Good people,
My JBR, for what it is worth, is not a lot about shopping and eating, well just a bit anyway, but more about a quiet week in Sanur doing nothing much but relaxing, after all isn't that what a holiday is all about?
This time it was back to the old Besakih, rather than the Griya where we have stayed for the past few years, but who had somewhat messed us about last April, when we arrived at midnight with two other parties only to be told that they had overbooked and there was 'no room at the Inn' so to speak!
That didn't turn out too bad as they shipped us all down to the Puri for a couple of nights, while being a nice hotel and about half a star better then her sister the Griya, the fact that we could not really unpack and relax was a bit of a downer!
Anyway the Griya has gone a bit up-market, I believe in order to attract more European visitors, with lots of Euro's to spend, and have edged up their prices accordingly, as such it is now a bit out of the range of a SFR. (Self Funded Retiree)
The old Besakih was the first hotel we stayed at in Bali based on a recommendation of a friend, and nothing much has changed in 20 years, except for a coat of paint or two, oh! and the paths, which were originally made up of rather large cobble stones, no in fact they were more like boulders, have been resurfaced, so one can wander home in the evening after a couple of Arak Attacks without the worry or rolling ones ankles!
They are 'doing up' some of the stand alone Bungalows, a job which appears to consist of stripping them out, painting them and putting it all back, but with new curtains, still that's Bali for you, wouldn't have it any other way would you?
The service is as always friendly and helpful, but never rushed, it takes a day to get into Bali time and then it doesn't matter, I did note however that the ratio of the young 'Trainees' to the permanent staff was rather high, don't know what that meant or if it even mattered, as they were all so friendly.
I had to smile at the young fellow there on his first day, white shirt and tie, black trousers with a rather large belt and a buckle which looked like he had won it at a Rodeo, and because he had no hips it kept pulling his pants down such that I thought he would loose them on a number of occasions, as did one of the older female staff who kept on pulling them up from behind for him.
The 'American Breakfast', that was part of the package at the Besakih, was not quite what we had been used to, in that it is a set menu rather than a Buffet, as had been the case elsewhere, as such it was either fresh fruit or fruit juice to start, then eggs, any which way with either ham (1 slice), bacon (2 small rashes) or sausage (1 chipolata), or pancakes (2), or croissants (1), with tea or coffee.
There was a second selection of a couple of traditional Bali dishes, but that was about it, if you were staying a while you would probably tire of it after a few days, and is probably why the Europeans, who's appetite appears to have no bounds, stay next door at the Griya, where the buffet breakfast is full on, however it kept you going for a hard morning of relaxing in the pool, or a bit of shopping!
By the way we flew 'AA' and enjoyed it immensely, much better than the 'Star' who we went with last time, this time I didn't have to snap off my legs and put them in the overhead locker in order to fit into my seat, and on the way back we had paid the extra tener for row number one, which was even better and worth the extra money.
I am sorry for those who were longing for that first Bintang on leaving the tarmac in Perth, but AA is dry, no alcohol that is, so you have a 3 hour wait, which I think you can probably hold on for, anyway the food was good and very reasonably priced, I had roast chicken and veggies which cost 27,000RP, about $3.50, better than Subway!
By the way you can pay in $AU but you get your change in Rp, their exchange rate at 7,500Rp to the $AU, was about as good as you were getting on the street at the time.
We arrived to find no one in the arrivals area, I was second in line for the VOA with four counters in operation, and Immigration, only two counters there but others opened after a short while, anyway it took all of 4 minutes and 30 seconds and we were standing at the baggage carrousel.
However unfortunately we were punished for doing the right thing by checking in early in Perth, as per AA's instructions, such that our bags, being the first to be loaded were the last to appear on the roundabout, still we were sitting in a Taxi in less that half an hour of leaving the aircraft.
To be continued.
Regards, BJC.