Neville and I took our two sons aged 7 and 4 to Bali for the second year in a row. Last year we stayed at the Patra and it was most beautiful. This year we chose the Dynasty based on the Kids club reputation and the location of the hotel. I spent about a year researching all aspects of our second holiday and carried at all times my "Bali Bible" which listed all the restaurants (and restaurant reviews); tailors; pearl info; spas; costume shops...etc that I had earmarked to visit. Nothing like being organised!
As it happens, many of the things we planned to do or visit or eat at had not been achieved by the night of the bombing. That night, we had walked half way up that road to dine at the All Stars Surf Cafe. Given Oliver's tendancy to turn a bit feral by the end of the day, we had to eat early most nights. I suspect Oliver and I had made it back to the hotel when the bomb in Kuta Square exploded. Neville and Alex were across the road to the Dynasty, DVD shopping and did not hear it.
It was not until we had put the children to bed and started watching TV that we discovered what had happened. As the news became more horrific, we tried in vain to ring my parents. At 11.30pm one of my best friends got through to our room and told us that Mum had been trying to get through to us for hours. She rang mum with the good news that we were all safe. We got many phone calls from family and friends in that 24 hour period, including my very shaken brother in London. That night we did not get much sleep for various reasons, including that the hotel rang our interconnecting rooms 4 times between 2am and 4am to ensure we were safely in the room. At about 3am a letter was placed under our door from the GM of the hotel advising us to stay in the hotel grounds.
After that night, our children did not leave the hotel grounds again until we were taken to the airport. We chose to leave Bali early. Perhaps if it had just been my husband and I, we may have stayed and risked venturing further. I had no intention of placing my children at further risk. Neville and I did leave the hotel grounds briefly in the days following, but we did not go too far and while Neville wanted to, I was too fearful to eat at any outside restaurants, even without the children. There didn't seem any point in staying and I knew our family and friends wanted us to come home.
In some ways we were very lucky, not least, because we were all safe, but also because we did have one wonderful and carefree first week. I'd like to list some of the highlights of that week:
restaurants
Kin Khao 11 - excellent thai food and they do takeaway (for those nights when you wouldn't impose your 4 year old on anyone!!)
Dirty Duck Diner in Ubud - what a stunning setting - ask for a bale out the back.
Aroma's Cafe - a most delicious lunch
Alas, our second week was saved for La Lucciola; Gateway to India; Papas and Khaima - perhaps another time.
Tailors
I used Janoko tailor this time. Last time we had a number of suits made at Anika Tailor. They are pretty expensive and scorched the material on two suits and got one jacket way too big (and I foolishly didn't check it) Anyway, after much deliberation, I chose Janoko.
I took over my own material for the following clothes:
3 wrap dresses; chiffon dress; two wrap shirts; 5 halter neck tops; leopard print dressing gown. I also had them make me a long black evening gown with their fabric (wool/cotton blend) and they altered the abovementioned jacket and altered a black dress I brought with me. The entire bill came to $134.00. I tried not to look shocked - it was hard. They did a good job with all but the two wrap shirts - which show far too much cleavage and will certainly require a top underneath them. All in all, I would highly recommend them.
Leather jacket/coat
Weighing up the recommendations on this forum, I decided to use Dolphin Leather. I had a chocolate coloured leather jacket/coat made. It is quite long and beautifully made. It cost $130.
Bali Bird Park
Most enjoyable visit, particularly as we timed it very well because we got to view the Komodo dragons being fed.
Pearls
Again, as a result of recommendations from this forum, I emailed Ali Jauhari to let him know I was interested in seeing his pearls. He replied to my email and said he would contact me when we arrived. True to his word, Ali rang me at our hotel and we made a date and time from him to visit our hotel room.
Ali is a lovely quiet guy and is certainly not pushy. He had a variety of the most beautiful coloured fresh water pearls to choose from and he is more than willing to re-string any that you may want made longer etc. In fact, it is a most fascinating process to watch! I ended up buying coffee/green; black; black/purple; cream; pink; silvery blue colours. I bought 8 strands in all and the most expensive was 145,000 ($18.50).
Ali's contact number is 08124620596.
Diane's and Ketut's fixed priced shops (must mention BTF)
Diane is located across the road from the Green Garden restaurant. We did a lot of shopping there, particularly after the bombs, given its proximity to our hotel. Diane is lovely and has a good range to choose from and good prices. My most favourite purchase was the three fairy costumes I bought for friend's daughters (got to get my girly urges out somehow - that said, Oliver would have loved one!!) I don't think Neville would have approved though! The fairy costumes cost 25,000 each (about $3.00) and I felt postively guilty. Obviously not guilty enough to stop me rushing back the next day to buy another one... I had earmarked Covex fairy shop to make these purchases on Monday, but venturing to Poppies lane 1 was more than I could manage.
We had also made purchases at Ketut's shop and she gave us her fixed prices which were excellent. She has a larger range than Diane.
Driver
We used Alex (Nyoman Oka) again. He is lovely. He is married with two daughters and drives a 4 wheel drive that can seat 7 people. It is air-cond. and he is a very safe driver and speaks good english. We highly recommend Alex and his prices are very fair - about 250,000 for a day trip. We had to cancel our outing to Tanah Lot and a fire dance for Monday and Alex was more concerned with our family's safety than the fact we were cancelling.
You can contact Alex on 08123951081
We did all the other usual purchases ie hundreds of DVDs, gameboy games etc.
We took over a bottle of Marusaka Raspberry syrup and took some each day. Aqua Ear for the boys ears at the end of the day because they are both prone to ear infections and we took the antibactrial handwash everywhere. No bali belly, thank goodness! The Korjo currency converter is a wonderful device.
Hotel
the dynasty hotel was great for the children. we initially stayed in an executive suite which I organised with Suma at the hotel about 5 months before leaving. Alas, we had to later move into two interconnnecting deluxe rooms after our 5 days of luxury and it wasn't as good. The rooms were ground floor and right next to Grace Kelly's - far too noisy. We knew it would be downhill after the gorgeous executive suite! The boys loved the kids club, and obviously, so did we!!
Travel Agent
Like many of you, we used Nicki at Allround Travel. We highly recommend her as an agent expert in her field. Thanks Nicki.
Finally, I would like to express my sympathy to those families and Indonesians who were in any way affected by the bombings - our thoughts were with you. I come from a long line of worriers, hence the need to come home with our children. To any of you who are about to visit Paradise, I wish you a most safe and enjoyable holiday.
Cheers,
Rebecca