4th June (Friday)
Check out day @ Flora Beach Hotel. The check-out time is noon.
Went shopping, got talked into buying a tshirt that I didn't want, then some sunglasses at the next shop by 3 convincing young Balinese men.
I had my photo taken with one of them, yes, the one kissing my cheek and freaking me out.
ew ew ew what a crap photo!
I only had small notes left by the time they were through with me, but they took the rest of it for a large bottle of "Beautiful". I'm sure it's fake, but it looks and smells real.
I finally made it to the "Real" shopping centre, but the ATM only spat out 100,000 Rupiah notes - although only worth about $15-$17 Australian, it's just too much for anyone to change. Not even the large shopping centre has change for that first thing in the morning. To get some perspective - I might as well of had AUD $1000 notes back in Australia at a milkbar. :)
Even the money changers didn't have change, so before I could go shopping, I had to hunt down a money changer that could change the notes into something more useful.
Found one, but could only change to 50,000 R, but is OK for the big shopping centre.
Hmm.. "IS OK" ???
Now I'm even starting to TYPE/WRITE in broken English ;)
I bought some more shampoo, conditioner, bandaids, moisturiser, and headed back to the hotel.
I dropped in to see Iketut and say Goodbye and get our photo taken.
I bought some DVD's from Ronnie (Rocky) from across the road from Flora. Such a great guy. Doesn't hassle at all. All the DVD's are 9 quality (there is 5 and 9.. 9 is the better one), but he will still play them all for you if you want to test them.
"Made" (guy who walked me to Papa's), "just happened" to be riding past the hotel and so I said Goodbye to him too and told him that I hadn't yet had the chance to check my email for the past few days so, no, I didn't get his email. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but the night before the cooking class, he called the hotel about midnight and got put through to me. I was already asleep, but "is ok" i guess. Persistent they are :)
I guess a bit neglected too, starved for some friendly company and a chance to 1) practice their English, or 2) the money thing.. they think we are millionaires, although they all know that I am not as rich as the other tourists and have accepted that I'm watchful of the things I spend money on.
I forgot to take a photo of Ronnie and Made - I'll try to remember if I go back to Kuta before I leave.
Made a deal with Flora to get a special price to stay there if I come back. Checked out at noon.
The Aussie lady had final advice for me to "be careful". I'm starting to get aggravated on the inside with Aussie advice. Everyone thinks I'm so naive, just because I want to have an open cultural experience. I've become disgusted with the way some Aussies behave towards Balinese. They are lovely people and we are walking money to them, there is no reason to swear at them or to talk down to them. Thankfully not all Australians are treating them that way, but I've decided to dis-associate myself with those that do, and balance up the "bad karma" by being strictly nice to all of them.
Those that grab you are usually the women who want to "plait your hair or paint your nails". They are the only ones whom you will need to be firmer with, and Nick gave me a tip that works... he says "respect", "a bit of respect" while putting his hand over his heart... Hard to describe, but it works to most.
Hope I never become like those Aussies who have been there too many times and just don't care anymore. Arrogant, selfish, Up Themselves.
I needed to get a Taxi to Denpasar. No taxi (Taksi) could get it right. The hotel is currently hard to reach due to the drainage "renovations". Finally we got one that could work out how to get there, but he didn't know his way around Denpasar. On well :)
We eventually found Ama's house, it costed around 40,000 - should've cost around 25,000, but 40,000 is only about AUD $6 - so who's complaining! Bargain at 4 times the price as it was about a 40min + trip.
Denpasar is even busier than Kuta which is hard to imagine. Although, I felt very, very "white" in Denpasar. Most of the Westerner's hang out around surf/beach places - Kuta and nearby - so I'd better get used to the stares. I just smile @ everyone like a dickhead :)
I met Joni (Yonny) @ Ama's - very, very nice Balinese man which a contagious laugh!
We had a drink (water) and a chat, then Joni went home or to an appointment, and Ama & I headed to the supermarket via taksi.
On the way, we picked up Marcus, an American who has lived in Indonesia for years. He has a strong American accent and is really tall and well built. He lives with his adopted daughter (who I think is Javanese). Both Marcus and Ika are very lovely people and we are probably going to their place tomorrow for some Chilli Con Carne.
Marcus, Ama, and I went to a tailors so that Marcus could get some adjustments on his custom-made clothes, then to the supermarket. The supermarket was awesome. Like, um, a cheap supermarket - hmm.. imagine Jewel with hot food. All the vegies looked different and more than 90% of the food, I had no friggin` idea what they were. :) The lolly aisle is the only one I understood - I bought a kitkat for around AUD 30 cents.
We bought heaps of food - meat, veg, catfood, etc. It costed 100,000 all up ($15-17) - enough to feed about 6.
It's after 2:30am so I'm really tired and not describing anything very well, I'm also trying to rush as we are heading to the Denpasar market tomorrow morning.
I will describe this beautiful house tomorrow or sometime when I get time. We watched Roadtrip on DVD. I had a nap while Ama cooked up a delicious feast that could feed me for the rest of this week. Joni and his nephew (gday) came around and we chatted for hours and hours. Great Day!
