This is my first jbr , so excuse me if I ‘m not correct on some things. We as in 4 of us mum, dad and the 2 x 20yr old (first time os.) left for 2 weeks in may. we have only been once before so I was hangin to get back, and guess what, it was worse , I loved it even more. I can see all my friends covering up their ears now 'not bali again'. It really is addictive isn't it. Off that plane and big deep breath to take in the gorgeous smells of Bali.The best part is and this happened last time, I dream about it as I wake up in the dark and think I'm still there, so it's like an extended holiday, I love it. Just missing the 'gecko ' sound.
We flew Qantas adel to perth etc, arrived about 5ish at night. Straight to rama beach tuban. Now I researched everything and everyone's information was extremely valuable so thanks everybody.
We were really impressed at rama beach , beautiful layout and gorgeous pool. All the little details like the flowers floating in the bowls and the dear little boys playing their instruments at the reception desk, so cute. We were upgraded to a villa and very happy with it right next to the pool. Wally the pool drinks guy was funny as, we all got lots of laughs from him. He really made us laugh when I received 'the mysterious phone call inviting us to have breakfast at another resort and that we have won a free weeks holiday there , hello I said to myself , you know the old story , here goes the time share spiel, so in response I got a 'oh no there ‘s no catch , just brekkie and free use of all the facilities at nusa dua. So ok kids hadn't been to nusa dua before and thought might as well check it out, but you guessed it. Timeshare so I promptly told them I'd been informed NOT timeshare, and you guessed it again, one not happy guy who reluctantly had to forsake his commission and give us the holiday , and where's our brekkie, yep , got that as well. They are so cunning, he wasn't a happy chappy I can tell you. I asked how they got my info as I knew about the 'clipboard people', but they got it from the airlines apparently. We still don't know if we'll use it . it was a pretty dodgy place. Wally made us all laugh as when we told him about it he said bull s....t. it sounded funny coming from him.
Anyway, we did a trip up to ubud where we went 'courtesy of the forum' to lunch at
cafe wyan and bakery, what an amazing place , gorgeous little intimate settings to eat lunch , great food. This is where our eldest daughter started to feel crook, over and over again, all the way home, our poor driver would get about 10secs notice and pull over again it wasn't from the food , we thought probably motion sickness, or bali belly . her great claim to fame was throwing up in front of kerkoban jail. It was only a 24 thing, that's when I was desperate to get the name of the raspberry jce, we looked everywhere for it . one of which was macro, what a little gold mine. I'm a born to shop girl, so I went a little nuts with the cosmetics, remedies etc. so so cheap. Definitely worth a visit.
We went to tanah lot , which none of us had been to before. My darling daughter ,yep the one that's been vomiting all day , stopped for a few minutes so she could hold the 40 kg , snake, I said I'm not going anywhere near that baby, ekkk, I hate snakes.
We all slept well that night, don't know if the multitude of bintangs had anything to do with it, they slide down very well.
We all had a massage at melasti , just next door to the rama beach. I thought a 5 to 6 out of 10. beautiful pool and little huts around the pool, we ended up eating there one night and the 2nd daughter had ham and cheese jaffle, and paid for it all the next day .
We had been taking yakult for about a month before we left and all of us took a acidopohuls tablet before each meal. Kids didn't take yakult and me and the old boy were both ok whole time.
Did a bit of the once again compulsory shopping at mataharis, bought the Revlon makeup and other bits and pieces. Then downstairs and bought more Martha tillars face wash , dream body wash , etc, etc., I love shopping . went to garlic lane and did a bit at miss debbys. We had lunch at poppies another beautiful restaurant, then you guessed it more shopping. Ole boy went and had a foot massage up the road from rama beach and said it was the best , same guy works at a massage place in hardys at sanur, we would be going there later, he has heel spurs so not keen on the walking bit.
