We have been back for a week now and have to say that the Bali blues are not as bad as previous. We read a JBR by Rama Girl and have to agree with her sentiments - Bali has lost a bit of its sparkle for us. But, ofcourse, we will go back, we just don't have the desire to book straight away like we usually do. Why?? We will get to that.
Let's begin with the flying. We got cheap Jetstar tickets and we got what we paid for - cheap !! We left Brisbane via Qantas who checked us all the way thru. We had excess baggage to begin with for our sponsor family and they did not charge us - thankyou Qantas. We flew to Melbourne and found our flight, no problems. We were late leaving due to the rear door not closing. The sky waitress's ignored us, ran out of food and also bottled water - can you believe that - no bottled water!!! The flight was smooth and we arrived safely, so I guess that is important. Checking in thru VOA etc was no problem. We were met at arrivals by our hotel driver from the Adi Dharma cottages. We were also met by a group of young drunk aussies men/boys who blocked the pathway when leaving. Thus was the beginning of our many encounters with drunk/rude aussies. Why do we do this ???
We had not stayed at Adi Dharma cottages before but had looked at a room last time we were there in August. The room they gave us Room 409 was NOT like the room we originally saw. It was old, very old and the bathroom was ancient. The room had a bad feel and we were not happy. It was not a five star hotel, but we did expect better. Plus, there was a laneway that ran alongside where a dog lived. This dog barked all night long. After two nights, we decided to ask to change rooms otherwise we were leaving. In typical Balinese style, changing rooms was no problem. We moved to room 421 which was lovely and we were happy girls.
We ate at many places. Favourites would be Drops, Indo National and Bali Colada in Discovery Mall. We used to love Gosha's and Nero's but were disappointed in both this time around. One place we went too the food was fine but we were hijacked by the waitress. She told me I looked like her dead mother and proceeded to pretend to cry!!. She then told us about her Aussie friend who used to help her out who she can no longer get in contact with. She asked us what we were doing the next day. We told her we were going to Ramayana amongst other things. She then said she would meet us there with her two children and then we could go back to her house for lunch. She was obviously looking for another benefactor. So all thru our meal she kept coming over wanting to confirm our meeting at the shops with her children. Needless to say, we did not meet her.
We shopped at our Ketuk's who always remembers you. How she does it with all her customers, I am amazed. She also offers a service now of copying outfits. I gave her some black linen pants to be made into 6 different colours - great job and cheap!! Ramayana is a great shop for shoes but they only go up to size 40 for ladies. Toko for beads. Supa Nova for wonderful Martha. Optik Melawi in Discovery Mall for glasses (3 pairs for $350). Bread Talk for everything yummy!! Ace Hardware for drill bits (no joke). The second best find of the trip was Golden Buffalo. This was recommended by someone of the forum whose name I don't remember but Thankyou whomever you were. They sell Bronze and Silver items at a fraction of the cost of the shops. Everything is a bit dirty and dusty but a bit of spit and polish (literally) from the assistants and the items come up like new. They have some lovely things there and we visited twice.
The biggest, best and most rewarding shopping experience was Bali Stone. Deb M - Thankyou. Felicia was a wonderful saleswoman - actually that is not fair. She was not pushy in any way. She simply showed us what she had to offer and told us how easy it was to organise to have the goods sent back to Oz. Nothing was too hard for her. So, we went a touch mad. We bought statues, waterfountain, and a 3m x 3m Gazebo !! We certainly did not plan to do that, although we have always wanted one. Don't worry Deb M, Duggies and Natpaula, we did leave some stock for you guys. Hopefully our stuff and yours will fill a Brisbane container. Our gazebo will have carved poles, beds and table all with a frangipani design as suggested by Felicia. Wonderful !!
We went to Singaraja to visit our sponsor family. We sponsor two girls from the one family and it was wonderful to see them all again. The girls have blossomed since our last visit in August. Luh was so shy, but has really come out of her shell and is learning traditional dance thru the Helen Flavel Foundation. They do such great work for the young people and I can not praise them enough. Tuberose, we were there two days after you. We saw your dart board gift - it was a big hit. We also saw your mattress's ready to be delivered. Nyoman spoke highly of you. We also bought mattress's for our family and received photos via email when we got home. Such basic things that we take for granted. I am not going to say any further about our visit for fear of being shot down. It was a terrific day and we will cherish the memory.
We filled our ten days with shopping, relaxing and eating as you do. We caught up with our friends Ayu and Made. Made asked us if we would sponsor her to come to Australia. She was willing to leave her husband and child behind. I explained that we did not have any opportunities for her in our small country town where we live. She was disappointed in us as we were in her.
Arrival at the airport was interesting. Luckily the Porters knew where to go for Jetstink because there was no signage. When we finally got to check in we were advised that our plane was going to be three hours late in leaving. So we paid our excess baggage without complaint and tried to find the Prada Lounge. It seemed that every second shop in the airport has Prada in its name !! We found it near gate 7 and paid 150K rp to get in (although others paid 100k). Worth every penny. Food, drink and comfy chairs. The toilets were clean until someone pee-peed all over the seat and the floor. Fab went to the toilet 10minutes before me and they were clean. When I went I found wee everywhere. Fab swears it wasnt her. I kept searching the faces trying to find the culprit !!
The flight home was uneventful - again no drink. As we were late into Sydney we missed our connecting flight and were put on the next available flight four hours later. It is a bit confusing arriving in Sydney then transferring to domestic. Luckily a lady on the plane knew where to go and we followed her. We then had a four hour drive home. So from when we left our hotel to when we drove in our driveway was 25 hours. What a day!
All in all we had a great trip. Bali has lost some of its lustre because of the dishonesty we encountered and the drop in quality and increased prices at a lot of the restaurants etc. We will go back, but not for perhaps 18 months or so. (we have a gazebo to pay for first!!). The main lowlight would be the rude drunk aussies and the dishonest people. The main highlight would be Singaraja, Bali Stone and the lovely people. Cheers.