Well we had no expectations of today other than having the opportunity to enjoy our surroundings. Waking up to the sound of birdsong at a reasonable hour, we headed outside to admire the views again. Breathtaking is the only word to describe it and today against a backdrop of pure blue sky made it even more so. Imagine a deep valley full of exotic leaves, flowers, birds and sounds, with the blue sky and sea in the distance and you are somewhere near to picturing our experience.
Meandering through the tropical grounds towards the restaurant for breakfast was most satisfying. Passing the most enormous cricket on our way, we reached the upstairs restaurant to be warmly greeted by the beautiful Balinese staff who can only be described as professional, polite and fluent in the English language! Although we had managed to learn a few Balinese phrases before we left home, the opportunity to try them out is limited!! From a choice of American, continental, Japanese or Balinese breakfast we both settled on the American. With yet another amazing view we happily sat eating our leisurely breakfast, enjoying the freshly squeezed juice, exotic fruits, homemade jams and the eggs perfected to our liking ( including poached- hard, soft or medium- at home we are just happy to have them not burst!!!!). The chicken sausage is not bad either!!! Passing the tank of crayfish (ready for tonight's meal I expect) we headed back through the gardens to the privacy of our villa. The gardeners were in full flow doing their jobs- but not in the least bit too busy to call out to us and ask us how we were and to wish us a good day!
So back to the room and the day consisted mainly of a bit of snoring, rehydrating, plunging in the pool and reading our tacky novels. Here is the Damai Mojite we had as a welcome drink, today we ordered one from room service.
All in all what else could we have wished for on our 'day at leisure', as described in our itinerary.
I (Helen) am quite fascinated by the wildlife. The little birds in the trees are so pretty and I could have loved to have been able to identify them but hey ho- I'm not a twitcher and can't pretend to be so. However, I can confess to having a sneaky look on Google to see if I could shed any light on the loud bird that 'cawed' from dusk to dawn. If you're wondering- I never did find out what it was. However, the evening sounds of the outside wildlife is continuous. On our very first night we were convinced it was dawn as the local cockerel started crowing!! We have since discovered that they make that noise constantly- day and night!! I am certain though that tonight we are sharing our room with a small lizard- I frightened it away when I entered the room from the pool so I'm hoping it has found a quiet place to sleep which isn't too close to our bed!!
After the walk to the restaurant accompanied by the croaking of the local frogs, our evening started with a couple of cocktails at the bar and chat with one of the friendly staff. We opted for a 'white lady' and a 'Damai Slipper' which I have to say slipped down quite well!!
We decided again to have the Balinese menu (partly because Chris can't read in the dark and although the kind girl held a torch for us to read the menu- she had no idea how long it takes us to choose what we are eating so the set menu was the easiest option without putting her to too much trouble! ). We were not disappointed. After the amuse bouch and homemade bread the starter arrived. Not looking quite a decadent as last night's meal but the flavours well and truly made up for it!!
TODAY'S 3-COURSE BALINESE MENU
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