Last day at Mimpi Manis :(

01.11.11

Today was our last day in Kuta and we enjoyed another lazy day

down at the Full Moon, chatting to

Rudi the barmen, in between his naps! We also met an Iraqi guy

who lived in Germany. He was hanging out in Kuta for a few hours

before catching a flight to to Jogja. He had just done the komodo

dragon trip off Flores, so Martin was very envious!

We had our dinner in the same Warung and watched the early evening

football match across the road, that seems to be on everyday. The

pitch that they play on is not ideal, it's small, has the occasional

tree stump or tree that the ball quite often bounces off, in the

middle of the pitch and mopeds quite often drive through it mid-

play! It's odd that they choose this pitch because a few metres

away is a full size pitch with no trees!!

Made had magically appeared in the car as we were walking to the

warung and had said he would come back and pick us up in a bit.

So we called him after our meal and what seemed like 30 seconds

later he reappeared. That's service!

We spent the early evening chatting with Gemma and a young English/Welsh

couple, Neil and Beth, who had arrived the evening before. Occasionally

Made would grace us with his presence (!) and make us laugh, or poke

Gemma through the window with a long piece of grass. Or (this is my

favourite) invite Gemma to smell his armpit; never a dull moment!

We are really sad to be leaving Mimpi Manis tomorrow. The whole family

and staff have been so welcoming and helpful, nothing is too much

trouble. We will miss the laid back atmosphere, watching 'little' Martin

play home-made basket ball with 'big' Martin holding the basket;

getting cuddles with Gangi, getting growled at half-heartedly by Panther!!

Thank you once again Gemma and Made - hopefully we will be back soon x

Secret beaches.

31.10.11

Today we decided to hire bikes to explore Kuta and surrounding beaches from

a different perspective. The bikes had been delivered earlier so we

adjusted seats, collected supplies and free-wheeled down the road!

The problems came when we got to the bottom of the hill and we wanted

to start peddaling and couldn't get any friction. So we tried

adjusting the gears etc. We got to the crossroads to turn left

to Kuta and still no joy, we were both peddling frantically!!

So we called Gemma and she phoned the guy that had rented them to

us and he gave us some advice on how to change gears!! We continued

cycling along the beachfront. Martin abruptly found the correct gear,

as it dropped in, smacked his knee on the handlebars and then again.

By this time I was still having troubles and we were already both

saddle sore, so we decided to abandon our cycling attempts!!

A little disappointed we began walking along Kuta beach. We

could see some tiny secluded bays so we aimed to explore those. As

we walked along the beach, a total of about 1.5km we must have seen

a total of 8 tourists! We crossed between 3 coves as we walked

along Kuta beach, marked by strange nobbly rock formations like

creased rusting steel. Sitting on one we watched several small lizards,

that had skin that reminded me of slow worms, tiptoe silently around.

As we walked further along the beach we passed

simple houses made from bamboo panels. Again there was a small fleet

of fishing boats on the sand and some bobbing around in the shallows.

A few men were folding away their fishing nets and as we approached them

another boat came in. A small group appeared and began pulling the

narrow boat out of the water, using tree trunks. One of them called to

Martin to help so of course he dutifully dropped the rucksack and began

pushing!

With his chore complete we continued walking. Once we had walked past the small

community of fishing huts the beach got dirtier, with lots of litter and

seaweed washed up. But it soon passed. We got to the end of this cove

and just had the hurdle of more volcanice looking rock to climb until we

reached our own private little coves. So we hopped from rock to rock

beneath a half-finished villa being built on the hillside and were rewarded

with the first of 3 little private beaches that we pottered between, examining

between each rock, watching crabs scurry away.

The sand in these bays glittered in the sun and in places the sand was black.

Washed up on the sand was lots of coral, all white but so varied. Some like

bushels of cauliflower; some round handfuls of brain matter (!); some like

branches of a tree that have been dipped in plaster. There was also lots of

different types of seaweed and I collected some beautiful shells.

It was amazing sat on a rock with our feet in the water eating monkey nuts

and looking towards Kuta beach, without being able to see another soul

on the beach and just the odd fishing boat heading back in from a mornings

fishing. While we were sat there we made a new friend, a very friendly, happy dog!

He then followed us back along the beach, chasing the pale sand crabs as they

raced out of their holes towards the sea. He always made the mistake of

pouncing on them, sending sand everywhere and then not being able to see them

again! Martin took up the job of being his spotter, but he didn't tend to

pay any attention to Martin's signalling and whistling!

We walked to our favourite warung for a refreshing, cool freshly-blended

pineapple/mango juice and then began our walk to Mimpi Manis, which seems

a lot longer at Midday! School had obviously just finished as hoards of

school children were walking/riding in groups down the road. To our

suprise a moped whizzed past being driven by what looked like a 9 year old,

with 3 other children on the back! A large truck was sat at the side of the

road full of people standing in the back, and 5 or 6 boys sat on top of the

drivers compartment playing drums! Along the road, we smelt it before we

saw it, was buckets of cooked fish on sticks. Outisde most houses families

were sat dozing or chatting on shady terraces, most greeting us as we

walked past.

