JBR - 30 July to 21st August
Kylie & Nathan's JBR.....
Since we're from Canberra, we left Canberra by coach on Saturday afternoon, and arrived at Central Station in Sydney at around 4pm. Caught a cab to the Stamford Hotel at the Airport. We've stayed at this hotel before, and were again happy with it. Caught the shuttle bus to the airport at 6.20am. Checked in early, and can't wait to get to Bali. Garuda flight went through Melbourne which unfortunately added an extra 2 hours onto our travel times, but not to worry - we'll be in Bali soon!
Off plane, and straight through VOA - we were one of the first in line, so were literally only there for 3 or 4 minutes. Picked up luggage and headed out to meet our driver Puja. I had organised Puja to pick us up through Geoff and Louise on the BTF (Bali Insight Tours) as we were going up to Ubud - something we hadn't done before. Puja was just fantastic. He is a well educated, insightful, interesting and entertaining man with good English. The car was comfortable, and the price was great. I wouldn't hesitate to use Puja again. Let me know if you would like his details.
So finally we're off and first stop is the Bintang Supermarket so that I can get a Bali Sim card from Diamond Phones next to Bintang. This was fantastic - so cheap, and convenient. The guy there does the whole thing for you, and you can top it up all over Bali. Will definitely do this again.
Then up to Ubud. We haven't been to Ubud before, so didn't really know what to expect. We were booked into the Ubud Village Hotel in one of their regular type rooms. When we arrived we were told that there were not standard rooms available, and that we had been upgraded to a deluxe room. The room was lovely with a gorgeous outdoor bathroom, but when we were leaving to go to dinner, we found that the main door would not lock. I called reception who sent someone to fix it for us, but after 15 minutes of banging about trying to fix it, it still wouldn't work. The maintenance person said that it would be fixed by the time we got back from dinner, but I told him that I wasn't happy leaving our belongings there without the door being locked. He rang reception and told them, and we were then given another room. We were upgraded (again!) to a super deluxe villa. Fantastic! Gorgeous room looking out to the river, mosquito net over the bed, stunning outdoor bathroom - what more could you want? I really liked this hotel, but once the actual excitement of having an outdoor bathroom wears off, reality sets in. I found it disconcerting to go outside in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and one night found a large spider next to the toilet. Also, while showering early in the morning, I was eaten by mozzies. Breakfast was fine, with the standard buffet type foods.
We spent 2 nights in Ubud, and halfway through our stay, decided that we would like to stay another night as we didn't think we'd have enough time to see everything that we wanted to see. We wanted to stay in the room that we had, and negotiated $100 US with the front reception manager. One of the best things that I did while in Ubud was visit the Beji Ayu spa for a treatment called Lelata Dhara (RP 125,000). Basically, it's an hour massage and then after your massage, they set your forehead up underneath a funnel which has warm oil in it. The oil runs onto a certain point on your forehead and then runs into your hair. This lasts for around 25 minutes. The treatment was amazing - I would highly recommend it. I came away feeling centred and relaxed. The only downside was that my hair was extremely oily and it took a few washes to get rid of the excess oil.
We spent quite a lot of our time wandering around the Ubud Markets which we thoroughly enjoyed. I purchased some silver earring and also a pack of vanilla beans. So cheap! The other thing which took up a fair amount of our day was a visit to the monkey forest. To be honest, I was a bit wary about the whole monkey forest thing. I had heard some horror stories on the forum, and was just a bit scared. The monkeys were out an about in force while we were there, and did become a little aggressive with a number of people that we saw who were trying to feed them, or get close to them. One lady had hidden bananas in her bag, and of course, the monkeys sniffed them out and attacked her for the bag. The monkeys took not only the bananas, but also some important documents out of the bag, and ran up a tree with them. The lady was a little upset because she needed the documents, but I don't think she got them back. I also saw a couple of the monkeys trying to jump onto little kids which I wasn't too keen on.
Both nights we stayed in Ubud, we ate at Bumbu Bali which sounds boring, but it was close, and we liked the food - so why not!
