Shopping and chilling & the birthday bash - 21 February 2008

Bali map showing whereabouts for the day

I awake at about 7 am – to an empty bed. Anita is sitting on the veranda in her dressing gown – well one from the hotel actually! She did not want to wake me and has been sitting there reading her book since first light. She is also eating one of the Cadburys crème eggs that I bought for her for valentine's day.

I join her for a few minutes – till we have showers and dress and head off towards the restaurant for breakfast. As we approach we see Nanny – but woe is me – she has lost Granddad. They were going for breakfast together – but she had had to return to the room – and now she couldn't find him. I went upstairs – there are two floors to the restaurant – and I cannot see him. I come back down, but return upstairs a little later – and now I can see him. He is sitting with Dave and Daffers and Tamsin. I go and chat for a while – and it seems that as expected yesterday the hotel has indeed got busier. He had found a table downstairs – but left it with the umbrella etc at the table, and gone off to get some food – only to return to find that Japan had invaded – and his table was over-run. He extracted the bits and bobs – and went upstairs to find another table, rather than causing a scene.

Nanny had come back – and had not looked upstairs for him – so he sat and ate his breakfast thinking she would appear in a few minutes. I go back downstairs to find that Nanny and Anita had already started their breakfast – but then again it doesn't take me long to catch up. I make sure that I have a very hearty breakfast, with a few cups of coffee and juice to keep me alert.

We all retire and sit around the pool – and everyone is feeling a bit lethargic. We need to get out of this funk. It is decided by the ladies that they need to go shopping – so Mandy, Cathy, Anita and Nanny, along with Granddad, little Matt, Ben and I get up and walk along the street close to the hotel. We walk along as far as the roundabout – and walk back. A few of the shops are a touch pushy – but nothing compared to the Sangeh Monkey place or Tijuana come to that.

In one of the shops that we visit Anita buys a beautiful blouse and a pair of sandals. Some of the shops are great – and the prices of the goods is very good – and are quoted in local currency and US$.

We are clock watching a touch – because we have to be back at the hotel by midday, as the ladies are going shopping – yes I know that they are shopping now – but it had been arranged with the kids – who are already in Kuta. The ladies would meet them in town later. The kids had gone surfing – and it turns out that Andy is quite good at it!

It had been decided earlier in the week that everyone who wanted to within the whole group would go out tonight for dinner – to celebrate Carole's, big Matt's and little Andrew's birthdays. However we had not decided exactly where we would be going. Last night the kids had taken a walk down to a restaurant, called the Mezzanine, that is half on, and half off the hotel, to take a look – but had not been lucky enough to find a menu – but some had been put off because it looked a bit posh – well by Bali standards anyway.

Front of the Mezzanine restaurant

When we get back to the hotel (from the first shopping trip) John, Su, Anita and I go back down the road to the Mezzanine, to see if we can find a menu. We walk into the building, and walk around, almost going into the kitchens at the back – but there is no-one here. Mista John suggests speaking with the reception back at the hotel – as it is officially part of the hotel. So we go back to see if they have a menu that we could peruse.

Regrettably they don't have one, but the receptionist tells us she will ring someone – and let us know if we take a seat. About ten minutes later a young lady appears with a pile of folders under her arm. It seems that they don't have one menu – they have five! But – and it a very big but – they do most things but not burger and chips (sorry Lauren!). After we have looked at the menus and seen that they do most things – we all agree this would out destination for tonight. Her chin hits the floor when we ask if she can fit all 32 of us in. She looked like she'd died and gone to heaven – and advises that she will reserve one section of the first floor for us. She asks what time we would be turning up 7.30 was agreed – and off we went back to the hotel, to the sound of John stating once again "WFSAC rules Bali!"

Mezzanine restaurant - looking sooooo posh

Back just in time – the ladies grab two taxis and off they go to Kuta, on their shopping expedition. They will be away most of the afternoon so it leaves John and I much to our own devices. John, having missed breakfast because he slept in – is hungry, so we decide to have something to eat in the restaurant. John has a couple of things to do first, so I head back to our room to boot up the computer to start to charge it. It had been agreed between us that we would back up everyone's photos, to our computer (actually Lauren's really), to my external hard drive, to John's computer (?) and also to DVD, in order to ensure that at least one copy gets through!

We meet back at the restaurant for lunch – we both have pizzas – and I begin to try and find out a bit about their September holiday, as I had been instructed by my wife. Turns out they are coming this side of the world again, visiting Bangkok, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and finishing in Dubai for a couple of days! Nice!

Lunch is soon polished off, along with a refreshing beer, then we go back to the room – to begin to download the pictures from Anita's, John's, and Granddad's cameras. While we are downloading we are looking at some of them. Everyone has at least a few really good shots – so we should be able to do some magic with them.

The birthday cake

Once I have finished with the three cameras we head back to the pool, and see the others. When we mention what we have done, just about everyone with a camera asks if they also download them – for protection's sake. So for the next two hours – I am back and forth with cameras, memory cards etc. When I look at the size of the folder that I created – it was about nine gigabytes, with about 5000 photos!

John has to be in reception just after five pm. Why – well Simon – Mr scuba guy knows someone who makes cakes – and it was decided that a birthday (or should that be Bithrey hehehe) - cake for all of them who be a great idea. He heads off and collects it, while I continue downloading all the photos.

The ladies return with the kids in tow. Shopping was a success – well each of them had at least two carrier bags with them – some more (Ooh wonder who that would be!).

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The birthday stars!

After a couple of drinks and a swim to relax themselves – everyone goes back to their rooms, to don glad-rags and generally get themselves ready for the extravaganza of the birthday party (ooh jelly and ice-cream yaaaaa!). The only people not going tonight are the obnoxious aussie (Ella – see the piece in the journey here to find out why I don't like her), and her partner – because they don't know any of the Birthday people! Bloody miserable pair. Well it is their loss.

We enter, and the waiters come over – and we are ordering food and drinks, and they are around us like bees to a honey pot. We are spread out with maximums of 6 to a table – and the noise of chit-chat and talk is quite loud.

The kids at the birthday bash

No one really wanted to sit with Dave and Daffers, but it is the unfortunate Paul and Maria who win the night's star prize. Paul as always just laughs it off.

Soon the drink is flowing very freely, and the food is very good. I'd like to tell you what I ate – but like I said the drink was flowing freely!

Once everyone had consumed his or her main course and desert if so required – it was time for the cake. The idea was to get the recipients of the cake with their backs to where it was coming from, to make it even more of a surprise. We attempted to keep them occupied, but just as we thought we might have succeeded calamity struck. They all turned round right at the wrong moment and the surprise was revealed. Oh well!

Once everyone has finished the cake off, people begin to drift back to the hotel. Some for bed whilst others take up their usual positions at the bar!

Even from the bar people begin to drift away, a good meal and a glass or two (two? Like really? No!) – and tiredness begins to get a grip. Bed is very welcoming, and almost immediately I am asleep!