Bali 05 - July 31 till 12th August
Just a quick run down of who, when, and where before I start with any details.
There were four of us this time, myself, Nate my partner, Toni my best friend, and Erin - Toni's sister. Nate and I went to Bali for the first time last July, and the other girls had not been to Bali before.
We're all in our mid 20's to early 30's.
We stayed at the Kumala Pantai for 6 nights, and then the Pelangi for 6.5 nights.
We flew Garuda - the flight was meant to be direct from Sydney to Denpasar, but we received a phone call from Garuda the day before departure advising that the flight would be leaving 2 hours early. So, we got up at 4am to check in 2 hours before the flight, only to be told once we arrived that the flight had been put back to its original time, and that we'd be flying through Melbourne.... So that meant that we would arrive into Bali approximately 2.5 hours late. That would have been OK, except we ended up getting told that we had to get off the plane, and our 'quick stop' in Melbourne, turned into a 1.5 hour stop in Melbourne. The food was OK, the flight was OK, the movie was OK... We finally arrived in Bali, and had quite a wait at the visa counter. Paid in Australian Dollars without any problems. Our driver had been waiting for 4 hours for us - bless his soul, and we went straight to the Kumala Pantai.
We have been to the KP before, and loved it. It didn't disappoint on this occasion either. Breakfast is excellent, the rooms are fabulous and private, and the pool area is beautiful. We found some friends that we'd met there last year, that were staying there again, and enjoyed many hours sitting in the pool chatting. Hi Maxine!
We love the location of the KP. It's not too close to all the action, but has all the facilities you could need just outside the door. We used a fabulous laundry - Arsha Laundry which is just outside the street gates to your left. I can still smell that beautiful Bali laundry smell now... I had some clothes made by Adi Tailor which is also just outside the gates to the left. I had to go back a few times, and he never got it quite right. The clothes are OK, but I would probably not use him again. We changed money at the wartel just outside the KP gates, and also at the Kodak shop on Rum Jungle road. Say hi to Gday from Kylie....
While staying at the KP, we ate lunch and dinner pretty close by as there are so many great restaurants around. Some were Zanzibar - the place to be seen at the moment, Lanai which is where Benny's used to be, Café the Sand at the KP which is fabulous and also Warung Melati which is on Double 6 - they have excellent dead cheap lunches there. We also went to Indo-National 3 times while we were in Bali. We hadn't been there before and absolutely loved it. Kerrie was overseas, but Milton and Dayle his daughter looked after us so well. The food is great and the atmosphere was better. Another place that we ate was Poppies which is on Poppies I. We hadn't been there before, and we loved it. Was very reasonably priced too.
We did the obligatory shopping, but as we had been before, I don't think we brought so much gimmicky stuff this time.
One this I did this time that I didn't last time was get a leather jacket and boots made. We used Rizky Leather on Poppies II. Roni owns this place, and I can't rave enough about him and his work. He makes sure everything is perfect, and even delivered the end product to us before we left. His prices are very reasonable. I would recommend Roni in a heartbeat. Thanks for all the forum recommendations for Roni.
We also ordered DVD's from Helgie this trip. This was invaluable. It's so much better than standing in hot shops checking for quality. We purchased around 300 DVD's. Helgie will not sell you any copies that are not good. In fact, most of the brand new stuff he wouldn't sell to us as he didn't feel that it was good enough. He came to our hotel at the designated time and was very efficient. I would also recommend Helgie for your DVD requirements.
We went to Waterbom for a day - it was a blast as per usual. We hired a cabana - which was a great place to fall asleep out of the sun. Lunch was OK, if not a little expensive by Bali standards. Waterbom really is a great day out for anyone - none of us had kids, but we enjoyed it just as much as the kids there!
We also spent quite a bit of time at the Si(ilia Spa on Double 6. I love this place. I had two pedicures, two manicures, a massage and also a Mandi Lulur. Highly recommended.
Another lovely thing I did was have reflexology done 3 times at ShazPerths sexyman salon. Oh the joy. I've never had my feet massaged like that before. I will definitely be returning.
So, that was most of the good stuff about our stay in Bali. Unfortunately, I felt that the good times stopped the minute we arrived at the Pelangi.
Perhaps we had been spoilt by staying at the KP in the past. The Pelangi is slightly more expensive than the KP, which is beyond my comprehension.
We were checked into rooms 127 and 128. Both rooms stank of mould, and the bathrooms were just full of it. The valance had dirty water stains all over it, the sheets were dirty at best - one set of sheets that we had, had blood stains on it. Twice, the towels that I was given were dirty and stained. It was also a haven for mosquitos, as the doors that lead to outside are not sealed.
I felt that the staff at the hotel were on the rude side, the facilities were lacking and the location was in a desert.
The hotel has some type of deal with some transport drivers which does not allow blue taxies to pick up from the hotel - leaving the taxies that will pick you up open to ripping you off blind.
After the first night at the Pelangi, I went back to the KP, and asked if we could get in there and pay extra for our remaining nights in Bali. Unfortunately, they were full.
The Pelangi advertises itself as a 3.5 to 4 star hotel. I have stayed at better 2 star hotels in the past.
I might point out that breakfast there was basically inedible. The bacon was just bits of bacon flavoured fat, the scrambled eggs were mush and most of the serving spoons that were laid out often had ants and insects on them. Absolutely disgusting.
Nate decided that he'd have fruit and yoghurt one morning, and the yoghurt was off.
I complained to management about our accommodation etc a couple of times, and was told on both occasions that there was nothing they could do.
Another thing which annoyed me about the Pelangi is that they want to clean your room at 7am. We quickly learnt to hang the 'Do not Disturb' sign on our door at night.
The pool area at the Pelangi is quite small, and there are not enough sun loungers to go around. Lounger hogging was also rife.
Because we were not happy at the Pelangi, Nate and I spent a lot of time away from the hotel. We only ate breakfast there twice. We found a nice café on Raya Seminyak called Café Moka which served the best breakfast and coffee that I have ever had.
I let the Pelangi experience ruin a couple of days of our holiday, but after that decided to look on the bright side of life - and I realized that it could be worse - after all I was on holidays in Bali! I also realized that while I found the hotel dismal, there were a lot of other guests there who seemed to be enjoying themselves.
We flew Garuda home. The flight was fine - nothing to write home about. Got through customs after being stuck for a little while, as they needed to check my new snake skin bag. Erin had a couple of necklaces taken off her as they were made out of seed pods. Make sure that if you buy any snake products, that it's not python or cobra. They will be seized and you will be prosecuted.
We flew into Canberra on Saturday to a temperature of 6 degrees. Apparently it snowed here last week. I'm glad I wasn't here.
So, I'm already planning to go back to Bali next year. In fact, if I can get there between now and next August, we'll probably take a quick trip in between.
I have already booked 2 weeks at the KP for next August.
If you have any questions or comments, I'd be glad to answer...
Kylie