Hubby and I left for our first trip to Bali on 7th September to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We flew with jetstar and were just over an hour late leaving Sydney, but I wasn't going to complain as we were on holidays and we were all going to get there eventually!
As it was our first time, we had pre-booked everything with our agent and it was nice knowing our transfer was there waiting for us at the airport. Next time we would do it alot differently.
Our first three nights were spent at Sesari Villas in Seminyak. WOW, I cannot speak highly enough of this place, certainy exceeded any expectations we had of it. The villas are almost brand new and each has its own private pool, garden, kitchen ,indoor/outdoor bathroom and it is very classy and modern. The staff were fantastic and extremely discreet.Each morning two staff would come in and cook your breakfast while you laze around reading the jakarta post, this took some getting used to.
Our second night in Seminyak we walked to Ku de ta for dinner- What a laid back trendy little spot this is. security was top notch, each vehicle was being checked all over with wands and mirrors underneath. We had an awesome meal, which came in at just over 1 million rupiah, worth every cent but does make you feel a bit scummy when you realise this is a months wages to alot of Balinese.
Next day we were off to Ubud for the day on an organised tour to visit the monkey forest, Kintamani, coffee plantation, art galleries, silver and textile gallery.In hindsight we should have just organised a driver and went to the places we wanted to go as it didn't take long to realise that he only took us to the places where his company gets commision. not to worry though was still interesting and our guide was extremely informative.
As part of the tour lunch was organised at a restaurant looking over Kintamani volcano, that was the only good thing about the restaurant, the alarm bells startd ringing when I realised it was buffet as i don't even eat buffett in OZ. The food was woeful. It was lukewarm and looked like it was cooked the previous day, I tried to eat a couple of things that I thought would not make me sick but sure as sh#t that evening the bowels stated working overtime and I thank my mum for her advice "don't leave home without the immodium".
Really didn't have time for much shopping, spent half a day at Kuta, first stop Mataharis to get a feel for the whole rupiah thing, then we braved it at poppies lane, Managed to pick up lots of clothes, sunnies , dvd's, all the usual for the kids we left behind. Some fellow aussies we met over a bintang stop steered us towards a seller "gecko" at shop #24 in the art markets close to the beach, his prices were good and you did not really have to bargain as they were already cheap and his stuff seems to be good quality. That night we ate at Le Trettoria in Seminyak. Great Italian food and reasonably priced.
Next morning our guide, Gede picked us for our transfer to Benoa Harbour as we were heading out tu Nusa Lembongan Resort for four nights. Not sure if it was because we were so stoked with Sesari villas and it kind of set a standard, but we were somewhat dissapointed with the resort. The location, set on a headland overlooking mushroom beach was bloody fantastic and so were the gardens but unfotunately the staff and the accomodation did not really deliver.
We had an ocean villa, which probably ten years ago would have been devine but I don't think any maintenance has been done on the place in all that time. We couldn't enjoy the sunken bath as It was filthy and the toilet had an overwhelming stench of urine. But... nevertheless this small hiccup was not going to stop us from kicking back and having a blast. Our first day was spent chilling out by the pool , having massages and sipping cocktails.hard,I know!
We tried to share our money around the island by eating and drinking at a different spot each meal, we figured we paid enough to stay at the resort. There is great bar at Bali Hai on mushroom beach that we frequented each afternoon to guzzle copious amounts of bintangs and cocktails.
We organised a snorkelling tour with a local called Johnno who runs a surf taxi to shipwrecks break. He took us to Gammut Bay, The Wall, and the mangroves. This would have to be the highlight of our lembongan trip, it was bloody sensational. In 2004 We travelled around Oz with our 2 Kids in tow and dived at Oz's best but they didn't come close to the quality of reef diving at Lembongan.Johnno is a real character and we certainy watched him loosen up after we shouted him a big bintang and he recited all the aussie swear words he knew.
There was one other couple snokelling with us and they were dutch, we got on so well that we ended up having lunch together which rolled into dinner which rolled into the wee hours. How come you don't get a hangover from bintang? must be light beer. We wish they would export it to Oz.
Our stay at Lembongan consisted mainly of massages, facials, cocktails, sun baking. diving. The most strenuous activity was walking along the beach at sunset with a bintang in hand. Never would have thought I would have hubby dragging me to the spa, He did invite his regular masseuse to come and live with us back in Oz, she politely declined though so he is looking into adult ed massage courses for me instead.
We soon learnt not to tell the locals where we were staying as I am sure they doubled the price, One staff member from the resort tried to hire us his board for 1 million rupiah. We laughed at him and asked if he meant for us to keep, needless to say we didn't take up his offer.
All in all, our trip to Bali is everything we could have imagined and more and we met so many beautiful Balinese which only enriched our stay and we are actually still communicating with some via text message.
We have alredy started organising our trip for next year, which will be done on a much tighter budget as we are taking the offspring.