By this Author: andrewjenny

Flight home was good. Didn't get any sleep so by the time we got to brisbane we had been awake 21 hours. Starting to feel the pinch. Had to wait until 11am for flight. 27 hours awake. Starting to slip into micro sleeps. Got on flight to hervey bay. 1 hour flight. 28 hours awake. Jens dad at airport to pick us up. Glad to see him and be back in the bay. Got home summer goes batshit when she sees us. "Where have you guys been?" In dog language. Way tired now. Don't want to sleep now as it will put us out of whack. Get a second wind as we are talking to andrew. 30 hours awake. Decide to have some beers, seems like the right thing to do. Feeling ok. 32 hours awake. Feeling a little pekish need to eat something. Get together some food. 33 hours awake. Had food hit the spot. 34 hours awake. A little of bit of delirium setting in. Time for a couple of more drinks. Didn't we buy some duty free alcohol. Yes we did. 36 hours awake. We hit the wall. Time to hit the sack. 37 hours awake. I think we did well.
Before we crashed and i was a lot more coherent i put together this little blurb.
Had a great time on this trip. Everything you have heard about bali forget it. Just go there yourself and experience it. I now know why people keep going back. Awesome people, awesome country. To everyone who has followed this blog and our facebook rants a big thank you. Hope you enjoyed them as much as we did writing them. Hope it will spur some people to visit bali. You will not regret it.
Signing off.
Andrew and Jen

Well our final day is here. Like all holidays you wish it would never end. Went to breakfeast at the Glass House again. Very good again. Had one last wander around Sanur. Have enjoyed our time here. It is a very laid back place and perfect if you want a relaxing holiday. We both feel like our batteries have been recharged. Finalised our bill with the Tamukami and our driver we had organised the day before drove in. We headed to the Novotel at the airport. This is a brand new hotel so new that our driver could not find it. After some directions from security we found it. Got checked in and sorted for the afternoon. We have only booked in for 6 hours. Better than sitting around the airport terminal. Had a look around then got some lunch. Went for a swim in pool and then we chilled out for the afternoon. Hotel is nice, new and modern.

Checkout time. Got our stuff sorted and checked out. Hotel has door at the back which takes you straight to departures area. Very convenient. Got through customs ok. Got some dinner in departures. All ok. Not much else to say but we are heading back. Just have a 6 hour flight back to brisbane then a 5 hour wait until flight back to hervey bay. Our original flight got pushed back so we have to wait longer. What can you do. Will have a final report tomorrow when we are back at home.

Had a good sleep again. Awoke to our final full day in Sanur. Went for breakfeast at the Glass House which may have been the best breakfeast we have had. They made perfect toast. Just the right amount of toasting. Never thought we would get this excited about toast. Want to get a few things before leaving so we are going to head out and see what the day brings.
Another sticky day. This seems to last until 3ish then it cools down. Visited a few stores made a few purchases. Nothing to elaborate. Stopped at a warung for some cool drinks. Jen got a juice and i got a lasse, a yogurt based fruit juice. Very nice and refreshing. We leave tomorrow so we sorted a driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. Our flight is not until 9.15pm. We are going to stay at a hotel next to the airport for the afternoon and evening until out flight is due. The Tamukami we have been staying at is ok. The hotels which have stuck with us as great are the ones who have a personal touch or go that extra yard to make your stay special. The Gajah Biru had that, this hotel does not. Not somewhere i would recommend to anyone if going to Sanur. We hope to come back so next something right on the beach will be the go.
Jen had a craving for Japanese so went to the place we visited before. The salmon and tuna sashimi melts in your mouth. I had Raman noodles with goyza which was very tasty, however, it caused me to break out into a sweat. Hot noodles in hot weather will cause you to sweat profusely. Mental note.
Back to hotel for swim and relax. Will need to get our stuff packed at some stage. I came over here with a few shirts, shorts and undies yet i seem to have the same stuff most days. Not sure if i am stinking. Jen says i am ok so i will run with that.
Per usual i get pekish. Jen is not hungry so i head off to food markets to get some take away. Love this place. Feel as ease walking among the stalls. I know what i want. Nasi Campur and a serving of sate chicken sticks. Hell yeah! Also got some desert. Indonesian pastries. I got some donut balls with chocolate inside and some coconut flavored pastries. All these have icing sugar on them. These are the bomb. This feast cost $5. What a bargain. Got back to hotel and spread out my feast on the table. Had no utensils so i am going local and eating with my hands. I was in heaven. Jen sat back and watched me.

Very full after that meal. Time to relax and watch some footy on tv. Roosters v rabbits.
Great last day in Sanur.

Having a lovely sleep only to be woken up by everything shaking. I sprang out of bed and jen woke up straight away. It was an earthquake. Lasted for about ten seconds. Got a little stronger then stopped. Not the way we would like to be woken up everyday. Saw on the news it was a 6.4. Jen saw the guy from next door and he was freaking out a bit. He said he was on European news for information on the tremor. I am not sure European news would have information 3 minutes after the tremor. We saw some information on the Indonesian news. Not much damage anywhere time to move on. Went for breakfeast at the Bread Basket. Very good juice and tasty breakfeast. On the way back to hotel i had another look at a sign which had puzzled me since we arrived. It is pointing away from the beach. After our tremor this morning it makes sense. In case of a tsunami head this way.