We were extremely hot and sweaty once we got home and spent the rest of the

afternoon dozing, writing and reading. Another lovely day!

Lazy day, Kuta beach again.

30.10.11

We decided to have another lazy day at the Full Moon. We spent a happy

few hours planning in more detail our stay in Bali next week. We

alternated between sun and shade reading our novels and admiring the view.

We opted for an early dinner at Warung 1 this time, and watched as buffalo

lumbered past in front of the football match, while we enjoyed a very

good Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng.

Exploration by Moped.

29.10.11

I was really excited about today because Martin was feeling brave enough

to hire a motorbike so we could revisit the beaches Gemma had showed

us on our orientation tour. We were both a bit more nervous than

we had been last time we went travelling,I'm not sure why, so we made sure

we had helmets and Martin drove at a cautious speed!

There is such a sense of freedom that some with riding a moped/motorbike.

Something about the wind blowing your hair, whizzing past a beautiful beach.

We visited the first 2 beaches Gemma had taken us to. Each beach was

just as deserted as the first time we went, we had trouble finding any

shade. At the first dounble-barrelled bay we did find some shade in

a little cove created by the rock between between the 2 bays. This was

great because all we could see was our little cave and the sea, along with

teems of gleaming black crabs shuffeling around. At this beach we made the

acquantance of 'Linda' and her crack team of very smiley, rotten-toothed

friends who managed to team sell us 2 sarongs. One of which Martin is

rather smitten with!

On the second beach, which is really good for paddling and exploring

rock pools, we enjoyed a coconut each. It was so good to be sat on a

near empty beach tipping cool, sweet coconut milk in to our mouths

(or all down our t-shirts, in Martin's case). There was an amazing

amount of milk in each coconut, Martin was glugging away at his for

about half an hour and I gave up. When he had finished the seller

came back and chopped the coconut in half and chipped of a couple

of spoons out of the shell. So we took it home to enjoy.

I went for a little paddle and a clamber on the rocks to spot star

fish. The star fish seemed almost to mark the path of higher sand that

you could walk on between the rocks out to the rock monolith still

surrounded by water. I had never seen star fish like this before.

In their centre they have what looks like a limpit shell, not sure

if it's hard or soft and then five spindly, wavy arms that grope around

them. There was hundreds of them, some half buried beneath the sand.

It was slightly trecherous driving away from the beach as there was

deep sand in places and lots of pot holes, but we made our way back

to Mimpi Manis.

Early evening we drove back in to Kuta for dinner and found a couple

of little warungs. We chose Warung 2, for no particular reason and

had a very cheap and tasty dinner, with a good view of the

kick around going on across the road.

Full Moon at Kuta beach

28.10.11

Gemma had recommended the Full Moon cafe/bar on Kuta beach where you could have

beach loungers and enjoy some shade, so we decided to go and spend the

day there. I was looking forward to reading my book and cooling off

in the sea. I would recommend this cafe, because it is so laid back,

you don't get hassled to buy drinks, in fact you have to seek them

out if you want to order anything! So we had a few soft drinks throughout

the day and some lunch. The only thing you have to be a little tolerant

of are the many children selling bracelets and sarongs. But they seem

to have a good sense for those who don't really mean 'No' and otherwise

once they have asked you once they will generally leave you alone!

Although there are some excpetions!....

Mid-afternoon we decided to go for a walk along the beach, to the left.

The sand is suprisingly difficuly to walk on because it is so deep.

Kuta beach is large crescent bay, with only the odd tourist on it and

a few fisherman. We watched as local Sasak people began wading out in to the sea

carrying large buckets to collect the seaweed. The bay is very shallow

and the waves break about 500m off shore. When we walked to the end

of the bay there was a group of trees in the shallow water, the tide was

out. Under the trees was a bed of strange spiky organisms growing out

of the sea bed (I'd seen them before in Palolem). They look like someone's

inserted nails in to the sand and left them to rust. The water had receeded,

leaving glimmering ripples of sand and the sun was low.

Then it happened...we were accosted by the terrible two, our nemisis(es).

These two were a force to be reckoned with! It started with a simple,

cute, "Hello! Where are you from?" Then they began counting Martin's

steps and following behind him, chorusing in different languages. The

eldest whispering the correct numbers to the littlest. They trailed

all the way up the beach behind Martin, waving their card of colourful

bracelets. We stumbled back to cafe, still being pursued, hoping to

seek refuge, but no one would protect us. So continued the relentless

sell and questioning, "Why do you speak English?"

"Because I come from England."

"You should buy for your girlfriend, or your girlfriend cry and leave you"

"She doesn't want one"

"You can buy one for your mother"

And so on. Then came the repeating everything we said! Oh what fun! It was

tempting to buy one but we had seen what happened earlier when someone

bought from one child and not the others; the tantrums (purely for show!),

along with the sob story (It's not fair, why can he buy books for school and

not me!). We also did not want to risk getting mobbed by every child selling!

Anyway eventually she left us alone! And we walked back to Mimpi Manis.

