All our family and guests had left Bali by Thursday 22 March which left Kris and I six nights to go at Wilsana 2.
This was supposed to be the relaxing, honeymoon stage of the stay but it didn't turn out that way. We still had heaps we wanted to do and see as well as a pile of shopping for kids, family and anyone else that Kris decided she wanted to buy something for.
We also still had a free day tour up our sleeves and we really wanted to do the Sobek bike ride down to Ubud that had been recommended by so many forumites. I was also on a mission to eat a steak dinner at Yutz.
We thought we'd go check out Cracker's Bar and Grill as part of our day trip and see what all the fuss was about. We arrived at the Candi Kuning (sp?) markets at 11am after a breathtaking drive up the mountains. It really was great views and we stopped several times along the way to take some photos.
We decided to do a lap of the markets before checking out Cracker's place and we finished with a sandlewood table runner with matching placemats, t-shirts, jewellery and another bl##dy wind chime (our house now sounds like a wind chime factory).
We loaded it into the car and headed for Cracker's place for a spot of lunch. There it was, tucked away in a corner of the markets, we ventured inside, keen to check out the all famous toilets (which I might say I managed to use for free, Cracker, you need to tell your staff to be vigilant!).
After using, and extensively photographing the toilets we proceeded to the bar to order some food. Turns out that they were catering for several hundred guests for lunch that were over in the nearby botanical gardens as they couldn't fit them into Cracker's place. I ordered a Nasi-Goreng Special and Kris went for the Fish and Chips. I then spent the time waiting for the meal studying all of the memorabilia on the walls. Very impressive!
After lunch we visited the temple at Lake Bratan, and skipped across to Ubud where Kris wanted to get some dust collectors she saw on our last day trip a week ago there. Much to her disgust there were none left, oh well...a small win for the baggage on the way home!
We headed off to the villa as we were meeting Kadek from Sweet Tailors who had measured us up a few days before for some leather jackets. We arrived home just as she was getting there. Jackets were perfect! We were very happy with her service.
We had dinner at the villa, watched a DVD and went to bed relatively early in anticipation of our major shopping day tomorrow.
We started the next day with our usual swim, coffee by the pool and banana pancakes and a fruit platter for breakfast.
Nyoman had the car warmed up and we were off to Kuta to shop till we dropped....and we did!
First stop was to get a large backpack so I would have something to lug all the crap around in. Then we headed for Matahari's where Kris had seen lots she wanted. After that we headed to Centro's, then all the poppies lanes, and another 25 km's worth of shops, with the backpack slowly getting heavier as the day wore on. By the time the dust settled the pack was full, as well as both of us having hadfulls of other bags (Thank god we had offloaded most of the wedding stuff on our parents to take back earlier in the week).
It was getting dark and we headed to Yutz.
We arrived with appetites and thirsts to match. Two Bintangs didn't touch the sides before we shifted onto Tequila Sunrise's. We ate our steak dinners and finished our cocktails. I must say the steak was top notch but the rest of the meal I thought was ordinary. Just as we were about to ask for the bill, the power went out. We paid by candlelight and left in the dark with all our booty back to the villa. We crashed early exhausted!
Next day was the Sobek bike ride. We got picked up from the villa early, and began the 1.45 hour journey to the restaurant over the lake from that big volcano thingy for morning tea. It was a great view and very clear, which gave us some good photos and video of the volcano. The hawkers here were very bad. Two of them tried to get on the bus and had to be held back and the door closed by the driver.
We had another 20 minute drive to the point where we met up with our bikes and equipment for the 2.5 hour ride down to Ubud. It was a great day. We stopped at a local home where they made coffee for a living. A few stops along the way at temples and farms were very interesting. We even stopped and witnessed a cock fight at one of the local temples.
This was my sort of bike ride! In 2.5 hours I think I peddled about a dozen times! Alllll down hill! We arrived in Ubud for a great buffet lunch before beginning the long trek home.
We had dinner at the Living Room restaurant which is right outside our villa's gates. It was supurb! Kris had the grilled salmon, I had the duck breast, and we finished off with a chocolate fondue for dessert. After many cocktails each we were glad we only had 20m to roll home!
The last few days we decided enough was enough and we relaxed around the villa pool and got pampered by the lady that the villa calls in for massages. We had on complimentary massage each and the other one cost us 50,000 each for an hour. And it was pure bliss!!
We went to Bodyworks (again just up the road) but were very dissapointed with their service. They were by far the most expensive. Made us wait 40 minutes after our scheduled time, and when we were led to the room, we found the last client still in there getting dressed!! Most unprofessional! We much preferred Cool just up the road.
We left the villa on Tuesday night at around 10pm.We had the 1am Wednesday flight back to Perth.
We used the Prada lounge at the airport as I get complimentary access as a Qantas CLub member. It was up one end of the airport, and our departure gate was right down the other end. We had a good flight, plane was full. We cleared customs no worries. The only thing was that one strap was broken on every Bali bag. I had heard that this was common.
In summary:
General:
We took Inner Health plus and 100% Rasberry juice each day.
We took anti-bacterial hand wipes wherever we went (and toilet paper).
7,300 was the best exchange rate we got.
We had Bushmans Insect spray (aerosol) and the tube cream (80% deet).
We took our own fishing scales to check baggage (Thanks Tuberose!)
We gave away our suitcase and bought Bali bags for the trip home.
We drank far too many Bintangs and Cocktails! (I now have a different sort of Bali Belly!)
Food:
We mainly ate at the villa. The restaurants we ate at included:
Indo National - Enjoyed the Chilli Crab!
Yutz - Great steak, shame about the rest!
Febris cafe (out the front of the hotel) - crap!
Warung Mades in Seminyak - Great Chilli prawns and Nasi-Campur.
La-Lucciolas - 3 times...the prawn and snapper pie is to die for!
Living Room - Heaven on a stick 20m from the villa entrance!
Indus in Ubud - Great food, great view!!
Wedding:
Went great...would recommend paying extra for an expat photographer!
We bought the booze ourselves, would recommend it.
If had over we would organise our own cake, $100US is too much for what we got.
Cocktails in pool all night made it unique!
Wouldn't try to organise it again too close to Nyepi.
Villa:
I would thoroughly recommend Villa Wilsana 2 (or 1 for that matter) to anyone. They are great villas, well situated with staff that become your extended family. Nothing is too difficult and the service is 5 star all the way.
We are already saving for our next Bali experience. Next time we are taking all the kids!
Finally, thank you to all that answered questions and offered advice from this forum. Without you guys we would not have been half as prepared for the event as we were. You all helped make our wedding and honeymoon a special event that we will treasure for the rest of our lives!
cheers,
Paul and Kris.