Wow...where did our holidays go? We've been back at work now into our second week after spending 3 glorious weeks in Bali and have come to the conclusion that one definitely needs to write their JBR as soon as one gets back from one's holidays, otherwise one certainly can forget! So I'll try to be as descriptive as I can.
Well we left Brisvegas on Saturday 21st August with Virgin. Had to pay $60 in excess baggage because we always seem to accumulate so many clothes, shoes etc for our Balinese friends . Oh well, its like Xmas to them when they get all our stuff that we take over and makes me think that somehow I must buy impulsively because this happens year after year (for at least 12 years!) Note to myself for future purchases - think before I buy!!
As some forumites would know - we've been Bali lovers for years and this was now our 13th annual trip and every year is always so different with different places to stay. When we arrived we headed up to Ubud for our stay at Tegal Sari. This is always good, however we found the room rate has increased now and does not include breakfast. We tried getting brekky delivered to our room on the 1st morning and unfortunately by the time we got it was really cold so decided after that just to visit the new restaurant (Warung Semesta) facing Jalan Monkey Forest. The service and smiles are always consistently good at TS. Our favourite places in Ubud was of course Dirty Duck Diner and Bumu Bali. I just love these places and the food was great.
Only downside of Ubud was the weather - I think it rained for 3 ½ out of 4 days in Ubud - people everywhere - seemed like alot of buses and people there to experience the Eat, Pray, Love tours supposedly. Bec ause Ubud was our 1st place to stay after a 'very hectic & stressful' year, we didn't do a real lot but the quietness just allowed us to vege out and do as least as possible so I think we both read almost 2 books each in a couple of days!
Our next port of call was Seminyak! Well after 13 years we decided to lash out and do the 'villa experience' for a few days and also Seminyak, which we had never stayed before. After lots of scrutinising and reading about villas in Seminyak, I decided to choose the Bali Dream Villas - booked this on Wotif.com just before our holidays and just after I booked it, I realised that I had booked the wrong villas! I was supposed to book Bali Dream Villas but booked Bali Dream Suite Villas instead! I think this was because 'the suites' came up just before the 'villas' on Wotif. Never mind, we say, lets just go along with the flow and see what transpires!!! They are supposed to be sister villas anyways so couldn't be that bad!! Well, when we got there we were just blown away...they were beautiful!! This particular complex had 12 (I think) 1 bedroom only villas and marketed mainly to just honeymooners or couples of course, whereas the Bali Dream Villas had a mixture of 1, 2 & 3 bedroom villas which also catered for families. Our villa was devine! A beautiful outdoor , loungy area with large plasma and dining area, own pool with lounge chairs! We also had a lunch included in our deal so decided to get it on the day we arrived because we got there about 2-00pm. Thought it was just going to be a 1 course lunch meal, but (with our own butler) arrived spring rools (appetizer) pumpkin soup (entre), grilled tuna and veges (Main) and fruit (dessert). It was just a delight staying there - service and comfort A1 !! Note to ourselves - definitely stay there again!
The best meals we had in Seminyak was Bali Bale(just across the road from Bali Deli) and Lucky Day Restaurant and the worst, worst, worst meal EVER I have in Bali was Made's Warung in Seminyak. It was absolutely discusting. I ordered a combination Nasi Goreng/Noodles type dish - it arrived within 5 mins of ordering, and when I got it, it was cold in the middle and rice all gluggy - obviously a poor attempt to microwave a pre made meal! It was that bad that when the waiter asked how my meal was, I had to inform him of the truth....and I have never had to do that in Bali.
What a shame that we had to leave Seminyak with the thoughts of that horrible Made Warung meal!
After 4 nights in our beautiful villa, we then ventured on to our last stay (as usual ) and onto Legian. For the last few years we have been staying at Puri Raja, and whilst we were over ther e last year, had a preview peak into one of the rooms at Sari Beach Hotel and decided that could easily be our home for 2 weeks in the future..... so booked for 2 weeks this year. ( I hope you are reading this Fiona and Ruby!!!!)
MMMM, well we checked in and had a looksy around our room and didn't quite like what I saw but thought that maybe it was because we had spent the last 4 nights in a beautiful villa and needed to come down a peg or two to reality..so off we go to have dinner and watch the NRL at the Garden View Hotel (and of course a few bintangs) , came back to our room about 11.30pm and the horrible thought kept on coming back that this was going to be a bad place to stay!!!
Never mind, I say, go to bed, have a good nights sleep and forget the villa. My pillow was like a solid brick so couldn't sleep that much, and finally awoke the next morning to have a bo-peep around and be greeted to greyish, dirty sheets that smelt like they hadn't been washed before the previous guests were in, no hot water to wash my long hair, only a few drizzles of cold water, a very dirty, mouldy bathroom, the cupboard underneath the sink in the bathroom stank to high heaven, there were holes in both our towels, no tea/coffee making facilities....AAhh, what could/should be do?
I decided to go to the lobby before we ventured down to breakfast to let them know firstly that we didn't have hot water. The reception we received was that we were certainly bothering or interrupting them, no friendly Balinese smiles!!! Brekky was OK - look, we didn't really expect much but afterall we did pay US $80 per night also and not just a $20 a night backpacking joint!! Went for a walk after brekky and back to our rooms within 2 hours of telling reception that we had no hot water, and yes, you guessed it...still no hot water!! So a big decision had to be made!!! Do we stay and have a crappy 2 weeks and try to endure the rest of the time out or find somewhere else??
