We (me, partner and our two children) returned recently after a fantastic 17 day holiday. We spent time in Legian, Ubud and Tuban so I thought I'd split a JBR into three sections.
This follows JBR Part 1 - Legian posted Thursday, 1. May 2008 at 10:36 Bali Time and JBR Part 2 - Ubud Sunday, 4. May 2008 at 21:30 Bali Time.
Thank you for previous comments/queries. I have responded to qns asked back in other posts.
The journey Ubud to Tuban:
We arranged for the driver who took us to the Tegal Sari to do our transfer from Ubud to the Dynasty hotel after our three night stay. We organized an 11.00am pick up giving us time to have breakfast and pack without hurrying. He turned up at reception at 8.00am to take us to the airport?? Never mind, he went away for a couple of hours before returning for us. I just hope no-one missed a flight that day.
We decided to go via Sanur and have lunch at one of the beach cafes. We chose Bennos as it had a recommendation in the Lonely Planet book. We all ordered fish of one type or another. Mine and my partner's was a bit dry and crisp but the children's 'fish and chips' from the child's menu was really succulent. Ours had a nice lemon gremolata though which made it very tasty. There was a stiff breeze blowing and we hade a pleasant lunch with a glass or two of wine watching the activities taking place in the water and on the beach - men fishing, a few people swimming in the shallows, children flying kites.
I've got to say I have never been to the beach markets in Sanur. What an experience. Two women latched onto us as soon as we started walking on the beach strip giving us compliments - oh, your children, you are lucky - handsome boy, beautiful girl...you come look in my shop. 'No thanks, we are just here for some lunch, no shopping.' One woman in particular was not easily shaken. It was really annoying as they gave us no privacy at all. We just wanted to stroll and take in the sights and talk together as we hadn't been there before. The children were beginning to get agitated with the obviously false attention.
She only left us alone when we actually walked into the restaurant seating area. She sort of ‘claimed us.' It was not very comfortable as she kept her position just outside the boundary the whole time we ate. She was not happy when we ate lunch and commenced walking back to the car without shopping. The lunch was nice overlooking the water but the experience was spoiled somewhat by the pestering that went on. I have next to no interest in buying market gear and am always polite, but next time no-way I'm afraid.
We found our driver easily in the car park at the markets. This man seemed to have a friend everywhere to chat to. His years of experience, I guess, in taking tourist around the same areas.
We went on to Tuban passing a huge museum on the way. It looked very impressive. If anyone can shed some light on what might be housed in there and if it's worth a visit I'd like to know. Can't be more specific than saying it is between Sanur and Tuban on the outskirts of Denpasar I think. There did seem to be a lot of very large tour buses around there.
Accommodation:
We arrived at the Dynasty and checked in through the temporary reception area. The staff seem to cope well within the confines of their somewhat restricted space. The concierge area was the most unsightly as the stored luggage was left in rows along the same temporary carpeted area guests used to enter and exit the hotel. For those familiar with the layout, you could enter by the wooden bridge on most occasions but this was blocked off when they laid fresh concrete kerbing. No real dramas really. The renovation work continued throughout our stay and, apart from it being unsightly from the entry point, caused no problems at all.
Things I noticed about the hotel - the breakfast restaurant was unbelievably busy and staff were barely managing to clear tables before someone else was at that table. They certainly have their work cut out for them during school holidays.
We were on some sun lounges one morning and noticed the pool staff doing rounds and checking off which sun beds were un-occupied, yet had towels draped on them. They took note of the lounge number and the time in a note book. More than once I witnessed staff removing the towels and returning them to the pool hut. Gold star for action here.
I saw a young girl who had fallen in the pool toilets near the spa room. She appeared to have hurt her neck in the fall. A doctor and no less than two or maybe three assistants were treating her. They even inserted an i.v. drip while she lay on a sun bed before she was removed via stretcher. All looked very professional. I do hope she had a speedy recovery.
We did go to the Management Appreciation night and met up with some fellow guests. I wonder why people seem to drink more when others are buying (moi?). I'll say no more because I'll be dobbing myself in further but the score was evened up when we bought drinks from the sunset bar out of happy hour time. Not a spare seat at the pool bar when happy hour was on. We didn't bother trying during our stay.
We did go up to the Bali Garden late one afternoon to check out the pool area. Friends of ours are there now and were keen to get advanced opinion. Beers were cold and the sunset was nice so we stayed for dinner from the wood-fired pizza oven. The beachfront there was a bit of a mess and the hotel was blocked off from the beach with a bit of string. The pool area looked lovely though. Daughter saw some girls she got friendly with at the Billy's bar night organized by ‘didiaust'.
