Hmmm where do i start.
Me and my girlfriend headed off to Bali on the 1/12/08 flying with Jet* from Perth, what can i say, the plane left 30mins late due to some problem with a customer not showing up or something, but otherwise the flight was good, the staff were pleasant and friendly. Got through immigrations quickly without any hassles. I remember my girlfriend's dad said, stay away from the porters, and grab your bags yourself. In theory that's all well and good, but i fell prey to one without even realising, till Tanya swiftly yelled, NO! We walked out the front to be greeted by what seemed like 1million Balinese people holding various signs with people's names on. The smell of Bali hit me straight away and i knew from then i was truly on my holiday. We spotted out our porter from the hotel we were staying at, he grabbed our bags and off we went. God there are millions of cars in the airport. Ha-ha
We had decided on staying in Sanur for our first trip together as i hadn't been to Bali since 1992 and Tanya hadn't been for a couple of years and it's a bit quieter which is what we wanted even though we are young. :) Next time, Kuta for the win! We got to Villa Puri Ayu after some unreal driving from the Balinese people. Ha-Ha you allllll know what I'm on about. :)
Once we were all settled into our hotel room we decided to walk to the famous Hardy's supermarket and stock up on general items. Oh and bintang! What can i say; i was like a fat kid in a cake store. Hardy's has anything and everything. We shopped at hardy's daily after that. There is a store to the left of Hardy's that gives great 1hr reflexology foot massages. Great price for 30,000Rp IMO.
We enjoyed our villa and the general layout of the hotel. We stayed in a deluxe villa, room 101. For the 14 nights we stayed there it cost the two of us roughly $850, pretty cheap eh :) The staff were really friendly, always talking to us and calling me boss :) We gave them a few things from home which they enjoyed. Breakfast was nice, it wasn't the biggest meal, but it was included in the package and was enough to fill us up till lunch.
We did a bit of shopping in Sanur, to me it seemed like they all sold the same thing, it was just a matter of who was willing to go cheapest. Along our travels we became friends with one of the shop owners JOJO. He has a small shop 50-60metres past Double Dutch on the left called JOJO's Shop. He didn't have a huge amount of stuff, but he was a great guy and always friendly. Through him, we organised a day trip to UBUD for 400,000 with his brother. He got me on the arak and from there had a few drinks with him. I still remember the first time we had it, he got on his bike, left me in charge of his store, even though i reckon they all look after each other's shops. Ha-Ha. He came back 20 mins later holding a plastic bag tied up with arak in it. Thought i was going to get sick or Bali belly, but after many shots i was still breathing so all was good. ha-ha :)
Did the usual in UBUD, saw the markets and bought few nice things. Went to the famous monkey forest, and no the whole rabies thing didn't faze me, everything was calm and enjoyable. Went to the volcano (can't remember the name) and got mobbed by some dude selling hand painted pictures. Felt pretty bad, bought two from him, shook his hand and off we went. We also went to the rice paddies and had lunch at the lotus pond (will talk about restaurants later). JOJO's brother always explained what things were and was pleasant to drive with.
Apart from shopping in Sanur, we went to Kuta a couple times. What can i say, Sanur is quiet, and Kuta is like being in a zoo. People everywhere! Tanya did the usual bag shopping, shoe shopping. We went to all the surf factory outlets. I spent couple million most visits. Went to mataharis and the galleria. Got annoyed being pestered every 2meters to buy this and buy that, but that's the Bali way of life so not too bad. But you people all know what shopping is like in Kuta so don't need to go into detail. :)
Went to Waterbom Park once. Had fun, 2 of the rides were still out of order due to the November maintenance but we received a 20% discount i think. Still came to 220,000each or something. It wasn't too busy, all the slide staff were friendly and we had a great day. Favourite slide was the super bowl :) Tanya screamed on every ride. I honestly thought there was more to waterbom but unless you have children or a picnic, we couldn't see how you'd spend a whole day there.
Didn't do much more on our holiday. The usual lazy sunbaking(when there was sun), drinking, eating, massages. The usual Bali things we all do. Now onto the restaurants/pubs we went to in Sanur :)
Cafe Jepun - went out for dinner, have read BTF reviews on it and i would have to say, it was OK but fairly average for what you paid for. One thing annoyed me and I'm sure most will agree. That young guy with the pony tail, Jesus, let me eat my damn meal without trying to sell day trips. :( Only went to Jepun once.
Massimo's - We went out for dinner a few times during our visit and could not be happier, excellent service(slower than usual, but nothing major), the food was unreal and the gelatino was better than what you would buy in Perth. One night i was feeling hungry, ordered a XXL pizza. Little did I know, XXL really is XXL ha-ha and after an entree of calamari + the free entree, let's say i struggled with the pizza! But finished it by myself. Almost was sick and swore never to eat pizza again. I recommend a XXL pizza for 2 people. We enjoyed the calamari entree's the best.
