Having never posted a JBR I do so with trepidation. I hope my words are taken as they are given, my opinion on my experiences.
DH (that would be Dear Hubby) and I took off on the early morning flight from Perth with Air Asia at 4.50am (up at 2.30am). Flight left 10 mins early and we arrived 10 mins early into DPS. Flight was 80% full, had a row to ourselves. Aircraft was docked at the airport, no buses for us this time, which was nice. Quite a decent walk to the VOA/Immigration Hall. VOA is so quick and with only one flight landing and one Immigration queue at first we got through within mins. We were out of the Airport by 8.40am. Usually taking a 2 and 4yo its a much longer process so quite amazed.
Due to the fact we couldn't check into hotel for sometime Daniel took us to breaky at Bamboo corner in Poppies I, great Mee Goreng for 10,000rp. Then when the heat was finally hitting us we hopped back in the van and drove to pick up friends at Holiday Inn (I didn't go and look as its out of our price range but she tells me it was lovely but for her was way too quiet, she didn't want to rage just would have liked a bit of 'atmosphere' around the pool area (her words)).
So off we went to Ramayana for a mosey, I always like to buy my little boys some 'jeans' there as they are really soft material 3/4 jeans with a nice elastic waist for them to pull off and on easily. They cost 59,000rp and last for ages. My friend bought some baby rompers for her 'to be' baby.
Went downstairs to join DH and Daniel who were having a juice at the Juice bar and I had a strawberry juice. It was pretty darn amazing. Definitely recommended.
Well after this we thought we'd go and check into our hotel. We arrived at the BaliSani Padma and noticed the sign on the righthand side that said it was subject to some court ruling but it was still going so we went in. Let me say that I was just excited to get to Bali for such an amazing price I hadn't cared much about accom. but after a quick inspection of pool area (eek!) and room (not tooooo bad but bathroom was really icky - icky = woven walls with black mould). We've stayed in some pretty interesting places through Java and although basic they've been kept better than this. Thanked the guys at counter but said we'd move on. And on we went.
Being a bit of a Kumala Pantai lover I thought 'hey why not try there', odds of getting a room on this short notice at such a lovely hotel were low but I had to try. So in we potter, and guess what a twin bed room or a Junior Suite. Well DH was feeling generous and so the Junior Suite it was. Amazingly the exact one we had last time. I was once again astounded at the beauty of this hotel for such a decent price. The pool area and gardens are just incredible and the rooms are sooo good.
Well Due to complete an utter exhaustion by this time we headed to the pool to cool down. Went for a walk to Ketut's and got batman costumes for boys and some t-shirts for hubby for 35,000rp, couple of dresses too which were 35,000rp as well so we've now begun calling the shop the 35,000rp shop. Back to the hotel, a quick dinner at the hotel watching all the exciting things going on out on the beach, saying hello to the squirrels in the tree and watching chi-cha's tickle each other (quite bizarre) hmmm I assume they were tickling. I'm kinda embarrassed to say we went to bed at 8pm that night and didn't wake until 7 the next morning, I love those big beds in Bali.
Next day we headed for Breaky. Egg station was in full swing, croissants and breads available, an array of fruit and juice and some hot dishes, oh and cereal was there too. Not a bad range.
We decided to take a walk along the beach and about an hour later we had made our way to the Discovery Mall. Had a watermelon slushie at Black Canyon coffee. Then went and had a look at the toy store to see if they had those Nintendo DS disks with 800 games on them, they only showed me ones with 203 games for 350,000rp (I know greedy) so I thought we could check out Matahari's as well as someone had mentioned that.
On our way we popped into a DVD store and bought a couple of Wii games, we usually download them but a couple were needed for a present for our 4yo. 20000rp each, I think one for free if you buy 10.
