Just back from our wonderful holiday 13-23 Oct. Me, Hubby and 2 kids (Son 13 & Daughter 9). My second trip to Bali but first for Hubby and kids.
Day 1 - not many on the AP flight so plenty of room to spread out. Arrive in Bali about 1.00pm and taken to Bali Garden Hotel Tuban. Have adjoining deluxe rooms on the ground floor. Rooms a bit tired but pretty good for 3 and half star hotel. Rooms clean and reasonable size. Only a short walk down the path to the pool. Went to the Circle K and stocked up the bar fridges and then had swim in the pool and introduced ourselves to beach ladies - had massage and daughter had hair braided (80,000). Pretty tired so went across the road to All Star Café for dinner - nobody there - so quiet in Tuban for a Thursday night. Still quite a lot of traffic so hubby and kids think it is really busy but I know it is much quieter than usual. Went for a walk past Rajas's (all boarded up - such a sad sight). Kids play eightball for a while back at the hotel bar but a pretty early night as we are all pretty tired.
Day 2 - Great breakfast at hotel - excellent buffet and eggs/pancakes delicious. Walked down to Kodak to change money - kids find humidity pretty oppressive (we are Adelaide people). Bought the mandatory first stack of DVDs - kids really loved this and some PC games (20,000 per disc). Back to hotel for swim - lunch at the pool bar - excellent wood oven pizzas (28,000 R each) and great swim up bar - kids enjoying charging things up to the room!. Hindu festival of Galungun so many of the Balinese are heading back to villages for ceremonies for the next few days. Went to Discovery next door - kids buy Game Boy Games (Single Games around $12AUD and multi games e.g. 173 games in one are approx $40AUD). Tried them out on gameboy first but all worked fine. Kids bought several other GB Games during the trip. Poppies for dinner - very quiet at poppies but good meal. Cost 350,000R for all four of us including my 2 Margaritas and hubbies 2 beers.
Day 3 - Waterbom Park. Cost 480,000R entry and I think it was about 100,000R for towel hire, locker hire and a gazebo for the day. Kids had a ball - we stayed from 10 to 4. Lunch at Waterbom a little pricey for Bali standards but not too bad - Pizza 45,000 R, Can of Coke 12,000R, Hot Chips 22,000R. Did some shopping along Kartika Plaza e.g. Billabong & Roxy T Shirts, Board Shorts, Hats, etc. Paid about 30,000R each for T Shirts and Shorts I think but difficult to tell as we bought about 15 things (as I had packed very little knowing we would buy while we were there). Hubby and kids very intrigued by the whole bartering process as it was their first exposure. They were horrified that I might walk away without buying but did not realise that that was the way it was done. They worked it all out over the next couple of days and I must say, my son became very good at the whole bartering process.
Went to Bubba Gumps for dinner and had a really fun night. A bit pricey by Bali standards (540,000R) however, did have huge meals as well as excellent deserts and Margaritas (as you can see, I like my Margaritas). We had walked past Bubba Gumps the night before and it was shut which I thought was strange however, I heard from one of the staff that they had a had a bomb hoax so had closed the restaurant. While I remember, there was heaps of security at most of the restaurants and family areas as well as all of the shopping centres (Discovery, Mataharis) including bag checks and metal detectors.
Day 4 - Driver picked us up at 8.30 and we went to Barung Dance, Batik shop, Silver Smiths and wood carvers and then on to Monkey Forest. Daughter very scared of the monkeys though as one of them took a particular disliking to her shoe (shiny diamantes) and attacked it. She came out unscathed but I thought we were in for a monkey bite. Apart from that, it was great and although I had been before, I still enjoyed. Visited Ubud markets and then back to hotel for swim and Bintangs. Warung 96 for dinner (Poppies 2) - 2 Pizzas, Burger, Lasagne, 2 milkshakes, 4 beers and 2 soft drinks (180,000R) - so cheap and good value in a fun surrounding. We all enjoyed it and enjoyed strolling along Poppies 2 after doing a bit more shopping (more DVDs!).
Day 5 - Visited Geneva Warehouse - bought some bowls, placemats, candle holders and other bits and pieces. Kids bought lots of little souvenirs to take back to friends at school. Thought the warehouse was good for homewares and little bits and pieces and prices were very good - same stuff you see in all of the market shops but fixed price at Geneva and very reasonable I thought.
Spent the day swimming and shopping basically - Kids visited Amazon at top of Discovery shopping centre which is a bit like TimeZone. Then it rained - not just a bit but a huge downpour. Kartika Plaza was flooded and it was absolutely fantastic - knee deep in water as we walked to Gracie Kellys to meet other forumites. Had a great night and caught up with Balibabe, Balimagic, Deerik and others. Hubby and I drank way to much but had a ball. Fantastic band and kids had a great time playing with other kids that were there.
