eight of us left Brisbane on 24th Aug. for two weeks at the Hotel Kumala Pantai.Our party consisted of six baby boomers (55 -63) and Bruce (82) and Shirly(78).
The flight over was good, and straight through VOA and customs and at the hotel having a Bintang by 5pm. Advice from this forum was spot on this is a great hotel and I can understand why it is so heavily booked.The guests where mainly Aussies with a few Europeans and generally around our age. The rooms are clean and comfortable, the pool is to die for with plenty of shade from overhanging trees, the gardens are well maintained and the trees full of barking squirrels and nesting finches. Although I am not a lover of Italian food we have no complaits about the meals at the hotel restaurant, the buffet breakfast was fantastic, plenty of hot and cold choices and a continually changing menu to pick from.
Across the road from the front entrance of the hotel there is a little lane with a laundry service,ten items (sorts ,shirts ,singlets) 20,000rp ($3) and right next door to the laundry is a young family making tailor made sandals (Ria's Collection),triple stitched ,cushioned soul,thick leather straps and a buckle, 70,000 rp ($10). Other hotel guests quickly placed their orders I felt so sorry for this couple raising a family ,eating ,living and working in a 8 by 4 meter cubicle that on our day of departure we gave them a substantial donation.
For money changers we used the two directly in front of the Jayakarta hotel at the corner of Rum Jungle Rd and jalang Padma Utara. Under no circumstance use the one in the little shop on the beach between the Kumala Pantai and Blue Ocean , after four attempts to get me in one transaction (he would have got me for 180,000) .I told him that pappa been to Bali many times ,and I was going to tell every body in the hotel that he is a thief, he quickly shook my hand, gave me 5,000rp and said no worrys pappa ,no problem,me sorry OOOh you very strong ,I replied yea it's called adrenalin. It went over his head.
I had the fortune to meet Rangatira and wonder dog Jack and congratulated him on his beloved All Blacks win in the Tri nations and Bledisloe Cup, quite a distinguished gentleman ,he would make a good Aussie!
We ate at most restaurants posted on the forum ,Flying Piano, Bali Indo (packed most nights), Blue Ocean, Yutz and many other places and all meals were very good ,but for us Ketumbar in Melasti St was the pick . We celebrated Bruce's 82 nd birthday there and the staff turned off all the lights ,bought him out a little cake and candles and sang "happy birsday dear Bwuce, happy birsday too you". On the same night a group of Europeans were having dinner when a rather large cockroach flew in and landed on their table, talk about panic ,the four girls at the table jumped up sceaming and ran in all directions through the restaurant ,one girl even ran straight out on the street,every time the 'roach flew the girls would scream and run in another direction. The staff eventually swatted and stomped on the poor little "coocka racha". My mate Blue told the Europeans not to go to Australia,and held up his hands telling them that they grow as big as shoeboxes in Oz.
We used Jimmy Gorgeous and his brother in law Gorgeous Kamal (who Jimmy calls Ugly Camel) for all our trips, they have modern late model vehicles and can highly recommend this pair for any pickups or trips .
We gave another unsolicited donation to a poor muslim man about 45 , who was walking on his knees because both the lower parts of his legs were splayed out at 90 degrees (left leg 90 degrees to the left and the right leg at 90 degrees to the right), he accepted the money with both hands because he only had one finger on each hand. He blessed me , thats thanks enough.
Just a couple of tips to note :
Seperate your 100,000 and 50,000 notes from the smaller 20,000, 10,000,5,000 and 1,000.The new 100,000 and 10,000 are very similar in colour and very easy to get mixed up.
Took the Rasberry cordial ,Inner Health and Aqium gel and it worked for me , first time after 8 trips no problems .I won't go into to much depth about Bali Belly ,heaven forbid I got in enough strife last week with my "couple of dry fluffs" post.
While talking about AQIUM GEL ,we had it confiscated by Bali customs on our departure last Sunday . They gave us a demonstration by spilling a small amount on the tile floor and lighting it,instant flame and kept burning . It contains 66% ethanol and is very flammable and not allowed in hand luggage. It might pay to look for another alternative.
We used Bluebird Taxis and found them to be the best.
Last tip ,is to be TIP generously .We have so much and some of them have so little.
Cheers Gary and Josie