Hi forumites,
I apologize in advance, this JBR could be long... but hopefully it will be informative.
We flew Garuda on the 20th November at 8:15am from Perth (delayed a hour but was informed of this beforehand - Thanks Melissa from Holiday Planet)
Arrived in Bali around midday. As soon as we got off the plane I could already feel/smell this beautiful place..
Used the VIP VOA (Thanks to the users of this site as I did not know this existed). Was good but we were the only plane landing at the time so we did not really get any benefit out of it as we were the last two people to leave the airport but was nice and will use it again when we return.
We got out of the airport and were going to organise a taxi to the Patra Hotel.. However there was a shuttle waiting for us. So we hopped in the shuttle ready to go to the hotel and before we could get settled in, we were already at the hotel!! It is literally over the fence from the airport. We had a bit of a chuckle at this as we could of walked.
Arrived at the Patra. First impressions was WOW this place is amazing.. How that soon changed, I am sorry if I offend anyone in the forum but the cons outweighed the pros. With our travel agent we arranged to have a room on the second floor, close to the ocean and pool. When we sat down with the front desk, we were told that there were no rooms left in this description (found that very hard to believe as the hotel was VERY quiet). Was taken to our room and discovered we were put in a first story room, no where near the ocean or pool. As guests arrived over the next few days, we saw that people was getting the rooms we requested!! Oh well I guess, I am waffling on already.
Pros of the hotel - Pool area is great!!, Walking to our room every staff member walking past us said hello, tennis courts
Cons - Room request, lizards / ants in the room, room service - ordered a bowl of chips.. took 1hr 45mins, the facilities in the hotel are good but are never open when you want them to be.
Restaurants we went to that I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND - Ku De Ta (this place is amazing.. be prepared to bring a couple of hundred dollars for a nice night out), Ocean Beach Club / Sky Garden - Cheap and Tasty with a wide range to choose from, Rosso Vivo - Amazing!, Jimbaran Bay, TJ's were all great.
Shopping - Shoes - Aladin Shoes in poppies II past the bounty going towards legian street down a side street.. All the "cool" shoe brands - Lonsdale, Tiger, Vans, Skate Shoes etc, Factory Outlets - Found a couple of bargains but still quite expensive for "70% off". FYI - I bought some Blu ray dvd's from Softcomp in Poppies II and wait for it... THEY WORK!! 50,000rp for Blu Rays!! Was stoked.
Clubs - Bounty was like schoolies week!! We felt like toolies so did not stay there for long, Double 6 - Good DJ's and good fun, Ocean Beach Club - Have not been here before, found it to be a great place to go on Kuta Beach.
Safari Park - Perfect for families we paid 300k each - well worth it. Recommend the Safari Journey get to see a variety of wild animals - good for the kiddies.
This has probably gone on way too long already but I want to thank you all for reading this, if you need any more info please let me know and I will be happy to help.
Cheers,
Chris