Shopping
My friend told me she's not much of a shopper but seemed to pick up a dress, top or something at nearly every shop we hit. We tried to get the shopping out of the way after breakfast, so we could chill for the rest of the day.
Ketuts - on our first full day we hit ketuts, purchased heaps from here as the prices are good and I hate bargaining.
Matahari - Purchased quite a few pairs of shorts (excellent quality) and pants for rp90000. Also purchased the DS cartridges for kids from here (rp450000). The kids are VERY happy with these, there was about 20 or so to choose from. Also purchased some gym pants, undies, and a couple of tops.
Centro - Purchased most of my Revlon from here as they seem to have more colours that Matahari. Most items were around the rp72000 mark with nail polish at rp28000.
Indigo Kids - Purchased some gorgeous girls clothes from indigo kids, dresses and sets were rp155000.
AFL Shop - purchased zip up stubby holders for all the brothers-in-law, a mug for father-in-law, a polo shirt, singlet and cap. Not sure of final price but it was reasonable.
Geneva - caught a cab out here, but really didn't buy much this time. Had a candle holder, that was apparently made out of animal hide taken from me at Perth customs, would of cost $50 to have treated, cost me rp28000 to buy.
DVD's - went across the road from hotel, usual offers buy 10 get 4 free, purchased heaps of new ones for the kids including Wall-E. Can't comment on quality yet as we are busy watching the Olympics, but the ones I watched in the store looked good. Fingers crossed.
Leather bag - My friend had a leather bag made for rp240000, lovely soft leather, she was very happy with it. I was very impressed by bags at Tommy's but didn't find this place til the day before we left and it takes 5 days to finish bags. I will definitely go back here though as the bags were lovely.
Bracelet - I purchased a lovely bracelet that looks like Pandora. You pick your beads and the girl threads them onto beading stuff (not at all like Pandora), then you choose your clasp. I have worn this swimming and showering and it is still looking good.
Hotel
We enjoyed the location of this hotel as it was central to everything. There was no problems getting a pool lounge as the pool hogs must all go to the big hotels, or maybe they just sit on the pool access room chairs. We decided that even if we had a pool access room we still would of hit the lounges as the sun was not on the rooms in the afternoon.
The room did not have hairdryers, which didn't bother us as we were just tied our hair back. Also no kettle, we thought about buying one, but never seemed to remember when we were out. The beds were very comfy which is the most important thing.
We hired a DVD player one night (after a big night at the clubs!) for rp25000 and watched a chick flick. They set it up for you, good for us non techy people.
The breakfast wasn't bad, probably not as much range as the big hotels, but you'd be hard pressed to go hungry. The usual eggs any way, two cereals, potato dish, noodles, OJ, Danishes, pikelets (they call these pancakes but in my mind pancakes are flatter and bigger. For some reason I started eating noodles for breakfast, I was sure I was going to turn into a noodle. The toasters were so slow even if you start them before you do get everything else they are still only half done. I must say that I love the coffee but cannot say I will ever get a taste for UHT milk or YUK milk as my Dad calls it.
The spa here was okay, I'm sure it is cheaper or more luxe elsewhere but it is nice to spend an hour by the pool have a massage then nap by the pool again, so nice.
We walked through the odd hotel with a view to the next trip and decided that for a quiet stay we would stay at the Losari, which looked lovely. Or for a more busy vibe the BGH looked fantastic. Lovely and open with each pool having different crowd.
Flight home.
Leaving Bali we had similar waits as through VOA on entry. Big queue at the top of the escalators, to pay departure tax. At one point some guy was screaming to stop the escalator as they couldn't get off due to sheer congestion at the top. The flight left around 20 minutes late, I'm sure we were waiting for people to pay the departure tax. We didn't really feel like drinking on the way home, so not sure if they ran out of drinks again. The meal was lovely though, a beef curry thing.
We had a great time and it was sad to leave Bali, we both were happy to be home and see our families.