My new bag, front side.

New bag, backside.

It was another long tiring day yesterday, but successful.  First, though, I’m writing this at 5.45am due to another sleepless night. I slept about two hours until 1am, then woke and despite lying there for hours, have not got back to sleep. So now I’m listening to ABC Radio National via the internet and having some coffee and a small snack. I guess I’ll crash later, but since it’s Sunday and I have no schedule, it hardly matters.

It was successful because I took my laptop with me to check size and found the bag above fits it OK (not perfectly, but good enough), so I bought it. Fossil brand. Real leather and grey cotton canvas. Not too many pockets, so you don’t lose stuff. Another handbag for me.

I was sorely tempted by a US made Tumi brand above, but the prices were astronomical, over $500. Beautifully made, but that’s too much.

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While waiting for the Kura Kura bus today, I had a long talk with Gus, the duty manager of this Taksu Hotel. Very nice guy, probably younger than thirty and already a proud father of one boy, with another boy in the oven. He knows the sex before it’s born. Two sons will help him with his old age support, as is necessary here, where there’s no pension or any form of social security, but he’d like a daughter next time. He lives in his parents’ house with his own family and a sister, and his mother who is in her 50s. His father is older and infirm in some way and is in separate accommodation. I didn’t understand that bit.

He’s very keen to get my business and when I said I’d definitely stay here next time, he said he’ll give me a better price than any of the on-line booking sites. Bagus. He gave me his phone number and email and said just call or write.

[Holy smoke! I’d just written a long paragraph, when I saw it literally disappear before my eyes. Something erased it, and it wasn’t me. Damn! Infuriating. The bugs in this Word Press software are numerous and annoying and are never fixed. Grrrrrr! I suppose I can’t complain about free software, but I will. Word Press, lift your game!]

So now I start this paragraph again, if I can remember what I wrote. I said whenever we/I have chosen another hotel, invariably it’s disappointed us, sometimes in big ways. The Taksu is almost the perfect hotel as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll keep coming back. I’ll resist any attempt to persuade me to use another hotel. Sorry, my dear.

The rooms seem especially spacious. I’m in the cheapest room at the moment, but at 35m2 it’s still exceptionally large. It has a big armchair and footstool which I love. The bathroom is excellent, everything is in good condition, the bed is kingsized and has soft white sheets and pillows. The room safe works and is bolted down (the Artotel safe firstly didn’t work because there were no batteries in the door, and it was just sitting on the shelf, not fixed. I could just pick it up and walk off with it. Huh!) The restaurant is run by a separate company (Bali Bakery) and is a little pricey, but the food is nice. I can’t seem to get out of there for less than $12, which is a bit dear for Bali, but not by much.

The only complaints I have are trivial: the toilet roll holder is too far back, so I have to remove the toilet roll and put it closer; they insist on putting the ripple-folded bath mat right in the doorway of the bathroom – I trip over it and it’s hard on my feet – I have to move it; and there’s no ice cube tray. That’s about it. Nothing, in other words.

Oh yes, one more thing: I wish they’d move the hotel about 600m closer to the beaches.

By the way, there was a red Mercedes E63 in the car park yesterday. That’s a 6.3 litre fuel injected V8. Does 0-100km/h in about 4.5secs. It belongs to the owner of the hotel, apparently. Hmmm.

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I had a very nice little snack for lunch yesterday, a Tiger Roll, shown above. The text says: “A delicious mix of soft bread, spicy chicken floss, smoked beef, scallions and zucchini. Rp14,000” or $1.40. I’ve never seen anything like this, and it was very tasty. Pick it up in fingers to eat. Notice the price and text in Japanese. They cater to them.

I also saw these for sale in the SOGO Japanese department store. Can you believe these are brand new, for sale. I didn’t see a price, but I bet they’re not cheap, yet they look as if they should be thrown out in the old rags bin. Crazy. What next, pre-soiled? Showing my age, I guess.

Next, how about black ice cream? Very delicious, actually. It’s not aniseed flavour as you’d expect, just normal vanilla or something. Looks like something to be eaten on the black sand beaches here.