Day 5 - Moving Home

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So, everyone better this morning - at least better than they were last night. Actually everyone still pretty poorly and struggling to keep upright at this stage. The mere mention of food around Emily is enough to drain the colour from her face and start the sweat flowing.

I'll keep the details light here other than to say it was a very restless night for Pamela and Emily.

However, despite how everyone is feeling, today is the day we headed to Ubud and the Santi Mandala Spa and Villa.

Our original plan was to hire a car for the day and stop at a few places on the way to Ubud. With Emily virtually unable to walk we shelved that plan and caught a taxi straight here without stopping. Unfortunately the heat, humidity and fever got to Emily and by the time we arrived she was in a bad way and she had to be driven from the taxi to our room in a golf cart. Our room wasn't ready yet but the villa put us up in another room while we waited so Emily could lie down in an air-conditioned room to try to recover.

After a short wait our room was ready and we moved in to try to settle things down. The short time in the cooler room had helped and Emily was able to have a cold shower and started to feel better again.

Which brings me to the villa. The grounds are very nice with ponds and mini temples everywhere and the room is lovely. Typical Balinese architecture - thatched roof, carvings everywhere, timber everything - very simple but very nice. The rooms have an interesting setup where the bathroom is inside the villa entrance but outside in the elements. Not sure how I'll go doing my morning ablutions in semi public but I'll just have to cope. Actually it's quite private and very refreshing to have a warm shower in the cold rain. We found that out today when we had our first rain for the trip. it was great as the temperature and humidity dropped significantly and really freshened up the air. Tom and I went swimming in the pool during the rain and again, pleasantly warm pool water with cold rain is a winning combination that I'd recommend to anyone. What ended up putting me off was the ominous sounds of thunder heading our way. We headed back to room to rest for a while and to see if we could work out what we will do tomorrow.

By a sheer stroke of luck, Pamela happened to stumble across the spa menu in the room guide and managed to book in for a massage at 5. She also booked Tom and I in at 6. We turned up at the appointed time and were led to the massage room. There were two massage tables in the room and Tom had a traditional Balinese massage and I did the feet thing again. At the end, they had drawn a bath for us to rinse off in. Trouble was, it was a bath for two which they had filled it with rose petals. I'm not sure Tom was too thrilled to face the prospect of having such a romantic moment with his dad but, hey, we're family. Luckily they had a shower next to the bath which prevented any embarrassment.

After the massage, Pamela and I went for a bite to eat. Emily wasn't feeling up to food and Tom wasn't hungry - which basically means he is still recovering from his bout of gastro also.

Hopefully everyone will be feeling better tomorrow so we can get out to see some of the local attractions.

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Photos

Slow start
Emily really wasn't well and needed to rest extensively for a couple of days after getting sick.

Outside bathroom
Wasn't expecting an outside bathroom when we got here. Turns out to be very pleasant having a shower outside in the fresh air!

Towel Art
The kids insisted this looked like an elephant trunk. I was convinced it looked like an upside-down ballerina

Shower in the rain
Nothing like having a warm shower in the cool rain and, yes, I am wearing bathers below.

Light snack for Emily
Emily was feeling poorly but still needed to eat something. Some crackers seemed to do the trick.