Jetstar flight from Sydney, was 30mins delayed, arrived 9pm airport, was out of the airport and in car within 20mins. So a good start.
Stayed at the Bali Mandira in Legian, paid extra for a nicer room as I couldn't face being shoved in some old crappy room that they seem to put us Aussies in late at night and going through all the drama moving rooms... anyway got the Junior Suite and it was truly amazing, we were so impressed, check in everything really smooth. (worth the extra $300 for the week)
Hotel is great, beautiful grounds, lots of grassy areas under palm trees, but the highlight was the covered day beds scattered around the grounds with view to ocean and pool.
SHOPS: Garlic lane great little street with all the market stuff,
Discovery Mall - fantastic but you need all day here it is huge and has so many shops - UK brands Dorothy Perkins, topshop, great kids shop with kickers shoes, croc shop, Birkenstock, so much more a must if you are after some quality stuff.
Seminyak strip of shops - again quality clothes and shoes, jewellery, resin bowls, plates
RESTAURANTS: We travelled up to Ubud to go to the Bebek Bengel (dirty duck) and had the most memorable meal for the whole stay which was Nasi Campur, like a tasting plate with the most amazing flavours , I will come here without a doubt again worth the trip up there, but stay for a few hours and book a day bed overlooking the rice paddies, and try more of the menu if you can fit it in.
Poppies - in Poppies Lane was really nice indo food, not much atmosphere though.
Ku de Ta - We arrived at the wrong time (6pm) on a Sunday it was packed out with people, blaring DJ music, I felt like I was at a disco, no tables or seats anywhere, very expensive had a beer and cocktail and was $20 AUD, very cool place if you are into the IT crowd but next time we would go during the day early and sit on the daybeds at the front with hopefully not many people there!
MASSAGES: Found the best one on our last day in Garlic lane called RamaGarden Body care and Reflexology it is a small modern, clean very professional place, had the best massage very slow and deep attention to detail if you want something just a bit nicer than the usual bali massage, very cheap still.
Shinkei Spa, 64 Legian St - Had a 4hr treatment here on our first day, got massage, facial, reflexology, manicure, pedicure, ginger tea, all for 400,000Rp. It was really good, bit run down but enjoyed it, the reflexology was fantastic.
Had a pretty average experience at Aura Spa in Ubud, tried to find something a bit special and prepared to pay a bit extra...got the 3hr package, massage, scrub, shirodara, etc....bath, the outside of the place looked nice but basic room and bathroom was so dodgy and old, the massage was nice but that was about it and it was $70USD each, so totally ripped off here. Learnt my lesson, just going to get plain massages next time, we wasted too much time in day spa it got a bit boring towards the end and we just wanted to get out of there.
BEWARE of neck cracking, seriously I got a hair cream bath at a salon called Eve near the Discovery Mall, it seemed okay until the guy doing it with no warning just rolled my head at the end of the treatment and then suddenly cracked my neck, I was horrified and totally pissed off as the treatment did not mention this at all in their brochure, he was very apologetic and all the girls in the salon were apologizing, but I was very emotional after it and just wanted to warn people to maybe ask first. All in all I am okay, but I have heard that it can be very dangerous so the reason I was so upset. Has this happened to anyone else???
DRIVER: Bali Jack who hangs out the front of the Mandira & Padma hotels he has the newest car out of all the drivers, he took us to Ubud and was very easy to chat to but also quiet when we just wanted to chillout. We paid a bit more for the day but got 9hrs total for 500,000Rp, the going rate is around 400-450,000 but we were happy to pay a bit extra for the comfort. Plus we feel sorry for him and gave him a tip of an extra 100,000! His mobile is 338763921 and email balijack@yahoo.com
Anyway had a fantastic time as usual and will be back to Bali again. Things I would do differently next time would be to set aside a whole day of shopping, a whole day of laying by pool, then a massage at a good place (ramagarden) every second day. We seemed to always be rushing to the next day spa, then rushing to dinner, then rushing to do shopping...But it was still a great break.