Shall I cut a long story short, or make a short story long? I'll just tell the tale and we'll see how long it gets.
Garuda flight no problem. Left 10 mins late, arrived pretty much on time. Long queue at arrivals. I think 3 planes landed at the same time, but there were only 4 desks operating. And then the guy whose queue we were in decided to take a potty break, have a chat and then disappear for 10 minutes. We gave him a rousing reception when he (finally) returned. Didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed.
The Puri Raja was lovely. The renovations were great but we did suggest that they needed to put a bit more storage for clothes in the room. Living out of a suitcase isn't a lot of fun, even if it is for only 4 nights. We thought that it had become a bit more of a 'younger' person's hotel. Lots of noise at the pool and a strange moment (early evening) when someone rattled the door handle of our room and then later again someone threw something at the window. Not major things, obviously, but a little disconcerting just the same.
The tomato soup at the fairy dress café on the corner (don't know it's real name) is still the best in Bali. Wish I could get the recipe.
Then on to Ubud, and our drama. For those who missed my first 'Here Now Report', Go Holidays has gone belly-up, so our accommodation voucher at the Pertiwi Resort was not honoured. Unfortunately, management decided to not tell us this until after we'd completed check-in. We took one look at our 'superior' room and decided we weren't happy. Then management came to tell us that Go Holidays had gone (etc), so we'd need to pay. After much negotiation, which started at US$70 per night, we ended up paying AUD$40 per night (probably still too much). We felt that for 2 nights we could put up with the crappy rooms, which are quite small, with a vanity basin in the corner (rather than in the bathroom), a cupboard, no tv, no tea or coffee, bathroom smelly (from the drain just outside the back door) and quite serious mould around the bathroom tiles. The bath towels were thin and grey, and had a peculiar smell. The pool was very nice but only had 6 pool chairs, half of which were close to collapse. At the other pool (across the other side of the canyon) the pool was lovely, but had similar problems with chairs. The photos on their website had nothing to do with reality. Someone told us that the Pertiwi was a 4 star resort, but I'd barely give it 1 star. The deluxe rooms and the villas I suspect are a lot nicer, although we didn't get to look through any, but they're priced accordingly. On the positive side, we did meet some lovely people and hope to keep in touch.
On to Rambutan Cottages at Lovina. Richard and Tini are lovely, and we had several social drinks and chats in the restaurant over dinner. This place has the biggest rooms I've ever stayed in. The grounds are gorgeous. The only disappointment was that one of the pumps in the pool was broken, so the waterfall didn't work. BUGGER! Lovina very quiet, with most of the tourists we saw from Europe. The beach sellers are quite aggressive, but were appeased by the sarongs and bead necklaces I couldn't live without (yeah, right!).
Finally to Sanur, our home away from home. How lovely to see all the same faces behind the desk, at the pool, in the laundry etc. Got our usual rooms and finally settled down for a relax. Met some lovely new people, and again hope to keep in touch. These holiday romances are sometimes just as fleeting as the holiday (lol).
Did very few trips, considering we've been there, done that, bought the t-shirts. However, we did take a trip to the butterfly park, which was lovely, but a very long trip for such a small park. If you want to take a look at it, I'd recommend you start with the butterfly park, then work your way down again to the bird park and then maybe Tanah Lot for sunset.
Also had the usual trips to Bali Galleria and Ramayana, and also took a look at the new Carrefour. Like an enormous combination of K-Mart, Target and Big W. Bought some lovely towels at bargain basement prices, and the smaller stores were good for a new watch (which I obviously needed) and a new leather handbag. The food court was clean with plenty of variety.
Had several get-togethers with bloodyron at Nyoman's Bar. (Hi Ron, love ya sweetie!) Also met several other Forumites there. Nice to put faces to names. Met Michael and Melina (?sp), Connie and Frank, Kerrie and Ian, and a few others I don't remember (sorry folks). Had a tour of Ron's villas, and must say they're really nice. Unfortunately, they're just a bit too far down the bottom of Sanur for me, but only because my arthritic old knees won't let me walk too far, and if I had to catch a cab every time I wanted to go up to the shops I'd be spending a fortune.
Met a gentleman named Graham in Café Aladdin one evening who told us that he was starting up a business to make Bali more accessible by wheelchair. Their website says 'Bali's first and only Travel Company on the island catering solely for disabled and mobility impaired travellers'. I've attached a link for future searchers.
And just to finish off, we had to bribe our way on board the flight home with out 11kg of excess baggage. The chap behind the counter was very civilised about it, and so was I. He stated the obvious (we were 11kg over) and I asked him what he could do to help us with that. He very obviously eyed off the RP100,000 sticking out of my passport (for the exit tax) so I crumpled it up and slid it over to him. That's the cheapest excess baggage fee ever!
Questions welcome.