Enjoying a bit of luxury

Both of us were very excited this morning, at the prospect of a decent breakfast...........two weeks of exactly the same, every single morning had left us feeling a little depressed and after last nights dinner we were entertaining high hopes for what we might find in the restaurant..........and so we skipped gaily off to see if our hopes would be realised..............and sweet joy, they were ......in spades.

Not only was there a vast choice of fruit, cereal, yoghurt,pastries, bread, jam and hot food..........there was also an egg station.........no messing about for me.............I immediately put in an order for two soft poached eggs and legged it to the toast machine to prepare two slices for them to sit on. Dear Richard, a fan of coffee in the morning, tentatively asked for a latte and his request was met with a nod and a smile............his coffee and my eggs arrived at around the same time, he had opted for the full English, the sausages were chicken, but nevertheless, his cravings were also satisfied...........we were two happy bunnies !!!!!

I am afraid to say that we both went a tiny bit bonkers and ate, perhaps a little too much.....such was our joy at the unlimited choice..........I made a mental note that this could not continue if I was to have any chance at all of fitting into the very limited selection of clothes available for the next 6 months!!

I must make mention here of the lengths to which the Hotel was prepared to go to ensure their guests enjoyed breakfasting in a clean bug free environment. Not only were there people sweeping and cleaning inside and outside, there was also a dedicated bastard biter killer, who armed with an electric tennis racquet patrolled the area exterminating anything with wings or teeth.

Suitably stuffed we made our way back to our mansion .............we used the stairs in an effort to offset the piggy breakfast............changed and made our way down to the pool............it was a bit cloudy, so there were sun beds available. We grabbed two and made ourselves comfortable........for about half an hour , then the sky darkened, the sun did a runner and so did we as it started to rain !

By the time we had legged it back to our room it was pouring , I did my washing and settled down to write my blog and Dear Richard, after rinsing out his smalls, turned on the gigantic TV and tuned into the news. Reports of the fires in Australia had started coming through when we watched the news in Bali, we hadn’t been too bothered as we figured there were still at least 4 weeks to go until we flew to Cairns and started the drive south to Sydney. Now it appeared that rather than improving, the situation was getting worse, and the areas which were most affected were those along the East coast, exactly where we would be for a month.

We talked for ages about whether we should cancel that trip and go somewhere else in Australia, it would mean a lot of changes, but if the roads were going to be impassable then perhaps that was the way we should go...............in the end we decided to leave it as long as we could to see what happened...........

It was still raining so I phoned the spa and made an appointment to have my nails done........Dear Richard opted for a session in the gym ..........at the appointed hour I made my way through what was now slight drizzle, to the Spa........I was welcomed in typical Balinese style with smiles and bows and shown to a seat with the best view I had ever experienced whilst having a manicure.

I had two girls assigned to me and they were both lovely.............one did my feet while the other did my hands.........getting the gel polish off my nails proved a bit of an issue, as I knew it would when she tried to soak it off with nail varnish remover...........I had visions of sitting there looking at the view for hours while she waited for the gel to dissolve...........eventually I suggested she file the old polish off, which ( as I knew it would be) was the solution, and so, polish free she set about the manicure proper. Both girls were chatty and funny and I had a lovely time finding out about their families. I left the salon walking on feet which felt as light as air.

When I got back to the room there was no sign of Dear Richard so I got myself ready for dinner.........we had decided to try the “posh” restaurant attached to the hotel, which meant I had to make a bit of an effort.............I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to dry my hair with a hairdryer.............there had been no such luxury on Gili...............it would probably have caused a power failure if there had been.........so I went for the full on tarting up...........Dear Richard returned looking as though he had just run a marathon..............jumped in the shower and in a matter of minutes was ready to go...........which pissed me off no end as I had been at it for about an hour, and I knew that as soon as I stepped out of the door into the 99% humidity my hair would resemble a bundle of straw............anyway we trekked down to reception who offered us a lift in the hotel buggy.............I knew the restaurant was up on the hill but wasn’t expecting that...........we jumped in, set off, drove up a hill for 2 seconds ..........and arrived!!!!

We were welcomed with more Balinese hospitality and shown to a table which the waitress described as being cooled by the breeze......we sat down and were almost blown off our chairs by the force of the “breeze”.....we moved to another table which was far less “breezy” and at which I felt we could enjoy our dinner without fear that it would be blown off our plates along with everything else on the table..........heaven forbid my drink should disappear if things got particularly gusty!!

We ordered...........the Menu was varied and interesting........and then sat back with our drinks......as we did so we both became aware of the background music........it was honestly the most bizarre selection of songs I have ever heard in a restaurant anywhere.....we heard.......Glen Miller......Alessandro Mannarino...........Eartha Kitt and Henri Rene and his Orchestra.....Ferruccio Tagliavani......Rocco Granada ...........interspersed with Robbie Williams.........Steely Dan..........Daddy Cool and many other off the wall artists ( most of whom I only know because I was shazamming like a lunatic most of the evening).

Despite the surreal soundtrack the food was amazing..........Dear Richard had the most enormous steak ........honestly, there would have been very little left of the cow from whom it came...........when the bill arrived it transpired that it had probably cost as much as buying the whole beast........but Dear Richard said it was delicious so what the heck !!

We decided that as the trip home was downhill we would forgo the buggy and walk, which was a good plan up until the point where we met it coming up the hill.......the road was very narrow and we had to jump into the bushes to avoid being run over ( I coudnt help thinking what a waste of steak that would have been!!!)

We made it back to our room without further incident, both of us stuffed to the brim and feeling very tired after our strenuous day!!!

I drifted off to sleep that night on pillows which were soft as clouds, very very full of food and with Glen Miller and his Orchestra playing “Little Brown Jug” over and over in my head.