Breakfast was served between 7am and 10am so I set the alarm for 8am and made my way down to the dining area. Breakfast was simple - pineapple, papaya, watermelon and orange (with a green skin) and an egg sandwich, but it was all very tasty and served in lovely surroundings.
The guy cleaning my room came over and returned my key asking me
"How long are you staying?"
"12 days"
"12 days here? That is too long"
Certainly customer service honesty there - either that or he was trying to sell me a tour!
Rachel then messaged to say that she was coming over and arrived with Made and the kids. Maya was very excited about her belated birthday presents including Hello Kitty balloons and a Hello Kitty book and Kiran was happy to just try and bite the balloons. Maya was very keen to go swimming so we wandered down to the pool and Maya was very happy and confident in the water and trying hard to get Rachel to go towards the deep end!
We went back to the room and got changed (Maya into the green dress my Mum bought her which definitely fits and will do for a while!) to head out for lunch and Rachel put Kiran in the sling which looked very comfortable. I can definitely see why these are favoured from walking along Ubud streets that are uneven with holes - Maya found some of them pretty tricky to navigate with her little feet.
We went to Three Monkeys Cafe and I had a Nasi Goreng which was beautifully served and very tasty and Rachel took the advantage to have some western food and had a Greek Platter. It was all very tasty and there were some lovely patient waiting staff who brought out some fish food so that a mischievous Maya who had been carefully throwing decorative stones into the pond could feed the fish instead!
Maya and Kiran were both pretty sleepy at this point and so I carried a sleeping Kiran back to the room and Maya went in the sling with Rachel. They didn't do a great deal of sleeping, but we sat outside my room on the porch playing with toys and drinking Balinese coffee and persuading Maya that she didn't want to go running off down the steps as there was a big snake down there (she doesn't actually appear to be afraid of anything, so this was not as successful a deterrent as you would imagine). I am in much admiration for Rachel being able to look after a very spirited 2 year old who is not afraid of anything (real or imaginary) and a very happy baby boy who launches himself towards perilous drops off the side of the steps given half a chance, I would be totally exhausted, but Rachel seems to be taking it in her stride and Maya and Kiran are both happy and lively children. (Kiran has the most amazing shy grin that he does when you smile at him - it's gorgeous!
Made came and picked Rachel and the kids up and I went for a snooze and watched the end of Eat Pray Love and then headed out for dinner at about 8.30pm. I went to Bumi Bali which was totally empty which worried me a little, but the food was lovely - I had a special for 130000 rupiah (about £8) which was a starter of cramcam - spicy chicken soup, duck with rice, vegetables and satay sauce and then for dessert - Godoh - banana fritters. They weren't massive portions, but I was totally stuffed - the hot weather must be a good appetite suppressant! I had a glass of Balinese rice wine too which was nice, but did taste a bit like the tea and raisin wine I attempted to make under my bed when I was 14. I went into Bumi Bali as they seem to have Yoga classes, cookery classes and also some very good deals on spa packages - traditional Massage, facial, hair cream bath (!), manicure and pedicure with polish for 4.5 hours in total and only 320000 rupiah plus 15% tax - about £22!
I then went to buy some more provisions in the form of drinks including grape juice and a couple of cans of Bintang (avoided the Tebz - tea & soda which does actually look like something I should make myself try!). I popped into the restaurant attached to my hotel for a coffee (was contemplating venturing solo into a bar, but they were either full to the brim and very loud with live music or completely empty - neither of which appealed to me in my still sleepy and jet lagged state of mind. Will do something more exciting tomorrow, I have promised myself)
Sorry there are no pictures on this blog post, after a very successful first night of internet, it's been much more intermittent and temperamental today and also I forgot to transer my photos onto the netbook (the lead is back in the room, I'm in the breakfast area sat next to the wifi router!) I'll update the post when I have better wifi connectivity!
Update - pics are all on now!
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