If you don't know what happened re our plane being delayed, read http://www.baliforum.com/travel/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=71918&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
So although day 1 ended up starting a day later, we were just happy to be in Bali. I was so annoyed about the flight being delayed but Bali puts everyone in the best mood, so within seconds I was happy :D :)
Background info for JBR: Me (Lisa, age 16), Kate (age 10), Natasha (age 14), Mum and Dad. Stayed at Padma Bali for 1 week. Flyed Garuda.
VOA and customs took 15 minutes max. I checked the suitcases for white crosses but missed one, and sure enough it had to be checked. We didn't have anything illegal though - Mum had just put heaps of medicines in the 1st aid kit and they wanted to check that. Be aware that they wanted to see prescriptions - sort of a problem since none of the medicines were prescription drugs! We were just friendly and smiled, and no money changed hands. No problems :)
Because of the flight muck up there was no transfer waiting for us, so we waited for 20 minutes and then New Horizons asked if we'd mind if they payed for taxis (instead of a van with a driver and guide). This made no difference to us and we were just glad to get going.
We arrived at the Padma and they had our adjoining rooms as requested. Our travel agent had told us that it might be hard for them to accommodate this since they are fully booked, but they had it done no problems. The only catch was the rooms weren't ready - in 2 hours the 1st room would be ready and the 2nd some time after that. No problem - we went to sit in the lovely air conditioned lotus lounge to slurp our welcome drinks.
Our suitcases were sitting out the front of the hotel under the watchful eyes of the security gaurds. They were quite amused to see us running to and fro rummaging through to find shorts and thongs to change into. So finally, we headed out to lunch.
Lunch was at WAYAN AND FRIENDS. I have to say we were dissapointed. The juices were OK. The meals were nice as usual. What upset us was that we had dishes in the middle and a plate each so we could share, and these empty plates were quite dirty. Maybe their hygiene standards have slipped?
Out we went to change money and start SHOPPING :) The markets have quite different stock from last year. There is Paul Frank and Louis Vitton stuff EVERWHERE! DVDs are 10,000rp everywhere, which is great.
Back to the hotel, and we unpacked into one room. The rooms are as well maintained as ever. Very nice and clean. We hit the pool and were surprised to find that even though the hotel was fully booked, there were always plenty of sun lounges, even during peak pool periods!
For dinner we went to JDs. Kate had satays every night, wherever we went and she maintains that they have the best. The food was great and very cheap. We ate all indonesian and shared dishes again. The only reason JDs doesn't do as well as some of the other restaurants is that its lacking atmosphere. The music, lighting etc wasn't beckoning and the staff were very sweet but not dynamic.
Back to the hotel for an early night to catch up on lost ZZzzzzzs :D