Would like to start off by advising that 2 weeks was way too short. Travelled with hubby and 3 children: R-11 years, L-9 years and J 2 years (Master big smiles and guaranteed the Balinese will find some excuse to take him under their wing). Flew Garuda from Perth. Breezed through VOA (paid in AUD)and immigration. Had driver ready to take us to our accommodation.
Weather: Had a thunderstorm during 1 night. Rained briefly during 2 days and lots of sunshine for the rest of the holiday.
Stayed in a Kuta Royal villa which is part of a private complex in Tuban. This place is awesome. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully self-contained with a private plunge pool all situated within a 5 min. walk of Jln. Kartika. A great place to just chill esp. with a large glass of Baileys on ice!
Didn't travel too far from base - none of the usual visits to the Bali Safari Park, zoo or Sanur, Ubud or Singaraja - mainly shopping (bulk), eating, drinking, swimming, walking or just plain veging (lol). Did however, treat the boys to a day out at Waterbom - twice (caught up with Hooked and Frenchie and their respective families - a great day guys).
Caught up with our driver Made Sanjaya (had brought over a massive bag of clothes for him that our family had outgrown).
Also spent a day in Denpasar re-visiting gold street and walked through Pasar Badung (markets - suggest that the ask your driver to be your guide, as it's easy to get lost here). It was amazing seeing all the fruit/vege for sale and across the bridge, the huge bushels of ikan bilis and other fish sitting in ice cubes ready for sale. There was also 4 floors selling everything from sarongs to ceremonial equipment including umbrellas to musical instruments (this was when we discovered that Made could play the Gamelan - lets just say that my boys R & L had plenty to record in their travel diaries that night!
SHOPPING
Bali Brumby Tailors. Had a 3/4 length leather coat made for me and a sports jacket made for hubby. Also had my favourite leather purse copied. The quality of the fabric and workmanship were second to none and all fittings were completed within the privacy of our villa.
Sita Fashion. Purchased all of our large metal pieces here including gheckos, fish, turtles and birds. 7 pieces in all for about 740,000rp including delivery. Love this place - you just select what you're after, place an order if certain items aren't in stock, pay, then organise everything to be delivered (additional fee here but it does free your hands, not to mention that they wrap and pack the items ready for travel).
Big Boy. Picked up 3 All Black t-shirts for R, L and hubby (yep - he's a Kiwi) along with 3 All Black caps for 180,000rp.
Unagi. I felt like we were buying the whole store. Picked up 2 ink/water colour paintings, several metal/fibreglass lamp shades, fruit bowls, salad servers, complete sets of aromatherapy oils & soaps, an assortment of beautiful timber boxes & carvings (just a few things - lol). Total: 864,000rp. A very clean and organised 2 storey store - do ask for business price and do ask that an attendant record your purchases for you so that you're not lugging everything around. Would also suggest that you either drive yourself there, organise a driver to take you or pay the price for a taxi to wait for you while you shop, as it's a fair distance from Legian, Kuta or Tuban.
Maharani Silver. Thanks for the referral Roxybon :) Went crazy in this store - bought several pairs of earrings, 4 bracelets and 3 necklaces (that's Birthdays and Christmas under wraps!). In most cases, you pay in accordance with the weight of the silver. Prices are in USD and payment can be made in most currencies after conversion. Please advise that you're a member of the BTF and do request that you go upstairs to their wholesale showroom.
Other shopping. R & L purchased flat caps from the Billabong & Ripcurl shops in Kuta. Prices ranged from 229,000rp - 269,000rp which was still AUD10-20 cheaper than what they're sold for at our local surf shops.
Organised all of our DVDs through H. - all delivered to the villa.
Purchased all of our sports socks incl. Puma & Nike at Planet Sports in Centro. Packs of 3 @ 89,000rp a pack. Sports Station in Centro - picked up a fabulour pair of Converse shoes for myself for 299,000rp and a pair of Reebock high tops for hubby for 329,000rp. R picked up a pair of Matrix skates for 239,000rp at Surabaya Star Shoes in Ramayana Mall.
Caught up with Robbie and bought the most magnificient single white pearl, a full strand along with several pairs of earrings.
FOOD.
Ate at Sendoks (twice - love the fricandel and the nasi campur was lovely.)
Stadium cafe (a great place to watch the rugby whilst the boys played pool).
Seafood Muslim (cheapest most incredible food - had it delivered 3 times. 3 nasi goreng, 2 mie goreng ayam, 1 lumpia ayam and 1 ca kangkung polos. Total 78,000rp).
Plenkung (traditional javanese food, yummo and also fairly cheap. Order the ikan bakar, ayam goreng and the gurami bakar).
Daddys Cafe. Great place for breakfast and a must for lunch or dinner. Consider yourself warned - the serves are gigantic (requested a doggie bag on more than one occasion!). Had breakfast here almost every day. I loved their Indonesian Breakfast of nasi goreng, orange juice and coffee. 17,000rp all inclusive. R was hooked on their pancakes (it is also served with juice and your choice of tea/coffee). Hubby and L couldn't go past the American breakfast - although neither was able to finish it (bacon, eggs, toast, tomato. Followed by pancakes. Followed by fresh fruit salad - again served with your choice of juice, tea and coffee)and J pretty much had a little of everything. We had dinner here too. Must try their Greek tasting Mezze Platter @ 90,000rp and their nasi campur is beautiful.
Also ate at Warung 96, Alleycats (great food and well priced!) and the Boardwalk cafe (was disappointed with the quality here - esp. as it's frequently recommended on the forum...must have been a really off night because the snitzel was as tough as old boots and totally inedible. Rest of the food was O.K.).
Flapjacks. This place is for serious pancake and icecream lovers!! Walked past several times during the course of 2 weeks and noticed that R kept oggling the displays in the window. Hubby and I made a promise to him that we'd stop there for dessert on our last night. R kept on insisting that he have one to himself but there was no way! If you're a glutton for punishment (as we were) then go the 'Bigman' (java chocolate gelato). OMG 1 x Bigman was enough for our family of 5 to share. We requested 5 spoons, sat around this monstrous glass bowl and although we really, really tried...couldn't finish it!! Let it be known that R was looking pretty green afterwards (lol).
Our favourite haunt was Warung Sunda. The boys thoroughly enjoyed sitting on cushions at the low table overlooking the restaurant, beautifully lit pond and walkway. Couldn't get enough of the flying gurame fish which is their speciality. Ordered about 7 different dishes at each sitting for all of us to share (created our own rijstaffel. lol- could never finish it but had to try everything. It was so good...I'm drooling now just thinking about it :)
All in all. It was a great holiday. Going to tie ho for a while as holidaying in Bali every 8 months (3 times in 2 years) is getting abit pricey for a family of 5 and we'd promised the boys that we'd take them on a WA farm stay over Christmas. BUT sshh...I've already booked our accommodation in Bali for next year...ROLL ON APRIL!!!
Addition info:
If you're after bubble wrap, pick it up from the surf shops on Poppies 2.
The airport has a wrapping service available should you wish to secure and protect any large items.
I have business cards for all of the shops/restaurants mentioned and am more than happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Cheers