We are currently in Bali ,and thought we would post a Bali Now Report, or BNR <grin>. Our family group consists of my wife and I, and our two children - son is 15, and daughter is 10. This is our seventh extended trip to Bali in the last ten years, and we are from North America.
Most of our visits have averaged 3-6 weeks, and this is not exception. We arrived over the weekend, and will be here for three weeks.
First of all, this our first trip at Christmas time, and expected it to be packed, but we are amazed at how quiet things are. Even with the most recent attacks in October, and the news reports of threats over the holiday, we didn't expect the low numbers of visitors we have now...with only a few days before Christmas week.
We are spending a few days in Nusa Dua, and occupancy levels are probably in the 20% range. The beach and pool areas at the five hotels near us have been essentially empty...but the last two days have been rain and clouds on and off.
The Sheraton Laguna - which we had not been to in many years - is expecting an influx in the next few days, or so I hear. For now the majority of visitors are from Jakarta and other parts of Indonesia. We have not met any Australians or Americans at all. A few Japanese, and some Europeans are around. I'd guess 20% occupancy.
We had heard on this forum and others some mixed reports on the Laguna in the last year or two, but I have to say things are very nice here, and compare well to our last stay about 10 years ago. Great pools, and immaculate grounds, friendly staff, and nice restaurants. None of the negatives we had read about exist...as far as we can tell. The only differences we see are that the jacuzzi jets don't operate in the main pool any longer, and some of the public areas and rooms are being renovated.
Prices in the restaurants are high for Bali, but nothing that would produce sticker shock for me since I have recently stayed at hotels in San Diego and San Francisco.
Small Bingtang (the only size) = 26,000
Sodas (Coke, Sprite, etc.) = 17,500
Soups = 55,000
Sandwiches = 80,000 or so
Salads = 45,000 to 55,000
Spring Rolls (6 small ones..very good) = 62,000
Nasi Goreng or Mie Goren = 85,000
Seafood Main Courses = 125,000 or so
Great breakfast buffet, but as ours was included in
the room, I don't know the cost. I heard a rumor it
was about $15 USD, but not sure.
Two of us had a whole snapper which we chose
out of a case, and a large tuna steak with salad bar
and desert bar for about 130,000 each on Monday evening
at the "Ocean Terrace" by the beach. It was great, and
there was a guitar duo..and about two other couples in
the place. The special dinners (seafood barbeque night,
and so on) seem too expensive for us (220,000 each?), and
we have gone out to Legian, Tuban or elsewhere to eat the
other nights.
Wireless access at the Sheraton is good, and is 100,000 for 4 hours,
and 175,000 for 8 hours...and works at the pool if you are a workaholic.
The Westin next door is more expensive on all the menu prices by about 15% or perhaps a bit more. I'd guess that occupancy is lower there, and although it looked nice, the Sheraton is far nicer in our opinion. The pool areas
The Nusa Dua Beach Hotel looked nearly deserted when we stopped
by the pool on Monday afternoon. The prices were a bit lower on the menus than the Sheraton. My wife thinks that it looked a bit tattered around the edges there, but we didn't see the rooms.
Things we noticed since last time:
Taxis are much more expensive...even the Bluebird Group ones. It now
costs about 45,000 to 55,000 each way from Tanjung Beno or Nusa Dua to Tuban or Kuta Square. 65,000 or 75,000 each way for Seminyak or Legian, and 105,000 to Denpasar (Ramayana or Rimo).
Current new movies on the racks include King Kong (DV camera style), Aeon Flux (DV camera style), The Polar Express (good), Batman Begins (good), Chronicles of Narnia (DV camera, but pretty good), War of the Worlds (good), Star Wars Episode III (good), Fantasic Four (good), and Troy (good).
Green Garden Spa in Tuban is still good, and prices were:
90,000 for 1 hour Balinese massage (list price is $22 USD)
220,000 for three hour Royal Bali treatment (list is $60 USD)
Rainy season is not as hot and sticky as we had thought it would be from forum comments. We are frequent visitors to Florida in June and July, and it is much hotter and stickier! We also used to live in Micronesia, and the rainy season there was really brutal. Bali seems tame so far. Mostly afternoon and evening rains so fair, although yesterday was mostly cloudy and rainy, and today so far seems the same at 7:30 in the morning.
Security is stepped up a bit, but it seems unevenly applied. I'm not impressed with the quality of bag and vehicle searches I've seen. For instance, at some security checkpoints our van(s) have been waived through..and the drivers have stated that only non-Bali license plate vehicles are inspected. That's just not very smart.
My bag was not searched at Centro Mall (twice), but my son's was (twice). He is Asian in appearance, and I am Caucasian looking. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid, but effective security should inlcude all bags and all vehicles. Steps do seem to be in place to keep vehicles away from the fronts of malls and hotels.
That's it for now. Having a good time, although we could use a bit more sun.
Sorry for the length of this report, but I know how valuable I found the Bali Forum searches in the past, and I wanted to put enough in to make my post useful, not just drivel.
Johncn