Returned home from Bali on the 18 November, excuse spelling mistakes and its a bit scattered as things came to me.
We had a wonderful time in Bali; we did lots of things and had a great time.
Bali is very busy and there are lots of people about during the day however when night falls they all disappear. I do think people are more spread out at lots of different location. Tunjung Bonoa was packed with people doing all the water sports, there were hundreds of people there the day we went, bus loads of people, and we rode there and paid for it when we arrived.
Departed Perth at 7.40pm, arrived 11.25pm into Denpasar on the 3rd November flying Virgin from Perth, excellent flight and heaps of leg room on the Virgin flights from Perth.
Straight through to do visa and queue up to get passport stamped, only took 3 minutes, through to get bags and into a taxi by 11.45pm. Arrived at the KP were in our rooms by 12.15am. It was the fastest we have ever been out of the airport and to hotel.
We went out straight away to have a drink but everywhere around there was closed except the night clubs and we weren't interested in being in them, so purchased some milk from circle K and had a coffee in our room and bed.
Up early next morning to meet all our friends at breakfast, we had lots of friends staying there; they came up on different airlines on the same day as us.
Day planned ladies shopping and men booking scooters and activities for all of us.
We met back at hotel around 1pm, had lunch around the pool and a swim for a few hours and then a rest, we had dinner at seaside that night.
The weather is hot hot hot.
We did lots of activities in Bali, scooter bungee jumping, quad biking 3 times, flying fish, banana boating, parachuting, white water rafting, mountain cycling, went to turtle island, safari park again, Bali zoo and went and saw the elephants and its new addition 2 month old so cute, all of the above were great fun we had a ball.
We bartered for all our water sports and got each one for 50,000 they started at 200,000 there was quite a few of us, so they gave us a special price.
Footpaths are still under construction, they have started so many sections in Bali and it still looks like one big mess. They were working on them day and night.
The traffic is consistently busy, we were on scooters so for us it was easy to get around, however there is triple the cars there used to be and traffic jams everywhere.
We witnessed many accidents, police and ambulances coming from everywhere to attend accidents. There was a huge accident when we were in Denpasar around 20 motorbikes involved, we were a little way behind them and it took ages to clear the bikes and attend to the people that were hurt.
We got pulled over for a license check and all was good however he was hoping for a donation to the policemen's ball, but instead asked for a cigarette as he stuffed up when he said it was for a licence check and we knew we hadn't done anything wrong. They were very polite and had a good laugh with them especially when my husband started speaking to them in Indonesian. We were the ones that got pulled over as my husband is the GPS for all our friends following and the police thought bingo, they ended up checking all our friends' licenses and all was good as everyone had an international license. So this trip no donation, just one cigarette I'm surprised he didn't ask for the whole packet.
After dinner each evening around 10.30pm we would all go for a ride around the island and the traffic was far less than during the day, we cooled off while riding around and when we went back to the hotel had late night swims we were very quite not to disturb the other guests.
Went to Nusa Dua for shopping and lunch at frangipani Bar, it was one of the best meals we had.
Places we ate at:
Ultimo's, Seaside, Lanai Bar, Yut'z, Kp, Bali Deli, Ocean Blue, Iforia, Bali catering for morning tea, Moka café, Rumors, Queen of India, Bubba Gump and echo beach.
Bought lots of presents for our children while we were in Bali for Christmas, have already wrapped them, so organized this year.
Went to Briella Spa for pedicure, massage and also used the Kumala Pantai spa & salon which I found heaps better than Briella Spa, private, cleaner, personal and the staff were far more qualified all round in doing a better job. They had a special of 30% of all massages.
I had my hair washed and blow waved at KP salon and he did a really great job on it.
I was so happy I booked in to have my foils done there, what a mistake that was, they were disgusting bright orange and I was going out that evening for dinner with our friends. I got away with it for the evening thank god it was dark.
The very next morning went to Yopi where I always go normally and had them re-done, my girl was shocked when she saw them, however she managed to fixed them the best she could, there 85% perfect but will do, till I have them done again. Yopi have an amazing cream mask called Me, leaves your hair like silk. Well the truth is I needed the treatment after double bleaching and my hair was like silk.
Friends and family members went to a clinic in Seminyak for their Botox this trip Dr Ita has a new clinic there; the Botox was only 80,000 per unit. No one got bruising and she did a really good job. I didn't have anything done this trip I was only there 2 months ago and Dr Ita checked it and said I didn't need it doing.
The KP will no longer book you into the hotel unless you pay one night's accommodation up front and it's not refundable. Many people were booking rooms and then didn't show or even phone to cancel the rooms. Hence a lot of walk-ins got rooms while we were there especially for short stays.
We found the prices in the markets had gone up a little but nothing worth worrying about a dollar fifty each item and that was okay. Mind you starting prices were 150,000 each item and we just laughed and went straight to one third and they were happy. They just love the bartering side of it, I personally don't like it, so my husband does it as he speaks a little Indonesian and is getting quite good at speaking it, and he is self taught and retains the information.
Rate around 8700-8760 so we cashed a large sum kept us going for a while.
We purchased some lovely jeans, tops and dresses not cheap but very nice, could of bought heaps more this trip, there were so many nice things around but I only buy what is required.
I met a lovely young girl at Briella last time I was there in August, Kadek I think that's how you spell it, she gave me the best foot message but Kadek couldn't speak a word of English, she was also very shy. I told the owner that when I returned I would bring her up some books so she could learn even if she just learned the basic words required to do her job. So when I got to Bali I had all these books for her only to be told she had never been to school and couldn't read or write, I immediately went to a book store at carrafore to buy some picture books in Indonesian and English,. I purchased 3 books for her to at least look at pictures and also bought the alphabert and number books for her. I asked the owner if she could help her to learn some words and she said she would, so I am confident when I see her in May she will be able to say something.
All in all excellent trip and look forward to going back in May next year.
Cheers