Part 2....
WHITE WATER RAFTING
Did this from Seminyak, brochures provided at Villa of activities and basically we picked what we thought was best value, went with Bahama Adventures for $170US for 4 of us including a massage. Funnily enough my daughter is 15 and therefore qualifies as adult most places but is very tiny so we get away with it, guy on phone said, just tell them she is 12! No-one questioned anything.
Picked up 8.30am in a van and driven up into hills, took about an hour. Quickly set up with helmets/life jackets etc and then big trek DOWN the stairs....lordy they were steep and lots of them. Finally got to bottom and then 2hrs of fun rafting, lots of laughs, wetting other rafts along the way. Last 200m we got out and floated down river, bit chilly but lots of fun, loved our guide, he kept telling us how much they love Aussies who get into the spirit of it all. Stairs up tough but not as bad as going down and unlike the Balinese woman we didn't have a packed raft on our heads to whinge about (according to my hubby anyway) Nice buffet lunch at top and then our van took us back into Denpasar to spa salon and we all, yes all 8 of us, got a 1hr massage! Must admit we were very sceptical and the long drive in heat nearly meant we said don't worry about it. Walked in and they said do you have appointment? What the!
Once we explained we were from WWR they sprung into action, 5 mins later took all 8 of us outside and 8 bowls of hot water/flowers & they washed our feet. Then to a big room, all boys in room together with curtain partitioning girls so we could all hear each other. Thought my son would hate it - but nah, loved his first massage. My daughter had a heart attack when they did the ‘full frontal'.... Some funny moments and rapt we got to do it all together. No pressure for extra treatments then the salon's bus took us all way back to Seminyak! Wish I could remember the name...started with A!!!! Next time we will do bigger rapids, Ayung was a bit timid for the boys!
Sadly we just didn't get time to do Safari Park and cruise, Tanah Lot, Monkey Forest yada yada yada.... We wanted relaxing days and of course shopping time!
RESTAURANTS
Well took my list of recommended restaurants, tried a few but it really isn't that easy I found to go searching... We tended to have look during day as walking around and pick something within walking distance, easier for everyone.
KUTA
TJ's Mexican - great, loved it
The Breeze - lovely too, were on our way to Made's Warung and torrential rain came from nowhere, flooded road in 10mins so we went to 1st place.
The Ocean Club - lovely again, nice atmosphere, free firedance show at 9pm, bit pricey compared to others, about $90 that night for 4 of us. Ok, Cocktails didn't help...
A restaurant in Poppies 1 attached to a hotel, cannot remember name for life of me but great food and was about $35 for 4 of us, with Bintangs and vodkas.
Mini Restaurant - came back here to meet friends from Sydney on 2nd last night, traffic HORRENDOUS in Kuta, taxis wouldn't put meters on, we ended up getting out and walking. Food lovely, lots of seafood, would have walked past it had it not been recommended.
SEMINYAK
Rumours - our favourite, magnificent food and reasonably priced. Went there twice.
La Trattoria - good too, bit dearer from memory.
KU TE DA - sorry, very over-rated in my opinion, didn't eat there, went for sunset drinks along with 3000 other yuppies. They sent us up top, great we thought, nice chairs, nice view...$25 for a glass of wine and no bintangs up there! Quickly came down and paid $5 for a coke for kids each....needless to say one round of drinks, photos of sunset and we were out of there. Definitely a beautiful setting though.
HELLO RESTAURANTS - takeaway food service - used this twice at Villa, brilliant service, ring up and tell them which restaurant you want your food from, order it and delivered on scooter. Once from Reflections restaurant, mixture of nasi gorengs, noodles dishes etc, and another time Pizzas. Was very nice to relax in villa and not have to go out for dinner, have drinks in house.
Really did not have a bad meal anywhere & so many choices. Only had lunch out a few times, easier at Hard Rock to grab a salad roll from bakery which were lovely, our kids (the boys mainly) just whinged about going out for lunch too, they just wanted to stay in pool. At Villa we went to Bintang Supermarket first day and stocked up, some things pretty pricey I thought. After that though struggled to find BREAD each day in Seminyak, Circle K would run out early! Was a bonus on a day trip where lunch provided. Breakies at Hard Rock - magnificent so we stuffed ourselves of course but kids always hungry aren't they?
Next JBR - shopping!!!