Now i am sorry this is late but I finally have a spare moment with my computer!!We left Melbourne on Sept 25 and arrived home on our schedualed flight monday 3rd oct
We (uni friend and myself) flew over with AP direct from melbourne. The service was great except I went through 4 pairs of headphones as none of them worked at all!!! so I missed out on the first movie as I felt bad asking for headphones all the time!!! The second movie was Monster In law but as I missed the 1st I can't remember what it was!The flight was extreamly bumpy. I always have my seatblet done up thought on this flight the sighn was lit up for most of it. At the Bali end we waited to get or visa for nearly 2hrs it was rush hour ahh!
We were staying in Seminyak at the new Contiki resort there. It was a beautiful resort and all the staff would do anything to help you enjoy your stay no matter what the time was (yes we had a few key problems at 2am after quite a few drinks)!!!went to bed early.
day2 shopping in Kuta but we didn't relaly get all that much we were mainly just wandering around getting the feel for Bali. My friend had never been there before and had a major culture shock on the first day so we didnt' but all that much except watches as I have to know the time its a huge Gucci watch whcih cost about AU$7 and is still working and i am still wearing so I am very happy!! Back to resort to relax and swim. Had a late night at the resort night club which is where the room key which is used like a credit card got swaped with somone elses at the bar and we couldn't get in our room at 2am feeling very tippys it was hysterical, i think it happened offten as reception fixed the problem quickly.
Day 3
Slept in ah that was nice!! Then off to Waterbom Park we got there about 12 and spent about 4hrs there. It was so much fun as we just went on slide after slide. My fave was the maccaroni going on a two person one going backwards!!! oh that was great!!! We didnt' go in the pools as we were having too much fun on the slides!!!We hired a locker but didnt' hire towels as we decided to lie in the sun to dry off. very relaxing however no matter how much sunscreen we put on we always mannaged to get burnt tho now I am a nice shade of brown!!!Waterbom park has changed a lot that i can remember when i went there in 1999 with family. I guess it is a lot more touristy now not as laid back however still lots of fun and a must!!!!
Day 4- Elephant riding!!
Booked this through the resort and they book it through Bali adventure tours. It was good but not as good as i thought it would be. It was nice going througth the forest on the Elephant and our elephant deciding to run and over take a few other elephants which was a bit scary but it was good as i would never do this anywhere else. I took heaps of photos of the show where they do tricks and play basketball but it was raining so they weren't painting :( oh well maybe next time!
Day 4
we did a tour again through the resort with 9 of us in total whcih was good anymore people and it would have been annoying. We went to a silversmith but I didnt' buy anything, went to a woodcarving place again didnt' buy anything- nothing was really to my taste. Then endded up at an impressive temple and I am very annoyed as I have no idea where it was. All i know is that we walked down heaps of steps then in the temple there were 4 huge carvings in the rock on one side and 5 on the opposite side. It was all very impressive. We endded up at Lotus restrunt (i think) in Ubud for lunch then headed back to Seminyak. It was a long day we left at 9ish and got back at 6ish!! phew
Day 5
this was ment to be our free day for shopping near the heard rock cafe or around that area. but talking to others at the resort we found out that as we were traveling in the month of September we recived a free Bounty Cruise. So we did that instead. mmm i'm not sure what to say. Lets just say I am pleased it was for free as it is not something i would pay all that money for however for a family it would be a great day out. i did enjoy the snorkelling which we somehow got the banana boat speed boat to drop us off at the snorkeling pontoon instead of waiting for the next boat over!! basically i think as Bec (my friend) and I are both 20 and fair with blonde hair and it was just the two of us we got a lot of attention from the (not the captain but the guy under him) and he organised the boat so that was fun!lol we also managed to grab a canoe and escape everyone for a bit then again dried off in the sun as we had no change of clothes!! this night we had drinks around the pool with a few girs we met at the resort and the resort manager!!
Day 6
Morning- Shopping in Seminyak brought thongs for me and a few little presents for family. i got the biggest pair of sunglasses ever for about $7 and I love them!!! I wear them to uni all the time. And i brought a silver leather bag for about $25 i also love that I feel very glam wearing the sunnies with the silver bag!!
afternoon- white water rafting somewhere. it was great not all that much white water but enough to yell and scream I do admit tho that even when its not that white or scary I still call out as I feel it makes it more exciting!!!lol anyway we were on the water for about 2hrs but it went so quickly. The scenery was so beautiful i am so pleased we did it as it is a part of Bali I wouldn't have really seen otherwise. we got back the the resort in time for tea.
We were planning a big night out as it was our last and the friends we made it was their last aswell. however we never endded up going out due to the bombs. We really had no idea about what had happend the resort was doing a head count, called us up and told us what had happened so we decided not to go out at all that night.
Last day
as our plane left at 11.15pm we had a whole day to waste we were going to head to kuta and go shopping however after the boms we didn't want to go and see any of the aftermarth or somehow become involved in what was going on so we decided to again shop around seminyak. We didn't really buy all that much as we wanted to get some cheap clothes however they didn't really have what we were after in seminyak or well I did get a green skirt which will be great in summer here and a few bits and pieces for friends and DVD's to add to the ones I already had.We went out for tea that night instead of eating at the resort (brunch and dinner were provided as part of the package) we had a really nice cheap meal along seminyak beach somewhere I can't remember the name all I know is that it had a yellow sign and was near a courner where there was a mini mart kind of place!! after tea back to the resort for last drinks then to the airport.
Wow the airport when we rocked up we thought we were never going to catch our plane we were a good 2.5 hrs early for our flight however the line to get into the airport wa huge!!!! i have never seen so many people wanting to leave a country before like that!! The line was just to get into the airport and go through the xray machine and metal detector. We jumped on one line but i went hunting and found a shorted one which was moving faster that the longer one so we switched over. It wasn't too bad waiting in the line as we were talking to everyone around us and eating lollies. Once in there we went to find the AP counter expecting to be in a long line again we headed straight to the long line until i realised they were all asian, we were nearly on our way to Tawin!! we quickly realised our mistake and looking confussed an airport man asked us what we were looking for and there we were no line at all to check in for our flight!!! I asked the lady where everyone was and she said still outside lining up so i think we were one of the first few checked in!!!everything after that happened smoothly had no probs paying exit fee until the were stamping our books and we were usured in to an office no one said what was going on until we realised we were just in another line for them to photocopy our pasport phew i thought we may have been missing our flight!!!!
All was good on teh way back to melbourne slept for about 2hrs ah i hate airplne sleeping!!! it just makes you feel worse! Got back to melbourne early and had cameras in out face being interviewed for tv and the newspaper. Needless to say mum was happy to have me home!!!
Since I have arrived home the disaster of the bombs has hit me more I know i was not near the areas however it saddens me to think of all the familys both western and indoneasion who have been affected. It was so hard for me to read the monday newspaper it was sitting there for agers before i could bring myself to look at it. at the time in Bali we were really told nothing and the international news had not much information so it hit me harder when i got home and learnt the full extent of what had happed. I do belive I will go back to Bali in my lifetime as it is a beautiful place with friendly people who wil do anything for you, Just in the mean time i have the rest of the world i need to discover so bali is going to be my relaxing tropical holiday to enjoy when I need.
Thank you everyone on this forum who gave such good advice before my trip I used it all and did not get Bali Belly at all!!!!!!phew!!!
Ta!!!!!
*Ingrid*