Little India - We had dinner here 3 or 4 times. We loved it. Great service, all the girls were really friendly, the food came out quickly and it has good prices. We loved the tandoori chicken wings entree and had them every visit. Yummy! Also recommend the butter chicken and garlic chicken mains. The garlic and cheese naans are also great. Little India was our favourite place to go for dinner, definitely worth a go.
Ryoshi - Ryoshi didn't really take my fancy, the food wasn't too bad, service wasn't the best, but at least they had bintang to calm me down. Not one of my favourites but in all, still nice. Tanya thought the sushi was nice but the service was pretty slow. We only went there once although we have heard many good reviews.
Cafe Batujimbar(i think) - Great fruit juices, some of the best Tanya tried. Bit busier than some places we have been for lunch and alot more upmarket and pricey. I would suggest it for lunch. We also had a few slices of cakes to go with the bintangs on our way home from Hardy's. For 28,000Rp including tax, but for the taste, it was worth it :)
Coriander - It was nice, little more up market. Staff were great, always smiling. The place was always busy when we walked passed so we thought we would give it a try. Would go back to try another meal and would recommend it.
Lamut - Talk about small meals. After our dinner i had to buy
Pringles to fill me up. I'm not the biggest guy so i generally don't eat heaps, but the food served was very small in size. Nice atmosphere, we sat upstairs which over looked the court yard.
Charming - Went for lunch once, ordered the calamari tapas and a chicken mayo sandwich to share between the two of us. Can't remember the cost, but we got 3 bits of calamari and the littlest sandwich. As an extra, Tanya got really sick that night and the day after. Could have been from anything, but after that we didn't go there again.
Bonsai Cafe - Nice on the beach, was cheap and tasty, service wasn't the best but nice to look through the many bonsai's in their garden.
Donald's By the Beach - Had a cheap lunch there. Sat right next to the beach basically. Quick and tasty. Would recommend and would go back again. We had the chicken bread basket. Tasty!
Warung Mama Putu's - My favourite for a cheap lunch and nice enjoyable experience. Staff were great, very friendly, always had a large bintang for me when we rocked up. No government taxes. We generally had 1 or 2 big bintangs, fruit juice, club sandwich and a ham, cheese and tomato jaffle for around 50,000Rp. Highly recommended for a cheap tasty meal.
Gateway to India - Nice food, we preferred Little India, more of a vegetarian menu here. Was a nice meal. I recommend the rogan josh if you're into your spicy food. Mmmm, make sure you ask for it to be the hottest they can make it.
Stars Bar & Bistro - Had dinner here on our last night. Wasn't too bad, the meals were good size but to me lacked taste. This place always seemed busy when we walked past on our way to Hardy's so thought we would give it a try.
Lotus Pond(UBUD) - Not too much to say here, the scenery was nice, overlooking the lotus pond(hence name) :) More of a Japanese restaurant :( Good food
McDonalds(KUTA) - Just like home. Ha-ha :)
My favourite top 3
1)Little India
2)Warung Mama Putu's
3)Massimo's
We didn't really go out drinking too much, but when we did we drank at:
Double Dutch - We went to DD a few times, spent alot each time on martinis, flaming cocktails and Heineken jugs. Went on a Friday, they had a deal on 6000Rp midi's of Heineken and they also had a live band playing salsa music and 2 magicians going around to each table. Some crazy sh*t, i swear they cheat ha-ha. Also had a meal there once, ribs and chips and spaghetti carbonara. I loved the ribs, big portion and the meat was so juicy it fell off the bone, my favourite place to have ribs or drinks.
Cat n Fiddle - great band, knew a few Aussie classics. Even learned to play Metallica - nothing else matters on their day off to play for me. Enjoyed many many bintangs and cocktails over the 15days. Had a small meal when we both didn't feel the best and it was good for the price.
Mago - Enjoyed nice cocktails for 50,000Rp and large bintangs. Had music on nearly every night. Would def go again.
I would have to say, every time we got in a taksi (...) we were basically holding on for dear life. The Balinese def know how to turn an average drive to work into a rally experience ha-ha. I'm annoyed i never hired a motorbike but since it was my first trip, but decided to enjoy my holiday, not die. :) Towards the end of the holiday, I was getting a tad annoyed at the countless taksi and bemo drivers who had to beep their horn that ONCE more. :) I mean, surely if i haven't waved my hand by the 30th beep there is no way i want a taksi. :(
That's basically it. We had an awesome time, already planning the next trip around end of September. Def a fan of Bali, My most memorable events were - Monkey forest, The Bali smell. The people. The fact we saw 3 acts of sexual intercourse in public on the one day ha-ha :) :) 2 monkeys, 2 dogs and 2 pigeons. :) Waterbom Park and Shopping. We def recommend coming to Bali and have been ranting and raving to our friends about it since we got back. Sad it had to end, but just means we get to look forward to the next trip.
Thanks to all the people who have helped me and Tanya out on the forums, your help was much appreciated.
Guess that's our JRB for this trip, hope you like it
Brett & Tanya