Hi all forumites. Well we got back on Monday morning the 18th and we are missing Bali already (loved the heat but not the constant sticky clammy feeling you get along with it lol). Firstly I want to apologise to The Rooster and gang for not turning up at S&S/Legends on the Friday the 15th, and will explain why a bit futhrer down. Also before hand I want to apologise for any spelling and gramatical errors upfront.
Due to the AP flight being cancelled for us on the Sunday the 3rd, we ended up flying Garuda. Decided to upgrade to business class on the spur of the moment. Flight was good, bit of turbelence, meal ok. Got a window seat, but had to change to a centre seat as mine was broken. Got into Bali around 1pm or so I think? Got through immigration so quick that when we turned up at the baggage carousel the bags had not even started to be put on (normally we were expecting the usual having to pay off the porters who would already have our bags) so did not have that hassle this time around. Customs was also a breeze. They just wanted to check our duty free.
Now for us, this trip was going to be a holiday (as we did so much last year and was buggered by the time we got home that it felt like we had not had a holiday lol), not alot of shopping or tours, just relaxing, swimming, sunbaking and catching up with some friends we meet last year and some people from the forum. So those who are reading this and are expecting a rundown on places to eat, best places to shop and prices will be dissapointed.
We stayed at "The Villas & Prana Spa" in Seminyak. There are 3 lots of them all owneed by an Australian artist apparently. Our transport took us to the Villas at the Prana spa where were registered in. We thought hey this looks good. Great location, easy to find, on a main street, looks very swishy. Then we found out we were staying at the newest ones built called the Sunset villas a block or so away from the Prana villas. Though OK this should be good being all new and all. So we were driven to them by one of the villa curtesy vans (I think they were all Kigang's). We took off down the street (Jalan Kunti) and turned into Jalan Raya Seminyak heading south towards Jalan Legian and then we turned left down a narrow street. We then turned right into this little alleyway just big enough for the van to fit up (although there we always times when a motorbike was trying to squeeze past us coming the other way). We were going through suburbia and I looked at Hubbie and said "were in the hell are they taking us, these villas better be worth it lol". Anyway and few more twists and turns later we were there. Firstly I have to say The villas were absoultely gorgeous, each villa having its own swimming pool (ours being about 2m by 2m I think and 2m at the deep end. There are 1,2 & 3 bedroom villas. We actually asked if we could have a look at the 2 & 3 bedroom ones on our last day and the staff said sure. So we got some vidoe footage of them. The 3 bedroom one was as big as our house at home and had a decent sized kidney shaped pool. It was magnificent.
Our package included daily full breakfast (you rang them up and told you what you wanted then 2 people would come to your villa and cook it for you), 1 free BBQ dinner cooked at our villa, a free reflexology and accupressure treatment each at CHI (still got bruises on my arm from that but it was good)and 20% discount on Prana spa treatments. All prices were in US dollars but the massages and facials were very good if a bit pricey. We did eat at a few resturaunts for dinner, and we also went Bingtang supermarket which was just up the road from us and bought some supplies from there to have a few light meals at the villa some nights and we also ordered room service on 3 nights when we wanted to have a relaxing time at home.
Some things we did do was:
Tuesday the 5th, meet with some forumites at LBH lobby (although we were a bit late as I could not remeber if we were to meet at 5pm or 6pm. Went to S&S for a few drinks. Hello to Spot Dixon and Joanne, Cloudgirl, LMJ and the others we meet that night. Had a good meal at the Legends in garlic lane. The band were really good too. Went here three times and the place seemed alot quiter than it was last year. Some of us then headed down to Paddys 2 for a couple of drinks. Very loud and full of people but fun all the same. Did not stay for very long though as the club scene is a bit out of our league now.
We made arrangenments with Spot and Joanne to go white water rafting. I had been hesitant about doing this and I am a bit of a chicken and I also knew that there was alot of stairs to go down to get to the river and then again on the way back up (and with the added bonus of the hawkers which was a bit of a pain when your nearly having a heart attack due to all the unused to exertion my out of shape body was going through lol). I am not the fittest person in the world and am also overwieght, so I was not looking forward to that stair bit at all I can tell you. Well on the Thursday we went with Bali adventure tours. We did the Ayung (spelling?) River. I think it was for novices, not too difficult. Well apart from the stairs bit we all had an absolute ball. The scenery was magic, waterfalls bere spectacular. Ketut was our guide, rower/steerer and he was great fun. He had a good sense of humour and spoke pretty good english. It was the best day of the whole trip. I was hobbling around for 3 days after it but it was worth it. We bought the video of the trip and it cost 200,000Rp, but was well worth the money (DVD was 400,000). Spot, you will need to send me your address so I can send you a copy of it.
Checked out the new discovery mall, Centro etc. Bought some things here, although our Balinese friend tells me that everything is so much dearer here than in Denpasar (I suppose they over-inflate the prices because it is in a tourist area?).
Went to the Bounty on the Friday night to check out the foam party. Jam jars were delish and refreshing. We left at around 01:30ish as the foam had still not started and we were getting a bit tired. The decor reminded me alot of the old Bounty ship across the road from the Legian Paridiso hotel.