Today is very humid and sticky. Need to visit Sarina to get jens tops she has made as well as a couple of other things. Only a couple of days left of our trip. This is the time of the trip when you wish it would never last and all the fun things you have to go back to like work and a normal life. Jen and i were hoping for a natural disaster like a volcano eruption. No harm or damage to anyone or anything just the news that we could not get a flight for another week. Instead we got a light weight tremor. Bummer! We not leaving for a couple of more days so enjoy the now.
We went for a walk along the beachfront. The humidity seems to have subsided and it is nice and cool. Went to see Sarina and pick up the clothes she has made. All good and jen is very happy with her purchases. Said goodbye to Sarina, lovely lady. As we have been down to the markets a few times the store owners remember us so we no longer get the "you look in my store". Now it is hello and a quick chat on how long you here for conversation. The balinese people , the same as south east asian people in general, have a lovely nature, once you get past the business. People are people wherever you travel. We all want to live a happy life and be kind to each other. Decided it was beer time and found a great spot overlooking the beach.

After a couple of beers we decided to head off. Feeling a bit pekish we were looking for some food. Walked past Jimmy's Sports bar and jimmy saw us and we stopped to have a chat. He is good that Jimmy. Many beers later we left Jimmy's.

Stopped off at the local dvd store to pick up some movies and music. In Indonesia you but dvds for $1 each. Now the quality can be very dubious. If it is an older movie you should be ok. However, they have movies for sale that have just been released at the movies. Usually they are movies which have been recorded by Handycam in the cinema. We have seen these and sometimes the quality is very good. Other times not so good. Jens dad loves his movies so we loaded up a heap for him, as well as some tv series for us. Hey for $1 you take the chance.
By now we were very hungry. Went to a little warung and ordered nasi goreng and nasi campur. Good shit!
By now i can say that Jen and i are in full on relaxed holiday mode. The last 5 days in particular we have this glazed over we are relaxed mode which seems to emanate from our being. We don't get hassled by the touts as much as i think we give off that don't ask us we are sorted vibe.
Bit tired tonight after our big day. Ordered some room service and watched some cable tv.

Another good nights sleep. We are having good solid nights sleep at the moment, feel very relaxed. Got up had breakfeast down the road not sure of name. Thought i would try their eggs benedict. I got something that looked like eggs ben, however, there were some odd flavours. What was i thinking? Jen stuck to toast and coffee. One thing which the Indonesian struggle with is the concept of toast. The lady who took us on canoeing tour was telling us how they just don't know how to make toast. She helps with a restaurant and she told them that westerns like toast for breakfeast. So she brought them a toaster and first day she walks in too see a worker with a fork in the toaster trying to get bread out. Next day toaster was broken. On the breakfeast menus it always says toast, however, when it arrives it is bread untoasted. So today jen got real toast and she was so happy. She said to the lady that was excellent toast. The lady smiled and moved on.
We saw a fresh of the boat tourist couple walking down main street of Sanur. In Sanur the taxis will beep their horn at people walking along to get their attention to get a taxi. This couple where doing what we all do in a new place, walking slowly and looking at everything new. Taking it all in. A taxi beeped his horn and the male whipped around to see who had beeped. I dont know who he was expecting to see. He then raised his hand and waved to the taxi with a thanks for that beep mate wave. Brake lights on, indicator on the taxi pulls over and waits for the guy. The guy now realises what he has done and starts waving to say "no". Taxi driver opens his door yells something in Indonesian then drives off. Guy looks embarrassed. Off they go again. BEEP BEEP! he keeps his head down. Lesson learnt.
Went down to the beach for a swim and relax. Finally found a shortcut to the beach. We had been going the long way around as the resorts block all the direct access to the beach. There is a vacant block with a resort coming soon which we had seen but not gone through the gate. Just opened the gate and went on through. On the beach in 3 minutes. We felt like we had opened a secret door. As we walked down the beachfront we saw ladies who stalls we had visited earlier in our visit. We were greeted like long lost friends "andrew, jenny. How are you. you shop today?". "Not today." "See you later." They have great memories for names. Found a nice spot got some deck chairs and chilled out.

After a while we decided to head back to hotel cool down and head out for late lunch. Todays choice was Japanese. Jen had been eyeing this place of since we arrived. Nice location and comfy seats. We ordered a sashimi platter and teriyaki beef. Sashimi was excellent beef a little tough. We did order medium rare. Overall very nice late lunch.

Jen had been wanting to get her nails done so she decided to get them done. There are so many places to choose from in Sanur. Every third store is a beauty salon. Picked one which had given jen a flyer. She settled on a full body scrub, manicure and pedicure. All for $23 aussie dollars. While jen was making herself beautiful i wandered over to the sports bar and had beers and watched football. Ahhh life is hard.

We are going to the night food markets for dinner tonight. Had some satay the other night so i am keen to sample some more local food. Made our way to the markets and it was already starting to get busy. Did a quick lap around. There are so many options. Settled on martabak and chicken and goat satay skewers. Martabak is an Indonesian street food. Roti (pancake type) shell and you can choose filling. They always have egg. We chose chicken and mushroom filling. We also got a desert one for later with chocolate and banana. Watched the guy cook it up and there it was in front of us. Yummo! Had a taste of the desert one and again yummo! Wish i had tried these earlier. Couldn't eat it all so they gave us a take away box. Next course chicken and goat satay skewers. Two plates hit our table. We hooked into them. Jen wasn't that hungry so i demolished two plates. I reckon i could have had one more plate. That satay sauce is the bomb. There were so many other dishes i would have loved to have tried, however, even i have a limit.

Back to our hotel with full tummys and some snacks in a box. A few drinks then an early night. Another good day in Bali.