Firstly I would like to say thankyou to everyone for the great information I received off the BTF prior to this trip and I hope this JBR is not too lengthy. Our party consisted of myself (30's) 5th trip, daughter (15 months) 1st trip, mum (70's) 4th trip and sister (40's) 13th trip. We travelled Qantas FF 16th - 23rd March staying at the Tegal Sari Ubud. None of us had ever stayed in Ubud and so were a bit dubious about being away from the coast. We found it a great place to be based from and will definitely be back. I hope this is not too detailed however will try to include information about travel with an infant. My partner and I have previously taken our son at 20 months and that was enough to put him off traveling with a young child. He chose to take our son on a camping trip while we were in Bali. Not that he would have wanted to come on a girls week.
Sunday the 16th we checked in at 9am for our 11.15am flight. Prior to leaving Perth I had tried to clarify with Qantas staff over the phone how much liquid was allowed in each babies bottle however I didn't receive a clear answer. The website is also unclear so I thought I would take 100ml in each bottle. The man at check in told me I wasn't allowed any liquid as the bottles were 250ml capacity. I pointed out that the list on the check in counter said that sterilized water was an exception to which he stated 'well its allowed then, you'll have to let them know upstairs as it always changes'. After this noone was interested in the amount of liquid in the bottles, even when it was pointed out to them.
Plane trip was pretty uneventful, my mum moved to an empty aisle seat as there was also an empty seat in the middle. This allowed my daughter to be able to sit in between my sister and myself. My daughter was tired however didn't fall asleep until 45minutes prior to landing. I was very conscious of other travellers, hope she didn't cause too much disruption. I think she was pretty good though, my son at 20 months was a lot more difficult to entertain and distract. I had taken popcorn on board for something to eat as were taking off, she loves popcorn. Staff were pretty good in assisting with requests, only thing is the bottle warmers they have on Qantas planes are only able to hold thin bottles. If you have Avent or Tommee Tippee they won't fit. I just asked for some hot water in the bottle to make it warm.
On arrival all went OK except my daughter's and my passports didn't scan so they had to be taken into a room and manually done. There was no problem with the passports coming back into Perth. My sister was also taken into a room for carrying too much wine however got away with only losing a small bottle of gin. A driver from Tegal Sari was waiting out the front and travel to the hotel went well and took under an hour. Tegal Sari pro vide a baby seat on request and it really makes all the difference when you are travelling a distance with a child.
I had made a list of restaurants that people had recommended on the BTF and we were able to manage to get to a few. The first night we went to Warung Enak, we had the Rjistafel and it was great. The staff kindly told us that two Rjistafels would be plenty for the three of us and it was more than enough food. I think that it was 150,00rp for one. It is a shame that more people don't seem to get to this restaurant, it was really lovely. The highlight was definitely Tropical Bale, 75,00rp lunch for two courses with choices, dinner was more expensive. It was fantastic, it is definitely a must in Ubud dining. They will pick up and drop off at the hotel. Indus was also great, has a great view and was lovely to sit and watch the rain. Bought the book 'Fragrant Rice' great read so far. Also went to Murni's Warung which had average food but was good to go and see. We thought the best view was from the lower level of the restaurant.
Since Dirty Duck diner was just up the road we thought we should give it a look in. My sister and I checked it out on a walk during the day and thought it looked lovely. We had planned to go to Lotus Pond restaurant on the Monday night however when we got there was told that it was booked out. We then went on to Dirty Duck and although the setting is quite nice we considered the food average. I know other people have said it and they are right the duck is definitely way to crispy.
Another meal was at Cahaya Dewata. I had read on the forum that the views are stunning and they are. We went on a rainy afternoon and could see white water rafters. Cahaya Dewata is a hotel that has seen it's day, only has a few rooms operational. The restaurant because of its spectacular views has tour buses that drop in for lunch. On offer is buffet or al a carte. Unfortunately because we were hungry we chose the buffet option which was really average. Nice chicken soup though.
We went to a few places for coffee including Casa Luna, Three Monkeys and Tutmak all were good. Casa Luna and Indus have lovely cakes.
Tegal Sari is a fantastic hotel and worth all the praise it receives. I don't know if I would have stayed there for a week with my four year old, and my sister definitely would not have taken her three teenage sons however it was ideal for the type of holiday we were looking for. The staff can not do enough for you and went out of their way to assist with my daughter. The staff at Tegal Sari are 'multiskilled' to use their own words, and our babysitter was also our driver and sometimes seen cleaning around the grounds. We found using a babysitter really useful when we were shopping as they would come with us and wait outside the shop with the pram when we ducked in. We never used a babysitter at night as we would either have room service and my daughter would be asleep or we would take her out and she would sleep in her pram. I would probably suggest if someone was wanting to leave their child with a babysitter then to check out their experience. Our first babysitter was a 16 year old girl who I don't think was entirely comfortable in dealing with my whingey daughter, another babysitter was a 28 year old male who was more adept with her however I wouldn't have gone out and left him with her.
