Sanur & Hotel Puri Santrian:-
Located at the South end of Sanur, past the supermarket.

We arrived in Sanur mid afternoon and to our Hotel Puri Santrian. It's setting is delightful and right on the beach. This section of the beach is one of the best in Sanur. The hotel is very clean and has a choice of 3 restaurants. The pool is at the back of the hotel near the beach and it has a pool bar in it as well. Also here you will find one of the restaurant's right on the beach, where you can sit and watch the water sports, including banana boat rides, para sailing and jet ski's wiz past along with the fishing and snorkelling boats. The hotels Gardens are almost a jungle in some spots and are very well maintained. The hotel also has just completed a new wing with its own two tiered swimming pool. It's in this VIP wing that you will find the only rooms with a TV, but the down side depending on which way you look at it, NO Kids in this area. ( Standard rooms have NO TV's )

Dinner at Mama Lucias with the thunderstorm.
It was raining that night and we decided to go out at about 9 pm and find something to eat. To our surprise, there wasnt a great deal open in Sanur and I dont know if this is due to the lack of tourists or is just particular to Sanur. We drove around for a while before agreeing to try Mama Lucias. Not overly expensive but the meals were terrific.

Breakfast at Donalds :-
Breakfast next morning was a place called Donald's right opposite the hotel. They make their own bread and all food is served in ceramics that can be bought from the cafe itself. Nice food at very good prices and very busy with tourists.

A swim was next on the agenda and then a drink on the beach at a small shop next to the hotel. You can save more than 50% of the cost of a drink if you go to the small shop located just outside the left end of the hotel property as you face the beach. Also a great place to relax and chat with the locals.

Back to Sindu Beach Market for some more goods from Toot Sie's. During our first week in Bali we popped over and purchased some clothes to wear in Bali as we didnt bring much. We didn't want to drag all of our souvineers and friends presents to Lovina and back so we placed an order for a quilt and more clothes, and said we would return today to retrieve them. Here we met Michael and his lovely wife, also forumites, from Adelaide who were also raiding Toot Sie's. ( Hi ya Guy's ) We also wanted a chess set for scotty but the girls at Toot Sie's "Ketut" and "Made ( with the long hair )" had none in stock but promised to get one for us, by the afternoon of the next day.

Dinner at Trophy Pub :-
To the left of the hotel on the same side of the road, as you exit and past a few hawkers stands, you will find the Trophy Pub. They have an open air bar at the front of the property, that is very popular with the tourists, a large open air seating area adjacent to the bar and at the back of the property a well stocked and presented indoor bar which looks like it belongs in a 5 star hotel. Great service and food served from 7am till 11pm with the bar opened till 2 am.

Next morning a quick breakfast at the Trophy pub and then off to Tuban and our final hotel.. the Ramada Bali Bintang.

Ramada Bintang :-
Situated in Tuban, this is a very popular 5 star hotel with a large property and garden. The pool has 3 waterfalls that flow into it, a sunken bar and center stage area. They also have a "NEW" Spa situated at the back of the property behind the beach restaurant ( well worth a look even if you dont try...we looked...hehe ) The hotel itself is large and similar to any western 4 storey hotel. Our room was large and comfortable enough for all 3 of us. Scotty was extremely happy as the room had a "New Style" TV that he could plug his playstation directly into and play some of the new games he had acquired. Koala appreciated the little touches like several daily checks to see if you required more fresh towels, daily replacing the shampoo's and conditioners even if they were still ½ full assuring you wouldnt run out. ( I presume they take them away and refill the bottles ) and a hair dryer built into the bathroom wall. Once again a good selection of restaurants with our favourite being the Coconut Wharf Beachside Restaurant. ( more on that further down )

All Star Surf Cafe:-
After checking in it was now lunch time and we decided on lunch at All Star Surf Cafe..very nice surfing themed restaurant situated on JL Kartika Plaza, between the Bintang Hotel and Kuta Square. The restaurant cant be missed as it sits on the first floor of a building between McDonalds and Pizza Hut ( Look for the golden arches on LJ Kartika Plaza and near there you will find the blue external stair case leading to the All Star surf Cafe on the 1st floor.) Although it is slightly dearer than what you may pay elsewhere, the food is fantastic. At nights from 8pm, they have psuedo Sumo Wrestling where restaurant patrons don big cushioned suit's and prepare to bounce the other out of the Sumo ring. They also have a guy that demonstrates his skill at making cocktails similar to the way they were made in the movie by the same name featuring Bryan Brown and Tom Cruise and they also have Linbo dancing. Kids are welcomed to have a go at the wrestling so long as they can get into the suits and stand up. The ones that are too small to do this usually are the ones that win the Limbo dancing...think about it!!

Rings & Indian Gear:-
Back to the hotel for Koala and scotty as they wanted a cat nap, while shar^kie went out shopping and to pickup two rings made from Aussie $2 coins featuring our nicknames. We had them made by one of the waitresses at the Bagus Pub and it usually takes a day or 2. She charges a little extra if you don't have the coins as was our situation. They cost 25,000 Rp each without a coin. From here I went to an American Indian shop to get a "Peace pipe", Indian face Mask with feathered head dress and a dream catcher featuring an indian head on a leather backing and suspended in a dream catcher, all fake of course. Total cost 150,000 Rp.

