Well folks here it is - better late than never. We were in Bali in the first week of the July school hols, but chaos has reined since we returned so I've only just got round to filing this. Hope you find it of use. Thanks to everyone who gave us tips and info: you helped deliver us the best family holiday we've ever had!
Airlines - Flew AA. Had been disappointed in flying Qantas internationally in the past but thought AA was fine, though they weren't exactly generous with alcoholic drinks on board. It was there - you just had to keep asking for it. Booked on the net as it was all that was available in the second week of February this year.
Back - Would we go back? Yes. We are next year, and taking my wifes parents with us. They'll love it.
Bali Belly - Yes, we got it, despite a daily skoll of 100% raspberry juice. It lasted about 24-hours for me, with stomach cramps a few days longer. My son caught it after we got back and had it for about a week. We'd had a virus/cold before we went so reckon maybe our immune systems were a little depressed and it took a hold. Would it put me off going back - no way.
Bali Hai Hotel - What a find - thanks Filo! A really great family holiday hotel with excellent amenities, reasonable food (except the Beach Restaurant - the worst seafood I have eaten anywhere) and friendly staff. The kids pool was great for our five year old and we were less than a stone's throw from the beach. Food and drink prices were very reasonable and the included breakfast was pretty good too. We booked over the internet and had no problems at all. Saved a heap on travel agents fees. We would definitely stay here again.
BIMC - I feared the worst when my little bloke had a croup attack one night and we did a mad taxi-dash to BIMC. The new BIMC is absolutely spotless and the care and equipment first class. Even the dunnies in triage are marble. They did a great job. The bill was $175, but $50 of this was for use of some specialised breathing equipment. Thank God we didn't have to go to Denpasar Hospital.
Credit Cards - Take Visa but don't bother with others unless you want to use your hotel bill to stack up on rewards points with another card. Visa is accepted quite widely by shops, restaurants and many of the bigger tourist attractions.
DVDs - We didn't go overboard but still managed to come back with 50 or so. The basic deal on offer seemed to be one for 10,0000rp ($1.40), with 3 freebies for every 10 bought. We bought a lot at Sakura (mainly cos it was about the only thing open at 9am near the markets one morning) but found a few duds amongst them when we tested them. We also bought a couple from softcomp and some from Helgie. All the kids ones have been fine but a couple of the new releases are a bit dodgy. Occasionally we have a disk freeze, but heh, for $1.40, who's complaining (though if anyone out knows any Russian, theres a big chunk of Batman Begins we're still trying to figure out....
Elephants - see 'Tourist visits' below.
Food - glorious, food. See 'Restaurants' below.
Glow - what happens to your skin the first day you forget to put sunscreen on. It's the sort of lesson you only need to re-learn once every holiday or summer.
Hawkers - After reading some of the BTF posts we were expecting the worst, but really they were no less worse than anywhere else in the third world and a whole lot LESS aggressive than gypsy hawker/scammers in Europe. The beach hawkers around the Bali Hai were lovely people and although persistent at times, they always somehow knew when to back away.
Language - Learn some Bahasa. Even a little bit helps. 1) The locals really appreciate it; 2) You don't get hassled as much if you say 'no thanks' in the local lingo; 3) It's pretty clear that most Australians don't, which does our nation a great disservice and contributes to cultural misunderstanding. Filo has a great little cheat-sheet on his website which he's made available for people to print and use.
Markets - Yep, still great fun, but Don Ron's guide was invaluable in helping to understand what we should be paying. I don't think we often got down to those levels (sometimes we did), but we had a lot of fun, got some great bargains and were pretty happy with how we went. We bought sarongs, shirts and shorts for 20Krp ($3), 'oakleys' etc for $4-5 and watches for about the same. We found that's its often better to name a price upfront - if you let the stallholder do it they will start up at a ridiculous level. BUT, if you use the haggling techniques discussed on this site, and Don Ron's guide, after a while they soon work out that you know the real prices of things and can get a better deal. The old 'walk out the door trick' is still as effective as ever.
Pampering - We had a massage almost every day from a lovely lady Rani down on the beach. It was heaven on a stick. How could you not do this for $7 a day. The relaxation alone probably added another day to our lives every time we had one. My wife also did the 'Royal Bali for Her' half-day at the Green Garden Spa (240Krp, about $34). She said it was one of the best things she has ever done, and about one tenth what it would cost you to do a similar series of day spa treatments in Australia. She intends to go several times.
Porters - Didn't find they were aggressive. If you said 'tidak, terima kasih' they semmed quite happy to let it go. Changed for Australian coins for them for notes on the way out.
Questions - If you have any, fire away. I'll check posts up until Tuesday August 9 and respond where I can.
