Day 1: Potato Head Beach Club

Late arrival in Bali last night so we were a bit slow to get moving this morning. Opted for a hotel breakfast which was surprisingly decent, then headed to nearby Potato Head Beach Club at around 10am.

Potato Head is a large restaurant/bar area with a whole bunch of sun lounges for hire as well. But since it's right on the beach and has a large infinity pool adjacent, it's extremely popular and fills up very quickly - hence arriving at 10am when it opened! Managed to snag ourselves a four-person day bed which we occupied for most of the day by snoozing, swimming, eating and drinking. And of course a bit of internet catching-up-on as well!

It's such a beautiful place and mostly filled with beautiful people (a cheaper version of Ivy Pool I guess), I felt a little out of place. But whatevs. We had to vacate our bed at 3:30pm when they turn everything over (it faces westwards so I guess they can charge another 6 hours rental for the sunset), but at this point the weather was starting to turn so we weren't overly disappointed.

Headed back to our quirky though slightly dark room at Dash Hotel and relaxed for a bit, before heading to the hotel's rooftop bar for a 2-for-1 sundowner. By this point the weather had well and truly turned, and immense tropical thunderstorms surrounded us on all points of the compass. Distant rainshowers, constant lightning and booming thunder, the awesome grandeur of nature on full display. After surrounding us, the storms quickly enveloped us and since there wasn't much shelter on the rooftop we retreated downstairs.

After about 20 minutes I got fed up of waiting and suggested we go out for dinner despite the rain and Shandos agreed it was a better option than just sitting around the hotel endlessly. So off we headed bravely into the tropical downpour, which probably wasn't the best idea. The rain was still teeming, and Bali footpaths being what they are we were pretty soon sodden. Eventually we made it to our destination - a Mexican restaurant we'd seen on the drive from the airport the night before that looked nice and lively.

It was a great choice - the food was excellent and the staff great fun too. We had a seat facing the central courtyard which was gradually filling up with rainwater - the drainage system left something to be desired! One poor staff member had the unenviable job of continually pushing water into the single drain in the corner while the rain was still hammering down - it rather reminded me of the story of King Canute and the tides. Eventually the rain eased and we beat a hasty retreat to Dash Hotel.

Small postscript to the evening - our hotel has a large sports bar downstairs and since England were playing Wales in the Euros at 9pm, I decided to join the fun. Quite an experience, surrounded by a bunch of fat tattooed English geezers and one poor lone Welsh guy who copped a bit of good-natured stick. Daniel Sturridge scored the winner deep into injury time and the place absolutely erupted, most of the older blokes running around with their shirts off and so on. Interesting times!Read more