Mobile Phone Stolen:-
It was while bartering for the Indian Goods, I got into trouble. I was surrounded by kids ( not sure where they came from ) and when they left I was astounded when I discovered my bumbag had gone with them. Fortunately it only contained my mobile phone which was insured as I had my wallet in my hand ready to pay the guy. ( I NEVER shop with my passport on me ) So after 15 times to Bali I was finally hit with a theft and insurance claim :( The Indian shop is across the road and up a bit from Peanuts, so i headed straight there and was assisted by my good friend there nicknamed "Whisky". He gave me a lift to the Police where I filled a report ( as required by all insurance company's ) and gave them a "mandatory donation" of 10,000 Rp to assist in their search. ( For those from Australia using their Mobile Phone in Bali....If you are unfortunate to have it confiscated by kids or whomever...immediatly report it to the police and call Telcom Australia on ISD 61 180 181 111 and have your international roaming turned off and all calls diverted to your message bank OR your phone suspended. With international roaming off, no-one can use your phone outside Australia but your calls can still be diverted. )

Next day was brunch at Rajas Kuta Square and then Koala went to Ramanyanas ( see previous Kuta report ) for shirts, vcds and playstation games, while shar^kie and scott hit the pool for the afternoon.

Ramada Bintangs "Coconut Wharf" Beachside Restaurant:-
Dinner at Coconut wharf at the Bintang. Located between the pool and the beach it is a bar/restaurant. Pizza for Scotty and shar^kie and imported steak for koala. While we ate a musical foursome would go from table to table serenading patrons with their requests. Very nice setting with the beach only yards away. Total including several Bintangs and cocktails was around 200,000 Rp but we did spoil ourselves.

Sunday 26th March 2000:-
Woke and remembered we haddn't gone back to get Scotty's Chess set, so we grabbed a blue taxi and it was off to Sanur and Toot Sie's again. We noted the lack of vehicles on the road and put this down to the fact that Sunday is their day off work ( excluding shops ) Infact it was so quiet we actually made it to 5th gear and 100 Kph in the taxi...shar^kie commented to the driver " hmm 5th gear..bet you didnt know that was there" and he laughed. The Girls at Toot Sie's had managed to get Scotty a large Chess / Backgammon board with all pieces for 45,000 Rp. A couple more shirts in the bag and back to the Taxi we had waiting with the meter still running. Off to Timezone Legian under Matahari's in Legian, to claim Scotty's prize's he had won while playing the games. On arrival in Legian the Taxi meter had 31,100 Rp on it, so we gave him 40,000 and with a total of 262 tickets won at Timezone, Scotty picked out a pencilcase with built in solar powered calculator, a pen to go into the case and a scrunchie for his sisters hair. Last minute walk around Matahari's and we found some great ladies shirts on special at between 12,000 and 17,000 Rp each. Back to the hotel as we had friends arriving at 4.30pm. The afternoon was spent engaged in conversation while the lads attacked shar^kie's till now, unopened bottle of American 101% proof scotch he purchased at Melbourne airport when departing for Bali. Dinner at the All Star Surf Cafe where we took in the Sumo Wrestling, Limbo dancing and other entertainment, which brings us to our last day in Bali, thank god you say !!

Monday 27th March 2000:-
shar^kie and Scott decided the last day was rest day and they lazed around the hotel playing games and having fun. Koala knowing it was her last chance to shop for friends and family back home trudged out for an hour and bought music cds (85,000rp for imports)for daughter back at home. Back to the hotel, where we all walked along the beach to the S.A. cafe where we had a cheap and delightful lunch. shrimp cocktail,grilled chicken,sate,banana split,two fruit juices and three beers and all under 70,000rp!!. During lunch,the skies opened up and it poured heavily for half an hour and then stopped. Whilst shar^kie and scott went back to the hotel for a swim and more laid back activities, Koala headed back into Kuta in a taxi. Along Jalan Kartika Plaza,they were greeted by flooding created from the sudden downpour. The driver went through one lot of water but when he saw the next, he refused to drive any further...so Koala hopped out and literally paddled through a feet of water the rest of the way. Within an hour there was no sign of the sudden flood as the drains finally caught up with the downpour.

With all the last minute shopping out of the way,we packed and then wandered down to Coconut wharf Bar for our last dinner in Bali. Again an excellent meal, and Scott met a young lady(Ebony- 3 years old) from the next table and they had a dance and a kiss goodbye (cute huh) . We then headed onto the beach for a romantic stroll as it was our wedding anniversary - well as romantic as you can get with a hyperactive five year old in tow. We searched for crabs,coral, and shells in the dark. A few drinks in the Bintang's disco whilst waiting to go to the airport and then it was time to leave. Bintang Hotel has a free shuttle to the airport which is great and there was no delay at the airport at all so in no time we were settled in waiting for our flight. All too soon, we were boarding the plane home already talking about the "next trip".

We declaired all of our wood, feathers and food and had no problems going through customs.