In Reply to: Bali blast from the past posted by robrose on Sunday, 20. February 2005 at 05:40 Bali Time:
Hubby & I first went to Bali in 198?, (will have to get out the old passports). Hubby worked out of town weekdays, only got to spend time with me on weekends. Our 1st trip overseas was to Bangkok, (business trip for hubby)and boss said if I paid my own airfare I could go too!That was a real eyeopener, I had a great time and that was the start of our overseas travelling experiences! We saved and the following year got the ever faithful grandparents to have the girls for 10 days took off to Bali, my brother had been there a couple of years early on his honeymoon and enjoyed it, (I can't think of any other reason we actually picked Bali! Anyway sure glad we did, We stayed at the Melia Bali in Nusa Dua and I cried when I had to leave to go home. Couldn't wait to go back but mum said the girls were getting older and she was only prepared to take one at a time, so we took our eldest, Erin aged 14 with us. To economise we booked 7 nts at the Bali Holiday Resort and thn went to the Putri at Nusa Dua for 7 nghts. Whenwe arrived at Seminyak, we were so dissapointed, the room wasn't ready and when we did get in, it smelt bad and was old and crappy, I cried and wanted to go home! But ever optimistic hubby soon had me out on the streets shopping, Erin was petrified or all the hawkers crowding around her and wanted to go home. Day 2 saw the sun come up and things looker brighter and Erin couldn't wait to hit the streets again, being a little more streetsavy, (I think she thoughts she had died and gone to shoppers heaven), silver bracelets & rings and watches, perfume, You didn't even have to walk the streets in those days, you just stood still and the hawkers all came to you! frightening at first, but a real buzz once you got used to it. After a few days she had it all down pat! Whilst the rooms at the Bali Holiday Resort had been crap, the gardens were lovely and we met lots of great people, mainly Aussies, out by the pool,everyone was relaxed and having a great time. We then went to the Putri in Nusa Dua and while the rooms were much more to our liking we found the place full of Europeans, mainly German & Japanese and it was not near as friendly a place as the BHR had been. The following year we decided to go back to Thailand. We took out younger daughter Raech. We went to Bangkok and Pataya and Phuket. We had a great time there too but the following year we decided we would go back to Bali.
Since then we have gone every 2nd year to Bali.Every other year we found somewhere else in the world we wanted to visit, have been to Africa, Egypt, Europe, seen most of "the States", NZ, Figi, Singapore
Borneo etc, etc. But as I said every 2nd year we have headed back to Bali,it is our favourite place to chill out, its is inexpensive, great weather, lovely people, good shopping and you can do as much as you want or a little as you want. you can hire a car & driver and go anywhere you want, cheaply, see mountain villages, even cremations and colourful ceremonies, enjoy watersports, eat at fab restaurants, get out and meet the locals, have massages and be pampered at spas. you can shop til you drop or do absolutely nothing at all but sit around the pool sipping cocktails or slugging down a cold Bintang! The first time we stayed 10 nights, the 2nd time 14 nts, then 17 nights. Then we started taking friends over with us and now for the past few years (except for 2002) have been going every year.Its has been great to show "our Bali" to new people and see Bali through their eyes. We now visit ophanages and school kids and we take clothes and supplies over to them, we've made friends with some of the locals and its great to see them year after year. THATS the reason we keep going back to Bali and thats the reason we are staying 4 whole weeks this year. Hubby and I are off to Vietnam in a couple of weeks to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in Halong Bay and whilst I am looking forward to this exciting trip I must admit I am still longing for September to come and to be back in my wonderful Bali.