We awoke to find the Easter Bunny had been. This meant the day we were to leave for Bali had finally arrived. After a breakfast of hot x buns, Hubby, Miss P (9), Master D (13) and I set off for the airport.
Our 1.20pm flight from Perth on Air Asia left 5 minutes early. This is the first time flying Air Asia and no complaints for the price we paid. Seating did seem a little cramped but for the short flight it was bearable. Flight was due to arrive in Bali at 5pm but was early and we were walking out of the airport by 5pm to meet our driver. Having booked the 'Hot Seats', we were the first off the plane and straight through VOA in minutes. We had to wait for our luggage but that too was through within a few minutes.
Our first 6 nights were to be spent at All Seasons Legian. On arrival, our first impression of the hotel was great. Friendly reception staff, inter-connecting rooms as requested, very clean and modern. This is a lovely hotel in a central location and we found it to be very reasonably priced. It is not a resort but had everything we needed and I would definitely recommend it. The staff were fantastic and any request was met within minutes. The apple strudel delivered to our room after our arrival was a nice touch as was the complimentary toiletry bag and the ipod docking station. The pool area was nice and no sun lounge hogs in sight. Even though all of the rooms' balconies faced the pool there was never an issue with noise.
Months of research provided us with a huge list of places to eat. I was eager to try many of the restaurants recommended on the forum. I will review a number that we visited that were memorable for one reason or another. For now, here is a brief summary.
Seaside - I have never ventured along this strip at night and found it very exciting. All of the restaurants were buzzing and for our first night in Bali it was perfect. The meal was very nice and very reasonable.
Mozzerella by the Sea - lovely setting. We found the menu to be similar to Seaside and a number of other places. The food was nice enough but not outstanding and left us wondering why the prices were higher than other restaurants along the beach front.
Hard Rock Café - great for the kids but very expensive.
Blue Ocean - I heard this was a great place for seafood. I love my seafood so was really looking forward to trying this restaurant. We were lead to our table and after stepping over a dog, we were seated towards the back of the restaurant. It was very hot and it may have been the lighting, but did not appear clean. After sitting for 10 minutes with no menus and no chance of catching anyone's attention, we got up and left. Very disappointing.
Zanzibar - we went here after leaving Blue Ocean as it looked busy and clean. The food was very nice but again the menu was uninspiring and very similar to those we had seen previously. Good value for money but after being to very similar restaurants we were looking for something a little different.
Tenkai Japanese Restaurant (Padma Resort) - hubby and I first dined at the restaurant on our honeymoon nearly 17 years ago. We were keen to take the kids there for Teppanyaki. The food was once again amazing. A tuna appetiser was followed by prawns, tuna steak served medium rare, Tasmanian salmon cooked to perfection, fish, chicken, beef that melted in your mouth, a scallop perfectly caramelised, vegetables, fried or white rice, miso soup and finally homemade vanilla ice-cream. The food could not be faulted. It was very expensive, by Bali standards. We took a bottle of wine purchased duty free. Even though the corkage charge was 180,000rp ++ we were still ahead as a decent bottle of wine would have set us back at least 600,000rp ++. My only criticism is that the meal was rushed. From arriving to dessert, all of the food mentioned was presented within 1 hour. This was way too quick for the amount of food. A 3 hour leisurely dinner would have been wonderful and we would not have wasted so much wonderful food. The restaurant has 2 Teppanyaki sittings a night and that is why the meal is so rushed.
Coffee Corner - we stumbled across this gem after a hot morning of shopping. We were thirsty and in need of a break. The café has beautiful décor and friendly attentive staff. You can sit outside and watch the world go by or venture inside and cool down. There is also free wifi and computers available for use upstairs while you relax over coffee. The freezing cold towels handed to us when arriving were met with sighs of relief. We all indulged in iced coffees or smoothies that were just what was needed and were so large that we skipped lunch that day. We were so impressed that we returned for breakfast a few days later. Once again we enjoyed the experience and plodded out with very happy bellies, especially Master D who had 2 servings of banana pancakes. They also have a reward card that we nearly managed to fill. Maybe next time we will return and try one of the yummy looking cakes on display.
Cocoon - I was really curious about this place so we popped in to have a look one night. It is just gorgeous. We didn't think it would be a suitable place to take the kids for dinner (too expensive and too classy!) so we came back another night for pre-dinner drinks and an appetiser. Sitting outside on the lovely white lounges looking at the lit up pool, sipping cocktails and nibbling on delicious morsels had me wishing we had arranged a babysitter for the night. This place is a must for anyone looking for somewhere special. I loved it!
