In Reply to: Awaiting JBR posted by Paul_S on Friday, 23. July 2004 at 12:45 Bali Time:
We haven't stayed in Sanur for 20 years !!! And we were amazed at the lovely beachfront walk and the new beach. It is so nice now. We stayed in the South of the strip and used to walk right up to the Bali Beach Hotel and back nearly every day to excuse our huge breakfasts. Contrary to recent posts, we found the hawkers etc to be very unaggressive, often quite happy to just say hello as you pass! I strongly suggest you have a few words of Bahasa up your sleeve, I think that really made a big difference to the way they treat you. Jalan jalan in response to "Transport" is really handy (Just walking). Tidak terima kasih (No thank you) makes a difference too. Learn a bit and make a point of using it.
Foodwise we were disappointed. The food seems to have been really blanded down for perceived Western tastes. Nothing was spicy and you specifically asked for Sambal Oelek to make it even slightly interesting. We ate in several places and it was the same everywhere. Even the satay sauce came out of a bottle, I swear! We went with great expectation to Gateway to India and got a shocking meal. The chicken curry only had 4 cubes of chicken in it and the sauce was not what I would call rich, complex and delicious by any stretch of the imagination! I don't recommend it. Qui Qui was quite good (near The Mezzanine) and had a great band .... good fun! The Puri Santrian has construction happening on it's beach front ... a beach bar or something. I was glad we weren't staying there, it would have annoyed me when I had paid so much.
Use Hardy's Grossir, the big supermarket to buy cheese and bikkies and bintang for the room. (Buy lots of toothbrushes to take home really cheap - 30c and terrific!). Shop in Tootsies, but go into Denpasar to do the serious shopping - Ramayana has the best shoe dep't!! Bargains in Bali are toothbrushes, shoes, stationery, and Revlon cosmetics at 30% of Aust price.
Hope this helps!