Yes, we decided we wanted out, so put our walking shoes on and started walking and hotel knocking!
We got lots of 'no...sorry, no rooms for next 2 weeks, all full up, sorry big holiday on''' What the hell is happening in Bali, we say? We then found out that it was at the end of Ramadam, and muslims come back to Bali for their holiday season. Anyway after a couple of hours and almost giving up, we found a place to stay and our little secret find!! Secret squirrel stuff, you know...if I tell you all it would become bigger and more expensive then Ben Hur!!! Then we couldn't get in next year and would back at damn Sari Beach Hotel!! Went back to Sari Beach Hotel, quickly packed our bags and went to reception and checked out.
We have never done this type of thing before after spending many years holidaying in Bali each year, but decided that it was the right thing to do and could not possibly spend another night at SBH.
So thanks to those (Fiona & Ruby particularly) who had posted their honest opinions on the place - I should have taken your advice!
We did have to spend our last 3 nights down in Tuban however, at Hotel Vira. This was an experience in itself staying down that end of Bali because mainly we stay in Legian. I have been reading a bit about the rip offs at Circle K in Padma Utara - well just another couple of places to be mindful of if you are staying in Tuban. Circle K just past the Ramada was the first place we experienced at trying to be ripped off.
One night we were in there and a guy was yelling at the staff member because they had charged him for more beers than he had, so we thought we should watch this place - the next night went in there again after dinner to purchase icecreams and water, and a guy seemed to appear over us with a packet of cigarettes which were scanned just as our order was being put through, then the check out operator had 2 packets of cigarettes on the counter (supposedly from someone else's order)and tried to start scanning them also into our order. John(hubby) quickly put a stop to it and said 'Hey, those smokes aren't ours' so they quickly apologised and reset the order. It appeared it was set up.
Then the following night we decided to go to the Mini Mart (just past Green Garden Hotel on the opposite side of the road) and bought a couple of icecreams again. The check out guy said '35000 please'. We said 'hang on, can we have a look at the receipt.. thats not right'. His whole demeanor changed very quickly, and picked up the phone and started to appear to talking to someone, gave us the receipt , which read 22000. I asked him why he lied to us and basically called him a thief, and he said that 'he was very tired and couldn't think properly'.
Its these types of things that constitute 'the ugly' side of Bali. To be ripped off (or tried) 2 nights running in Tuban left a bitter taste in our mouths. I have read a fair bit about it lately on the forum and heard from people down at Sami & Suzies but it always appeared to be 'hearsay' and when it really happens to you, makes one realise how alert you have to be with handing your cash over. I know its not a lot of money but it does add up so a message to everyone out there ‘ Beware of the Circle K's and also Mini Marts - 2 nights running for us was a bit much, and we wondered whether the people working in these shops assume that all westerners buying icecreams etc after 9-00pm are quite enhebriated enough to not check their receipts. So a big warning to everyone...check your receipts!
Oh - another night in Tuban (yes we did have some rather interesting things happen to us down that end of town!) we went to Mini Seafood Restaurant for dinner. It was a really nice dinner - order a whole barbqued fish and veges and when we went to pay our bill, we were asked if we could complete a 'survey' on the restaurant. Oh yes, of course we would! The first few questions related to the meal and service itself at the restaurant then went on to the 'where are you staying and what room number??' I quickly said that I wouldn't give out our Hotel name and especially room number and the waitress then got a little irate because she said she could have got 50000rp out of it if we completed the survey in full!! Obviously another scam of some sort, but where does it all end?
During our 3 week holiday we really had some great meals in Bali. Best cheap eats for lunch were those in Poppies 1 & 2, especially Totemo, Coco, Brasil, Indah Nusah,, Warung Agung , Enhay (the best) and not forgetting Warung Kartini in 3 Brothers Lane. Oh, Warung MD was a great little find in Kartika Plaza. Also some great dinners had Seaside, Katumba, Sheppy's, Wayan & Friends, Blue Skyz, Wallys and also went to Jimbaran Bay with Trev & Tina. We mainly try to eat at places that serve Balinese food anyway and I'm a huge lover of fish so am always on the lookout for Ikan Bakar which seems to be hard to find these days!
Went to the Pandora shop in Legian and bought a couple of charms. The shop seemed to be genuine. I never take my bracelet off and the charms seem no different to the others that I have bought here. They don't have any gold ones at the moment but said they could be getting them by next year.
Best rate hovered from 8000 to 8150 so decided to stock up before we left for our next trip to Bali next year.
Already organising our trips for next year - 2 are in the pipeline - 1 being our annual 3 week trip in August / September and the other one had decided to ask our 3 adult children (2 x 25 year olds and 1 x 26 year old) if they would like to spend a 10 day family holiday with us in Bali in March? Can you imagine the answer?
So I got to have a look in some villas whilst over there and have booked a huge 4 bedroomed villa (with own ensuites) in Jalan Werkudara with own pool. Its name is Villa Mimpi and seemed very suitable for our needs!
Anyway all forumites - this has been long but thanks for reading. We're right back into work again and the Bali blues have set in but at least we get to look forward to 2 trips next year. Were supposed to go to Europe, but what the hell...Bali is better and more relaxing.
Julie & John