Day 6 - Still raining but much lighter. After another wonderful breakfast, got picked up at 9.30 for Bali Buggy (cost about $300AUD for 4 of us in 2 tandem buggies). Took 2 hours to get to the site in the middle of the island. Kitted up in our wet weather gear and a bit of instruction/practice and then off we went. Hubby drove one buggy with daughter and my 13 year old son drove the other buggy with me as passenger. It was fantastic - drove for 2 hours through villages and along dirt tracks on the side of rice terraces - a real look at rural and village life - and every 13 year old boys dream to drive a buggy for 2 hours - I am sure he hit every mud puddle on purpose. After a light lunch we were driven back to the hotel. It was an excellent day and I would highly recommend this trip - I loved it for the ability to travel through parts of the island I hadn't seen and the boys loved it because they got to drive fast through rally type roads! Got back to hotel about 4.30 - showered off all the mud and had a swim. Went to Pappas on Kuta Beach Road for dinner. It was excellent - our most expensive meal in Bali (600,000R) but worth every cent. Fantastic food - Tuna Steak on couscous, Lamb Shanks, Ceaser Salad, Kintamani Pizza, Cocktails - unbelievably good - it will certainly be high on our list of places to go back to for a wonderful dinner.
Day 7 - A relaxed day of shopping and swimming and pizzas at the pool bar for lunch. Manicure at Melasti Spa (45,000R) which was excellent. Raining a bit more but the kids were swimming in the pool in the rain and couldn't care less. Met friends for drinks at Paddies and son bought a real Quicksilver leather wallet for about AUD $25- at the Quicksilver shop next door. Had a meal at Warung 96 and then kids and hubby went bowling at Paradiso. Everyone really enjoying the holiday - kids have really settled in and having a ball.
Day 8 - Driver took us to Nusa Dua and we went across to Turtle Island in a glass bottomed boat. Cost about $90AUD for 4 of us which I think was pretty pricey. Turtle Island is a weird menagerie of animals - not just turtles, but goannas, snakes, rabbits, monkeys and owls. My daughter held the python but I was not game - 9 year olds are much braver than Mummies! Tried to sell us overpriced souveniers which we declined. Probably not somewhere I would go a second time. Went back to the hotel for a swim and relax and then went to Atmosphere (Discovery) for lunch. Very sleek and new restaurant overlooking the beach with big tables and floor cushions on the balcony. Food was very good and view was lovely across the beach. Picked up by driver at 4.30 and went to Bali Cultural Park - not somewhere I would probably have visited but I enjoyed it very much - it will be excellent if they ever finish it. I thought that it was fascinating though and hubby really enjoyed the whole architectural planning and the way it has been excavated out of a mountain. Went to Uluwatu for evening Kekak Dance. Uluwatu monkeys are a bit more cheeky and daughter was still getting over the Monkey Forest incident with the shoes so she was pretty tense as we went up to the temple. Kecak dance was excellent and well worth seeing - quite haunting as the sun sets in the background. Went to Sharkeys at Jimbaran for dinner - not many people around but a few tables at Sharkeys. Had an excellent meal of prawns, calamari, clams, beers, etc (400,000R) and the wonderful busking band were there and as usual, sang all the favourites. Kids really enjoyed the band and eating dinner on the beach.
Day 9 - Hubby and son got picked up at 8.30 for white water rafting. Daughter and I had a girls day - shopping, swimming, lunch, Melasti Spa for pedicure and daughter got hair washed and rebraided (they did a fantastic job - much better than the beach braiding). Went to Mataharis, bought another GameBoy Game and some shoes for daughter (leather slip ons 60,000R). Back to hotel and boys returned from white water rafting - they really enjoyed (cost about $100AUD). Went to Poco Loco for dinner which was excellent - delicious meals and cost about 400,000R for all of us which included entrees and a SuperMargarita which took me absolutely ages to drink. Got dropped off at Kuta Art Market on the way home and did a bit more shopping with son.
Day 10 - Last day. Another wonderful breakfast and packed and got organised. Spent the day picking up last minute bits and pieces and swimming in the pool. Had a fantastic dinner at Oriental Restaurant (Kuta Beach Road) with a couple of friends - whole roast duck and many other dishes - cost us 600,000R for all 6 of us including several Gin & Tonics and Bintangs. Picked up from hotel at 11.15 for 1.30am flight. Not many on plane so all got to move seats and stretch out.
All in all a fantastic holiday. Bali much quieter than it was when I was there in Oct last year - many restaurants empty and shops quiet. The Balinese people were as always lovely and gracious and were constantly thanking us for returning to Bali. Many are concerned that if there is another bombing or incident then Bali will be ruined as no-one will return for holidays. My children had a ball and can't wait to go back. Bali Garden Hotel was a good value hotel, a little tired looking but clean rooms, lovely staff, great breakfasts, good pool and close to everything we needed. Bluebird Taxis were excellent and clean and cheap. Lots of funny incidents during the holiday but my favourite was when I ordered two pineapple juices and the lovely waitress nodded and asked me if I wanted medium - I said yes, that would be fine. About ten minutes later I got 2 serves of poached eggs ‘medium'!