Eight of us travelled from Melbourne on Garuda. No problems with flights there or back. VOA no problems paid in US$. Immigration a bit slow but not too bad. Straight through customs.
Caught taxis x3 from Airport to Ramada Bintang in Tuban rp90,000 for 3. will never bother with transfers again. Reconfirming flights was just a phone call from reception.
The hotel was just as good as it has been for the last few years. Less Aussies though and more asians and euros. All of the people selling on the beach were still there. We noticed that there were not so many people trying to sell you things on the streets as in the past. Prices seem to have stayed the same.
The new walls along the beach from Kuta to Tuban will look great when finished. It is amazing how they get all the rock to lock in together so well. Hopfully it will stop some of the erosion of the sand.
Places we visited included Bali Bird Park, Bali Zoo, Bali Street Dogs (we took donations), Nusa Dua for watersports & Turtle Island, Bedugul,Waterbom, heaps of shopping and GWK
The Bali Zoo is a place that we will get back to visit again next year and take our time to look around better. We were a bit rushed as we needed to get back to Tuban for sunset. The animals here were well looked after and you were able to feed some of them. You could see that they were making improvements to the grounds and enclosures and it will be interesting to see how they go in the next 12 months.
Resturants we at at included:
Pantai on the beach at Tuban
Mini resturant, Tuban
The Wharf at Ramada Bintang
Gracie Kellies - Quiz night was fun
Febris, Tuban
Sharkies and Matahari Cafe - Jimbaran Bay
Bubba Gumps
We were happy with meals at all resturants.
All but one person in our group had at least one tattoo done this trip at Red Skin Tattoo in Tuban. We are happy with all of them from the smallest Gecko to a whole back piece. Agus place was very clean and he was quick. The back piece took 6 hours.
3 in our group were in Bali for the 5th time. Two were on there 2nd trip and 3 were there for the first time. Everyone enjoyed themselves and are are looking forward to returning next year.
Jane