Flew out from Perth on the 5.40pm flight with AirAsia. There were 7 of us. 3 couples and a single male friend. The flight was fine, arrived and left Airport quickly using the service.
Stayed at Villa Bugis in Villa Ginger. Loved this Villa! The kitchen had almost everything you could think of. Terrific pool area and spa.
Bedrooms (3) were large with a canopied bed and large bathroom with indoor and outdoor shower. Was glad it had both as I am not really into the outdoor shower - find it a little freaky!
We have never stayed up in Seminyak before so it was all new to us. Loved the location of the Villa. It was about a 10 minute walk to Bintang Supermarket and about 15 to the beach via Dhyanna Pura. It was amazing on all the walks through to the main streets just how much building work is going on. And all Villas. Love to watch how the Balinese build. No safety stuff what so ever! They are really clever in the way they do things though.
Well first day it was up (courtesy of an alarm) at about 7. The Villa staff came and made us a great breakfast of eggs any style and toast, juice, fruit and coffee/Tea. Overnight it had absolutely hammered down with rain. Thunder, lightening the whole lot. Was overcast but dryish so we ventured out to Bintang to buy sim cards for trip.
Got a little lost on the way courtesy of the Security, who when giving directions, sort of said left (pointing right) then left again! Got there though and met up with our other friend who was staying at Baliyarra Villas. These are a lovely small complex. He had a small room which was really great for 1 person. new and clean and heaps of storage. He loved it here. The staff were really gorgeous too.
After getting sim cards organized we taxied it down to Bagus for our first "Bloody" cold Bintang. has become a tradition for us to do this, and then after 2nd Bintang with a bit of a Buzz, went over to DVD shop over road to buy copious amounts of DVDs that I usually don't even watch, - but love to buy anyway!
Went back to Bintang and bought lots of supplies, including Bali Moon Liquors to make cocktails.
The rest of the holiday was spent doing a lot of the same.
We ate at a lot of great places and a couple of not so good places. Went to Santa Fe that first night. Food was fairly ordinary, but cocktails were great.
Second night we ate at Sorisso on Jl Drupadi. Owner/Manager was very attentive, but there were kids running all over the place and the service was extremely slow. Cocktails were crappy too. Tasted like they were minus the alcohol! The food was very ordinary unfortunately, and took so long to come out that we were seriously considering leaving! As the 2 first nights were on my recommendations. I decided to keep quiet for the next few!
Other places that we ate at were
Neros - always lovely food and great cocktails.
Menu - which we returned to twice as the food was really good. They don't have an alcohol license yet - except for Bintangs and Mixmax (Vodka with mixer). But owners were really nice and ambiance was terrific.
Drops - always have good food here
Seaside - was really disapointed when the vegetarian meal that I always order here had changed beyond recognition. Mentioned this to staff, but nothing was really explained why. Everybody else loved their food though.
Queens of India - Wonderful food here
Lemon Grass - My favorite meal in Bali! As a vegetarian and a fussy one. I had the Stir fried Tofu and a plate of crispy noodles. Everyone else had great meals too.
We also ordered out of the Halo Bali Book and had food delivered.
Gorgeous each time. First time we ordered it was poring with rain and felt so sorry for the young guy delivering on his scooter! (Gave him a big tip) We had Chinese one night and amazing Greek another. All the food was wonderful. and amusing as if it was sauce it came in a plastic bag! Also had Pizza which we picked up from Coso Nostra. Was really yummy.
Had a lovely day with our friend Nyoman, who we have known for many years. He used to be our driver, but his wife now has a job with the government - teaching, so he has his started own business (which we contributed to) selling Fertilizer etc. Took the family lots of clothes for the children and food for them all.
They also came down to our Villa for the day for the children to have a swim in our pool. That was an amazing experience and such a wonder to watch and share with them as they had never swum before. Truly was the highlight of our trip, listening to their laughter and joy!
Shopped at all the usual places. Bought 4 handbags, which I paid around 180000 for. Sunglasses, watches, and Bali clothes to wear for the holiday from Ketut in Garlic Lane. Had a fair few Bintangs at Billys Bar after these shopping trips!
On the way to our friends village we stopped in Ubud and bought some lovely silver rings from the markets.
Paintings from Kuta Square, and lots of stuff from Geneva as usual.
All in all, a wonderful holiday as always! Hate coming home. We have decided that we will never stay in a Hotel again. The Villa experience is just fabulous. Was so nice not to have to fight for pool chairs! lol. The weather turned our great too. We had a fair bit of rain the first few days, but mainly at night and early morning. The rest of the time was preety much sunny. It was very humid most of the time though. More so than usual this time of year.
Hope you have enjoyed reading, any questions will be welcome