2012-06-25T21:34:00.001-07:00

We manage to sleep through until about 8am this morning. I have no idea what time we got home from our big night out & surprisingly I don't feel as bad as I thought I would!

We meet the other girls at brekky and they are surprised we had gone out after we said our goodbyes last night. They laugh at all our photos & want to know all about our crazy night in Seminyak.

This morning I could eat a horse. Instead I have a fruit platter, mie goreng and a watermelon & pineapple juice. We've found if you get a table closest to Mozzarella Restaurant which is next door, you can pick up their free wifi. Otherwise it's about 10K per hour to use the internet which you can pick up from reception, the restaurant or either one of the pools.

My hubby has sent a text to say he's finally installed the free 'Viber' app – so we can now phone & text for free, providing I'm in a wifi area. This is really handy as roomie can now call her hubby too.

There are a few clouds this morning, but it is still lovely and warm so roomie & I decide a laze around the pool is in order after breakfast.

Early morning on Legian Beach

A short time later I have itchy feet and decide to go for a walk. I head out the front of the Puri Raja, walk round the corner past Mugshots and follow the winding Jl Werdakura up to Jl Legian. On the way I stop in a shop selling leather sandals & try on a lovely grey suede pair. They don't fit quite right, so I place an order to have a pair made. They will be ready tomorrow.

I stop in the Rusty shop on the corner & it's having a sale. I find a black long sleeve hoodie & a wallet for my daughter. Then off I go on search for a new dress. I walk and walk and walk stopping in any shops that catch my eye. One shop is called Natalie and I stop to take a photo as I have 2 friends of that name.

One of the shops along Jl Raya Seminyak

Then I spot Silverberry which is a silver shop I have read many great reports about on the TA forum. I'm looking for a pendant & earrings. I must of spent at least 30 mins in there before I found and fell in love with a pair of dragonfly earrings 240K (about $26) and a buddah pendant 320K (about $35). Have found the pendant on their website for $46.99 USD

http://www.silverberry.com/cpbd005.html

By the time I get to the Bintang supermarket, I've ran out of water and I'm starting to feel the effects of a hang over kick in. I stop in at the cafe next door to Bintang and order a refreshing drink which may help my hang over. It has ginger beer, lime, brown sugar & from memory ginseng along with some other ingredients which I cannot remember now. It was really refreshing & took me a while to drink but did make me feel a little better.

I didn't feel like walking or shopping anymore, so I jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. When I arrived back I changed and headed straight for the pool and caught up with some of the girls. This would become a routine for our stay.... Shop, pool, lunch, pool, day spa, pool.....

After a little while a few of us are starting to get hungry. Any suggestions the girls ask (this is trip number 11 for me, 4 of the girls have been once before and the rest are newbies). I have quite a long list of restaurants I'd been wanting to try, so 3 of the girls were keen to come with me.

We jumped in a taxi and headed for Jemme on Jl Raya Petitenget which is a restaurant & jewellery shop. As I'm writing this blog, I just realized we forgot to check out the jewellery shop!

http://www.jemmebali.com/

On the trip to Jemme I spotted lots of restaurants that were on my list to try .... The Living Room, Metis, Rumours, Sarong, Cubana Bar & Grill.... I found myself thinking "Oh thats where it is!"

When we arrived a doorman opened the taxi door then lead us through to the restaurant. Inside it's decked out like a fancy living room with chandeliers & plush furniture - very girly.

Jemme Restaurant & Jewellers

We walked in & there were no other customers, so we were a little worried at first. We need not have worried as the service & food were fantastic.

The girls enjoying lunch at Jemme

They had a 3 course lunch special for 60K ++ (approx $8) - we didn't get this, but it sounded really nice. Soup + salad + main. We wish we had come back to try this as the shredded duck, roast pumpkin & shiitake salad sounded amazing (& if you purchased from the menu it was 60K anyway!)

Lunch Promo - such a bargain!

Now quite often when one has a hang over they feel like greasy food, sometimes I don't and I was craving something like a salad. The girls had their eye on some starters, so we all shared some citrus crusted crab cakes & duck spring rolls for starters. They were simply superb and I so wish we had gone back to try them again.

Duck spring rolls & citrus crab cakes

I had my eye on the duck & pumpkin salad mentioned above, but ended up going with a roasted vegetable salad, again this was really nice.

My wonderful salad

While eating lunch I noticed a turkish restaurant called Tulip next door, another on my list to try.

