Went for water, ended up at Uncle Norm's

I woke up feeling back to normal as planned and it was 6am so I thought I’d try going for a run before the sun was out. Brad wasn’t moving so I left him a note and snuck out. The temperature was great and there was only a breeze which was nice. I knew there was a shopping centre at the Kuta end of the beach as you can see it from our part of the beach so I thought I’d try to run there and if I made it I’d try and run back. It wasn’t as bad as I thought and I made it there in 18 minutes so I turned around to run back.

The beach is nice a wide with plenty of firm, flat sand, although it gets a bit of a muddy consistency at Kuta and definitely isn’t as nice as the Legian Beach. I managed to make it back and ran on a little further to round it off to 30 minutes and I was cooked by then! I could feel my face was burning red and I was dripping with sweat so I took off my runners and jumped straight into the water. How perfect it would be to have this setting to run every day and the temperature so perfect to just jump in at the end #dreamlife

I was spewing I hadn’t taken my phone as there were fishing boats out on the water that would have been a great photo and there was also a big snake on the beach that people were looking at so I stopped for a look too. It was scary. But no phone was one less thing to have and the minimalist approach is definitely the way to go when running in this climate.

I didn’t go straight back into the room as I didn’t know if TAB was still sleeping, although I suspected he’d be out by now. I did a bit of a workout on our verandah and some stretching before going in and he had gone. I showered and left another note to say I was at breakfast. I pretty much did a replica of yesterday but I had Bircher muesli and also discovered some vegetables which were really yummy. They will become a regular on my plate. I had actually planned to have bread and butter pudding and fried banana but after going for a run I thought I should stay on attach for at least the first hour of the day!

TAB showed up at breakfast and said he left the room at 6.30 and it sounds like we’ve crossed paths on the beach and somehow missed each other. He finished off with a gym session and a swim so we’d both started the day off on the right track.

Last night on the way to the tour we discovered that we’d definitely walked the wrong way yesterday morning as there was a market literally next door to the resort entrance and there were shops and bars all along the street. So TAB wants to go to the market for a bit of shopping and he worked hard at bartering and good on him for having the energy, but I still reckon he got ripped off with a few things. I just followed him around as an observer and was quite happy to keep it that way. He ended up with singlets, shirts and shorts and is done for the trip now. I’m going to hit the shopping centre I ran to at some stage - Discovery Shopping Mall. The trip advisor reviews says it’s ok so I’ll give it a go, although it’s definitely not a priority.

After the hard work of shopping we needed to chill a bit back in the room before venturing out again for a walk along the beach road towards Seminyak. We stopped at a restaurant for a cocktail - me a banana colada and TAB a mango daiquiri - again fairly potent. It was damn hot but we pushed forward and came across Coco Club which TAB said Jack had mentioned. It looked pretty cool, a pool with day beds and I guess you just eat, drink and swim. Pity I didn’t have my bathers on so we took a rain check.

A little across from that was Sand Beach Bar, a beach shack kind of thing which was a bit of fun. We had two beers there and I bought a sarong from an old lady. I really don’t need a sarong but it was really pretty and as she pointed out to me, it had bling!

I don’t even know what time it was, we’re just on Bali time, holiday time and I haven’t been wearing a watch as it’s too hot for accessorising. We walked back along the beach and went to Kangaroo Bar. Mal and his mates were there so we joined them for a couple of beers before they had to go meet the girls at a restaurant. We moved to banana lounges which you had to rent and just swam and enjoyed cold beers for the rest of the afternoon. We met Emmy who does massages so I had a shoulder and back massage for AUD$10. She was very good and it went for ages, so cheap.

Donny the sunnies guy came over and it was perfect timing as when I got up from my massage I’d broken my sunnies. They were only cheapies that I’d bought in Vietnam so it wasn’t a big deal. TAB got three pairs and I got two. Then we realised we had no money and I’m sure I had a fair bit of money in my purse. Maybe I’ve just lost track but I’m 99% sure I had money, but the only time it’s been unattended is when we went swimming earlier but we left it with the boys at Kangaroo Bar and I know they wouldn’t have taken it. Someone has either been very clever or I’ve just lost track. We’ve decided that Brad is looking after the money from now on anyway so that he can just pay for everything. Suits me, I booked everything so he can be in charge of paying while we’re here so I don’t have to think about it.

So Donny took TAB to an ATM on his bike and when he got back we settled our bill with him and with Kangaroo Bar as we’d had enough of beer and the beach so went to the pool for cocktails. When we got there it was happy hour and I was feeling well on the way so wasn’t going to touch a mango daiquiri. I ordered for TAB and I as I realised how drunk he was - I guess it was his turn today hehehe. He was chitter chatting to everyone and downing the cosmic coladas like nobodies business.

I had choconut which was dangerous because it looked and tasted like a dessert. It didn’t have the big kick of other cocktails we’d had but it was happy hour so no doubt they reduce the amount of booze they put in because it’s two for one. We ended up having three in a row pretty quickly I think TAB had reached his limit.

We showered and TAB looked passed out on the bed by the time I was ready. I poked him and he didn’t move so I assumed that was us for the night but not long after he perked up and off we went for dinner at the Indonesian restaurant at the hotel which is all alfresco and overlooking the beach. The food was nice, but not amazing, although fairly well-priced for hotel food. TAB had a beer and I went to sparkling water as I’d had enough. There is another restaurant which is just a different section and it serves mostly Western meals. There was a band playing which we could hear quite clearly and they were playing good music but we were ready to call it a night.

I was just going to pop out to the mini mart to get water and he wanted to come with me although it was completely safe. We crossed the road and right next to the mini mart was a bar with a live Indo band playing covers and we looked at each other - will we, won’t we - and TAB said “let’s get the water and just stop there for a bit” and I said let’s go now and get the water later so it’s cold to take back.

So two or three beers, one shot and one scotch and dry each later at Uncle Norm’s Bar we rolled back home at some stupid hour like 11pm. And yes, we remembered the water!Read more