Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Indonesia 2014 ~ Week #2 (less a couple days)


SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2014 AT 10:58 AM
Prices are surprisingly good at the beach!!
 Up and down for breakfast around 9. I had fruit and toast...Ted had - guess what?!? Yep, bacon and eggs!!
Today is a beach day, so lathered up and headed down to the beach!! Claimed a chair at Rosetta's and am catching up on all of my journaling here today. Will have to add pictures once we get home as the wifi doesn't seem to be working very well down here. The water is very warm, although a little murky, but overall a really nice place to hang out. Ted is thinking that he wants to go jet skiing which will be lots of fun I am sure!!
  

Iced coffee is fabulous here (actually a coffee float) and $27,000. Had lunch here as well and it was very too.......I think we could seriously live on this island!!
Am fighting a few bug bites and am also appearing to get a bit of a sunburn so am going to close off as I have to apply some more sunscreen and don't want to get my screen all greasy!!
That's all for now, over and out! 



MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2014 AT 12:00 PM
Had a bit of a burn today, so kept it pretty low key. Went for our usual walk, down Tamblingan and checked everything out. Went to Hardy's as well, cuz that seems to be kind of a daily ritual as well.
We are supposed to check on our clothing today, but had to kill some time on our walk, so stopped for a late lunch at the Coconut Tree. Had Baby Kecap which is meat in soya sauce (sometimes sweet) served with white rice. Was very good!!

On our way home, we stopped in at the tailors to see how things are going. Ted's shirt at Bali Sun had nothing done, as they don't have the material that we chose. So, we had to re choose other fabric and they will start his shirt. Should be done on Thursday.
Stopped at Exclusive Tailors (Reza's) and Ted's suit was ready, as well as my jacket. Ted tried on his slacks and they fit perfectly!! His jacket was a bit high at the back of the collar and a little narrow across his chest, but otherwise, looks great!!
My jacket is a little big around and long in the sleeves. She was having trouble figuring out the flounce for the skirt, and I think just wanted me to change it, but I showed her how to do it and I believe that she understands now, so we will see come Thursday.
We also ordered a couple more shirts (200,000 each) for Ted with contrasting material. She is a little uncertain as to how we want them, so I will send her pics via email.
Home to shower up and to the market for supper. Ate once again at our fav spot, but noticed that they are making pancakes and scrambled eggs wrapped in something like a large egg roll dough at one of the neighbouring stands.......looks very interesting, will have to try that tomorrow.


TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2014 AT 12:00 PM
This morning, we decided that we would try and find the Govt Cooperative Artisan shop that we bought so much stuff at 10 years (actually 11 I think) ago when we were here. So we eat breaky and head out to find a cab. Funny how everyone wants to give you a ride until you want one, we had to walk blocks before we found one, and then had to actually walk up to a 'stand' and as for one!!!
It was a company cab, so we had to take the next driver in line. We had the address and so didn't think that language would be an issue.....oops!!
He had a very hard time finding it, and asked many people.....he talked us into another craft shop which was crazy expensive, although there was a lot in it, the prices were all more than what we can buy in the street or the market. Everything was very well displayed and merchandised, looks to me like a tour bus stop, overpriced, but convenient!!
We think we did actually find the right place eventually, but it is all torn down from what it was and they are building a large shopping complex there instead. Prime location, I guess the artisans struggling and rent finally put them out of business. We went next door to what appeared to be an art studio. There were many mediums, carving, paintings, antiques, batik....jewellery!!!! The ladies there were very nice and confirmed that the shop we were looking for had closed quite a long time ago.
I bought a back scratcher made of horn, a couple of silver chains and pendants that I may have to sell or keep for myself...not sure which I will do yet. The chains were about 1⁄2 price or even a bit less than what I could get at home, the pendants were about a third of retail at home, so I can definitely make some money on them if I price them right!!  However, when I like stuff.....I like to keep it too.
We then went to the Polo Outlet store that was along that same road...EXPENSIVE!! Like regular price at home almost! We can get all cheaper in the Polo stores on Tamblingan....so are those all knockoff stores? It is hard to tell!!  All I know, is that this is a your bus stop, so probably just price to whatever people are willing to pay.....we weren't willing!,
Off to a Batik shop where they showed us the process and also had a large shop for us to purchase. Had some very nice stuff of higher quality than what we can get on the street, but also higher priced. Am trying to figure out if it is the same place that made had taken us, but I don't think it was......seems similar, yet not quite how I remember. The paintings were all upstairs, and I don't believe they were last time, but I guess they certainly could have changed that up. Regardless, prices were more than what we wanted to spend, and Ted admits that he doesn't really like batik anyway!!


Asked our driver to then take us to a mall, and he had to renegotiate our price at this time. He opted to come with us and it felt kind of weird having a tag along....but we went to the top floor for lunch and then shopping.....shoes, menswear, kids, women's.....I mustn't have been in the right mood, cuz nothing really appealed to me. Our cabbie decided to go back to the car once we lost Ted and after searching, I said he could look, as I was staying in kids wear.....
Shortly afterward, Ted showed up and after looking a bit more, we headed for the car as it was almost 4:00 when we said we would leave. 


Our drivers was washing the car, so we had to wait for him to shami it off and then proceeded home.
Cost us 300,000 for the day of cruising around.
Home to shower up and head for the market, where we decided on the sweet pancakes for supper. Very interesting process!! She has 2 fry pans set up permanent on a gas grill. She scoops in the batter and spreads it so that they have sides. She adds filling to one (Ted had chocolate, peanuts and bananas, I had cheese, peanuts and chocolate), and leaves the other plane. She takes out the one with filling and then tops with the other, they then cut them up and serve them as is, no syrup or anything.
Sweet Pancakes

Peanuts, cheese and chocolate filled..Ted's no cheese, but bananas.









Are very filling.....sweet and scrumptious, but wouldn't want to eat them all of the time, cu we would weigh 900 lbs!! Next time we have them, we will add the milk as well, as they were rather dry.....maybe the milk will be the answer to perfection!! 


 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2014 AT 12:00 PM
A low key day of walking a around town and maybe a bit of shopping. Well, like most every day....haha!!
Went directly to Hardy's and Ted bought some shorts, a little heavy for here, but will be great for home. They are Dockers and cost a whopping $12.00!! I got a cap for just under $2.00!! I also picked up a basket for all of our bills and paper paraphanelia in our room......


 


gotta keep things neat!!
We stopped at The Coconut Tree for a couple of beers and a snack.




Stopped at Bali Sun to see if Ted's shirt was done and it was, except the sleeves were too long, as well as the boat too long. I pinned it, as the guy was not around...just a dude from the street.....and we left it to pick up later in the week.
Finally ran into a cab driver. Nyoman is too busy to drive us tomorrow for our trip to Lovina! but he called his brother-in-law Darin to pick us up. We will be out the door at 10 tomorrow for our trip to Lovina.
Stopped by the gals' shops at the market on the way back and I caved into buying some things. 4 nice scarves, a chevron patterned dress and a little top with ruffles. Now we won't be bothered by 'those' gals from the market any linger. Once you purchase something, then they leave you alone.....but am not sure that I will have enough suitcases to by something from everyone!!
We talked a bit about their businesses and their stock, as they have so much and it seems like nothing really moves too much. A guy actually comes around every week with things for them to purchase. They have loans for the product, so if they don't move it, it is not very good, as it is pretty much all on credit......blows me away, as I can't imagine how difficult it could be at times when tourism is so low and they still have to pay their debts as well as their rent......am trying to support owner run spots to help them out.

Won't finish off this week in this blog as our trip to Lovina will be one on its own........tune in in a couple of days for that one!  Pretty interesting!!

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