There are two things that we promise ourselves each year that we won't ever do again.
1. pack too much and
2. Spend the time running around everywhere instead of relaxing, after all, that is what the trip is all about and we don't really need to do any shopping do we!!!
Flying with Air Paradise means that we don't have to get up as early as with Garuda. We have a 2 hour drive to the Airport as it is and Garuda departs at 8am but Air Paradise departs at 10am. It just makes it not such an exhausting day. Plus this time, my son was coming up with us to bring the car home as he now has his licence. We normally keep the car at the airport but the trusty Commodore is getting a little long in the tooth and couldn't really be trusted to start after a 2 week stay in the Airport Carpark. Moreover, for the cost of staying there, it was cheaper for my son to do the trip there and back; it also would be nice not to have to drive home after the flight. So it's up at 5:15 instead of 3:15, Yes!
One of the exciting things for me about trips is looking at all of the new perfumes in the duty free shops. (This is for those of you that are interested in the price difference between buying here or there!) I found one at the airport by Ralph Lauren called Blue, (as I am a softball umpire and normally get called blue because of the uniform, I thought that it was very fitting). The perfume itself for 125ml was $107 but you could get a gift pack for $108. This got written into my ever present journal along with a lovely scented card, which I can still smell now when I open the book. The perfume of course can be picked up on the way in, so I keep that in mind when it comes to comparing prices.
I have recently not long come back from a domestic flight with Qantas, I found it interesting to compare domestic travel with international. I couldn't believe the queues for Domestic, one line for all of the planes (Qantas that is). Not even a separate queue or teller for the different departing times. How spoilt I have got. Air Paradise are wonderful with times. We boarded at 9:30am, were given Aqua and headphones at 9:45, and at 9:51 we were reversing on the runway with take off at 10 am on the dot! Did I ever mention that I don't really like flying? Well it is not until we are taxing down the runway that I suddenly remember. It's a bit like forgetting what it's like to have a baby until you are walking down the corridor of the maternity ward and turning to your husband and telling him that you remember this now and don't ever let me do this again!!
Entrance this time wasn't over Jimbaran Bay like normal, but over Benoa Harbour, boy talk about getting your bearings out of whack! We were to find out that it was because of the wind. I don't think that I have found it as windy or cool any other year during September. We got in and landed at 1:18. Perfect, a little early. It is at this point that I do feel sorry for those of you that don't live as close as we do to Bali. Perth is three and a half hours away, on the same time line so it is so convenient for us. It makes up for the lack of snow that we don't get! O.k we bus it in (oh how long ago it seems that we actually didn't have to bus it in). Paid the VOA by Credit card and off to our luggage. For a treat we just let the tour company pick us up. So by 2:20 we were walking into the foyer of The Aston Bali. Bliss. We commented on some changes to be told that there was a change of management. The staff seemed to be happy about it.
We like The Aston. A relatively small hotel in a C shape on the shore of Tanjung Benoa. The rooms are spacious with king size singles and a huge marble bathroom. They are in the process of revamping the rooms. We love the quietness of this area and the villas that we normally stay in are actually just across the road. We even had a view of the ocean. We got changed and went to relax by the pool. We had a late lunch there, Indo of course! Mie goreng and spring rolls, then went and sat by the beach. At about 6pm we decided to go for a walk down Jl Pratama and decided to stop at La Scala for a small dinner. We didn't feel like much, just some nasi goreng and some Sate sticks. The food was fine and with iced tea and coke it came to 86,950 rps, $11. This is what we love about Bali. Did I happen to mention that I love their food?
The buffet breakfast was what we remembered the most about our first stay in Bali. We really enjoy the leisurely breakfast that we can never enjoy at home. It is an important thing to us when we book anywhere. I must say though that the standard had dropped a little and the staff didn't seem as interested as the first time, or was it us? We have stayed a number of times in Bali since that first encounter, had we just got blasé about it all?
On the first morning down at breakfast, we heard some American voices come into the restaurant and asking for 'the usual' at the egg counter. On the back of their shirts they had written, 'Marine Police Trainer'. Jenny had a Sobek shirt on and one of the fellas talked to her about it, she found out that he used to be the GM for Sobek. They were in Bali training the local Marine Police and had just come back from a 10 km run. The Aston was their home away from home for the moment.
