Actually enjoyed a reasonable “night” of sleep at the Rai House….with a decent breakfast poolside (USD 30 per night) ….the pool was tiny but with plenty of ambience  (the gardener in me…) Click on pics to enlarge…

……..my ankle still hurts, but we are off to: change money, buy a SIM card/minutes, find where our boat to Nusa Lembognan is taking off from and have a general look around the waterfront.

Beautiful morning, about 28C and after a bit, we find a Hardy’s (supermarket chain) where we get the SIM card and minutes for about 20USD, after much debate about which money changer to use we find a good rate at a Circle C and exchange a 1,000USD and get almost 13million rp in return…..YEAH !! we are now officially millionaires.

Now the fun starts as we need to find a place for lunch……we decide to follow the promenade which hugs the shoreline and has a mix of local market stalls selling all the “stuff” …”come madame see my shop…look, look “, we bravely soldier on gawking at some of the upscale resorts:

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and finally settle on a mid range waterside resto > quite nice with a light onshore breeze and a very nice snapper/frites/salad for me and an Indonesian chicken curry for madame + 3 Bintangs (local beer) =13 USD.

Re-energized we continue on the promenade dropping into one of the upscale waterside resorts > sumptuous grounds and beautiful Balinese-styled buildings > a garden view “villa” is USD 150 per day with breakfast and taxes all-in. Not cheap, but it sure looks like a good value proposition…..asked some foreigners what they thought and they were highly enthusiastic. Something to consider for our last days in Bali.

Then back to the Rai House for a nap/pill as my ankle was starting to act up.

 

Started raining as we were about to leave for dinner….but no worries the owner ordered take-out (fried noodles and fried rice) + a large Bintang and all was good. It is interesting staying at a homestay as it so much more personal > we talked for an hour about his business, expectations, future plans for him and his family…great stuff then off to bed !