Restaurants - We ate at the hotel a couple of times out of necessity (it was OK, maybe a 3 out of 5); Green Garden Restaurant several times (4/5 - great food, great value, very clean, nice setting); SA Café (3.5/5 good food, great value but not the cleanest place I've ever seen); Pantai (3.5/5 good food but portions a bit on the small side and service very slow); Bubba Gumps (4/5 ate here a couple of times, good food and concept, great aircon and a non-smoking section - try the 'Jenny's Favourite' icecream floater for a very cooling drink); Lotus Tavern (4.5/5 a nice bit of class. We went on our last night and wished we'd gone earlier); Chinese at the Dynasty (4.5/5 - some of the best yum cha I've ever had for $10 each with the kiddies free. Already looking forward to my next visit). The most expensive meal we had the whole time we were in Bali was A$46 for three, including drinks!!! Most nights we'd get away with a lot less without really trying. So indulge, indulge I say.
Shopping - Yes you can shop till you drop. Amongst Dept stores, we still found Matahari to have some of the best deals going (picked up a couple of original Ralph Lauren Shirts on special for $11!). Centro was Ok if you are buying top labels (silk ties particularly good value) and even some of their local gifts section was pretty well priced and better quality than you'd get in the markets.
Spectacles - Wife bought some new desinger frames from Optik Tunggal in the new Discovery Mall for $78 - half to a third of the price they would have been here. I bought some new contact lenses for 40% less than I would pay here. We have receipts for claiming a rebate from HBF but haven't tried it yet. If we get a knock back I'll put a post up to let you know.
Tailoring - My wife had a couple of tops and skirts made, but was pretty disappointed with the quality of workmanship. Three fittings were required and we still had to have two skirts fixed up here in Perth. The tops were OK as they were copied from an original. The skirts however, had a pattern, and it was pretty clear after a while that patterns are not well understood in Bali...lesson learned. We had seven items made for A$10 a piece, which we didn't think was a huge bargain. Not sure whether we'd bother doing this again.
Taxis- Used taxis (how could you not, they are so cheap) everywhere, even for very short trips and invariably tipped the drivers. We only had one bad experience, with an Indian driver from Bali Taxi Co, who got lost trying to find Kuta Kidz Warehouse in Tuban (we even gave him a map!) and was setting a new record for slowest driver in Bali. He spoilt what for us was an important last morning of gift shopping.
Tourist visits - Bali Adventure Tours Elephant Safari at Taro (5 out of 5 - this would be my vote for number 1 bali tourist attraction. Excellent tour, first rate facilities, good food, they make sure you have plenty of opportunity to interact with the elephants and tacke pictures. My five year old loved it and so did us oldies - cost for the three of us was A$188, including ride, lunch and transport. We booked on the internet and paid by Visa card at the gate); Bali Bird Park just outside of Batubalan, about 45mins from Kuta (5/5 the most spectacular birds I've ever seen, great facility, lots of opportuinities for pictures and interaction. Expected to only be an hour or so here but left after 1hr 45mins - and only then because we had to meet up with Mum for lunch back in Tuban. Not cheap, I think about A$25 a head for adults, but well worthwhile); GWK (3.5/5 Quite breathaking what they are undertaking here and not your typical tourist attraction - worth a look); Geger Beach (5/5 A genuine Bali beach experience with all the ambience: fishermen on the beach, boats in the water, pounding surf, a deckchair on the sand, warung food, a temple on the headland and 5 star hotels minutes away yet nowhere to be seen. Had a ball here and wished we'd come earlier and stayed longer. If you want little kids to be able to swim, come at low tide, when the reef keeps the waves away from shore).... There were lots of other things we'd hoped to do but with our little bloke getting sick we had to pull back a bit...there's always next time anyway.
Transport - Transport is everywhere. We booked Made Mangku for a day and a couple of half days. His driving was good, his English passable, but I wasn't overwhelmed by either his friendliness or the cleanliness of his vehicles. We paid $300Krp for a day and $200Krp for a half day.
VOA - No problem at all. We arrived on a packed AA fligh on a Thursday night not long afetr a couple of other international arrivals and went through pretty quickly.
Washing - What's washing? That's those clothes you take to the local laundry to be washed, ironed and packed for 15 cents a piece.
Wife - My wife was quite paranoid about going to Bali. There was the bombings, the sanitation, the fact that my little bloke picks everything up and shoves it in his mouth, the 'drinking/partying/ugly Australian syndrome' that so maligns perceptions about Australia and Bali, and the fear of the unknown- she'd never been before. In the end she loved it. Thanks to the A$ exchange rate she said on our first day - 'Well, you've finally done it. 'You've taken me to paradise and made me a millionaire'! Blokes -here's the tip. This is one holiday where your significant other can shop all day without breaking the bank, eat great food, not have to do any cooking, cleaning, ironing or washing and have a complete rest from the normal routine. It really doesn't get much better.
ZZZZ - Yes, don't forget to do this occasionally. It is very easy to rush everywhere and forget to have a holiday. Once you do slow down, there are very few places more relaxing. I can smell that frangipani and incense on the warm salt air coming off the beach right now...