICE… The webpage showed it being on at one cinema…sorry season finished…went to another cinema… Sorry not on… So we did a little bit of shopping… And Brad lined up for 1 hour to go through checkout. Overall it has been a very fun and enjoyable experience… It is so nice seeing everyone in their ” holiday best” clothes, the streets are decorated with bright flowers and ribbons and so many bamboo poles with intricate woven decorations on them. We went to CIMB and found Octo had a long lost brother…Pilot Pete.We went to Bali beach shack for tea last night and picked up the now empty suitcase..we brought over supplies for the bar and restaurants…. And brad found a clothing shop that was fixed price, and could ” make to order”… He got 3 nice polo shirts for about $7AUS each and I looked at the skirts as they where only 50,000 RP… He only had black in my size…and didn’t have time to be able to make anything else up…so I didn’t get any.. Today we where supposed to meet with a taxi driver we had spoken to on Monday and arranged to pick us up at hotel for 10am…by 10.45 he hadn’t shown so we found another one… And we then went to Love to Kiss for skirts and dresses… They said they had too many orders to make me dresses to measure…so I just got a few skirts and a large floaty top/kaftan coverup dress. Currently ( 1.30pm) taxi driver and I are sitting in the carpark under some trees while Brad does the shopping in Lotte Mart. ( wholesale lots) it has been a pleasant day…the taxi driver speaks good English, and is very friendly. Later tonight we have a booking for dinner at Bartan Waru a restaurant near Lippo Mall….it is rumoured to have the best Chilli Crab/Fish/Squid at good prices…so Brad is looking forward to that.The stores-people here in Tuban are not as pushy as the ones in Kuta…they ask once politely..do you want ?…if you say no politely they don’t hassle you out. Our hotel has been really good…a few minor issues as is to be expected with Bali…mainly to do with our shower drain being around the corner from the shower recess… So the water technically floods the floor in front of the toilet…but we fixed that… MR SQUEEGEE…. oh and the toilet seat keeps coming loose…but no big issue.
60 SHADES OF GREY- no this is not the racy sequel to the infamous 50 Shades books… But our TV.. we had 60 channels of fuzzy buzzy reception…except for a cartoon channel and the local one… Until MR BRAD TO THE RESCUE… brought a new TV aerial cable…. All good now..
Photos are
Hotel pool..we are 2 steps away
Santas village at Lippo Mall
Pilot Pete Christmas shopping at Bali Mall Galleria
Fresh fish at one of the resturant near us…so fresh they still swimming
Penjor Decoration…there is a long bamboo pole above this with a palm leaf decoration hanging down.. Very pretty e picture doesn’t do it full justice.