Bali Aug 2014 - Days 10-11

Day 10 - Monday

Usual drill this morning. Breakfast, suntan lotion up and then hit the pool. Finished my second book (Flash Boys which is a fascinating and pretty shocking read about High Frequency Traders on Wall St) and started my next one on Maths :-) I can hear the yawns now!!

Now, Martin Ward challenged me to the ice bucket challenge yesterday so we had the task of sourcing a bucket full of ice. Luckily (or unluckily for me) the hotel staff rose to the challenge admirably with a bucket of the coldest water ever. It was literally freezing over it was so full of ice. 

See Facebook for the footage of my challenge and donate to Macmillan (or some other worthy cause). Confirmation of my donation. 

After my ice bucket challenge it seems to have caught on in the hotel. Although we didn't know it at first. It started with a crazy dragon man prancing around...

Then we got a bit worried thinking we were about to witness a beheading...

But luckily it was a ice bucket challenge for the hotel manager with all the staff around. They absolutely loved it. 

The dragon man did very well jumping around pouring the ice buckets on him. 

Then back to the lounger for more chill time. I head back to the room to put my phone on charge only to find this fella flapping around. Good job I went up and not Nat!

Nat's phone is still broken from last nights 'wave incident' but we have at least managed to source a cup of rice to help dry it out. It worked last time so fingers crossed. 

Our gorgeous pool as the sun starts to set. 

Another sunset treat this evening as we head further down the beach to the beach bars for a few sundowners. 

Mr & Mrs Bintang. 

I think the sky is even better tonight if that is possible. Amazing colours. 

The cool acoustic band that always plays as the sun goes down. Very fitting that they start with Coldplay's Paradise. 

Bit of after sun for Nat. Proud of myself for not drawing a massive willy. 

That evening we go to the highly recommended Mama San for dinner and we are not disappointed. Really cool restaurant and great food once again. We have eaten like kings in Bali. 

http://mamasanbali.com

Yes we did. 

After dinner we head back to the hotel to see if there is a film on. We end up watching some filth about a dirty hooker called Pretty Woman ;-)

Day 11 - Tuesday

Well into our set routine now which is bliss for us but terrible for interesting blog content. So as with yesterday I will focus again on the main thing that differed today vs other days. Today's topic... My first attempt at surfing. 

Here is me hiring my board...

Making my way into the water. Who needs a lesson? How hard can it be? We all spent many an hour as kids surfing on a lilo in a swimming pool. This must surely stand me in good stead. 

Making my way out. 

This was pretty much as close as I got to standing up...

I got very used to falling off...

I definitely persisted though. 

Beached...

Still look cool carrying it out of the water though... (obviously on the assumption that no-one saw what I did with it in the water!) 

After this I head back into the sea for some more fun. Or so I thought. I was starting to get the hang of it more after a few more waves, although I was ruining my knees in the process with he equivalent of painful 'carpet' burns from the surf board. Anyway, I spy a decent sized wave, line myself up, paddle hard, jump on to attempt standing up. Unfortunately my weight was a little too far forward which meant the front of the board nose dived into the water and catapulted me over the top into the break. That bit was fine. The issue was the force of the wave snapped the end of my board off. Doh!! To be fair they are only cheap beginners ones made of polystyrene and a thin piece of wood but that excuse did not fly when I took it back to the guys hiring them when they tried to charge me £100 for it. I end up paying £20. Very annoying though. I decide to call it a day! Great fun though. I must arrange a proper weekend with some proper tuition!

An hour later we were back in our spot knocking back Bintang's as the sun goes down. Not such a good sunset this evening though. We lose the sun quite early behind thick cloud. Still bliss though. 

Gone so soon...

That evening we end up being pretty lucky for dinner. We were deliberating whether to head into Kuta (tourist central and the more pikey part of the island but where Hard Rock is) but in the end we decide against it as there is so much on offer in Seminyak. Anyway we decide to go to the W for drinks but on the way pass a restaurant called Métis which we have read about quite a lot. We divert the taxi and manage to get a table straight away. The place is amazing, one of our nicest restaurants yet and it has very tough competition. It is set overlooking a gorgeous rice paddy field. It's like Cafe Warisan but with a much better vibe and a lot busier (they are actully the same group but this is the new one that has opened aimed at the slightly younger crowd). 

http://www.metisbali.com

Once again the food is top notch. I had the lamb shank that just fell off the bone for main and Nat had the trout. Both absolutely delicious. Awesome potato gratin too. 

Another cheeseboard with a desert wine after dinner. Rude not to!

Looking back over the rice paddy's towards the resturant. 

Not sure why this guy is pretending his finder is a willy. 

Such a cool place. Highly recommend. We have a very long list of top recommendations for food here now. Last full day in Bali tomorrow so we head back pretty tired after dinner. It's tiring work all this lounging around and eating.