My partner and I have just returned from a week holiday in Bali and Kuala Lumpur after a not having to been to Bali for 2 years !!!!
FLIGHTS:
Garuda Indonesia - All flights were on time, if not early, and very good. Flew Brisbane - Denpasar - Jakarta - Kuala Lumpur v.v. Served full hot meals on the domestic leg from Denpasar to Jakarta v.v. Crew friendly and planes good condition.
BALI GARDEN HOTEL:
This is a really good 3* hotel. The room (deluxe) was huge and had everything we needed. The breakfast was included and a bit average in the way of selection, but strongly recommend the banana pancakes ! YUMMY !
The SPA at this hotel is extremely good value. All prices are in IDR and cost us about AUD30 for a 2 hour massage, body scrub and flower bath. Also had an aromatherapy massage for 1 hour cost about AUD15-AUD20. Staff very friendly and of course the location is ideal, right next to Discovery Mall and across the road from Waterbom.
BALI DYNASTY HOTEL:
I have stayed at this hotel before and was disappointed but decided to give it another go. It is fantastic. We had a superior room and it was clean, comfortable, and spacious. The breakfast buffet was really good with a great selection. If you are travelling with kids definately recommend this hotel. They have a pool for the kids that has a waterslide that goes into it (yep went on it was good fun - love being a kid again), they also have the main pool area and then an adults only area. This has some sun lounges and also a plunge pool that has slat beds so you can soak up the rays while being cool. Great idea !! Staff again very friendly.
WATERBOM PARK:
I have never been to Waterbom in the many times that i have gone to Bali. Why i dont know. But it is really good. If you are going for a while i noticed that one day entry is USD22 but you can have a 3 day entry for USD36, great value. We did the new ride the "Boomerang". Ok this is good but we only did it once! When we got to the top the lifeguard on duty said to us "how much you weigh ?" Well after working it out we said about 165 kgs combined, give or take of few kilos. Then she proceeds to tell us that if we are 180 then we may go over the edge of the ride ! So she was a bit hesitant. No problem says us we only about 165 we reconfirm, so she lets us go. Well it was a good ride but we thought we got a bit too close to the top for our liking and decided once was enough, didn't want to push the boundaries.
We went on a few of the other rides, lazy pool a couple of times (got very burnt from this !! Silly duffer didn't put sunscreen on did he ??? - serves me right).
After a bit of a sun bath we decided to try the "Smashdown" - Never again. I am not a wimp, i like the fast rides, but didn't like this one. I ended up with a bruised bum from the water and the bottom of the slide as you plummet to the bottom. Great end of the day, sunburn and bruised bum. Not very comfortable sleeps for a few days. Still recommend Waterbom as a day out though !
FEBRIS HOTEL: (across road from Bali Dynasty)
We have heard that the massages here are good value. So we decided to book in for a 2 hour massage. Start off with a cold towel, welcome drink and then an hour foot and shoulder massage. Then you move to another room and have the good old traditional Balinese massage. Cost about IDR200,000 for the 2hour massage. The rooms are very tranquil with water features and soft music. Very relaxing.
Decided to have a look at the rooms while we were here as only a new hotel. The rooms are great size and the only hotel in Bali that i now has a big fridge. They are about twice the size of the mini bar fridges so can easily fit 1.25/2lt bottles of drink. They have family rooms that have 1 x double bed and 1 x bunk beds. So good for families. Interested to see what packages you could get for this hotel next time i go to Bali.
WEATHER:
The first few days in Bali were great. Sunny, warm and no rain.
When we returned from Kuala Lumpur. Different story. Rainy and very very windy. Was amazing. Was only on the last day that it started to clear up. I think our bad weather was around the time Port Headland/Broome got a cyclone.
RATE:
Exchange rate was about 6200-6300.
PRESCRIPTION GLASSES:
After shopping around a bit and getting extremely varying prices for prescription sunnies and normal glasses we ended up at the Bali Top Shop in Discovery Mall. This on the very bottom level. They were the only shop that said could do glasses in 5 days. Every other shop said about 2 weeks !!! And prices for prescription sunglass lens ranged from IDR180,000 - over IDR400,000 !!! We paid about AUD300 for both pairs of glasses. Great value and very good staff ! Definately pays to shop around for these services.
GENERAL:
There was quite a few tourists around, a lot of Europeans. The Bali Garden hotel said that they were about 50% occupancy and the Bali Dynasty said about 40% but they were 70% the week before.
It was great to see that things have been picking up for them. I have noticed that some of the footpaths have been done up so you dont have to cross the holes for the storm/sewerage drains. Discover Mall was constantly busy. A lot of locals more than tourists though. The prices reflect this too, as i thought quite expensive. Prefer Matahari.
The hardest thing about my holiday was returning home. I did not want to board the aircraft and could easily of stayed another few days/weeks...Countdown time is on till next Bali holiday....