More info on Tegal Sari - breakfasts limited choice however I would consider their omelets to be the best I have ever had in Bali. Room service menu quite extensive especially their asian dishes. Their satay was great, but beware of the green chicken curry very spicy. We ordered club sandwiches a couple of times however found that bread dishes were usually cold due to the distance from the kitchen to the rooms. We were wondering why the hotel does not use the metal covers that are usually found on room service meals to keep them warm. The pool at Tegal Sari is small however very nice. Water cool and refreshing. The pool is quite deep, not really appropriate for toddlers. There is also a steep ledge which if you are not careful can cause scraped knees. The pool bar is not manned however there is a phone to call up for food/drinks. No cocktails on the menu however Bintang and Hatten wine are available. The pool area was quite beautiful in the mornings as the sun was rising.
Tegal Sari staff will drop you off and pick you up any time into Central Ubud. Places like Indus and Tropical Bale were 30,000rp one way. We hired a driver from the hotel a couple of times for day trips for 60,000rp per hour. We found this the best option as we used the baby seat and also the driver was willing to help out with my daughter. First trip was to Sanur as my sister had walked along the beach there when she was over in December and had been quite impressed. It was nice to see the clean raked beaches and definitely think that Sanur will be the place we stay on our next holiday to Bali. I think it is the most appropriate area when you have toddlers as you are able to push then easily in the pram along the beach walk A lot of people also seem to hire bikes which I think is a good idea. My sister checked out some of the hotels and was most impressed with Griya Santrian in terms of location, price and the grounds. I don't think she looked in any of the rooms. In Sanur we went to the Sindhu beach markets and made all of our purchases at one of the fixed price stalls. It was a shame to see how quiet these markets are especially when you compare it to Ubud markets where a lot of tour buses stop off. We had lunch at one of the restaurants on the beach outside the markets, cant remember what it was called, was OK.
We also hired a driver another day to take us to Tegallalang. Was not our thing, not really interested in wood ornaments. Found a lot of it appeared to be what you can purchase in Red Dot and other similar shops. The scenery along the way was spectacular so worth the trip. On the way back we checked out the Viceroy - absolutely stunning. I think the price for the cheapest villa is $1000 per night. We had an iced coffee each at the restaurant and it came to about $22 aud so definitely western prices. I think it would be worth going here for a meal though. We also had a look at Maya Ubud, a larger hotel, not as exclusive but very nice. Our driver said that the hotel's occupancy is 80% Japanese.
I was very surprised at the amount of shopping that can be done in Ubud. There is even a couple of surf shops on Monkey Forrest Road. We purchased Rip Curl thongs and tshirts for 50% off. DVD's are 15,000rp each and the quality appears OK so far. We paid 30,000rp at the markets for watches and also the silk bags that are everywhere now. We were after good quality copies of Billabong shorts however there weren't any at the Ubud markets. There are lots of shops to purchase good quality imitation handbags, purses and wallets. I purchased a nice Coach handbag for less than $50 Australian.
Over the week the exchange rate ranged from 8,650 - 8,000rp. As others have mentioned the exchange rate at Tegal Sari is just as good as on the street. We also had our laundry done through Tegal Sari and the price was cheap. Weather was pretty good, my sister and mum were really wanting the rain to come which did happen for our last three days. There was even quite a large thunderstorm on Saturday 22nd
On Sunday we left Tegal Sari and arrived at the airport at 12.30pm for our 2.40pm flight. Check in was a nightmare, for some reason they chose that day and flight to do a manual check in which was a very lengthy process. After standing in line for what seemed forever we rushed up to the Prada lounge which was OK, didn't have much time to appreciate it though. Also should mention that there seemed to be heaps of security checks at Denpasar airport, my sister couldn't remember there being that many in December. Even with all of the security I was never queried about the 200ml of water in each of the two baby bottles. We were wondering if the manual check in and increased security was because it was Easter Sunday. Anyway as a result our flight was delayed for nearly an hour. As soon as we took off my daughter fell asleep drinking her bottle and slept for nearly an hour and a half which was good. Flight was full so she had to sleep laying across our laps. We only arrived half an hour late and we got through customs quickly with just a few wood items to declare.
Hope this information is useful to some. Please feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer.