Friday, 29 January 2010
Back for some more
Blimey, it's like someone's hit the fast forward button. People coming and going, surf, massages, mini road trips, cycling around Kuta, visa runs to Singapore and before you know it it's nearly February.
Luke, Steph and the kids have been out and about doing the tourist thing and Kym and I had to leave the country in order to re-new our visas. Basically you can only get a 60 day visa before arriving in Indonesia otherwise it's only a 30 day on arrival. So the easiest and cheapest thing to do is pop to Singapore and visit the embassy and get another 60 days. It also has the added bonus that we get to see Garth and Sheila in Singapore (and they always very kindly put us up in their beautiful apartment).
Luke, Steph and the kids have been out and about doing the tourist thing and Kym and I had to leave the country in order to re-new our visas. Basically you can only get a 60 day visa before arriving in Indonesia otherwise it's only a 30 day on arrival. So the easiest and cheapest thing to do is pop to Singapore and visit the embassy and get another 60 days. It also has the added bonus that we get to see Garth and Sheila in Singapore (and they always very kindly put us up in their beautiful apartment).
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Kuta
Christmas morning was as you probably guessed a quiet affair but we still got it together to load the car up, grab Mark and Pilch and head down to Balangan (very quiet in the car also?!) a little surf a big Mie Goreng (fried noodles) and a beer had us all feeling slightly better and we moved on to our favourite beach Padang Padang for a catch up with all our friends there and a few more beers. Home shower and back out for Christmas dinner in the Havana club with cocktails (me and Ed had a huge cheese burger and Kym had garlic king prawns!) then back home and a traditional Christmas movie session on the sofa. I think we all had to nudge each other awake at various points in the film. Unconventional but a great day.
Ed gone, Mark and Pilch gone and 3 days by ourselves before the invasion of the Shillingfords. Luke's an old mate of mine from years ago who moved to the Canary Islands met Steph and now have two boys Jimmy and Lenny. They flew in at 1900 on New Years eve an after picking them up dropping the bags off and having a quick bite to eat we all headed down to Kuta beach. To say it was spectacular would be an understatement. A cloudless sky a full moon and every hotel along the 5 mile long beach from the end on the Bukit all the way up to Canggu putting a non stop firework display from 2000 till gone midnight. Not to mention the hundreds of people on the beach with their own fireworks. The kids were in and out the sea building sandcastles and the adults, feet in the sand drinking cold beers, reminisced as you can only do on the last night of the year. Midnight brought about a crescendo of explosions and huge cheers and lot's of hugs and kisses. What an amazing 2009 that was!
New Year new guests and new surf buddy. The surfs been good, the kids have been hilarious and the weathers been perfect. Luke and Steph have hired a car and taken off for a few days to see the island (Luke's been here before but for Steph and the kids it's the first time in the tropics). So we're back to just us two for a few days and really getting good at this relaxing business. Well Kym's done a bit of work and I gave the car a New Year treat of a complete service (and she deserves it, let's face it we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our amazing car). Ed very generously bought us both a two hour body scrub and massage session by way of thanks (you're more than welcome any time Ed) so we might just hop on the bikes and use our vouchers later. Talking about the bikes, bloody brilliant, Kuta is a nightmare to drive around as it has this ridiculous one way system and too many taxis so the bikes have been perfect. We can do the whole length of Kuta from Seminyak to Tuban ('bout 3 miles) in 20 mins weaving in and out of cars, alleyways and tourists with a ding ding of the bell.
Ed gone, Mark and Pilch gone and 3 days by ourselves before the invasion of the Shillingfords. Luke's an old mate of mine from years ago who moved to the Canary Islands met Steph and now have two boys Jimmy and Lenny. They flew in at 1900 on New Years eve an after picking them up dropping the bags off and having a quick bite to eat we all headed down to Kuta beach. To say it was spectacular would be an understatement. A cloudless sky a full moon and every hotel along the 5 mile long beach from the end on the Bukit all the way up to Canggu putting a non stop firework display from 2000 till gone midnight. Not to mention the hundreds of people on the beach with their own fireworks. The kids were in and out the sea building sandcastles and the adults, feet in the sand drinking cold beers, reminisced as you can only do on the last night of the year. Midnight brought about a crescendo of explosions and huge cheers and lot's of hugs and kisses. What an amazing 2009 that was!
