Whooo, what a day.

Fixed the hotel credit limit snafu at the desk this morning. Yes, it seems my credit card had not been charged when I booked, and so the Rp.6,450,000 was for thr first 6 nights’ accommodation and etcs. So I paid it and all was sweet. But they never told me of any credit limit or that they hadn’t already been paid for the room.

Anyway, I went to breakfast at the Art Cafe at 9am, expecting Yudhi to collect me at 10am as he’d said. Nope, this time, just as my order arrived, he texted me, “peter please bring your passport I pick you up now”

I said, hang on, I’m eating my breakfast. But he arrived 10 mins later with John and Patricia in the car, so I had to hurry and finish eating and post the blog this morning.

OK, so we set off and it turned out we were going to the Notari’s office, ie a solicitor, to draw up some documents and formalise the transfer. OK with me.

It took a while! This was a guy John had never met, so it was a neutral field for both of us, which was good.

The solicitor was a young, intelligent, charming guy who put us all at ease, even with halting English, and we felt happy with his conduct.

The agreement took nearly two hours to write up and duplicate, using a dot matrix printer by the sound of it.

Eventually he came back and read it to us and there was lots of signing and initialling and stamping of seals. John has done this before and was pretty familiar with the ropes. I felt fine with it.

The result is, I have to pay some money in the next few days, but I am now the legal owner, (no, 30 year leaseholder, with option of 20 year extension) of Jasmine Villa, Jalan Blanjong, Sanur, Bali.
That means I can start fitting it out, so next stop was a furniture maker nearby to order a custom made bed. Nothing fancy, just a base, but of solid timber in a Japanese style (my choice). About $200.

Then to Denpasar to the Commonwealth Bank to try to arrange an interbank transfer to pay John and the notary. Sorry sir, we do not have an on-line connection to Australia. We cannot do. What??!! So the good old CBA has let me down again. I’ll have to risk it over internet banking on an unsecured wi-fi connection tonight.

Then it was on to a big furniture and electrical place in Denpasar, a Hardly Normal equivalent (but with helpful staff!) There I picked out a fridge, a microwave oven and spotted a mattress that looked just right. I didn’t buy – these were just model numbers to be shopped around by Yudhi for the best price from his contacts.

But I’m especially happy with the fridge and microwave, both Panasonic and both examples of good design, in my opinion. The fridge is 463L, (19% bigger than mine at home), bottom freezer with Fast Ice Cube section, and top section with the thinnest walls I’ve ever seen in a fridge. $644.

The microwave oven is an inverter convection/griller type with a mirror glass front and heaps of functions. $311.

I didn’t choose a mattress even though I saw a nice one, but it was $440. We’ll look again tomorrow. It was 4pm by then and we were all tired out.
 
Oh, and the phone line is already connected at the villa (but there’s no phone on the end yet!) and my new number is 0011 62 361 28 33 86. And, I have ADSL on that line!!!! Can’t get it in Perth, but I’ve got it here, now. Doesn’t that say it all?

So back to the Mercure for a shower and rest, and in theory, Yudhi is taking us to his restaurant tonight for Crispy Duck, but if he doesn’t show, I won’t be sorry. A bit too tired at the moment.

I was nearly going to write that the day was remarkable for the lack of rain, but it’s bucketed down tonight. No worries! That’s life in Bali. Malam.

Sorry, rushed post:

Well, I’ve done it. I shook hands with the owner of Jasmine Villa yesterday afternoon and as soon as I pay him 10% of the 10% deposit today, it’s effectively mine. In fact, he’s a very straightforward, plain talking guy and since we shook hands, it’s effectively mine now.

It’s greatly helped by the fact that the owner is a Briton who’s been living in Perth for 25 years and is a self made man, running his own businesses, buying and selling property, and has now retired to Bali himself with his wife. We’re just on the same wavelength as each other, both have the same attitudes and feelings about Perth and Bali. It’s almost a case of completing each other’s sentences.

We met for lunch yesterday with Yudhi, then went to the villa and spent nearly two hours going over it while I pointed out rough bits that needed cleaning up and minor fixes. In fact, John spotted many things I hadn’t and volunteered willingly to fix them.

Best of all, I’d spoken about the need for an electric lift way of getting to the upper floor, since I’m finding the stairs a little difficult.

He says he can source a glass enclosed lift which will easily do the job and can be mounted on the outside, in an ideal spot next to the stairs. Being fully glass enclosed, it’s weatherproof. He says it’s not expensive, but I don’t know what that means yet. No problem.

It’s ideal, because John is well used to sourcing supplies and parts for his business, so “just does it.” If it were me, I’d be agonising and faffing around, trying to design and build one myself and never achieving it.

We also agreed on sliding timber doors for the double garage to provide security and weather protection, so at last I’ll be able to build my DCC model railway! How ironic – no room to do it in Perth, and had given up on the idea, but here I can revive it, in Bali!

I also said to John, why would I want an oven here? At first he was surprised when I said all I want is a microwave oven, but then he realised he could take my (brand new, in box) oven away for another villa and credit me on a microwave instead. Solved to both our benefits.

So today we’re going to the CommBank branch here to arrange a cash advance, then to a bedding shop to buy a bed and mattress, then to choose a fridge and microwave, all these for later delivery. And a sheet set. The airconditioners work in all four bedrooms, so sleeping should be very nice.

And we agreed that the bathroom toilets need a patterned glass door to give privacy. At the moment, the toilet is in full view if anyone comes out of the bedroom, but even I draw the line at that! Open plan living goes only so far.

We also arranged for a stainless steel ladder at a gentle slope to be made for the pool, and a few extra intermediate steps to make the step-ups a little less effort.

So all in all, it’s a done deal. I’m even going to be able to leave some heavy and bulky items here (CPAP, tripod, monopod, and some clothes) so that I can travel back light and easy.

And best of all, they asked when my flight is: it’s 9am on Wednesday, which means leaving this hotel at 6.30am or so. I was hoping the hotel would provide transport, but no way! Not this rip-off palace. But Yudhi and John said they’ll drive me! I’m amazed.

So back to hotel atrocities: there was aletter under my door when I got in last night. “Dear Mr Croft, we have a credit limit of Rp.1,000,000 ($111) and as you have reached Rp.6,450,000 ($715), please come to reception and settle this amount immediately.”

What??!! I was shocked. All I’d booked up was three beer tabs of $15 or so each and one meal of about $25. I thought there must be some mistake. Had someone else been signing stuff for my room?
When I booked, I had to provide my credit card details, of course. I assumed I’d paid in advance, on-line, since this was a cheap(er) rate non-refundable booking.

I haven’t been to reception yet (Monday morning) but I sincerely hope it’s just that the credit card on-line was only a guarantee, and that the big amount is just for the first six nights acommodation. It better be just a misunderstanding.

OK, breakfast a the Art Cafe across the road and free unlimited wi-fi with it, for $5.50 instead of the $15 this hotel wants for breakfast. Grrr.

Later: hotel bill fixed OK.
Cheers.