W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak

... started asking me for tips. For caring my bag 20 feet they were expecting payment! I was here 2 minutes and I had already been fooled!!! I had no clue about the exchange rate yet, so I couldn't give up my Indonesia dollars, since I did not know what they were really worth. I reluctantly gave them each a US one dollar bill, mostly out of embarrassment of my stupidity. At least I learned soon enough. Going out onto the street, I wasn't sure who I was supposed to be looking ...

... a valley so God alone knows how far on foot! Despite these uninterrupted vistas I can see but two or three people, labouring in the paddies or on the edge of the forest. They have started work only in the last few minutes disrupting, (if such gentle and methodical work can be called 'disrupting') the natural theatre that was taking place before me. It is 7.00am. The stately and over proud Ibis stalking their way through the terraces looking for all the ...

... of a pupil in year 8... Cunningly I convince her to let me boil the cows skulls etc in her pots... And for the next three exhausting hours I labour over steaming bowls of sewage smelling water... scraping and turning... scraping and turning... scraping and turning... Yeuch! Then finally hauling the partly de-fleshed carcasses over to the science room to be washed and soaked in cold water overnight. It is now seven pm and as I open the prep room door I am met by a stench so ...

... best chance I'd have for a long run this day and paddled as hard as I could. I leaned forward and caught the wave just as it broke which sent me much faster than I had ever gone before. Knowing that the ground was just sand (with very few rocks, shells or coral), I decided to give it a shot and got up on my feet as quick as I could. I rode this wave the whole way into shore and achieved a better run than I had ever hoped to make. Alas, Lisa did not watch this ...

... help to help us, I had to go running down the hill to chase after our pringles, oreos, ritz, and peanut butter. Luckily no harm was done to the bike either, and a local *experienced* bike rider drove it up the hill for us. While in Uluwatu, we took a day trip to a nearby island; Nusa Lembongon. Here was beautiful blue green water, filled with fishing boats and seaweed is farmed here intensively. We ended up spending the night as I got a little seasick on the ...

... 50c! Talk about feeling guilty - and he never came back any other day so I couldn't make it up by buying two. So soon, the literally hundreds of people set free on the beach had been called over the loudspeaker back to their buses or wherever (apparently they are Indonesian study trips there every week) and all the stalls around us packed up. We said goodbye to One and went back to the hotel for the much awaited hot shower. After the splurge on the fast boat, we wanted a ...

... that the rain would clear up so that we could see a sunset on the beach. He took us to a place called "New Langsam Cafe" which served seafood. Apparently in Ray's opinion, they had the best peanuts he's ever had (I think they were deep-fried as they were super crunchy) and the rest was mediocre. After dinner, Norman drove us back to the Bali Collection mall as we were going to change our spa reservation for Thurs (as we ...

... Go back to hotel, because when it gets dark (18:00 pm), indonesian people go away, and we can't even buy a souvenir! We must say here that the attention from the tourist agency is really good. We had our guide and a particular driver and car, with plenty of fresh water and conditioned air for 12 hours. Thanks. Not much to say about supper, the zone round the hotel is plenty of tourists, occidental restaurants... Good food, but too much people. Good night!

... with a) a huge grin on her face that there was a supermarket and b) a bottle of Australian plonk. After an hour or two on my back it felt a little better (sadly I hadn't managed to earn enough to pay for the room though ;o). We went out for a very good Greek meal at Panterei and things were looking up. The next day, R's actual birthday, I managed to take things easy and was hopeful of a quick recovery. We had a good lunch at ...

... nd Liq*id which *re *ll loc*ted on the J*l*n Dyh*n* P*r* *re *ll for the m*instre*m folk o*t there. B*rs like Q *nd K*dos for the more "*ltern*tive crowd" p*t on dr*g shows *nd go go boys to *m*se *nd titill*te. Inste*d of w*tching the new Britiney Video, the g*ys were getting off on some b*dminton to*rn*ment. S*ppose it is Asi*'s n*tion*l sport. A few of the loc*l Loth*rios tried to m*ke convers*tion for * few drinks b*t we were wise to see th*t their intentions were not ...