At 10 am, on the dot, we met with Mida in the Foyer. Lovely lady, very chatty and was willing to help us with anything, at no extra charge. Phew! How easy is that!
Next, we were on the 11 am hotel shuttle heading into Kuta to catch up with a friend of ours that works just down from Bemo corner at Bali Surf Dream. We have got to know her over the years. We were in Bali once and hired a motorbike and when we went to visit her she asked us why didn't we use hers. We insisted that we would only hire a motorbike off her if she would let us pay her. Since then, we have always either hired her motorbike or car (when we have needed to go further a field or had more luggage than a typical Balinese can fit on a motorbike). The only problem is when you try to talk money with Balinese their standard response seems to be 'up to you'. How do you respond to something like that? Well, we work out what's fair and then normally give her about triple... Lol, leaving me to wonder, why we bother to work out a fair price in the first place.
For those of you that are concerned with the traffic in Bali, I would have to say that I would rather drive there any day than drive here. The people are so polite on the roads and there is no such thing as road rage (well not that I have encountered anyway). I would never go on a motorbike here (I have a husband that is lucky to be alive because of a bike accident) but over there, well you are on a 100 cc motorbike come scooter and you travel at about 40 km/hour and you just wonder around like they do. It's so easy. Police? No problems if you have an international drivers licence. I know, we've been picked up twice just for a standard check up and when we showed the licence and bike rego papers, there was a smile and 'have a nice day'. Meanwhile, others were emptying their pockets!
We needed a car to get to Ubud and for the week we were going to spend there after The Aston, so with that organised we decided to walk and get back into the familiarity of Bali. Boy it doesn't take long. You suddenly realise just how much you miss it, and to think that we nearly didn't come here. As we step out of the shop on Jl Legian and breathed in our surroundings, there was a familiar sign that grabbed our sight at the entrance to Poppies 1. TJ's!!!! This is one of our musts when we go to Kuta. It's just one of those places that we go first up to take in the fact that we are actually in Bali, it sort of like a baptism, off with the old and on with the new. We go when we know that it's not going to be busy and recline on their day beds, munch on some potato skins whilst we decide what to eat, oh and those sweets! So after exchanging money at the PT Central money changer right near Bemo corner at a great rate. Before we left home we saw it at 7544 rps/AUD$ but when we got there we got it at 7800! Bargain! Now off to TJ's. Now this is the life, reclining, eating, warm weather, mmmm nothing like it.
With what could have been hours later, we were back on track down Poppies 1 to Kuta Pantai. We decide to just walk along the road and head down to Jl Melasti. It's one of those roads that we have ridden down a lot, not that you have much choice with the one way system of their roads, and thought that one day it would be nice just to meander down and stop where we want. Ahh, Alum Kul Kul. This has been one of those places that has always intrigued us. We have thought a couple of times about staying there but when we looked into it further, we decide, for one reason or another, not to. I can't explain why. I read all the reports on it, but still.... We stopped to check out their spa. It is owned by an Australian. It seems wonderful and they say that they would pick us up from the hotel. Not bad considering we are in Tanjung!
We keep walking. Ah finally Melasti street. There are a couple of bag shops that were recommended on the forum and Jenny promised to get her niece a Dolce and Gabbana bag. Next we come to the next place that we always go to; but first a quick stop to see Matt at French Leather. Matt is married to a Sydney girl. I had bought a very soft suede jacket from him a few years ago and Jenny wanted one similar. With that organised it was off to see our favourite person. Dede at Bali Gong. For those of you not familiar with Bali Gong, it is a great place to by DVD's and CD's and for those of you that have any particular needs, he is the man to see. He is so helpful and just a great person. We have got to know Dede and Lucy over the years and even if we weren't after anything we would go and visit anyway.
With the promise of coming back, we head again to Jl Legian in search of the Crown restaurant. It was a name that seemed familiar to me, but the reason for the search was because someone, that Jenny had bumped into at home, mentioned that her sister in law owned it, so we thought that we would pop in and say hello. Hmmm yet another Aussie! Yes, now I recognise it, we had eaten there a couple of years ago. Well no luck, the boss wasn't in.
