Well our trip to Bali is now over and we are back home in Cold Melbourne and this is our last report. Days 17 & 18 Friday 15th It's Koala's birthday today and we surprised here with presents of a gift box set of Balinese massage oils, aromatherapy oils, Balinese incense sticks and holders and a large ceramic bowl. Shar^kie had booked koala in for a full Balinese massage at the hotel massage and spa area. Unexpectedly there was a knock at our door. The hotel had sent a birthday cake around for her and it was delivered by the hotel security. Cool After the massage koala just wanted to relax so shar^kie headed out to Legian and to catch up with Si Bidak for a trip to the Bali Orphanage. I jumped into a light blue taxi and round to the Sira Ratu hotel where the "Crackers Clan" also joined us for the trip to the orphanage. After about 30 mins in a taxi we arrived at the Orphanage where I took some pics and we chatted to the sisters and kids. You can see the pics at : http://www.bali.50megs.com/2001/orphanage.htm the Orphanage needs help and if you can help , please visit the home page. Back at the Sri Ratu for a few quick pics and a Bintang ( please get in contact Peter so I can send them to you. ) and then off to drop Si Badak at Sammy and Sussy's ( Thanks for paying the taxi fare so far Crackers !!! ) where I quickly meet some Forumites, back in the cab and it's off to Sanur where Koala and scotty have been waiting for me. As it's koala's birthday I tried to get her a cray fish for dinner on my way home but all the restaurants I stopped at in JL Legian were a lot dearer per kilo than Jimbaran Bay so I give up my search and asked koala what she wanted and where she wanted to go for dinner - We ended up at Koki's. Saturday 16th Our last day in Bali as we had a flight at 1 am on Sunday morning . Pointed out by scotty that we hadn't taken him go karting it was off in a car to Legian. We just grabbed Ketut who is always out the front of the Radisson Suites with his green Mazda 323, great driver and became a good friend. Koala was dropped off in Kuta for some last min shopping and we went ahead to the go karts in JL Kartika Plaza, Tuban. Needing someone to race with I invited Ketut to join us and although very reluctant to do so at first, he eventually accepted. He had never been on a go kart before and you couldn't wipe the smile off his face ( see our pics at : http://www.bali.50megs.com/2001/gokarts.htm ) Cost was not cheap but it's a heap of fun 2 seats 65,000Rp single seat 60,000Rp for 10 mins including insurance. If its not busy they usually let you go longer. After the karts it was back to catch up with koala in Kuta Square. Koala had bought makeup for herself and our teenagers at home. Now about lunch time we headed for Taman Gardens Rest in Melasti st, Legian. Here you can leave things for Gloria's Crisis Care Centre. Koala had purchased some things at the Makro store and wanted to leave them for Gloria. We had lunch there and decided to do another last run at the shops. Shar^kie always wanted one of the Balinese umbrella's and outside garden lamps with the coconut hair tops, so we asked Ketut if he knew a shop that stocked umbrella's. Ketut said he knew and off we went heading back to Sanur. We then went through Sanur and up along the main Ubud road. Shar^kie asked Ketut if we were going the right way and he said yes. About 30 mins after leaving Kuta we arrived at the village of "SUKAWATI" and guess what - this village mainly created those great colourful umbrellas and wooden garden lamps !! Not a "shop" but an entire village. We walked through the local market and other than another 2 German's, we were the only tourists there. Shar^kie asked in one shop, ran by this old Balinese lady, what the prices were for a large golden / yellow umbrella and she said 70,000Rp. As they were all wrapped shar^kie opened one to see the size and found that there was 2 per pack. Asking again he was told yes that's correct 70,000Rp for a pack of 2 ( minus the poles ) that's 35,000 each. He didn't even bother to bargain and just smiled at the old lady and said "Okay I will take them" It must have made here day as she blessed shar^kie, the umbrella's and the shop. Shar^kie was extremely happy with the umbrella's, the price and the old lady. Further up the road past the market we spotted a shop selling the garden lamps so we stopped and shar^kie had a look around. The younger lady in this shop was a bit harder to please. After looking at about 20 lamps shar^kie picked one and asked the price. 120,000Rp she said but Ketut said to shar^kie that's dear. After about 10 mins of bargaining shar^kie was happy to pay 60,000Rp and we left with the lamp. Once home, shar^kie wired a light into it and it's now in our lounge. ( see our pics under go-karts. ) If you are heading for Ubud and have an hour or so to spare on the way, we suggest you take a stroll around the village of Sukawati it's not far out of Ubud. Back to the Radisson Suites for a last swim at camp splash. Everyone grabbed a floatation device and headed for the pool. Not that we all needed them to swim but they did make you come down the water slide faster hehehe. We met some friends we made at the hotel, at the pool and they were also leaving this night. We agreed to meet back in our room after dinner as we had it booked till midnight. Running out of time it was decided to go back to Koki's and anther fine meal was had by all - I can't believe that after the amount of times we ate there we didn't take any pics, ahh well there's always next trip !!. Gary and family met us and we had a few bintangs while the kids played scotty's playstation. 10 pm arrived too quickly and it was time to head to the airport. Shar^kie struggled down to the foyer with all the bags and we realised that not all of our luggage was going to fit into Ketuts car who we had booked earlier. Shar^kie had a word with the hotel's driver and he agreed that we could place our luggage in his mini van with Garry and family while koala, scotty and shar^kie rode in Ketuts car. We told Ketut to follow the hotel bus and not lose it !!! Hmmm shouldn't have said that as we sat about 4 feet off the hotels van back bumper all the way to the airport. Arriving at the airport with 2 hours before the flight we struggled with 3 cases and 5 bits of hand luggage -being our laptop, video camera bag ,digital camera bag, along with shar^kies garden lamp and a bag full of the wooden items we bought. We always try and keep the wood and food in the same area's but after our trip to the Makro store we had one suite case full of food items !!! You have to have EVERY piece of luggage scanned as you enter the terminal and this takes time with 4 jumbo's departing around the same time. ( Allow the 2 hours at the airport ) Once the luggage was all on board we proceeded through customs. Don't lose that little white piece of paper you get back from immigration when you enter Bali as you will have a hard time leaving and it may cost you a few Rp's. Well the people in front of us had lost theirs and after a few mins a customs officer saw poor tired scotty and pulled us out of the very large line and processed us in a separate room - thanks mate - that was much quicker !! Once inside we met up with Gary and family again . It was now just after midnight and we noticed a lot of the duty free shops were closing, The upgraded terminal has quite a few shops now BUT they are a lot dearer than Kuta or Sanur. Shar^kie found his umbrella's for sale in one shop for US$50 EACH !!!!. Soon our flight was announced and we made that long walk down the corridor to our waiting plane. The door closed and the smells were gone. Lights out for take off and we all struggled to catch our last glimpse of the glow from the lights along Jimbaran beach and the hills. Good bye Bali - Till next time. Cheers again from Shar^kie koala and scotty