Bali Adventures Day 12

Today we opted for cereal in the hotel room for breakfast. We had purchased a few boxes previously from the supermarket and decided that a few days of cereal wouldn't hurt. Ross headed out early in the morning to gather some more information on White Water Rafting and Surfing lessons.

The surfing lessons were $35 each at Bali Sunshine Surf School and the beginner course was a duration of 2.5 hours at 2.30pm. The price included surfboard hire, shirt, sunscreen, bottled water, showers, lockers and transport from your hotel to the location.
Ross and Rahni booked in for that today and Mikey and I planned a day out for a Mummy/Son date.

We headed out to the market stalls on Poppies Lane to buy Mikey some new shorts. We ended up paying $20 for two pairs of Unit shorts. I probably could have haggled down more but I just didn't have it in me today we just wanted an easy day. Inside Beachwalk Mall we checked out the top level and found the kids zone. There were shops for younger kids all in the one spot with the Early Learning Centre, Kidz Station store and more. There was also a play group up there and an indoor playground. None of these were suitable for older kids but Mikey did find a big game arcade up there that was exactly his kind of thing. It was called Amazing........and it was just that!!

Amazing was so much cheaper than what we have back home and we purchased a $20 card that you could top up whenever you wanted and we were given a special deal of 25 credits. Most of the games in the arcade ranged from 29c - 60c and after spending about 1 hour there we went home with $14.20 on the card and Mikey was completely satisfied. As we were there so early there was nobody else in the arcade so it was good to check everything out. Mikey played a ton of games including Basketball, Mario Kart, Cooking Mama and Guitar Hero.


After our game arcade fun we grabbed some yummy treats from BreadLife. I had an apple danish for $1.10 which was absolutely devine and Mikey grabbed a cinnamon donut log for just $1.00. We had a nice walk back to the hotel and once we got back we booked in for a kids massage for Mikey ($12) and I booked in for a facial ($22) at the H'Spa which is part of the hotel.

The facial and massage was a great Mommy/Son date adventure Mikey had never experienced a real massage before and he loved it. The two treatments went for an hour so we shared a room and got to experience it all together. Mikey's massage started with a foot spa so he was in heaven. The H'Spa was nice and relaxing and the staff were really friendly and professional.

While we enjoyed our day Ross and Rahni got cheap massages on Poppies Lane together and then headed out for their surfing adventure. (Ross will review the surfing school in a guest blog for me later.)




Once our massage were over Mikey and I headed over to the mall again for icecream. We headed straight for Cold Rock.Mikey chose the Cake Batter flavour (OMG it was HEAVEN!) and I had the Rum and Raisin flavour which was okay. It was very pricey though for one scoop of icecream in a cone, $4.20. As we were eating our icecreams I noticed a boutique store called Mango which had a huge sale on inside so I went in and had a squeeze! The clothes in there were really nice but I was starting to run out of spending money so I just grabbed one cardigan that I really liked which was $50 down to $20. It was dark blue and had a really cute little bow on the back.

During our holiday I had been researching on my Ipad for good make up stores in Bali and there was one store that kept popping up called Martha Tilaar. I had spent most of the trip looking out for the store but hadn't seen it anywhere until today. It was tucked in a corner of the second floor in the Beachwalk Mall and we found it quite accidentally while heading back out to the hotel.

The lady working in the store was so lovely and extremely helpful. She helped me find a foundation product and tested it out on my face which was fantastic and at just $14.80, I grabbed some. It has to be my favourite foundation ever. It goes on so well and lasts all day. Unfortunately the lady said I can't order it from Australia so i'm going to have to work out some way of getting more later. The store was very small but I loved the range of products ranging from make up to skin care and body products. The prcing was fantastic as well. There is a table set up in the middle of the store for make up trials as well.

By the time we got back to the hotel Ross and Rahni were back from surfing and we all got ready to head out for dinner. We were attempting to go to Poppies Lane 1 again to eat but ended up taking a wrong turn. I believe we were on Poppies Lane 2 again but as we had come from a different angle it looked completely different in the dark. The street was awesome none the less and very groovy. All the market stalls were still open so we were bugged a bit along the way. The first restaurant we found had a very very cool Beatles tribute band playing and we all started grooving along in the street. Unfortunately the band was really loud so we opted to try a different restaurant to eat at.

The second restaurant we got to was very eye grabbing and the menu looked great so we stopped there and grabbed a seat. The interior was aluminium walls, crate seats, industrial lighting and big bright cushions. It was a very modern barn style and I loved it!! The staff were very accommodating and helpful.

I ordered: Pink Geisha Cocktail and Indonesian Satay
Ross grabbed: Mojito Cocktail and Beef Udon
Mikey chose: Strawberry/Kiwi Mocktail and Cantonese Fried Noodles with Seafood
and Rahni chose: Cashew Chicken and an Orange/Melon Mocktail.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Pink Geisha but my satay was truly amazing, I loved every bite. Everybody agreed that the food here was the best we had had in Bali so far. The restaurant was called Fat Chows and we highly recommend it!