After our wonderful lunch we caught another taxi & headed back to the hotel. On the way one of the girls was keen to do a bit of shopping in Seminyak, so 3 of us got out & one went back to the hotel. We walked south along Jl Raya Seminyak stopping in any shops that took our fancy. I must of tried on about 10 dresses, but again, they either didn't fit right or just weren't what I was looking for.

Well, still no new dress to wear tonight, but I did order some sandals and I do have a new long sleeve hoodie that I can at least take on the plane for the trip home.... maybe tomorrow I'll find one!

Back to the hotel & we meet up with the others by the pool. Tonight we've decided to go to Potato Head.

One group of ladies ready to head to Potato Head

I was hoping to make it there for the sunset, but trying to organise 12 ladies in a hurry proved to be a bit tricky. No new dress to wear so I wore a dress I was going to reserve for day wear. With one group of ladies ready we headed out the front & realized there were too many for a taxi. Before negotiating a price with a driver we agreed to pay no more than 10K each so that was 60K total (about $6.50). The driver immediately said 50,000 so we said 'Lets' go'! In the end we gave him the 60K as he was a lovely chatty driver who told us all about his wife & kids.

Turning left into Potato Head from Jl Raya Petitenget & driving down a long driveway gave no clues for what we were about to see. We were stopped by security who checked the van over well before waving us on. The facade is amazing with thousands of coloured shutters - I had read about this place many times and still nothing could prepare you for it.

Would of looked better arriving earlier than 6.30pm

Potato Head just before sunset (taken on my friend's camera)

When our group arrived about 6.30pm, the sun had already set. There was a line up and we were beginning to think we should of rang ahead & made a booking like our 2 friends from Sydney did – they were already in there.

Luckily we didn't have very long to wait. We followed the walkway up into Potato Head that was flanked by a high wall with water running all down it. Walking inside our jaws dropped at just how amazing this place was. It was quite busy by this time and our only choice of seating were on these circular benches which was fine for drinks, but we would probably have to move for dinner.

I just had to try a cocktail I'd read about in a forum (thanks again Islandtraveller72... hopefully I have the correct TA member!). It was called a Millionaire Martini & came out on a wooden tray in 3 parts. The waiter told me it was entree, main & desert! Passionfruit martini (I think?), sparkling wine with passionfruit foam & half a passionfruit. It was probably the most expensive cocktail I'd ever had including back home at approx $18, but hey, it was an experience!


Millionaire Martini

Not long after our drinks arrived, the Sydney girls found us and they had finished their meals and had secured a day bed near the infinity pool. They put us on the waiting list and not long later, one became available next to theirs.

About 30 mins later the 2nd lot of girls arrived and again we were lucky when another day bed became available right in front of the infinity pool.

We ordered dinner & most of us were a bit disappointed with our meals, they were the most expensive on the trip & nothing special. I didn't mind my meal, a duck risotto, but my roomie thought it was way too peppery.

Duck risotto

I posted this photo on Facebook of my meal & my husband responds with "I'm sorry Nell, but that looks regurgitated!" and then my sister-in-law adds "I'm with you Anthony, ewww, not the best shot Nell" Hahahaha I have to agree, it doesn't look real good!

There are at least 3 different restaurants in Potato Head, we probably picked the wrong one. Having said that, would definitely go back again, the ambience more than made up for the average meal.

After a meal and a Bintang (would of loved another cocktail, but didn't want to re-mortgage my house) the 3 girls I went to lunch with today were ready to head back to the hotel. I was in 2 minds to stay on... My mind said 'lets stay and party on' but my gut said 'go & get some rest'. The others couldn't believe I was going & all wanted me to stay longer then come along with them to Mixwell afterwards – but I just couldn't back up after last nights effort.

So as we left I'm still thinking 'crap I'm going to miss out on a great night, especially as all 8 of them were going to Mixwell' … but when I finally walked out I knew I had done the right thing.

We used the car service from Potato Head and from memory it was about the same price our driver had charged to take us here (I don't know what others have complained about it being too expensive - $1.10 each to get home is cheap in my opinion!)

It was lovely driving back to the hotel seeing all the restaurants lit up in fairy lights – The Living Room look especially good!

Back at the hotel I said goodnight to the girls, scrubbed my make up off and jumped into bed with a good book. Ahhhh so glad I came home....

Day 3.... Still no new Dress