New Year new guests and new surf buddy. The surfs been good, the kids have been hilarious and the weathers been perfect. Luke and Steph have hired a car and taken off for a few days to see the island (Luke's been here before but for Steph and the kids it's the first time in the tropics). So we're back to just us two for a few days and really getting good at this relaxing business. Well Kym's done a bit of work and I gave the car a New Year treat of a complete service (and she deserves it, let's face it we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our amazing car). Ed very generously bought us both a two hour body scrub and massage session by way of thanks (you're more than welcome any time Ed) so we might just hop on the bikes and use our vouchers later. Talking about the bikes, bloody brilliant, Kuta is a nightmare to drive around as it has this ridiculous one way system and too many taxis so the bikes have been perfect. We can do the whole length of Kuta from Seminyak to Tuban ('bout 3 miles) in 20 mins weaving in and out of cars, alleyways and tourists with a ding ding of the bell.
Selamat Tahun Bahru
Happy New Year people! Or as they say in Indo Selamat Tahun Bahru. Selamat literally translated means "bless your.." and is used for all sorts of everyday greetings and salutations. Selamat Datang: welcome, Selamat Pagi/siang/sore (sor-ay)/malam: morning/afternoon/evening/night. Selamat makan: bon appetite (why isn't there an English version of this?) you get the gist but it's quite nice don't you think?
Well Ed came and went in what seemed like no time at all but was a real joy to spend time with. He's good for both of us in that he'd be up at 5 in the morning with me for a surf but would happily stay up late dancing with Kym and hitting the cocktails! Didn't stop him having forty winks in the afternoon though as you can see! And you know what? He even had the cheek to say "I just couldn't get comfortable on that sofa"! Also on Bali were Mark and Pilch. Pilch is one of Kym's oldest mates but it took some getting used to to see them here. With Ed still here for Christmas along with Mark and Pilch we all decided Christmas day should definitely be a beach affair but not before a traditional Christmas eve night out in the Sky Garden Kuta's coolest club (well we think so any way, maybe something to do with all the promotions) drinking free long island ice tea's and watching fire dancers and the like. At one point Kym and Ed upset the bar staff by complaining they wern't mixing the drinks strong enough provoking one of them to tell Kym "I don't like you" which succeeded in turning the pair of them into giggling wrecks. Even me pointing out that the drinks were free and they could have as many as they wanted still didn't dissuade them from asking for stronger ones. Which was probably why Kym needed telling by security to leave the stage behind the bar because the next lot of professional dancers were coming on. Ed only egged her though!
Well Ed came and went in what seemed like no time at all but was a real joy to spend time with. He's good for both of us in that he'd be up at 5 in the morning with me for a surf but would happily stay up late dancing with Kym and hitting the cocktails! Didn't stop him having forty winks in the afternoon though as you can see! And you know what? He even had the cheek to say "I just couldn't get comfortable on that sofa"! Also on Bali were Mark and Pilch. Pilch is one of Kym's oldest mates but it took some getting used to to see them here. With Ed still here for Christmas along with Mark and Pilch we all decided Christmas day should definitely be a beach affair but not before a traditional Christmas eve night out in the Sky Garden Kuta's coolest club (well we think so any way, maybe something to do with all the promotions) drinking free long island ice tea's and watching fire dancers and the like. At one point Kym and Ed upset the bar staff by complaining they wern't mixing the drinks strong enough provoking one of them to tell Kym "I don't like you" which succeeded in turning the pair of them into giggling wrecks. Even me pointing out that the drinks were free and they could have as many as they wanted still didn't dissuade them from asking for stronger ones. Which was probably why Kym needed telling by security to leave the stage behind the bar because the next lot of professional dancers were coming on. Ed only egged her though!
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