Hi all, we are back from the island of smiles and into a quick JBR mainly on the hotel as I know other forum members had asked about it. Sorry if it is boring and uneventful but our trip this time was a very last minute decision. Hubby and I decided to have a getaway to see if there is any chance of me falling pregnant naturally and in a very relaxed environment before we start the IVF route this week. Anyway we were able to get some seats flying there and back on Qantas. Garuda was fully booked, but given that we literally decided to go and book a few weeks before going, we were not surprised. Having said that, it did cost us an awful lot of money for one week, which we will never do again - would much prefer to spend that amount of money on a longer time in Bali!
Okay, on with the JBR. The flight out was uneventful. Met Lucei_Lynda from the Forum at the airport - they were off to stay in Sanur. I really hope they had as good a time as we did. The Qantas flight goes to Singapore via Denpasar and on the way back it goes from Singapore to Perth via Denpasar, so the plane both ways was full. We had requested our seats a week before flying and so were sitting right near the front, which we couldn't have been happier with.
No dramas with arrival. We were the only plane as far as I know. Straight through and out to be greeted by our very good friend Wayan. He had the bintangs in the esky in the back of his van ready for our ceremonial drink at the airport, and then a roadie on the way to the hotel. We had booked a Deluxe Suite at the Patra Bali Resort, which is just next to the airport. Well I didn't realize that right next door to the airport was going to be as literal as it was. Within 3 minutes a laughing Wayan had pulled up outside the hotel. We were amazed at how quick it was - I was only a quarter of the way through my second bintang!
The staff at the Patra are a credit to the hotel - absolutely lovely staff, willing to do anything and everything for you and always with a smile. This was my 12th trip to Bali, and I would have to say they would have been some of the friendliest staff I have ever encountered. Upon check-in, I asked if we were close to the pool and ocean view and this had all been taken care off in my booking with my travel agent. So true to word, we had what we both considered an excellent spot to stay in for the next 8 days. It is the first time in 3 previous trips, that I have not requested a room change! The hotel is very unusual in layout, given that the rooms are nothing like a hotel. The deluxe suites come in 'buildings' of two per building, one upstairs and one downstairs. So you literally do not have adjoining neighbours. Fantastic layout. They have an enormous amount of villas (all separate buildings), club suites, embassy suites etc. They do have a few standard deluxe rooms, but not many. The buildings are all spread out over the massive resort. There are 3 pools. The main pool is very large and also has a jet spa pool that you can sit in. Although not deep, it was always refreshing in the morning but somewhat lukewarm in the afternoon. There is a 'villa guest only' pool - which is ample in size, but the rules are not adhered to and basically anyone swims in the pool (with the exception of children). The third pool was basically a lap pool and very close to our room. The water is much colder than the main pool and no one was at it that I could see. This became our pool which was great - not once did anyone join us at it - hope it's like that again in June when we go back!!
Okay now the food. Breakfast was good, not as big and varied as the Kartika or the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel but still very good. They had the traditional egg corner, and the chef here also cooked the pancakes and french toast. Usual fare at breakfast, sausages, bacon, potato, tomato, baked beans, toast, croissants, pastries, cereals, fruit juice, noodles, sushi, teriyaki etc etc. I am not a big breakfast person, so the most I could ever manage was toast and a couple of times I had an omelet. Hubby (who never eats breakfast) amazed me every single morning by having a full breakfast. This became a bit of a joke on about day 5 when he was complaining about how much he was going to the toilet and how he thought he might have put on weight. My response was .... I am not surprised, what do you expect eating three full meals a day!...the end result being he downsized his breakfast on day 6! The restaurant meals were varied in choice - a large amount of asian dishes on offer for you to sample. They also had a Japanese restaurant (which we never tried) and a pizzeria/Italian restaurant - which we did try and which both occasions we ate here were absolute winners. Surprisingly the prices to eat in the hotel were very reasonable and not as high as I expected, given previous comments. They were certainly cheaper than eating at the Nusa Dua hotel and Discovery Karitika. The theme nights were also a pleasant surprise. They were between 75,000 and 90,000 and they only had them every second or third day instead of every night like they do in other hotels. This actually worked for them as 9 out of 10 times the nights were fully booked. Unfortunately I cannot really say I was happy with the two theme nights we attended (those being satay and a BBQ night) as both times I was ill afterwards (coming out both ends) which I can only assume comes from food that has been sitting there for a while in a hot evening! I was not the only one who suffered from the BBQ night - another couple we met at the pool and who we subsequently dined with on the BBQ night got sick also. However hubby was fine - although he did complain of many toilet trips - but like I said above, this could be because he ate like a king in Bali - and often!!!
Okay a couple more things to mention. It was great to sit in the pool and watch the airplanes take off from the airport - I could never tire of that. Also the wood carving man - he has been at the Patra for 17 years and what magnificent work he does. So very intricate and detailed. Absolutely some of the best carving I have ever seen in Bali. So much so that we purchased 4 pieces from him. All cleared customs with hardly a second glance as the wood was extremely good. We now have our pieces fitted onto our Balinese hut style gazebo at home - they look magnificent and have already been commented on numerous times. The detail is just amazing - too much to comprehend at one glance. We will definitely purchase more from him. The best part was the price he asked for and for which we negotiated down a touch (couldn't go down too much as it was clearly exquisite craftsmanship) was extremely reasonable and surprisingly so.
So that about covers the hotel! As we were really only there a week we didn't do a great deal. We did eat out at the following places: Nero's (2 times) - had the penne ariabiatta and the mushroom pizza - very yummy food for a decent price. Kori's (2 times) - absolutely love this place - had the me goreng and the butterfish - best me goreng and butterfish I have ever had. Ma Jolly's - had the mushroom pasta - way too rich and creamy for me. Now I have to say this is the first time I have been to Ma Jolly's and I went because I had heard so many good things about it. Well I would have to say that we would never go back. Everyone has different tastes and opinions and by all means, I am not saying its bad food. It was just not for me. We took our friend Wayan and for our mains Wayan ordered spaghetti bolognese and I ordered the mushroom pasta and my hubby ordered lamb shank - well it was literelly one lamb shank. The quantity of both Wayan and my pasta was minimal. My pasta was drowned in cream much to my disappointment and Wayan's spaghetti bog was more the size of an entrée than a main. When the bill came, we nearly fell off our chairs - I knew it was going to be expensive but I seriously did not thing the meal sizes justified the cost. Like I said above, this is my opinion only and I am not saying it is bad food, it wasn't, but it wasn't substantial. We were also very disappointed with the service - it was up to us to constantly indicate for service. Enough said! We ate lunch somewhere in Seminyak which I cannot for the life of me remember, it was a nice little place to fuel ourselves with during the midst of my shopping spree!
Shopping! We did not buy too much. Bought about 65 DVD's - all fine copies and all from Wayans brothers shop in Poppies 2 - the ones we have watched so far are all brilliant copies - and some of the movies are just out at the cinemas. I will buy all future DVD's from him as they are obviously bootleg copies and not ones filmed from the seat at the cinema!! We also bought some Balinese music here, to listen to in our Balinese themed garden when at home! Absolutely a good find here! Okay other things I bought were a heap of clothes from Body & Soul (my absolutely favourite clothes shop in Bali). Here I bought a strapless summer dress, a sleeveless summer shift, pair of leggings (to wear under the shift dress), a strapless top and a pair of white ¾ pants. Total amount of these items was approximately $100 - so very happy about that. I bought most of these at the big Body & Soul shop in Seminyak and the B & S clearance shop which is located almost opposite the big Body & Soul shop in Seminyak. They do have one in Centro, one opposite Matahari's and a couple on Jalan Legian. I also bought a fabulous pair of black cotton ¾ pants from a shop called B in Seminyak. The shop is all 100% cotton items. My pants cost me 150,000 rp and it feels like I am wearing nothing. They are the most comfortable pair of pants I have ever worn. We also bought a hammock for our pagoda. It is one with the wood across each ends, to hold the hammock flat and open. My only recommendation here would be for you to do what we did, and ask them to change the wood at each end from bamboo to normal wood. They did this at no extra charge for us and it got through customs with a cursory glance. It cost us 250,000 rp and is without a doubt one of the best investments we have made! It's a battle between hubby and I as to who gets to it first!! It was about this time that Hubby realized that I had basically been shopping hard and buying things all for me and he realized that he had not purchased anything! So off we went to the surf discounted items warehouse on the bypass roadwhere. Hubby bought some t-shirts and shorts and was extremely happy with his purchases. He also bought 2 pairs of Bintang boardies and 2 bintang t-shirts from Poppies 2 for a total bargain price of 110,000 rp.
So people have been asking me was it busy? No Bali was definitely not busy. Were there more people? I would say yes definitely more people around, but still not near the amount on the streets as previous. The amount of people begging has increased tenfold. Also when talking to the Balinese, many will mention they cannot have anymore children as the economy is bad. Many we talked to indicate they have 1 or 2 but no more due to no money because of the economy. We tipped everywhere we went - when I say tipped, I mean we didn't necessarily keep our change of 14,000 rp or 10,000rp etc. Yes it does all add up, but the way I look at it is we were on holiday, if we couldn't afford it, then we wouldn't be on holiday in Bali. The other thing I didn't do is barter as much as I could off. Really couldn't be bothered for the sake of a couple of dollars. The vendors are definitely not as pushy - they appear to have almost given up, which is a real shame. Not once were we pursued with gusto. The only one who did pursue us was a little girl (no more than 4) who was begging for her mum on JL Legian. She was actually quite annoying in the fact that she did not give up. Her mum had the mandatory baby and sent her out as soon as a tourist walked by. This was in the evening, so I don't know whether she was there during the day.
I will also say, that at the happy hour pool bar, the Aussies were in fine form. Husbands, wives and kids all screamingly loud and very obviously Australian in both form and talk. Sometimes it really is embarrassing to be an Australian. Some of the conversation coming out of their mouths was highly inappropriate and offensive. Also the way some of them spoke to the kids, was absolutely appalling. Swearing their heads of at them and threatening them with all kinds of violence. Absolutely shameful. The German tourists next to us on the loungers were gobsmacked - as were we! Their loudness continued in the restaurants of an evening - so hence we tried to eat out most nights.
Now upon my closing I would like to say, anyone who is flying the Qantas shocker our from Bali to Perth at 12.55am - be prepared. It really is a shocker. Hubby managed to doze for an hour or so, but I had no sleep, I just couldn't drift off. So the end result was a very tired me at the end of it. Thank goodness customs was quick and we were home and in bed by 6.30am....only to be woken by the phone at 8.30, but that's another story!
As for whether we were successful with our baby making...the end of the week should tell us that particular story and if not well we gave it a good chance before we start our IVF journey on Wednesday. Wish us luck! Thanks for listening and any questions let us know!
PS....weather was stunning the whole time we were there - it rained a couple of times but that was either late at night or very early morning.