I haven't posted here for a long time but it is a daily addiction. You might find something useful amongst my ramblings.
We returned from Bali the Wednesday morning prior to the bombings and with our memories of a wonderful holiday so fresh, the news hit hard. Our sincere condolences to everyone involved...our thoughts are with you all.
Anyway I have at last decided to write a JBR . A feeling of déjà vu as the last JBR I wrote was on the morning following 9/11...spooky eh?? Just coincidence I think. It seems these days everytime we go overseas there's something happening. Riots in Bali, terrorism in US, SARS, birdflu.........I've given up worrying about it.
Our Bali holiday was born on a bushwalk in Marysville some two years ago. I walk with 3 other girls and we go away regularly on bushwalks and were talking about how cool it would be to go overseas together. We extended the invitation to friends and family, only women mind you!! I was a bit concerned about my husband's reaction but he was wonderful. I don't imagine that I would have been as understanding if he had suggested the same thing - a boys holiday away!!
Savings schemes in place, we researched and booked a holiday that we all agreed on.
Two years on and we were a group of seven women - myself, two of my sisters, sister-in-law, friends and friends of friends. There were three newbies and the other four had been several times each.
We flew AP from Melbourne on Saturday 17th September. No worries and arrived well fed and watered, through visas and customs no problems.
We were aware, through the BTF that AP was clamping down on the size and numbers of cabin luggage and the weight of check-in luggage. The check in guy in Melbourne eyed my rather heavy looking back pack and asked to weigh it. 5.5kgs, mostly water, magazines and books!! This of course made us very wary on the return trip. Needn't have worried though! More on that later.
As we were all on our own, we decided on the luxury of a villa, something we couldn't have individually afforded at over $350 a night. Also four of us are teachers and as it was Victorian school holidays, the thought of children running around a hotel didn't really appeal. We were on holidays to get away from children!!! Our choice was Dyana Villas in Seminyak. It was perfect!!
It was everything the website promised and more. We stayed there for seven nights, doing the usual shopping, eating, shopping, eating, swimming and relaxing........ We also did a couple of day trips, using the driver from the villa. Usual things - Celuk, temples, volcano.......... We had intentions of doing a lot more but they all fell by the wayside. It takes much longer to do everything when seven people are involved and when you are floating around in the pool there's not much incentive to go anywhere!!!
We had a 3 bedroom villa, each bedroom having its own ensuite and the most luxurious thing of all? Our very own maid!!! I hate that word but that was her official title. In fact, two ladies would come each morning, Ketut and Wayan, cook our breakfast, clean our villa, do any shopping we needed and wash, dry and iron our clothes!!! Now we knew how our husbands felt everyday!!!!!
We learned all about Ketut and Wayans children and on our last morning we shared photos of our respective families. They were the loveliest ladies and we hope that everyone keeps visiting Bali and staying at the Villas so they don't lose their jobs.
Oh yes; we also had a lovely young man, Nyoman, come in each morning to clean the pool and gardens. This was living!!!!
Some of our favourite places to eat were found in Jl. Dyana Pura because that's as far as we could be bothered to walk. These included Warung Mimpi, Benny's, Santa Fe and our favourite, Lucky Day. This lovely restaurant is owned by the same guy as Legian Gardens but is much more upmarket than LG. And the toilets are beautiful.
We also included a dinner at Jimbaran Bay at Melasti Café...nice but predictable seafood meal.
We then moved up to Ubud for our last two nights. As we had booked through San Michelle we stayed at their Villa Rasa Sayang, ideally situated halfway along Monkey Forest Rd. This property is run down and very tired. Nothing a good clean and some minor maintenance couldn't fix though.
Eating was at Café Pesto, Batan Waru, Dirty Ducks (get a table out the back next to the rice paddies) Three Brothers (more nice paddy views) and our best meal was at a place close to where we stayed, Green House. I would never have ventured into such an upmarket, trendy looking place but a couple of the girls checked out the menu when walking past and thought it was very reasonable. The restaurant is at the front (and connected to I think) Pertiwi Resort. We'll check it out for next time as it looked very nice. Anyway, the food here was excellent. Where else could you get entrée, main and desserts to die for, drinks and between courses sorbet!!! All for around $20 AUD. It's been a long time since I went to a place that served sorbet between courses!!!!
Unfortunately and all too soon our sojourn had come to an end and squashed into a van with our luggage it was a sad, quiet trip to the airport.
Five of us had upgraded to AP's super economy which allowed 30 kgs luggage and a bigger, comfy seat plus priority luggage handling (which is not worth it!!! Our bags came out with everyone elses) We were very conscious of staying within our limits. The check-in guy at Denpasar didn't even weigh our luggage; just pushed it all through; and didn't give a second glance at our carry-on. Should have bought those extra pairs of thongs and that table runner and those baskets........isn't it always the way!!!!
Our two friends who didn't upgrade were given seats at the front of economy..'in case you want to talk to your friends!!!' .... such a nice man.
A young couple came up to the desk whilst we were waiting and bought the last two super economy seats. They were checked in and then went and paid. It was $150 each.
Super economy was great but I still didn't manage to sleep much. It was nice to have the extra room to wriggle in though!!
So that was our trip. After reading many posts in the last week I'm much more positive about the future of tourism in Bali. We will return...maybe not next year...Vietnam is on the cards but 'we will be back!'
Cheers
Kerry