As a side kick to our business we decided to take a group of 10 women to Bali for 1 week on a shopping tour. We stayed at the Sofitel in Seminyak and shopped, pampered and ate ourselves stupid. We are now thinking that this could be a regular side to our business.
There are 3 of us and we have been importing from Bali for about 3 years. We love the island, the people and the shopping. It made sense to us to share some of our secrets with other fellow shoppers and as it turned out it was most appreciated by all.
The Hotel: We just love this hotel and have stayed here many times. This time they were doing some work on the garden pool and this was out of action, which is a shame as it is great for a late night swim. Didn't matter that much there was always a pool lounge or two by the ocean pool. They hotel was heavily booked and we had some trouble organising a late check out but managed to pay for one room for us all to share till we left at 9pm. The breakfast at the hotel has moved back under reception and was the highlight of staying at this hotel. Fresh juices, bannana pancakes and waffles cooked while you waited, cappacinos made hot and not too strong, eggs cooked just how you liked and the fruit salad, and spicy yogurt was to die for. The hotel gave us all a free one hour massage at their spa and this was wonderful as well. We had ground, second and third floor rooms that were lovely and clean. The bathrooms are looking a little tired but that doesn't surprise me with the use that they get. Will definately stay there again.
The Shopping: We had leather bags made from Tommy's leather on Padma street - 30 in all - they would be from the softest leather that I have ever felt and the bags that they copied for us were identical. Next door we had shoes made again great copies and very happy. One of the girls had a suit made with extra pants for her husband, they all fit very well and were an exact copy. Would recommend all of these places. We had a day in Tegallalang where many wooden carvings where purchased as well as mosiac lamps. Other shopping was around Seminyak, Legian, Kerobakan. Divine Diva and Animale Factory Outlet did very well from all of us, with Animale having a wonderful Winter range out. We will now be the 10 best women in Perth!! We visited wrought iron, Hishem furniture, Leolle, R2b wholsale, Geneva, Surf factory outlets and so much more. By about day three concern was shown for the weight of bags and luggage allowance. As it turned out we had nothing to worry about with the heaviest at 26kgs and the lightest at 15kgs. (We think she wore alot of her stuff home because she still managed to shop a storm.
Pampering: We all went to Chill on Kunti Street. This is a real treat and some of us went back for more. Lokking forward to returning here in June. The Melasti Spa saw many visits from us for Pedicures, Facials, massages, Manicures, This was great value and a new place for us to be pampered.
Food: There never seems enough time to eat every where you want to so we stuck to some favourites and shared them with the group. We ate at Indo on the first night as it was just up the street from the tailors and we were faiding fast. Yummy and cheap. Gado Gado has always been a favourite of mine - we had sunset drinks and dinner from their new menu which was fantastic and they still have all the yummy deserts. We had dinner at Gosha twice ( we always take our driver and his family out for dinner and they always choose Gosha) and we always have a great night. Spent most of this night playing card games with the kids that we had taken with us and it was a great converstaion breaker!! Bali Deli is always a favourite and we had a few quick and yummy lunches here. We had Pizza and Bintang one night in Eat Street that was so cheap you wonder how they can do it. We ventured down to Tuban on another night and had dinner in Batu Waran? Cafe(not sure of the name) and i had a wonderful grilled chicken salad. Our last night we ate at Koris in a Bale in the garden it was a really nice way to end the holiday/shopping trip.
Our week was up very quickly and before we new it we were saying our goodbyes and going through immigration at the Airport. Some of us flew Garuda and some of us few Qantas. The flight times were horrible for both airlines, but the Garuda flight was about 1/2 full so i stretched out over three seats and slept the 3 hours home!!Gotta love that!!
We had another wonderful trip to our favourite island and are looking forward to returing again soon. I think we just have to get inventive with the ideas to take us back there again.
Kerry