January 8th to January 19th
Flew Garuda for the first time, usually Qantas. Pleasantly surprised and in fact thought it on a par with Qantas. Meal service was certainly quicker and it wasn't too bad at all. Plenty of wine offered even though it was early morning but sadly no tea or coffee offered on either flight.
One suitcase had a dreaded white cross on it but that was not the one the customs were interested in and never even opened. The one they liked the look of had a bottle of Raspberry juice in it which they obviously hoped was hidden excess alcohol. When he realised what it was he just laughed and sent us on our way.
Our friend met us at the airport and we were greeted with such lovely warm hugs and big smiles. I do love the Balinese.
Stayed at the Bali Rani in Tuban as I love it here. The staff are absolutely gorgeous, it has a friendly atmosphere and everything is clean. Had a poolside deluxe room, just walk out the door and step into the pool.
There had been a (small) fire at the Bali Rani reported on the forum but as soon as we drove up it was evident that was an understatement. The restaurant attached to the hotel was boarded up and the Thai restaurant next door was gutted and the roof gone. All the spa area and upstairs bar of the hotel was also gone. We spoke to a couple who had been asleep when the fire started, they heard a lot of hullabaloo but ignored it thinking it was just new years eve revellers. When people started banging so hard on their window that they thought it was going to break they opened the door and were dragged out through a deluge of fire balls bombarding them. The man unfortunately was naked, they grabbed a table cloth as they ran through the restaurant and wrapped it around him. They were taken over the road to the Kartika Plaza ballroom and spent the night there with all the other guests from the Bali Rani. They said it was terrifying and both were shocked. Only a few days after we arrived however the hotel restaurant was reopened and they were working day and night on the Thai restaurant.
Only had one massage while in Bali, at the Bali Rani. A room had temporarily been set up for this. During the massage people came in to use the toilet twice and once the phone rang and the girl talked for about a minute. I was also sore for 3 days afterwards.
Happy to report, no food poisoning or Bali Belly because we took our Raspberry juice every morning and also washed our hands with antiseptic gel before every meal like good little vegemites.
Did develop sore throats which we blame on the disgusting conditions when we ate at Jimbaran Bay but bought some antibiotics over the counter in the Apotik which did the trick. However 3 days after finishing the antibiotics I got sick but we were home by then so didn't matter.