Hi everyone,
We arrived back in sydney christmas day after 10 wonderful but very wet days.Danny's first time my 6th,He is now totally hooked and planning our next trip to bali.We flew jet*economy there and starclass back for the extra comfort and luggage allowance.flight smoothe,staff attentive and all on time.no complaints.
We stayed at Puri Raja in legian,really good hotel lot's of aussies and everyone friendly.each day booked into melasti spa for treatments and massages,highly recommended,we were there to spoil ourselves,and after walking the streets of legian and kuta we needed it at the end of the day lol.lovely atmosphere,great staff and affordable eg basic melasti massage 100000 rupiah and with an exchange rate of around 8000 we were laughing.
I couldn't believe how quiet Bali is now,streets empty.lot's of restaurants empty.All the locals complaining
weather....rain rain and more rain.not that we cared.bought some ponchos and off we went.
Ubud..we stayed at the komaneka along monkey forest road.wowwww what a hotel.beautiful rooms,very romantic with frangipani and rosebud petals on the canopied bed,sunken bath and outdoor bali shower,gorgeous grounds and staff just waiting to look after you,highly recommended,we paid $150 per night through asia rooms.com while there we did the casa luna cooking class,really good if your interested in cooking and had fun with a great bunch of people doing the class.approx $35 for 5 hours.I also took Danny to see the early morning local market at ubud square,a real eye opener,lets you see the alternative to sopping in the supermarket as we do,lol.we were also lucky enough to see a cremation ceremony,they rock the streets and lot's of good photos taken that day.
Eating,i won't go into detail to much,everyone has their favourites,we ate a lot at a cute bar called The Corner Bar 2 bars to the left from the Puri.We bhad so much fun with the staff and all nationality of people ducking in for a drink to wait out the rain,food good and cheap.we stole a few recipes from the chef.meals around 25000.seaside bar was ok nothing special,japanese just down from seaside,mades warung,etc
Danny had the obligitory leather jacket made from a tailor close to hotel,$60 ozz, beautiful ready the next day.
We didn't bargain to hard because we felt for the locals,let me tell you they are doing it tough,but you have to be embarrassed by the typical aussie tourist trying to screw them down to the last rupiah.
Danny's views on Bali,being a newbie He couldn't get his around the rupiah so equated everything to bintags eg if a tshirt cost 20,oooo it was 2 bintangs.If he was bargaining and got carried away he flipped a coin with the locals and made sure they won.He taught the Corner Bar staff to gamble..using ozz coins he flipped against their 1000 rupiah note..they always won and the joy on their faces was great.He bought a phrase book and learnt lot's in our 10 days which endeared him to the locals also.Danny loved Ubud and the differences between legian and ubud.allin all the trip was a great success we have another convert to our 2nd home....Bali...
p.s.dvd's becareful lot's of rubbish ones.