To be honest, we didn't particularly enjoy Ubud, and would probably not return other than for a day trip. Some may find it narrow minded, but Bali to us is the beach. We also found the fact that we were two of very few westerners a little off-putting. Ubud seems to be aimed at the Japanese and European markets.
So, after negotiating to stay for an extra night, we then decided against it - we were looking forward to heading down to Legian. Puja again collected us and drove us down to Legian to the Suriwathi Beach Hotel.
We had booked the Suriwathi for 7 nights through Antoni - one of their managers. The price was RP210,000 per night including breakfast.
At first glance, the Suriwathi seemed lovely. Gorgeous gardens that are well maintained, a clean pool (although no shade) and friendly staff. Unfortunately, our stay at the Suriwathi was not a happy one. For the first couple of days we were relatively happy, but as the days went on, our happiness decreased.
We found the bed very lumpy and uncomfortable, and the pillows were the worst I have ever seen. There is no bathmat in the room (we purchased one ourselves), and no soap supplied. We found breakfast very average, and often did not eat it. One of the main problems we encountered with the Suriwathi is that the walls between rooms are extremely thin. You can literally hear everything the next door neighbours are saying. We also got stuck next to a family who had been kicked out of the Baleka Hotel because of verbal and physical altercations between the husband and wife. They checked in on our day 2 there, and argued until all hours, the little girl who was around 7 years old was still running around at 3am on a couple of occasions, and the husband was basically a pig who started drinking at 10am and didn't stop until around 3am the next day. I did complain to reception about this family on 3 occasions, and was told each time that if it happened again, report it again. The staff never took any action even though on one occasion they told me that they knew that he was always drunk and occasionally violent. We were very happy to leave the Suriwathi.
Our next hotel was the Kumala Pantai for 12.5 nights. What a change! This was our third stay at the KP, and as usual, we loved it. It felt like home. We have gotten to know the staff really well, and it was great seeing Tutnik at the pool and Erma at the restaurant. These two staff hold a special place in my heart - and I think they feel the same way about me.
As usual, the pool lounger hogs were out in force, but we always managed to find one or two loungers in the afternoon after a mornings shopping. It constantly baffles me that people would actually make the effort to haul arse out of bed at sparrows fart to get dibs on a lounge. One thing I love about the KP is the social aspect of it. We always meet great people who we end up spending many hours sitting around chatting to by the pool. This year was no exception. We met some fabulous people from Perth, Bindi from Melbourne and 3 crazy chicks from Sydney. They all provided many hours entertainment!
As you all know by now, the restaurant has changed and unfortunately, I don't think it's been a good change. Although it was nearly always full (especially once Lanai and Zanzibar had closed), the food was very average, and the menu is lacking. The staff do not know about all the dishes, and because they're all written in Italian, it was very hard to work out what you were going to get with your meal. The have no entrees, and most mains don't come with vegetables. They've taken nearly all the Indonesian food off the menu too, which I found most disappointing.
We have booked into the KP for a month next year, but will be keeping a close eye on the forum to see how construction is impacting peoples enjoyment of their holiday. A number of staff that I spoke to had great concerns re adding 100 extra rooms onto the hotel, and not adding another pool. If you've been to the KP, you know that the pool is always busy, and I just don't see where they're going to put more loungers. Hopefully it all works out!
So, after 12 nights, it was time to go home (very sad indeed). We booked Wayan from out the front of the KP to take us to the airport - he has a TV screen in his car, and his car is immaculately clean - highly recommended!
We checked in and then headed to the Prada Lounge. We couldn't get in for less than $20 US, but to be honest, I will definitely use the Prada Lounge again. I think it's great value for money - very comfortable lounges, a good selection of food and grog and so much nicer than sitting on the hard plastic chairs in the departure lounge downstairs.
Flight was uneventful - I knocked myself out with sleeping pills, and next thing I know we're in Sydney.
Overall, we had an absolutely wonderful trip this year. We were there for just over 3 weeks, and I feel that this is probably as long as I could stay for without moving around the island more. I was ready to go home!
There will be more to come of my JBR - where we ate, what we purchased, spa treatments and other things which will come to mind later.
Hope I haven't waffled too much. If you have any questions, ask away!
Cheers, Kylie