We left Perth early on Jan 16th with Garuda. Good flight and arrived in Bali and very quick thru customs.
3 nights at Febris, happy with the hotel, great price. Breakky ok but wouldnt rave about the lunch. Staff very helpful. Pool good, spa was a little expernsive and had the sound of construction next door- not very conducive for a relaxing massage.
)ver the 3 days here we did shopping, Waterbom park, Tanah lot and lunch at Beach Shack - great meal!
Then to Kuta Town House for one night. The 2 bedroon appartment was fantastic. Spacious and very clean. Kids were happy with the pook, breakky was more than adequate. Good location if you want to be right in the heart o Kuta - must say I didnt like Kuta much...had stayed in Tuban on a previous visit and never had ventured right into Kuta. It was busy, hot and stressful - but I was still glad I experienced it. Visited Janako Tailors and had a suit made with 3 pairs of pants (copied from my own comfy ones) my daughter had 2 favourite pairs of shorts copied. Very happy with results and price fantastic. My friend just returned from Penang and had a tailored suit made there and paid more than twice the price!
We were picked up by Rach and Sibran from C-Bali bike tours and were driven to Kedisan for a wonderful fried fish lunch in the hotel there, before cycling through (and walking) the village and seeing the sights and meeting some locals. The bikes were very new nd comfortable. Rach and Sibran do volunary work in the local community and their commitment to the people was wonderful. After all this exercise we were taken to the hot springs for a soak and swim. It was very beautiful to experience sunset here, enjoy another amazing "snaacK" and swim in the clear water, but it wasnt quite how I imagined Hot Springs... I had a image of little natural, bubbling pools. This place was more like a regular pool/jaccuzzi setup at a resort... still enjoyable though... then back to the hotel for dinner and then to bed. The accomodation was basic but comfortable enough.
I woke up early and wandered down to lake Batur with my new camera in hand and took some amazing shots of teh volcanoes and fishermen on the lake. I also enjoyed watching the farmers tending to their crops... back to hotel for Breakky and get hubby and kids organised for canoeing on the lake... great fun... then taken to Ubud for our stay at Tegal Sari.
We did Wayan's Bali Baik last year and loved that, I equally enjoyed this tour but they are totally different - cant really compare them - I'd do them both again and highly reccomend them both. Wayan's is probably more suitable if you have very young children (my youngest was 8 but it would have been difficult if she were much younger on the C-Bali). Older or less fit people would also find Bali Baik easier because of the back up van...but having said that the C-Bali one was less riding and the hills were managable for hubby and I and we certainly are not the fittest people around!!
Tegal Sari certainly lived up to all expectations I had from reading other people's reviews. The bed was sooo comfortable and I loved lying on the day bed on the balcony reading my book.
Enjoyed dinner at Nomads and the new Tropical - both excellent places. Had Babi Guling at Oka Ibu twice - Yummo! Kids loved the Babi guling too.
Our final accomodation was atPuri Gopa in Sanur. The rooms are very quaint and it was nice to live in a compound style. The rooms were clean and the price was good... but the service was lacking. Getting clean glasses was very difficult - each day they wizzed in, made the beds and changed the towels. Bins were not emptied, no clean glasses etc. Internet was not functioning and they were in no hurry to fix it.
The resturant was a bit "fawlty towers" like. As part of our package we were entitled to a free set menu meal. They appologised for having corn soup with no corn, the icecream on the menu ended up being just melon pieces and there was no soft drink, or Bintang to drink - only water. Juice was also not available as they had no blender- it broke and they hadnt replaced it. So juice in the am was very strong orange syrup and water!
We ordered Mei goreng for breakky on the last day and asked for it to be spicy.... they ran out of chillis. Poached eggs tasted like water was added to a pot of vinegar!... but it was cheap and comfortable so I didnt mind too much - just a huge contrast to the servoce we received at our other accomodation choices.
Ate at Donald's on the Beach 2 nights in a row. Great food, prices and right on the beach. Also ate at an Indian resturant - was average but I loved the Indian icecream.
W went white water rafting. Got a good price with Bali International Rafting - 300 000 each. Bus trip up to the hills was horrendeous - driver very fast and dangerous. My 8yr old very car sick and vomited when we arrived. My husband complained and the driver must have got a good talking to as he was much slower and careful on the return journey.
The staff at WWR were fantastic. We all had a ball. It was a little dangerous having to duck under bridges but no one scraped their noses. If you go, wear joggers or sandals. Thongs are not suitable and you will have to buy sandals there. You stop halfway and can buy Bintang and softdrinks and excessive prices - 20 000 and 25 000. Well expensive by Bali standards and when there is 5 of you and you havent brought much money along it is a lot...There were only about 10 steps down but about 120 up at the end.. I managed ok but had sore legs for the next few days. The meal after was very nice. Nasi Goreng, Mi Goreng, Sate, Vegies, fruit, cakes, soup, water.
We also went to Waterbom. Look for the little book of tickets at your hotel - we found one at Febris - Bali or Kuta discount passbook or something. The wtaerbom ticket prices were cheaper with this voucher than with the discount the booths were offering and it included lunch and a drink.
On our last day we had to checkout a noon and wondered what we were going to do with 3 kids until our flight at 2am. I had a quick look at the BTF and discovered Blue Point Villas. So I booked a driver from noon, did some last minute shopping - kids wanted to go to surf shop outlets and discovery mall, I hit the Tupperware warehous (good prices but many things out of stock)
Got to Villas at 4.30pm and had a wonderful swim in the infinity pool overlooking the ocean near Uluwatu. The weather was not too good - it had got cooler, overcast and drizzly, but it was still nice - I just ad to imagine a wonderful sunset. Then we had an excellent meal in the resturant - all part of the pool package. Only 150 000 per adult and 85 000 per child for swim, towel, meal and drink. Great choice of food and drinks. Well worth it for the food alone.
Then to the airport and begged the guy at check-in to let us check in early (9pm instead of 11pm). He was very helpful and we were them invited to the Dewa lounge and led there by a friendly guy (We had planned to use the lounge). Excellent value - food, drinks internet, TV and none of the airport hassle. Highly recommend it. Only 100 000 per adult - kids free, We got out value in drinks alone when you consider airport prices. We moved to the gate when called, straight on the plane....and sadly on our way home...but 14 days was just enough... I can back exhausted and need a holiday!!
Thanks to everyone for all their input - it made all my planning so much easier and we had a great time
Karen