This was slightly more eventful than we'd hoped aswell! As we came to the

end of Kuta beach we came across a friendly looking brown dog, who seemed

to be wandering in the same direction as we were. He crossed the path

of several other dogs and got in to a few scuffles and they began to follow

him. We came to the junction with the right-turn that leads to

Mimpi Manis and still our mate was with us, along with 2 other dogs that seemed

to be chasing him. We crossed the road, he crossed the road with us! I was

a bit nervous, I don't mind dogs at home, but they are usually pets and a

bit more predictable. We eventually lost our original 'friend' after about 15

minutes of walking but all the way to Mimpi Manis we had a crew of 3 dogs

following us! One of the dogs was white and across both sides had Eva written

in large black writing. She followed us all the way in and had to be shooed

away by Ilu. Eva was sat outside for quite a while. Very strange! Martin

thinks it's a sign, because Eva is the name I would like to call my daughter

when I have one, after my granddad. So maybe it was my Bupu saying hello!

I'd like to think so.

Today is our 5 year anniversary so we went out for a 'posh' dinner! Gemma dropped

us at the restaurant,Bule, again highly recommended. The chef is Novetel trained.

We ordered duck and beef and both dishes were really good,the meat was tender, presented

beautifully and the service was excellent. It was worth the extra money and the beer was

cheaper than some of the other cheaper cafes. For desert we had fried banana with ice

cream and chocolate sauce. It was a huge portion and delicious.

Beach paradise!

27.10.11

What an amazing day today turned out to be and all thanks to Gemma and Made.

This morning Gemma took us out to show us around Kuta beach. Mimpi Manis is

about 2km from Kota, which to our surpise consists of only a small strip of

losmen, bars and warungs around a beautiful crescent shaped sandy bay. It was

a lot smaller than we imagined. Gemma drove through Kuta and continued

along the coast road to another beach called Tanjung Aan.

At this point in the day, I had never seen a beach like it.

It is a double cove, shaped like a 'w', in

the middle is a large bolder. The sand is so deep and golden on one side and

paler and finer on the other side. The water is a bright turquoise in the shallows

and a deep blue further out and so

clear. There is barely any shade along the beach apart from a few wooden

shelters and the odd small tree. The beach is backed by dry rugged hills and scrub.

On the beach there was only a couple of

other tourists and a dozen locals hoping to sell coconuts or sarongs.

Next we drove five minutes or so back towards Kuta. Here we came to another

beach. Again pristine, with only seaweed strewn across the sand. About

20 metres off shore there are 2 shallow rocky islands with elongated domes

of rock in the centre of each.

The third and final beach we drove to, again deserted, was just as beautiful

and is famous for surfing.

We only stopped at each beach for a few minutes just so we could get our bearings

and hopefully find our way back another day.

Gemma then took us back to Mimpi Manis as she had to drop off Made to do

another fishing trip. They had apparanetly had a very successful trip,

catching 3 baracuda and a 17kg GT! Which

meant Gemma very kindly invited us to a fish supper this as the

couple who went on the fishing trip would be coming back this evening

to see their fish get filleted and to eat it!

While we waited for Gemma to return we got chatting to some friends of hers;

Al and Debs, who had been some of her first guests 7 years ago. This

demonstrates what a lovely places Mimpi Manis is and what friendly and

accomodating people Gemma and Made are, as it seems guests keep coming

back year after year. Al and Debs are a couple from Perth. Al is a very

softly spoken professional masseuse/alternative therapist and Debs is a

truck driver in a gold mine. I'd never met anyone who works in a gold mine before!

They have visted Bali and Lombok many times and been on yoga retreats in

Nepal, so they were very interesting to chat to.

Gemma had organised to spend the afternoon with them and drive to a raved about

beach, about 45 minutes away, called Selong Blanak. So Gemma very kindly

invited us to tag along. At this point we hadn't

read or heard about this beach so we were in for a pleasant surpise. We

all bundled in Gemma's car including Gemma's young son Martin. It was a pleasant

journey chatting and enjoying the scenery. When we got to the beach we drove

down a private road, on the way we passed some young deers in a small enclosure.

The road took us to some villas and an exclusive looking cafe,

that I would definately recommend, but it was a little out of our budget!

However we did treat ourselves to one of theie divine mango cheese cakes,

which we shared.

After a relaxed lunch time we ambled down to the beach - another crescent of

beautiful barely touched golden sand. This time much wider as the tide

was out. At one end of the bay,two dozen colourful narrow fishing boats

sat on the sand in front of bamboo huts. The water was so warm but still

cool enough to be refreshing. Again there must have been about 10 people

on the beach! Just incredible.

To top the day off, when we returned we were joined by the Danish couple,

Tobin and Tina, who had caught the fish that morning, along with Deb's

brother Craig, for a huge fish supper. There was plenty of fish to go around,

cooked to perfection and accompanied by veg and steamed rice. A sensational

meal with fantastic company. And of course the evening wouldn't be complete

without the excitement of a power cut!! The funny thing is Gemma and Made

have a generator and when they switch the generator on there is alot more

power than through the mains supply in the evening, so the lights get brighter.

Gemma says there seems to be have been less voltage since development started

locally.

Anyway we had a fantastic day thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Gemma

and Made.Thank you x