I have just found my records from the Bali Garden - small bintangs were Rp 13,000, mocktails (for the daughter) were Rp 23,000. For dinner we ordered a couple of pizzas and a bowl of soup and the whole night cost us Rp 232,500 with plenty of drinks. We walked back to the hotel, had a game of pool in the pub and watched a movie together. (We had hired a dvd player for the duration of our stay at the Dynasty from the fellow who delivers dvds to the hotels).
Food:
The first night in Tuban we ate at Febris. The service was a little slow but they did have a large crowd to get through. I think this is just an o.k. place to eat but this was our third time and I think I'd rather go elsewhere in future - nothing to rave about or perhaps it is just what we order. I cook just as well at home and believe me I'm not talented.
On another occasion we walked down to the Dewi Sri. Like others have mentioned it looks pretty non-descript from the outside but the food is good and service friendly. We took our own wine in a cooler bag with ice from the dispenser at the hotel and we weren't charged corkage for the use of glasses. Here we ordered 2 x chilli crabs, 12 x salted king prawns, 1 x squid, 1 x kilo chilli mussels, 2 x soft drink and 2 x small aqua and paid Rp 350,000.
We were going to Garis Garis one night but found it to have a sign out that it was closed on Monday nights so we wandered down Gang Sumadra hoping the Pantai would be operational. Not to be beaten by floodwaters the restaurant was open and there were many tables to choose from. It was a lovely night and we repeated the experience a few nights later. We also made it back to Garis Garis on another occasion.
We had lunch one day at Bali Colada at the beach end of Centro. The coffee was very nice but the food was awful. Would not return here.
I have to mention the Stadium Café on Kartika Plaza. My daughter and I were at Mataharis and my partner took my son to watch some football to fill in time while waiting for us. When I got there my son was keen to show me some photos he found on the wall. The shots were taken in the toilets and were really disgusting. Photographs of people throwing up in the toilet bowls but much worse were the other shots of men and women doing all sorts of things. I can't say any more in case the post gets deleted but these photos should not be on open display for children to see - really inappropriate. If anyone knows the contact details of the owner or manager so I can lodge a written complaint please advise.
Shopping:
I am a Martha Tilla convert. Had a taxi drop me at Supernova and walked through the front door. If you're a westerner and look a little lost (as I was), don't worry, the ladies will call out to you 'Bikios' and 'Martha Tilla', until they get your attention. I think they have a pretty fair idea on who makes up a great proportion of their clientele these days. My regret was not buying more of the products when I had the opportunity. After using it for a few nights and seeing instant improvement I meant to go back for more but never did. Watch out though - I bought what I thought was some Pure Balance Balancing Soap for my daughter only to get back to the hotel to find the package contained Age Repair Anti-wrinkle Essential Mask inside. Believe me at thirteen she doesn't have a need for anti-wrinkle treatment.
What I did find for her though was some face wash at the Body Shop counter in Centro. We have since priced it here in Australia and it is about $7 more for the product.
Treatments:
We wanted a hair cream bath on our last day just to re-vitalise after all the swimming in chlorinated pools. We found a hair salon that did the job for Rp 57,000 - that's right, less than AUD $7. The treatment took a little over one hour and the head massage was very intense. Both my daughter and myself had very tender scalps for a few days afterwards - very beautiful hair though! For anyone interested the name of the salon was Johnny Andrean at the front of the Discovery Mall on the Kuta side.
Daughter had her nails done at the Dynasty. Silly me looked in hotel brochure and saw that manicure and pedicure would cost RP 90,000. Fine, I thought, too easy. Didn't think about the nail polish and flowers. This doubled the price to Rp 180,000. The polish came off around the same time as it does had we had it done on the beach for a fraction of the price.
And one for the blokes:
As I mentioned in JBR 1 Legian, my partner bought some clamps from Ace Hardware. These had to be dis-assembled before they would fit in the suitcase. Of course when we went through the scanner at the airport in Bali these items looked like nothing any other tourist would have in a case. We turned around to get our bags and one was missing. Up on the table for a security check. Well we had quite a crowd of security around and all very interested in what these objects were. Partner had to re-assemble one of the clamps and show how it would hold pieces of wood together. There was much nodding of heads when it was understood what they would be used for.
One final JBR to come.