We have just returned after 10 fantastic days in Bali and i would like to share some of our experiences with you:
Flew out of Perth on Monday 18th Oct on Garuda at 8am (on time). Non eventful flight however the Bintangs were warmish (Hey i am on holidays alright!!)however the food & the service were quite good. Arrived at Denparsar at 11.40am and proceeded through voa & customs within 25 minutes without any dramas at all. We were greeted by my big kiwi mate who had organised transport for us as well as 3 icey cold bintangs for the fellas and 3 icey cold breezers for the girls (there were 8 of us in total being 4 couples with my kiwi mate and his wife flying up on the Friday beforehand)
Short Trip to the Kartika Plaza and 1st impressions are always lasting impressions and i thought to myself that if the staff & the facilities were 1/2 as good as what the hotel looks like we will be in heaven. Entered the pool bar at approx 1pm and didn't leave it until around 8pm that night (just easing our way in!!)feeling rather special. (got a nice shock when we checked out to find we spent 1.2m rupiah that day alone!!)
Went to dinner at the the Melasti cafe which was nice and enjoyed the entertainment of a trio of guitar playing indo dudes who basically played whatever we wanted and had one big sing - a - long. Back to the hotel around 11 to crash.
Days 2,3,4 & 5 were pretty much the standard with breakfast at Bali Aussie followed by a bit of power shopping and then back to the hotel to laze around and swim until 5.30pm when happy hour commenced followed by dinner at around 8.30pm.
Some of the places we ate were as follows:
Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co: Fantastic! The meals were huge and absolutely delicious. The staff are excellent and all in all a great night out.
Pantai: Fantastic setting with a very nice meal. Beer was cold and the food plentiful which is all you can ask for.
Glory in Seminyak: Great food and very cheap. Beer is cold and the rest rooms were very clean.
Rainbow Cafe in Poppies 2 and Bali Aussie for breakfast. Great feed and super cheap.The special omlette at the rainbow cafe is a great way to start the day.
We went white water rafting on the Thursday which was excellent. We booked through bali adventure and we ended up paying $32 per person and had a most wonderful time. Our guide (his name escapes me) treated us to a fantastic day with the river running quite fast and trying to duck those low lying bridges is an experience in itself. The only downside was the dreaded walk up the mountain at the end however we stopped 1/2 way for lunch and whilst we were sitting there a couple of balinese ladies in their late 50's walked past us up the stairs with the deflated rafts folded up on their heads so my whineing ceased right there and then.
Other points/Highlights:
CD's/DVD's - we mainly purchased them from Sakura (near the Art markets) and so far all of these have worked. We also purchase some from Tower CD's in Legian.
Surf Shops: We purchased quite a few pairs of bikini's & board shorts as well as other surf clothes for our kids for Xmas at approx 50% of what you would pay in Perth.
Taxi's: we mainly used the Blue cabs and from the Kartika Plaza to Kuta the meter didn't even move off of 4000rp so we always gave them 10000rp.
Kartika Plaza: Brilliant hotel except for the water temp in the pool which was warm to say the least. Other than that the rooms were spacious, the a/con was too cold and you had to turn it off at night, the staff were fantastic especially the pool bar staff (mainly lizard, yassar & Sueca)who couldn't do enough for you and we made sure we rewarded them both when we met them and when we left. As part of the hotel package we rec'd a complimentary massage (ExcellenT), a complimentary meal (which we used after the WWR and it was the Italian night with Pizza, Pasta etc and was magnificent) as well as 2 free bottles of water in your room each day. I wouldn't and couldn't stay anywhere else!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the future.
Happy Hour at the Kartika Pool Bar was between 5.30pm & 7.30pm when you rec'd 2 for the price of 1. I am happy to report that we made every happy hour and we certainly enjoyed the cocktails.
Money Changers: I found a little kodak shop down the alley way behind the all star cafe which was brilliant. We were receiving 6400 when we arrived and around 6700 when we left.
Customs: my wife and myself weighed in at 66kgs which meant we were 26kgs over. Having experienced this before, i remained calm, smiled at the operator and in no time i had this reduced to 5ks ($40usd) which i could live with. Many years travelling to Bali has taught me to smile and benice in these situations and it usually works out for the best (even though the 3 other couples with us were all under weight!!)
The flight home was delayed 40mins however we witnessed a magnioficent sunset from the departure lounge which in the end made us all quite sad as we knew that our holiday was over.
All in all a fantastic trip and cannot wait until October next year when we do it all again!!!