Just got back after staying 14 nights. Had an awesome time. I will miss the smell of the frangipanis, the beautiful humid warm weather, friendly people, bargaining at the markets, scrumptious food, even the orderly chaos that is their traffic!
We flew Garuda and have nothing but praise for them. The flights were on time, the crew friendly. VOA was a breeze, took 5 mins as ours was the only flight arrving at that time.
Thought we were really clever avoiding the porters but these sneaky little guys got us last minute. We thought the guy was with our driver but nooooo we were wrong. Haha paid $2 in a tip for that lesson!
Patra
Had a deluxe suite at the Patra for three of us. Beautiful spacious room, fabulous breakfast, beautiful grounds and swimming pools, great friendly helpful staff. The only downside was the state of our shower, a bit dirty, and a horrible odour from the bathroom, not the standard we expect from a 4.5star.
Safari Park
Got a driver to take us for 300,000idr, he drove us there and waited, we were there from 9.30 till 4. Its a fantastic day out, we were constantly busy, they had animal shows, elephant feeding, taking pics with the baby animals, an elephant show, the safari on the bus ofcourse, we swam, and had rides on their rollercoaster etc. The day flew by.
Waterbom
Took the free shuttle from the hotel at10.00am. Daughter absolutely loved it, the big slides are open and absolutely fantastic. Stayed the whole day and had lunch there as well.
Tours
We spoke to a few agents along the streets and bargained a deal with one of them, most of them wouldn't budge on the prices though.
Bali Hai Cruise
We did the reef cruise, we thought it was great value. They took us out to a pontoon off Lembongan island and we went snorkeling and banana boat riding. They had a semi submersible boat so we could view the coral and fish. We had a small tour of the village on the island and then the most delicious lunch on board the ship. We thoroughly recommend doing this.
Cycling
We went with Bali Bintang Mountain Cycling. We drove to a coffee plantation first, then they took us up to a restaurant for morning tea that had an amazing view to the volcano. We started cycling then through villages and rice paddy's. The best part of this trip was the children of the villages with their hi-5's and ‘morning morning' I wish I had taken a packet of lollies to give out to them on the way. Ended with another delicious lunch!
Leather
We went to Ramadhan Leather Clothing in Poppies 2 Ph: 761455
Hubby made a leather jacket. Cost 850,000IDR and took them just three days to make. We were really pleased with their work. I made black stiletto suede boots that cost 600000IDR, really happy with them as well.
Tailor
We used Janoko Tailor in Poppies lane 2 ph:753230
I made a three piece suit for $77AUD and hubby made pants and two jackets. We picked the best material they had and still got a great price. Took them three days to make them also.
Laundry
Dewi Laundry are so cheap we felt bad and had to pay them more than they charged! For 21 pieces we paid 41500 which was equivalent to 5.68 AUD. And they even delivered it to our hotel. Clothes came back cleaned, ironed and smelling heavenly.
A highlight of our trip was dinner at Jimbaran Bay. The tables are on the beach and the view and food are all breathtaking. It was a great way to end our holiday.
Thanks to everyone on the forum for all the great tips, it made our trip so much easier.