Took advantage of cheap flights and flew out of ADL through Virgin we felt fairly cramped after flying Garuda last time. Service was great as Virgin are known for. Took our $10 US for visa and all very standard coming through customs.
Met by Paulina our agent at Sourcing Bali who i highly recommend and headed straight out to suppliers. Weather hot n sticky - perfect :O)
We hadn't pre booked accommodation as availability didnt seem a problem with BGH and was apprehensive emailing or faxing visa number.
Turned up at BGH hot and bothered after an arvo of shopping. NO ROOMS at the inn! Bugger it - so next stop was the Karthi - cheap and in a nutshell, horrid. Showers bad, bed smelt just grotty and old but very friendly cockroaches. Headed down to the chinese restaurant and was ravenous. Plenty of alcohol but very expensive, bintangs still cheap.
Raced out of Karthi very early (730ish) and back up to BGH they still couldn't confirm room so we got online and purchased a room through wotif.They took our luggage no problems and we sat down for a glorious brekkie.Went for a wander through markets "same same" wasn't as busy as i recalled and the sellers were somewhat subdued. Beach fairly grotty but still plenty of people using it.
Headed back to BGH for swims and drinks, they were happy to accept our cougar and johnnie walker over the bar without charge as long as we paid for the coke which was a bonus. My fellow travellers had a lovely meal at the Boardwalk (The shanks) i had nasi goreng, I have had better. Wandered back to Centro to find fireworks but alas they were sold out. The new club (Ocean 27??)next to BGH looks really nice and will save that for next time.
Headed up to Melasti for a head massage and pedicure, between the music from the karaoke and the howling cats my massage was divine, my friends was a scary experience but hilarious if nothing else.Grabbed the compulsary dvds and back to BGH...really wanted a big night but i was utterly exhausted so we slept like babies.
Up at the crack of dawn again and down for banana pancakes and out with our driver to Ubud for the day. He wasnt overly informative and started taking us to places he obviously gets perks for. Got him to drop us at Monkey Forest Road Markets. One of my favourite bits of this trip, people were magic, great bargains, and had a fantastic time haggling and checking things out. Groovy chicken bags about which we picked up for a pretty penny. Grabbed a hammock for about $12 heap of jewellery for around $5 each. As we were limited with time we headed down to Bali Bird Park (my 2nd time) and highly recommend it. I refuse to go anywhere near animals that are known to bite at the moment.
Headed back to Bali Galleria, Matahari are redeveloping and the supermarket like Big W is now open and will go back there in feb when i need to get sporting gear for the orphanage. Cheaper than here and i dont have to freight it.
Running out of shopping time fast so we headed to Centro and to the Volcom clearance outlet opposite BGH and got some great bargains.
Before we knew it we were packed and back at the airport flying out at midnight. Tried the Prada lounge, it was okay, food pretty average but for 100,000rp who can complain.Slept all the way home so i couldnt tell u what the flight was like.
Bring on February for a 10day trip.....i feel like i need a holiday