Mikey didn't like his Mocktail but Ross and I loved it so much that we asked the staff to make us another 2 with vodka added and they happily obliged. They also packed up the kids leftovers so they could take it home as they were so happy with the meals they didn't want to waste them.

After dinner we went back to the game arcade so Mikey could show Ross and Rahni. We all played 4 player Pacman which was a ton of fun and we had a great adventure in the photo booth. We spent the rest of the money on the card and it was all well spent. It was a great night and everyone was happy. The arcade is packed at night time and the atmosphere is much better than during the day.

Bali Adventures Day 11

I didn't have a very good sleep last night it was quite stuffy in the room and I had to go to the bathroom a few times, I had the worst stomach cramps. There was also a gecko on our ceiling which was fine while I could see it but quite untrustworthy when I lost it in the middle of the night so I spent most of the night wondering where it was and if it was going to crawl into my bed and eat

me.......yeah these thoughts really do occur to me.

I woke up at 6.30am and still no sign of the gecko. We all lazed around until about 9.30am watching tv. We found a show called Pranked and Ross and I really enjoyed that.

We all headed out for a wander and walked up Kuta Beach and all the way up to Kuta Square. It's a really nice walk up there and there is so many things to just observe. We saw a bunch of Balinese workers building the start of Jamie Oliver's restaurant - 'Jamie's Italian' which I was excited about because who doesn't love Jamie Oliver??

Then we went back to Matahari's Department store on Kuta square. Mikey found a touch screen watch that he just had to have and as they were 50% off we got one for him. It was only $17. I checked out the make up department and finally found the right colour make up for my skin at the Revlon counter. It was 3 bottles of Revlon Colourstay for $37.80. The store is really nice to walk around as they have the first floor full of stuff that they sell outside in the markets but you don't have to have the haggling part of it. They had about 4 different floors in there and it was full of clothing, make up, toiletries, shoes, luggage and much much more. The only issue I had was with the perfume staff as they were quite pushy sales people.

After Kuta Square we found a supermarket where we purchased some drinks. I tried a Nescafe Caramelicious cold drink in a small carton and Mikey tried strawberry milk in a can. We also ended up grabbing a box of 6 donuts for $2.60.

Outside of the supermarket there were more markets stalls selling sport tops and hats. We found a Liverpool shirt with Gerrard on the back and Ross grabbed a Tottenham shirt. The owner tried to get us to pay $75 for both but we got him right down to $20 as we knew they were fakes. After that haggling session we walked back down to Kuta Sq and we found some more market stalls on the other side. We weren't intending to go down there but a guy insisted that we have a look at his shop because he had great prices......We had to follow him down an alleyway to where his shop was and he was basically just selling tshirts. We purchased a Santa Cruz top and Ross got an Obey shirt. His great prices were $35 for both which was crazy so we got him down to 2 for $10. He had a friend down the alleyway as well who sold jewellery so they took us on another walk to his hop and Rahni purchased some earrings which he tried to charge $75 for saying that they were real silver. Rahni got him down to $12 in the end. I told you she was good! We just had to remember that the balinese won't sell to you if they won't make money on the item.

After that little adventure down alleyways we found a shoe store that were selling fake brands like Nike, Converse etc but Mikey had a really sore earache so we left for the hotel.

Ross headed off to find a chemist and grab some eardops by grabbing a scooter. The guy lied to Ross telling him that the chemist was a really long walk so Ross paid him money to take him. The chemist was in quick walking distance so Ross told the guy he had to drive him back as well which he did.

Mikey had a big rest for the rest of the day sleeping in the hotel room and the rest of us headed back up to Beachwalk to find some lunch for us all. We had a quick look around and then grabbed some Burger King for lunch so we could take it back to the hotel for Mikey. We all got whoppers and some onion rings which were so much nicer than the Hungry Jacks ones we have at home. It all cost us $21

Ross and Rahni headed out to the pool area to read their books. Ross got a new book fro Christmas which he is really enjoying called "Wool" by Hugh Howey and Rahni is reading the third installment of The Hunger Games series.

Mikey and I also headed out to the pool area once he was feeling a bit better and we decided to play cards together followed by a round of table tennis. Later on the boys jumped in the pool and Mikey danced along in the pool to the 'Harris Moves' which was a daily activity you can join in hosted by the hotel. They also have Yoga in the morning.

At dinner time we headed up Kuta Beach strip again and found a restaurant called Luna Negar which is actually part of Beachwalk Shopping Mall. We decided to splash out a little tonight and we shared a 4 person seafood platter which consisted of prawns, calamari, a few fish varieties, haloumi, vegetables and we also got a serve of fries. It was a beautiful meal and the restaurant was lovely and in a great position. Unfortunately Kuta Beach is surrounded by a big wall so you couldn't see the actual beach very well.