On this round trip, we were looking in all of the Surf shops. Reason being that it was coming up to my second son's 16th birthday and I wanted to buy him a watch, not just any watch, but an authentic Rip Curl watch. We had seen the one in a shop at home and I new that they were about $250. I had seen the exact one in Bali but the smaller version for 969,000 rps. Which was about $124.00 and the bigger version with the band that I wanted was even cheaper 950,000 rps, $121.00. Bargain! We finally found our way to Kuta Square and to the Rip Curl shop there and got them to hold it for me.
Feeling a little hungry at this time (well it was 9pm) we spied the A & W shop and just needed to get some of their curly fries to munch on. Onward, I then spied the Nike shop. Must stop there. I bought all of the sports clothes that I needed because they fit! This might not mean much to you 'normal' people but to those of us that at 5' 1', it is jolly hard to get clothes to fit. Bali is a haven for me when it comes to clothes that fit. More things on hold for the next day. 10pm and time to go home. We walked to bemo corner, the best spot to catch a taxi (so they don't have to go around the block) and began looking for a Blue Bird Taxi. Those are the ones that I like to get because, they are easy, they use their meters and they work. Isn't it always the way, that you see lots of them until you need one and then there are none to be found. Well eventually, it was back at the Aston and 41,500 rps later. It didn't seem all that long ago that it used to cost us 14,000rps to get to the Aston. That was in 1998 but then dinner used to cost us about $5 for the two of us as well. It's not as cheap as it used to be.
We finally crashed (sorry, I'm meaning sleep) , after doing what we promise that we would never do, especially on our first day.
The next day we again caught the shuttle into town and picked up my items that were on hold. I first checked about the watch and it's warranty. No problems! Any warranty work needed can be taken to any surf shop and it gets sent directly to Rip Curl. Great! Little did I realise how quick I was to check that out when I got home!
Now off to the Discovery mall, that big, white, monstrosity of a shopping centre. Centro, the department store had some great things in there and good prices. There were a few basic items that I needed for my daughter and myself that I can't get back home and definitely not at such a great price.
Caught the shuttle back and finally we got to lay besides the pool and relax. Waiter! May we please see the menu? Now, that's better.
Dressed for dinner, we first popped across the road to the internet café/restaurant just to check some things. 300rps/min? Good price. We thought that we would try the restaurant next door and opposite The Aston. It is called Coco Bistro. It has a nice set up and the meals were good. I had pan-fried snapper and sautéed vegetables and Jenny had Sweet and Sour Pork. A couple of Mocktails in a huge coconut. Ah sweets Balinese style. I love their sweets even though normally I don't eat them at home. I find it hard to go back Black Rice Pudding but tonight was Pandan pancakes with coconut and Palm sugar. Yumm. All up it was about 200,000 rps so about $25. Back across the road and a nice early night.
Took it easy the next day, sussed out the gym and swam. We ventured next door to The Peninsula. It is a time share resort. Very nice, not too big. The sports bar there is great for a taste of home, or for us, The Rugby. We had been to the Tri-nations game the week before between the Wallabies and the Springboks and so this game against the All Blacks was a must. On the big screen no less, something that we don't do at home. Especially me as I don't have a TV so it was great to see it on the big screen.
Went to Café Bagus for dinner. It didn't look much from the outside and they actually didn't have anybody standing on the sidewalk beckoning to you to come in and eat. We don't always pay attention to things like this because so many times we have found wonderful places because we tried something that normally you wouldn't. There were people at three tables, not full like other places but not empty like some either. This ended up being a wonderful place that we will have to keep in mind for the next time. We wanted indo food. Mie goreng and Sate. It was well presented and tasted wonderful. The prices were good and they only applied 10% tax instead of the typical 21% on your final bill. Next, I had to have the Black Rice Pudding this night. It surprised me this trip, to find that not many places sold it like they used to. It was yummy and Jenny had bananas in caramel sauce. Mmmm. This is making me hungry just recollecting it all. I know the prices tend to catch me sometimes when I look at the menu, we are so used to the menu price being the final price with GST already included and theirs is added at the end, sometimes 10% sometimes 15% but more often than not 21%. Do be careful as this can trap you into a false sense of final price. With coke and aqua, this dinner cost us 117,920 rps, $15.00!
Well, it was the end of our stay at the Aston and Ketut came with the white Suzuki that we hired. It was time to move on to the next stage of our stay in Bali, Ubud.