Other places we ate included black canyon at kuta, pretty good , tiny serves.also we lashed out and went to ma jolys, it was ok , nice setting , food ok.and nearly forgot to say BREAD TALK , someone please open a franchise in Adelaide , the most wicked food yummo . I think the dearest place we ate and most disappointing was macaroni rest. Last visit we thought it was the best, worth going just to check out the toilets, but this time food was average and really expensive.
Also went to the safari park , which I think is a must. Hardly anyone there , but worth it just to hold Effie the baby orangatugan. She is so cute , with her little teddy bear ,and whilst my daughter was holding her she grabbed her bracelet and wouldn't let go so the keeper , tickled her to make her let go and she giggled, so cute , could've taken her home easily beautiful big brown eyes. We were very surprised at the amount of people there only 20 or so I reckon . it's a good layout , but as everyone else said I do think the lions and tigers were slightly drugged . I did see a baby tiger who was less than happy to be moved along to the ‘patting log', he wasn't as full of life as one would expect. Went on the elephant ride , was good , never done that before.
I caught up with another forumite ,ray, if you read this ray, I hope your friend is ok now. Ray surfed over there and ended up saving his mates life, he had to be air lifted back to Sydney, so ray you deserve a bravery award we reckon.
Our next part of the trip was a week in sanur , so sadly we left the rama beach, with all the so friendly staff, who made me and everyone else feel wonderful ,they are so complimentary.
So on to besakih in sanur. We stayed here in june last yr and thought it pretty good but I was not impressed this year ,I think after being at rama and comparing the two for the same price ,rama wins hands down. I know besakih is under going renovations but, still it was just really shabby. The bungalow we stayed in had the dodgiest power switches,mouldy walls in the bathroom. And on the last night I was blow drying my hair ,I had to use my hair dryer as theirs wouldn't blow over an ant. Anyway zap off she blows , takes out all the lights and lands my hairdryer in the basin, needless to say , on the blower to reception , no worries they say, I wasn't happy as I had told the massage ladies I would quickly shower and then give them all our bodywash, shampoo, left over grog etc, etc. bit hard to see in the dark. In comes the repair man , and starts sticking screwdrivers into the plug , by this stage someone had turned the lights back on. I said shouldn't you turn the power off first, he certainly didn't seem worried. All the switches were dodgy, both in our bungalow and our daughters. I don't know the staff were just a bit slap dash.they don't even supply a couple of teabags or coffee in the room, I really think after rama , where they all bent over backwards to be nice it was pretty disappointing. Never mind you live and learn , we sus'd out some other places , as we love sanur , with all the restaurants on the walkway it's lovely. It definitely was quieter this time, not too many aussies , apparently they come in the next couple of months , ate at the beach café and bennos always good food, and the piece de resistance is ming restaurant, I've written a fairly detailed description all ready , definitely worth a visit.
We also did a day trip over to nusa lembongan. Went on the funship and next time would definitely do the scoot boat. We ate at coconuts, what a magnificent resort , like something out of the greek islands gorgeous. We got a guy to drive us around , lots of people ride the bikes, looks the way to go really. Checked out the resorts and went to mushroom beach for a banana boat ride, never again, me and my top both flew off into the briny , I'm busy trying to rescue my top , husband all so keen to to lean and get the whitewash , forget it , couldn't get me back on land fast enough. Apparently the boat we went on , was sus and the wider ones are better. Would be nice to stay there , but a couple of nights would be plenty, not much to do, that I could see, except, swim, drink and eat, plus there's not enough shopping ,only joking it was good to check it out , I can imagine that it's a little like bali would have been 20yrs ago or so.so now we're back home to normality and reality ugg, also forgot to say I woke up one morning with a sore on my back , itchy and sore, put , betadine, antiseptic powder and other Balinese remedies on it, went to the docs when I got home and he said it's a school sore, probably from having massages, I'm onmy second lot of antibiotics now and go back for the swab results tomorrow. It's highly contagious apparently, so don't know the answer really , it's not going to stop me having massages. I only had 1 on the beach all the rest were from reputable places . my daughter hads some clothes altered they did an excellent job,once again got her name off the forum. well that's it until next time, sorry it's so long ,any questions feel free.