We also checked out the Bali Zoo. Very pretty and well amnitained. Persuaded hubbie to get his photo taken holding onto a big python. Should of seen the look on his face lol.
Had dinner at Sharky's in Jimbaran bay on the Saturday night and watch a beautiful sunset. Was very lucky as it had been raining fairly steadily for 3 days and it still looked rainy in Seminyak on the Saturday but we risked it anyway and found there were hardly any clouds in Jimbaran bay when we got there so that was good. The meal was nice, although a bit spicey for me as I am not a big lover of hot/spicey food.
Did the Bali Hai Reef cruise again and had a great day.
Took an afternoon trip up to Tanahlot, close on sunset. Very pretty.
Had dinners and sometimes lunch at: Gado Gado, Ultimo and Mades Warung and Reflections. All were nice. Also Bubba Gumps. Great atmosphere, good service and food great although a bit pricey. Did not make it to the Living Room and had heard from a young couple that it was excellent and again pricey.
Heard some more horror stories abut the scam in poppies lane were they put a braclet on you and drag you into the back of a shop from 2 diffent couples who got ripped off badly. These people really need to be stopped. I did not even try to venture down here because of these stories.
This bit goes on a bit......
On the Friday the 15th we had booked Made Mangku to take us to Ulluwatu, Dreamland and Bali Cliff. Ulluwatu was lovely. He took us to Blue Point and we watch some people surfing. also stopped on a bridge that overlooked Padang Padang (I think that's what Made called it)and it looked georgous. Then onto Dreamland beach. We were escorted down to the beach by a guide who happened to have one of the cafes. I asked him if it was okay to swim here. He said that it was. Dreamland beach is beautiful and the water is crystal clear and a lovely emerald blue. There were some big swells this day and the waves were closing out right on the beach. The beach slopes down pretty quickly and you could see there was a pretty strong undertow. I was a bit dubious about going in but I saw that there were other people in the water further out so I thought go for it. Hubbie and I went in, the water was only at our ankles at this stage. The we saw some big sets coming ing so hubbie takes off up the slope and I start to follw him. I was not quick enough and a wave came crashing down on my head, my right foot gets twisted from the undertow of the sand and I go down. I tried to get back up, but I could not put any pressure on my foot, and another wave slams me to the bottom. I am eating sand and swollowing sea water by the bucket fulls. I yell out to hubbie to help me and he tries to grab hold of my hand and another wave crahes me back down again. My hubbie is not a very good swimmer either and I am not the lightest person in the world so he is panicking big time as he knew that he might not be able to save me. I knew I was drowning and I was terrified. Then another guy ( big guy, a european by the look of him)seen that we were in trouble and grabbed hubbies hand and hubbie got another hold on mine and just as the next bige wave was coming in the guy yelled out for hubbie to run. So they both took off dragging me out. I am absolutely covered in sand, my bather top was so weighted down with sand that my boobs were hanging out (not that I cared at this stage) and you could not see my hair as it was full of sand. I was coughing and heaving and spluttering. The people who owned the little cafe took me out the back to where the tiolet/slash shower was. I stripped off and for the next 45 minutes tried to get all the sand off me (shower pressure was a trickle so not very affective). I was vomiting sand, blowing snot and sand out my noise and coughing up sand. My foot was swelling up and starting to hurt like hell. A couple of days later I was even sh---ing sand out, and wasn't that fun.
Anyway after this, Made took us to Bali Cliff, but the glass elevator and pool were under renovations apparently, so he then took us to Nusa dua and a place called Gerger beach. This is a very nice beach, not as pristene as Dreamland but safe for swimming. It seems to be a favourite spot for the europeans as I think hubbie and I were the only Aussies here (Dreamland also seemed that way too). We had lunch here and sunbathed for an hour or so, but did not go in the water as I was finding it very difficult to walk and my foot was throbbing like hell.
So The Rooster - this is why we did not make it out that night. I was so dissapointed that we could not make it as it was great fun meeting the other bunch the week before and we were so looking forward to meeting you all. Maybe another time eh.
So the next couple of days were quite ones for us, and then before you knew it it was Sunday and we were leaving that night. We got to the airport around 9:30pm and seen que's and que's of people standing outside of the depatures building. We wondered what in the hell was going on. It seemed to take forever to get through the doors into the building. We found out the next day about the 9 caught for drug smuggling and it was around the time we got to the airport so maybe that was what the hold up was? Flight home was uneventful. Flew AP. Meal was nice, but got spoilt in business class on the way over so that being in economy was the pits. Not enough room, couldn't sleep and was really uncomfortable (espcially with a twisted foot throbbing). Laneded in Melbourne at 06:30 on the Monday morning and it seemed to take forever to get through customs. Then had to wait around till 3:10pm for our next plane to take us home.
All in all we had a very good holiday (apart from the near drowning) and are planning on going back next year in August (see if humidity is different this time of year). I hope I haven't bored you all to tears.
Cheers to you all
Trish