Ultimo's - I have saved the best for last. This was a truly amazing experience for all of us. I rang about 4pm on Friday to make a booking for that evening and was told they were booked out. I also tried Sarong, another on my list of must do's, and they were also booked out. How disappointing. I then remembered reading about others turning up without a booking and having a drink at the bar while waiting for a table. We decided to take our chances. Upon arriving we were asked if we had a reservation, as we didn't we were seated outside at the very front of the restaurant. We were wrapped that we got a table until the noise from the traffic registered and we realised that this was not going to be a good experience. I asked the waiter if they possibly had a table in a quieter area. He went off and had a look, coming back with good news. We followed him through the restaurant to be led to an air-conditioned room at the back of the restaurant. We walked in and all 4 of us said 'wow!'. The room was elegant and all tables set beautifully with white linen. After sitting down and looking around with gapping mouths, we decided that we had been given the table because were dressed nicely (girls in pretty dresses and boys in collared shirts and shoes). We may have been wrong but it was a good theory as everyone dining in this room was well dressed. I will do a review of Ultimo's and detail the food we had. Every single dish we ordered was amazing - I know, I tasted them all! In total we ordered 4 entrees, 3 mains, 2 beers, 2 glasses of champagne, 4 soft drinks, 1 bottle of Hatten Rose, 3 Tia Maria's and 5 desserts - yes, there was only 4 of us! The bill was around 1.4million rp or around AUD150. We often dine out in Perth and for this amount we would probably only get pizza and pasta at a BYO restaurant! I have to go back to the desserts. I don't usually order dessert but everything sounded so nice I thought I would indulge this time. We ordered a raspberry panacotta, white chocolate crème brulee, apple strudel and zabaione. Everything looked so good that we decided to play pass the dessert. One spoon then you pass the dessert to the left. Everything was delicious but the crème brulee was dreamy. We ended up fighting over this one and decided to order another so the experience could linger - hence the 5 desserts. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. We were leaving for Sanur the next day and even considered coming back for another dinner. We didn't as the memory we were left with was perfect and will remain with the 4 of us until our next trip to Bali when we try and recreate a wonderful night.
At this point I need to mention that we did more than eat! Having been to Bali a number of times, we decided this trip was to be relaxing and therefore didn't make too many plans. We had to visit Waterbom of course. We had a great day. On our last trip we rented a cabana for the day and have decided that this is the only way to go. It makes a great base and if anyone is feeling weary they can curl up for a rest. The food outlet delivers directly to your cabana and even the ladies from the spa will come and give you a manicure etc.
We shopped of course. When staying in Tuban a few years ago, we came across Rika Shop which is fixed price. We now go back on every visit to Bali. Rika is lovely and her prices a reasonable without all of the hassle.
Also made a point of going to Bagus Watches in Kuta Square. I wish I had bought more!!! Beautiful scarves, watches, jewellery, sun glasses, wallets, belts - lots of bling and enough to keep a girl happy for an hour or so. I picked out some lovely pieces that have become my Mother's Day presents - I just hope the kids take them out of the Bagus Watch bag and wrap them for me!
Bought lots of shoes at Matahari. They were having a sale on and a huge range of shoes were discounted.
I vowed that I wouldn't do my own hair in Bali. I have very wavy hair that goes quite frizzy in the humidity. If it is straightened well, I don't have to worry about if for a few days. I tried a spa on Jln Padma - may be called Lotus? It was nice and clean but my hair was starting to frizz before I even paid the bill. They have another outlet to the north of All Seasons so I tried this another time - with the same results. I wandered into another spa called Aicare next to the Circle K money changer on Jln Padma Utara. Not as clean as some but after speaking to the lovely young man about straightening my hair, I decided to give it a try. He was brilliant! So careful and got my hair really straight and it stayed that way for 3 days. Miss P wanted her hair braided so we decided to have it done at the same time. As we were on a tight time schedule, they bought in a 'specialist'. This woman was amazing - you could hardly see her fingers as she was braiding so fast. Instead of using elastic bands to secure the braids, she used alfoil. This added 'bling' and looked sensational, it was also very easy to take out when the time came. The braiding was perfect and completed in around 1 hour. Miss P had her hair redone the day we were coming home at a salon in Sanur. 4 girls worked on her hair for an hour. The work was haphazard. I found one braid without elastic (they couldn't do alfoil) or beads, a couple of braids with only 1 bead instead of 2 and others where they beads hadn't been put on correctly. Had she not had perfect braiding prior to this, none of this would have been important. I wish we had made the trip back to Aicare in Legian.
That about wraps up our stay in Legian. We thoroughly enjoyed this part of our holiday and were looking forward to what lay ahead in Sanur.
If I haven't bored you too much, I will complete a report on our 5 day stay in Sanur. Quite different to Legian but still involved lots of eating!!!