Thursday – We were starting to run out of days as our holidays was getting close to an end, so we still have a lot of sights to see in our last couple of days. We woke up not feeling too flash not hangover this time just a little bit on the sniffily side but we still determined to have an adventure.

We had hoped to go to Tanah Lot the temple in the sea at sunset but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side as storms seemed to roll in with the sunset on most days so we decided to go today and save the sunset for our next holiday there.

We went and got ourselves another driver. We had had a few different guys over the last couple of weeks and today we got Mr Tony. What a gentle soul of a man, he turned out to be our favourite driver. We told him we needed to be back at the hotel by 2pm as Robbie had a surfing lesson to go to and that our mission for the day was Tanah lot. He drove us by the Prison again and in the most restful way said “that is were Miss Corby lives and your Bali 9” . We pretended we hadn’t been past it before. He stopped so we could get a photo and even got out of the car and stopped the traffic so Robbie could get a clear shot. We thanked him even though we already had some pics. Hehehehe.

He chatted away telling us about his life and asking about ours. He was amazed that we had 2 cars for just two people. He said all he owned was 1 motor bike and it was shared out amongst his family. He said the car he was driving wasn’t his and he just worked for someone else. Mr Tony drove us through some beautiful villages surrounded by rice paddies and told us about his days as a rice farmer and how much he loved it. He said that he came to Kuta to make a better life for his family but when all his children have been fully educated he would like to return to his old village and get back on the land. He explained how the rice is planted and what it looks like before it was harvested. He stopped again so Robbie could get some pics of ordinary people going through their day in the fields.

We arrived at Tanah lot and Mr Tony walked us in to the entrance and told us where to go and said he would just wait for our return. He said to take our time. To get to the temple we walked through what? Can you guess?

Times up yep, another market. No pressure to buy here this little village looked very well to do, bordering on commercial I would even say.  It was quite a busy day, there were many tour buses there and the place was crawling with people. The temple is located in the ocean and can only be accessed at low tide. Unfortunately it was high tide so we couldn’t get up close and personal but we were told we wouldn’t be allowed to enter anyway which I think is fair enough.

We took heaps of pictures waiting our turn with the many people in the prime photographic points all taking turns. Everyone was very friendly and respectful to one and other no pushing and shoving for prime spots.

We came across a young fella who had a basket of goodies for sale. He was not a happy little chappie He was about 4. He had a look on his face like I hate my life. I took a photo of him and he was not happy & when Robbie came along to get a snap he put his hat over his face. Poor little buggar you could see he was wishing we would fall off the edge of the cliff hehehehe.

We wandered around for awhile snapping pics left right and centre and walked through yet another little market carved into the hillside. Robbie wanted to explore up the hill a bit further and I was lazy and thirsty so just waited and had a nice cold coke over looking the ocean. Very beautiful spot for a coldie & the girl in the drink store also gave me some taro chips they were delicious.

The gardens were beautiful and there was also a beautiful rocky blow hole nearby which gave even more beautiful photo opportunities. We wandered around there for ages. We found and old gentleman sitting in a temple area looking very regal & like he was mediating but on closer inspection he was reading the newspaper. It looked so funny.

We were on our way out and I got stopped by a Muslim family at first I thought they wanted me to take their photo as they were showing me their camera and I said ok, but no they wanted to have their photo taken with me. See my goddess had kicked in again, hehehehehe. So I posed with every member of the family even the iphones came out to snap me. Robbie was laughing of course at my new found celebrity status so he snapped photos too. It was really funny we were laughing the family were laughing and it made me realize that at the end of the day people are people and there is a lot of goodwill in this world if you just open your eyes.

 

After that we were approached by another couple I think they were French and they were having trouble with their camera so they were asking for help from us. Robbie did his best to help them but wasn’t able too. They were really worried because all their holiday snaps were in their camera but they weren’t showing up on their memory card . I hope they managed to salvage them. Robbie made a couple of suggestions to them but they needed to get to a computer to sort it out. They thanked us for our time not that we helped much.

We got back to the car and it was nearly lunch time so we got the driver to take us back into Kuta. On the way we saw a road accident this was the only one we saw as even though the traffic is so horrific people just seemed to be able to duck and weave in and out of the traffic. Thankfully it didn’t look like any one was hurt a motor bike rider had run into the back of a van the bike was broken in half but the rider was sitting on the road not looking too harmed. Van had a big dint in the back door. The traffic stopped for a minute and people got out cleared the road and then everyone got on their way again. God knows how an emergency vehicle would get here if it had have been needed it this traffic.

Well we got back to the hotel and only had about an hour before Robbie’s surfing class. We dashed down the road to the hard rock café and had a quick lunch. We both weren’t that hungry so we had a plate of potatoes skins with sour cream and bacon between us they were yummy but very filling.

We headed back to the hotel as it was time for Robbie’s surf lesson. Again Miss Novia and Miss Bianca from the hotel and organised this and again it was free. I didn’t want to participate in this one so I was designated photographer this time. So it was Robbie, and a girl from Lapland, and a mother daughter from Melbourne. We were all set up in the grassed area of the hotel no real water for first lesson just foam mats and some balance boards. The instructor showed up and he was a young strapping blonde lad from Russia. His English was semi good and I think he fancied himself a bit. Not a bad life surfing your way around the world.

They all took turns showing the instructor what he had demonstrated to them about how to stand up on the board. I was sure glad I didn’t participate with my lack of co-ordination and old lady knees I would have been no good at it. I was laughing my head off watching everyone else though. You would think it would be easy jumping up on your feet from laying down on solid ground but no, not so. It would be a really hard thing to do with a mountain of water heaving below you in the ocean.

Of course Robbie was a natural he has excellent balance. Then it came time for the balance board the instructor demonstrated this and made it look easy. uh uh nope ! The girls all had a crack at it holding the instructors hands to help them balance but of course as soon as he let go they went arse up. Then it was Robbie’s turn I just knew he would go full throttle and he did. Hehehehe I got a great action shot of him in mid air falling off. It was quite funny. He wasn’t going to be defeated though and he kept having a crack until he could do it without holding on he mastered it ‘of course’.

Robbie then got Miss Novia up for a go. She was so scared and couldn’t stop giggling. He held her hands and she screamed it was funny. It was a nice fun activity but no water passed anywhere near them. The instructor taught at the surf school in the hotel and said he would be happy to take everyone to the next stage but you had to pay for that of course. After the surfing lesson without the water Robbie and I went over to the beach for a cool down but it was actually really hot today and there was no breeze on the beach so we went back across the road to the hotel and jumped in the pool. We stayed there for awhile but there were some annoying teenagers throwing a basket ball around in the pool and they were basically giving everyone around the pool the shits as the ball kept landing on people sun bathing.

We went back to the room had a rest and looked at our days photos. We got some really great photos. Robbie and I had both been snappy madly.

Then it was time for dinner so we headed around the corner too this little romantic restaurant I think it was called Rohinda. We were both quiet stuffed up with head colds so didn’t feel like much. We got the menus and everything looked good and cheap. We saw something on the lunch menu and Robbie asked if we could have that and they said no problem. Bali people are just so lovely they just want to make the customer happy. We ordered spicy, creamy tomato soup & Fish burger with fries.
Oh my god the soup was one of the yummiest things I have ever tasted in my life this definitely did not come out of a tin. Robbie didn’t finish his so I scoffed the remains of his bowl as well.
The fish burger and fries were pretty special too. Shredded fish on a roll with the yummiest sauce & salad and the fries were actually baked potatoes cut like wedges so delicious. This cost us about $8 for the two of us. What a bargin. We went back to the hotel and had a pretty early night as we planned to go to Uluawatu the next day, and with our stuffy noses thought the rest would do us good.