We are a family of 4 - Husband, myself and 2 children - 16 and 20
Left Perth 28th September flying Garuda - full flight.
VOA no problem - paid in Australian Dollars
Luggage came through fairly quickly with no chalk crosses for the first time in the past 10 trips to Bali. We normally have to open our suitcases as we take our own ‘water' and Pepsi Max with us. Had packed our Duty free into our hand luggage which they still wanted to look at. We had 2 extra bottles (champagne) but they let us go through.
Taxi outside airport to Dewi Sri 30,000rp each taxi.
Dewi Sri Hotel - 90% full - many families, fairly clean and friendly staff. Pool was clean and not too over chlorinated. Breakfast was OK - choice of eggs plus various rice/noodles, sausages, bacon, toast juice and coffee.
EXCHANGE RATE: 7800 (at start of holiday going down to 7600 end of holiday)
We hired a Kijang for 11 days whilst in Bali as it is a lot easier for getting around - COST 120,000 per day including insurance (which luckily we did not need to use)
HEARING AIDS - OPTIK LILY KASOEM
JALAN TEUKU UMAR NO 74
DENPASAR Ph . (361) 238405
We rang to make an appointment (which was not necessary) My husband had taken the results of his hearing test here in Australia but as they also did a hearing test at no charge he decided to have another one to see if they came up with the same results - they came out exactly the same. Test took about 15mins and was the same test as here in Australia. We decided on the internal type 3.5 million approx A$ 450.00(cannot be seen unless you look into the ear). They do 3 types of hearing aids. External wrap around the ear type approx 2.5 million , a pocket model with a cord going up to your ear 1.4 million.
A mould was taken of his ear. We paid a deposit of 1 million and told it would take 1 week. Whilst there we also arranged to have new prescription glasses - Reading glasses 1.50 strength - Frames (Stainless Steel Rimless with bendable arms) 600,000 lenses 231,000rp total A$112. Husband has 3 way lenses - Frames 600,000 lenses 820,000rp = A$ 200.
Collected Glasses and hearing aids 1 week later. The lady at OPTIK has a good understanding of English and basically translates to the other staff. We thought they were very professional and would certainly recommend them. Their main store is in Jakarta but they have branches in Surabaya and Yogyakarta also.
Shopping
Janoko Tailor in Poppies II - 13 pieces of clothing (mainly dresses and trousers) 800,000rp
Ketuts in Garlic Lane - She stocks up to 4XL sizes - bought all of our casual clothing here. She was doing a roaring trade - I think word has certainly got out about her prices.
Paintings - Concrete markets in Denpasar
DVD's and Software - Various shops around Poppies II
Bike Shop - RODALINK - stocks all bike equipment and parts located at 91 Jalan Teuku Umar (just up from hearing aid shop) . My son bought front and rear brakes for his bike at 1/3rd of the cost here in Aust.
Shoes- (My friends call me Imelda) Best buys for good shoes at around A$18 were at Ramayana Department store and Jocelyne Shoes in Kuta Square/Denpasar or Melasti Street. ( If you need to know I bought 22 pairs of shoes) and my daughter 20 pairs.
After a beautiful sunset meal at GADO GADO - Entrees 40,000 - Mains 100,000-150,000 - Deserts 45,000 plus taxes - Corkage (for the champagne) 75,000 per bottle Total Bill for 4 people 1.2 million - A$145.00 we heard about the bombings.
Our drive back along Legian street (8.30pm) was one of the shortest. We could not believe how quickly people had deserted the streets.
Over the next two days the Dewi Sri had lost 40% of its occupants with only 2 new arrivals. We felt quite safe out on the streets during the day but during the nights we felt a little uneasy and preferred to eat in the Warungs along backpackers lane and not on Legian Street. Whenever we drove along Legian Street the restaurants and bars were basically empty. My daughter did not want to go out to the clubs and preferred to spend her nights with us drinking our ‘water' and duty free around the pool. I did notice that after the bombing our hotel became quite relaxed about us drinking our duty free etc around the pool. I guess they were just happy that we were staying.
LOVINA -(for those of you that know Joe Cool) we attended his traditional wedding at his home in Lovina. We stayed at the Hotel NUGRAHA in Lovina. Excellent hotel 220,000rp per night per room including breakfast and soft drinks (refilled your fridge each day). We ate at a beautiful restaurant called WARUNG BIAS (Jalan Pantai Banyualit) could not fault the service or quality.
Upon returning to Kuta/Legian after 3 days in Lovina there was a much better feel about the place. More tourists had arrived and the streets were once again buzzing with people. The night clubs were starting to get busier again as were the restaurants along Legian Street. The locals were still very concerned that there were not enough tourists but they also believe that it will not be as devastating as the last time. - I hope so for their sake.
TIME TO LEAVE - Bags packed we were very concerned about our hand luggage so kept that to approx 7-8kgs each. Our check on luggage was 105kg. He told me that it was overweight and I apologised and said that NEXT TIME I would be more aware. He checked us through and told me not to tell anyone or he could lose his job. He did not even look at our hand luggage or weigh it. Our flight home was full (8th October) We departed 45 mins late arriving into Perth with 3 other international flights. Customs was full but no problems with our purchases.
Please feel free to ask any questions