Eden and I were good children (and due to a constant ringing phone and someone nagging someone else to WAKE UP) we made it in time to go to the hotel store to buy some swimming trunks for Eden. However, they asked us for about US$50 (for a PIECE OF UNDERWEAR! SERIOUSLY!) and I said that we can’t pay more than $15, so they were like….ok bye. Haha. Oh well. There were a lot of fake luxury goods (LV, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, etc.) that I was surprised to find in a nice hotel establishment.
So when we got to the lobby, we sat down and were approached by a Mr. Kantin representing Pandawa Marine Adventures. A driver drove us to (sorry, redundant) Tanjong Banoa, which is THE place to be for watersporting. We stopped by a small stall to buy Eden’s undies. LOL not really undies, but the ones you have to wear under board shorts, which are just UNDIES (haha) - for about US$8. Chi-Ching!
Then we renegotiated terms with the agent from the night before (Mr. Yeoman) and the manager of Pandawa to get two trips on the jet ski and one fly fish (because the weather was bad for parasailing – they told us that we would be landing on the rocks if something went wrong due to the wind that morning) for 400K rupiah ($40 USD). They told me that I was getting it at a steal – Mr. Kantin was like – you are so good at bargaining! – because usually it’s $80 per person.
The flyfish was cute. I didn’t want to do it initially (when I heard about it in the hotel room) because I thought it was literally fly fishing. Yes, the lovely art form of how to fly fish blah blah I know but while in Bali, what would I do with the precious fish. WRONG! Fly fishing is this huge inflatable thing that you stand in while a boat drags you. Initially you are lying down, but somehow (due to the laws of the Universe I suppose. Physics also.) there is a lift and you are raised into the AIR! All we saw was the sea because we were facing the opposite direction from the boat. I seriously thought I would fall out of the thing and gripped so tightly on to the “handrails” which were more like pieces of hose. Oh my. The whole time I was telling myself that even if I fell, at least I had a life vest :p.
Then we took the jet skis. They were legally obligated to have an instructor riding with you on the jet ski (in Singapore, you have to have a license in order to jet ski…much to Fpoo and my disappointment). At first I was a bit reluctant to go quickly, but my instructor was like ok you go fast and I will steer. So I had a great time with the throttle (even though my instructor was like slow down occasionally ^.^). I had a major wedgie when I got back though.
We waited about 10 minutes for the second trip, and Mr. Kantin was SO nice and bought us some Cokes to drink (because we had no cash left …boohoo). Eden threw a back tuck and spotted me for one. It was really difficult to set on the sand, so he had to really push me :(.
The second trip I was more confident and definitely had more fun riding on the ocean. Eden was a maniac and kept “bouncing” on all the waves. Crazy. He told me later that he was laughing a lot on the trip because there was an instructor with a very large lady in front of him who was struggling to get his arms around her in order to steer. LOL!
We decided to tell everyone that we were cousins (meaning that no one believed us) because I didn’t want anyone to know that I was a single girl. That would have just been really bad. Anyways, one of diving guys (who was totally ripped) had a big tattoo of “HUG ME” across his shoulders. We laughed about it for a while, and when he came back he was like: You guys are very beautiful! You look good together! But then another man said, I am beautiful too! And then HUG ME said “No, you’re a black stone,” and everyone laughed!
Then we returned to the hotel and had two lamb chops in El Patio (because I think I piqued Eden’s curiosity when I told him how delicious it was, regardless of the fact that they don’t ask you how you cooked you want your meat to be.
Then we went to our rooms and took naps. Eden wanted to check out the touristy place, so we went to Kuta, which is the “party place” (which I suspect started because the beach there is mainly for surfing). There were lots of shops selling touristy things (including…wooden…yeah my parents read this, so I can’t put in the word, but you know what I’m talking about). A lot of Balinese people tried to sell yelling out to us in Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Eden, being half Japanese, half Singaporean-Chinese, spoke 2) and asking if we were from Hong Kong. I just laughed and ignored them. Eden kept saying “No, thanks” over and over (so polite, eh?)
We were lame tourists and ate at Pizza Hut. Eden tried to chew on something that turned out to be a piece of a ziptie, and instead of demanding a free pizza or at the very least a free dessert, he asked for a blueberry milkshake. How clever (selfish).
We played a game of pool and Eden won. We also went to Seven Eleven, but quickly left after an irate guy (who I think was Middle Eastern, and Eden swears is Italian…who happened to LOOK MIDDLE EASTERN) who shoved the glass door open, and it fell to pieces. We went to buy our soda somewhere else!
Once we got back to the hotel, I ordered my favorite weakness: tiramisu.
Eden ordered fried banana & rum raisin ice cream:
