Hi,
Just a short report from our September's Holidays in Bali, FIRST TIME.
We stayed at Adhi Jaya Hotel very close to Water Boom. Very nice place, we will go back again.
We did like Bali very much but to classified Bali as a paradise and ultimate island we don't really think so, paradise it's a big word. Anyway we stay only 7 days in Bali and we went to see a few places as recommended by some of you on the forum. We did like the Butterfly Park, and yes the entry cost 50,000rp each, and feel sorry for those who have paid 100,000 by been con by the driver, better to buy the tickets yourself. The park was deserted, we don't think it's much visited nevertheless the nursery inside the park it is very interesting and the girl explain quite a lot about the different stages before becoming a butterfly.
We did see Tanahlot Temple and should be part of your tour, not be miss, and this goes also for Uluwatu with the Kecak dance, here the sunset it is the best one in Bali what an experience, it is a must. The sunset in kuta, just outside the Black Canyon Café, it's also nice. Talking about Black Canyon Café, we had lunch one day and we found little worms in the salad so we send the dish back and order some fish dish which never arrived to our table, not even after 40 minutes, and within this time god only knows how many times we asked; what is happening with our food? We did live refusing to pay for the bill, we only pay for the drinks, also very slow service.
The trip to Jatiluwih was very good and the views that you can see before getting there are very nice too. The rice terraces are something that you don't see very often in Indonesia, not like the one in Bali anyway.
We also been to Pura Ulun Danu Beratan and we took some photo with the temple, very nice place with lots of flowers in the park. Immediately after we went to Lake Buyan & Tamblingan, we were not impress with the two lakes and we definitely will not do it again.
One night we went to Jimbaran beach, the sunset was fantastic because you are sitting right on the beach, very different from Uluwatu where you are up high on the cliff. What really ruined our evening was the dinner we had at the restaurant, Pudak Café. The tables are right on the sand and this is very nice, but the food was very lousy. We had one king prawn 120,000rp, one fairly big fish called Baronang 110,000rp and one crab 160,000rp, one large bintang and 1 mineral water.
The king prawn was not very big and under cooked. The crab meat, not ease to be found maybe because they did not use all and was also reduce to mince meat and floating in a very, very, very spicy tomato sauce. The only gave us 2 chooses for the crab and we told them not to make it too spices and the sauce was supposed to be serve separate from the meat. We did not eat much of it. The baronang was very good and also the soup that was served free of charge. Terrible meal, go to a different restaurant but even so be careful of what you order. We paid 487,880rp and also complained.
Poppy lane 1 and 2 are very good for shopping and you can get a good deal, we bought many picture hand painted, very nice.
Legian road it's very interesting and you can buy many things, also very good restaurants. One, where we had our dinner, fish restaurant, very good, can't remember the name, but it is on the left hand site of the road going towards the Bali Memorial. We decided to eat here only because they were showing the prices, the other restaurant not too far away, did not.
Talking about Legian road, the pavement on the right hand site going towards the Memorial it is very dangerous because it is full of holes everywhere, you have to watch where you put your feet and apparently it hase been like this for very long time but no one ever mention this in the forum.
We follow the recommendations of many Bali Forum writers and we had lunch at Papa's café, most enjoyable and the pizza it is very good, we also recommended it.
We have use Wayan Adiarsa Tour Operator for all our trips following a recommendation from the forum, the driver it is very reliable, punctual, not pushing, and willing to help, stop anywhere, anytime.
We are recommending him. +62 81 64747220
wayanaditransport@yahoo.com
www.wayanadiarsa.com
We had manicure, pedicure and feet scrub done on the beach, more or less opposite Poppies 1, drinking bintang at the same time, very relaxing. The girls did a very good job, we will do it again. We paid 85,000rp each and we knew that we were pay at least 30,000rp more each but this time we didn't mind, next time we will pay less, much less.
We are going back to Bali in November for business and again next April for holidays, so many more things to see and do.
Renato & Johana