Bali Adventures Day 2

Woke up in pure paradise. The birds were chirping and the bugs were singing their weird sounds. The best thing about bali is that you can always hear these sounds so clearly and it just sounds so peaceful. Bali Garden Resort had a buffet style breakfast for guests in their restaurant so we all headed down there early. I grabbed some toast, a fruit platter and some sweet rolls. I tried to have coffee in our room earlier but it was gross and they don't supply milk in the rooms so I was keen to grab some coffee. The buffet coffee was better but I still wanted my normal coffee from home....I have a big obsession with my coffees unfortunately.

The kids went straight for the pool after breakfast and I joined in. They had a swim up bar so I because I can't swim I just lounged around in there watching them play around. The pool bar just so happened to make real coffees so I was happy and grabbed a cappucino! yum! It was quite good.



I was super keen to check out the shopping mall so later in the afternoon we all headed up to Discovery Shopping Mall. We got stopped along the way by a balinese guy called Bobby who wanted us to see his shop. Ross told him we were busy at the moment but we would come and check it out later.

The first thing I spotted when we walked up Discovery steps was Starbucks so I was mega excited that we were next door to real coffee and a coffee place that we don't have in Adelaide was even cooler. I had already had my coffee so I promised myself I would get some before we left Kuta. We wandered around today but didn't buy anything as we were just having a browsing day to check out prices. Mikey found a game arcade at the top which got him excited.
We had lunch at Warung Damar just a few shops down from our resort. It was a bit expensive for Bali standards but quite yummy. We all ordered Mie Goreng for lunch which was yum but the not the best Mie Goreng we have ever had. Ross and I grabbed Sangrias as they were 2 for 1 and the kids had a milkshake and a strawberry Fanta.

After lunch we came back to the hotel so the kids could go swimming again and Ross and I walked along the Kuta Beach Boardwalk. Lots of squirrels were running around and up trees and they were so cute to watch. There were also lots and lots and lots of market stall along the beach it was fascinating to see so many umbrellas and people all selling similar things like surfing lessons, tattoos, sarongs, jewellery, drinks, hairbraiding and massages. We told them all we were 'just walking' and they simply let us be.




Back at the hotel we sat by the pool and drank some Pineapple juice! YUM YUM YUM!! My favourite juice EVER now! I know i'm not gonna get it as nice as that back home :( and we just lazed around reading books.

We decided that if we went out for lunch and dinner everyday for the next 2 weeks with 4 of us, we were going to start running out of money fairly quickly so we decided to find a grocery store and get some food, snacks and drinks to keep in the hotel room. I asked the guy at reception where the closest big grocery store was but he didn't seem to understand me and then he sent us on a trek to kuta square. We had never been to Kuta Square before so it was certainly a fun adventure. It was about a 5 minute walk from the resort and it was packed with shops like Quicksilver, DC, Levi's, Volcom and much much more. Right in the middle we found Matahari Department Store which is where the reception had sent us here for. It was absolutely huge and we wandered around for ages checking out their make up department, clothes, shoes and bali gifts however we didn't find the supermarket.

In the end we just went to a mini mart which was kind of like a deli and we grabbed some 2 minute noodles and snacks. On the way back to the hotel we got stopped by one of the Balinese who remembered us and told us we had promised to check out his shop. So off we went. His store was mostly full of typical balinese market clothes as well as some hats and a few knick knacks. We ended up getting 5 tops between us for $32.00. It was our first haggle for the trip and we could have got them way cheaper (they should have been about $2.50 a shirt) but it was a fun experience for the kids and the guy was fun to haggle with.

Back at the hotel we ate our noodles for dinner and then Ross and I wandered out to the pool area to try and get wifi. The resort has free wifi but you can't access it from the rooms, only from the pool area or the restaurant. The pool area was hard to get wifi, it was incredibly slow but you could get it if you sat in the right spot. My phone just wouldn't work but Ross's seemed to work when it felt like it. While we were out there a live band started setting up so we stayed to watch them. They were really adorable, there was one girl and 3 guys and they sang top 40 songs acoustically and were quite good so after the first set we went up and grabbed the kids to come watch.



Mikey jumped in the pool and by the third set we were too tired to stay up any longer but Rahni decided to stay up and watch while the rest of us went to bed.

Rahni went up to the band after the show and had a chat which I think she really enjoyed.