Beachwalk Sign

Roos and I decided to have some cocktails. I wanted to have something I had never tried before or even heard of so I picked the Grasshopper and the Side Car and Ross chose Hawaiin Blue. The Side Car was my favourite of the evening.
Mikey chose a mocktail called Strawberry Candy which he thorougly enjoyed and Rahni picked a Luna drink.

On the way home we popped into the underground section of Beachwalk and found a lingerie store called House of Wacoal which had amazing prices. The boys left us in there and we went crazy. I picked up 2 bras at 70% off so one was $5.40 and the other was $7.50. Rahni grabbed 2 at 20% off so they were $20 each. They have different sizes in Bali so it took us a while to work out what we needed but they were open late so we just took our time and had fun. We are incredibly happy with our purchases.

Rahni and Mikey playing in the escalators underground

Bali Adventures Day 10

The room at the Harris Hotel was quite stuffy last night so the sleep wasn't the most comfortable. It was quite damp in the room and the smell wasn't the greatest. I woke up at 6am and just watched foxtel channels until everyone else woke up.

We walked down to Poppies Lane 1 which we had heard about from friends who have visited Bali before. We were on the hunt for brekky and we found a little restaurant called the Havana Club. The restaurant was very cool with all the decor based around Cuba and Che Guevara. I loved looking at all the pictures of him hanging around the room. They also sold Cuban Cigars in there.

After a quick look at the menu I chose banana pancakes and the rest of the table got the French toast which were absolutely massive! I also chose a cappucino to go with my pancakes but it wasn't very tasty at all. The food on the other hand was pretty damn yummy.


As we ate breakfast I watched two stalls being set up on the other side of the lane, it was amazing how fast they get them all up and running. I saw quite a few tops that I wanted to grab so after breakfast we headed over. The whole lane had gone from quiet and peaceful to a crazy packed street in just half an hour with all the stalls open and people all coming out to shop.

The first stall we went to Rahni purchased a shirt for just $4 and in the next stall I found the santa cruz top I had been looking for all trip. Ross found some Element shorts and a top so we bundled up everything for $22.

As we walked up the lane all the stalls were begging us to shop with them. One balinese lady was really begging out the front of her shop and told us that she said "please" so we all felt sorry for her and headed on in after telling her that we were 'only looking'............I ended up walking out with 3 sarongs and a wall hanging for mikey for $20 the lot. She originally asked for $13 per sarong so I was happy with what I walked out with.

Next door another lady had coaxed Rahni into her shop and sold her a top for $4 after a big struggle. She originally wanted $20 for the top but Rahni said that was ridiculous and we all learnt that day that Rahni is extremely good at haggling haha. We all came out and went looking for Ross who had gone missing, and we found him in a small store further up where a woman had dragged him in to buy some shorts. He walked out with the shorts for $6 and a pack of 3 socks for $10 and she threw in some fake Calvin Klien undies that ended up being way too small.

After that shopping adventure we were all quite exhausted and headed back to the hotel to relax by the pool. The pool area at the hotel was very good for kids. They had a basketball hoop in the pool, a kids water slide and they also had a chess table set up as well as a table tennis table. Mikey is a huge fan of both so I spent the afternoon playing games with him by the pool.

Rahni and I were keen to check out the Beachwalk Mall again so we headed over to look for some makeup supplies. We found a shop called 'Make Up Forever' which looked very similar to M.A.C but the staff in there were not helpful at all.

Another store we found had a large range of different brands for make up and much nicer staff so we spent a while in there. The staff helped us and showed us a few items but we still couldn't find what we wanted. For the rest of the mall trip we checked out:
TopShop
Victorias Secret
Pull & Bear
ANAP
The Body Shop

We didn't end up purchasing anything today just window shopped and then headed back to grab the boys who were playing basketball in the pool, for lunch. The streets were much more lively then they were in the morning and we wandered a bit further until we found Poppies Lane 2. This lane was even more crazy than Poppies Lane 1 and the stall holders seemed much more grabby and impatient. We just ignored them while still trying to be polite and eventually we found a restaurant called Sedako which we all loved.

I ordered a caribbean cocktail and Ross got a free Horse Neck drink. I ordered a special Aussie Burger, Ross chose the mixed Sate, Mikey picked Fish and Chips and Rahni was tempted with the buffalo wings.

 
The aussie burger was delicious and I ate the whole lot which is really unusual for me. After that we all headed back to the Beachwalk Mall but this time we checked out the underground part which had a supermarket and chemist.

At the chemist we were able to grab some sunscreen for $3.80 ea but it was a Vaseline brand that ended up not being very nice to put on. However all the other stores the sunscreen was ridiculously expensive so we just dealt with it. Then we headed to the supermarket and grabbed a bunch of snacks and some cereal.