On our way into Matahari's we came across the 'fish eating skin' thing. Its 100,000rp for 20 mins and I was really really surprised at how clean the water was, really clear, being pumped around a lot and the little black fish attacking people. Interesting sight but not interesting enough to get my feet in there, and the fact that DH wasn't sitting around for 20 mins waiting for me. ;-)
OK so onto the toy dept we asked the girl behind the 'games' counter what we were looking for and she was lovely but of no help at all. Luckily for us there was a lovely Aust lady there who knew exactly what we wanted as she had already got the same for her son and directed us in the right direction. THANK YOU IF YOU'RE READING. The 800game DS disks were in a Red Nintendo covered box with Mario on the front for 150,000rp. These were easily placed on the MicroSD card in the R4 card when we got home. Its incredible. On the DSi front, they said they only had the AceKard2 with 100 games on it so we grabbed that. I should have done a little more research on the DSi situation before I left but our friends boy is absolutely stoked with his 100 games.
OK I'm raving way too much so will keep the rest of it short and sweet.
Went to Bali Expo that night in Denpasar bought a few pairs of shoes for 15,000rp. The Expo finishes in about a weeks time. Bought a Cars and Ben10 satchel for 30,000rp each for the boys.
Dinner at D'Cost in Denpasar. Cheap, great food in a cafeteria style restaurant. Ambience isn't their selling point but its great. Mee Goreng 8,000rp Nasi Goreng 7,000rp. Nice fried squid. Really hot clams.
The next day my brother, friend our friend and DH went Quad-biking. I had to fit in a massage and that was going to take up precious time so left them to it. Apparently it was terribly exciting, some of them went flat out and others pottered along, they had a guide at front and back to attend to the different riders. Heaps of mud and a lot of sliding down hills as the brakes wouldn't work due to ‘no grip'. They got lunch and a t-shirt to finish off the two hour ride. From the sounds of it, its more a trip for those that love a full on quad bike rev head adventure rather than those that want to cruise through the countryside. I might try the bicycle ride myself.
I went to the Briella Spa just outside Kumala Pantai/Jayakarta. 65,000rp for an hr massage in air-conditioning, that sold it to me after walking from Seminyak to Kuta Square shopping all the way. Great service, lovely place, I highly recommend it.
Dinner at Jimbaran Bay, loved it. Their fish is beautiful. I think the restaurant was called Taga. Daniel just took us to it.
Then of course seeing we're so donut deprived here in Perth Daniel took us to JCo at the Galleria Mall for donuts. WOW I'm in love with them. They were delicious, fresh and you got a free one with a drink too. What more could you ask.
My brother and mate booked into the KP this day, they got a twin room in the SG block overlooking the new pool. Its really nice and has a pool bar. Didn't see it manned though. The pool is a smaller version of the original pool. Gorgeous.
I have been emailing the KP for some months now asking about 2brm apartments for our next trip, well we got one email back saying no they have nothing and when I asked about other rooms they didn't even reply. So I went to the desk and asked if they had a 2brm apartment for our dates and guess what?! They had two plus ambassador suites if we wanted. They offered to show me through the 2brm apartment whilst I stood there in shock so I went and had a look. Beautiful rooms and a lounge and kitchen that consists of a sink, microwave and bigger fridge. Small plasma's in the brms. They are just to the left of the driveway when you first enter the grounds, 6 apartments, 3 floors so the bottom ones are fine for kids, the other four are up a lot of steps.
Moral of story, get someone who is visiting Bali to go to KP if you want accommodation and check in person.
Well Monday brought around the day we leave so breaky, relaxing, driving to airport was about as exciting as it got.
Air Asia was great again, flight was good, packed plane going home. The AirBus A320 has usually got better seat room than a Boeing 737 so I didn't find the seats any different to any other flight I've taken on a smaller plane like this, even if they have put more rows in. DH is over 6 foot and fitted into his seat well. Could have killed the girl behind me with her grabbing my seat to arrange herself all through the flight. Lucky for her I'm passive/aggressive and she didn't quite push me far enough to get into the aggressive stage. Lol
So that was our 3 night trip to Bali with no kids. I had forgotten how relaxed you really can be but am really excited about taking the boys back to Bali in March to have a ‘follow the child' holiday.
Phew can anyone tell I've got time on my hands.
Thank you for reading my waffling.