Went on 4th March and back 25th march, flew with Jetstar, no problems either way, would fly with them again.
Had VIP voa with Hadi on arrival, great service will definately do again, was long queues at immigration and walked right through the crews section, was out of the airport in 15mins. Cost $25 AU per person, thats on top of the normal voa of $25,for us it was worth it as we are a couple with no kids.
First stay for 6 nights was at the Masa Inn, Poppies 1, great little hotel only 330.000rp for a triple room( approx $44 )per night including breaky, not massive but choice of omelette, jaffle or toasted sandwich, toast jams tea or coffee etc, was enough for us, but easy to walk outside and get any breakfast you want from many different places if we had wanted to. Was clean, staff lovely and terrific location, will definately stay there again. Thanks again Hools and Hilary for the advice.
Next stop for us was Makassar, in Sulawesi, we were lucky enough to be invited to a friends wedding. What a fabulous time we had and we were treated like VIp's by the people there involved in the wedding. It was very different to our wedding ceremonies here, it was a Moslem wedding and involved three different ceremonies, one of which we were dressed in traditional dress. We didn't get to see too much of Makassar but what we did see was interesting, I don't think a lot of westerners get there as its more of a business area and we were stared at everywhere we went, haha, strange experience.
After 3 nights there we stayed one night in Lovina at the Sunari Hotel, huge place with not a lot of guests. We went to see our sponsor child and family, jeez ! it's amazing what a difference a year makes in the growth of a child, she had sprouted up and looked quite grown up at 9yrs old.
Back to Legian and the Melasti Beach Resort, big place with 2 large pools and a plunge pool, clean and staff good, breakfast was a buffet type with the usual egg section and all the goodies. We decided though that the smaller hotels are more to our liking, too many people here with the problem of not being able to get a lounger near the pool etc, even had to look hard for a table at breaky some mornings as the hotel was full. We had booked a superior room but was upgraded to delux as all the superiors were taken. Very nice room with small lounge area and 2 showers. The beach at front of hotel was quite dirty with lots of plastic around and almost deserted of sellers or beach bars, a little further either side were busy though.
Next stay for us was the Sanur Beach Villas, great place, made very welcome and again was upgraded to a 3 bedroom villa as rooms were all full. We were lost in such a huge place being only 2 of us, it would be very good for a family or 2 couples, I have pics if anyone is interested. Once again Bloody Ron was a lovely host, we had 4 great nights there and will be back again. Ron took us to a place that has opened during the last 6 months, it is The Beatles Museum. It is jam packed with old records, clippings, photos and heaps of The Beatles memorabillia, including life size figures of the Fab four and the only gold record of theirs that Michael Jackson doesn't possess. it has a bar and there are new villas built at the back of it. You pay only 20.000rp for entry and that also pays your membership, so its free entry after, plus it includes a free beer or soft drink in the price.
Exchange rate was 7.500 when we arrived but had gone up to just over 8.000 upon leaving.
Weather was good, a few afternnon and night downpours only.
went to heaps of restaurants around poppies 1 and 2, also in Legian, our favs were Bamboo Corner (love their black rice pudding, yum) and Un's, poppies 1, alleycats poppes 2, Billys Bar and Restaurant Garlic Lane, what great fun it is there, the waiters are a bundle of laughs. Jepun in Sanur, who pick you up and take you back free of charge, Benno's, Spirit and Bonzai on the beachfront in Sanur were good too.
We didn't do any tours as we have done all in the past but we did go to Bali Zoo, it was good to look around and they do a luchtime show in the restaurant which is good for kids as you can hold various animals and take photos. We did think the entry fee was a bit expensive though, it worked out at $100AU for 3 adults, we took our taxi driver in and his son aged 6yrs, they didn't charge for the child.
Went into the Prada lounge at airport 100.000rp each, food was a little ordinary but all drinks free, for that price I think you get your money's worth anyway. Last year we went into the premier and that was much better but more expensive, we will try the dewa lounge next time. All lounges I think are good value for money, especially if you are like us and drink spirits. Our flight was at 2.45 so we had lunch and drinks.
Roll on next visit.
Thanks for reading.
Maureen