3rd May (a bit late). Finally, no more sleeps till Bali. 4th time to the island of smiles. This time I am going with my wife, her sister, brother and his wife. The grannies are watching the grandkids at home so a kid free holiday for 11 nights.
This is my first attempt at a JBR so if you don't like it, that's OK, I enjoyed writing it as it brings the memories back that are already starting to fade. I have had to change this a hundred times so it finally let me post it on the BTF.
This time we flew G from Melbourne (have done J and Q before) and I must say, if I can afford it, I will always fly G direct. The holiday starts as soon as you board the plane. Indonesian staff, Indonesian food and Beer!!! We flew out at 10 am so I had to wait a few hours for the first Beer, I didn't want to look like a bogan and start at 10am. 12:01, beer time...
I asked the air steward if it was a full flight, he said it was but 30 people cancelled at the last minute (3rd May flight, the day after Bin Laden announcement) I must say, it was playing on my mind a bit but I made myself forget about it so it didn't ruin the holiday.
4 hours later we landed, very smooth landing. I had arranged V1P V*A but didn't really need it as we were the only plane there, 10 minutes later another jumbo landed so we may have needed it if we were 15 minutes late. It did make it a bit easier I guess, straight off the plane, ushered through customs and waited 10 mins for our bags, though the last xray then outside to meet my friend and driver, ahh the big smile as soon as we saw each other, we were in Bali!!!!
A short trip to the accommodation in Legian, my sister in law couldn't look anymore after she saw a few of the acrobatics of balancing the entire family on one motorbike. She eventually got used to it half way through the holiday.
Stayed at the J again, all good, the staff are efficient but not the happiest, that doesn't bother me, I only pass them in the lobby a couple of times a day, the security guards are much more cheerful.
We took out our Aussie sim card and bought a pre paid Bali sim card with $50,000RP ($5.50AU) credit. The little corner shop out the front sets it all up for you, just hand over your phone and they do the rest. I used a total of $150,000RP credit for 12 days of long calls back to Melbourne to talk to the kids, heaps of local calls and sms's and plenty of internet emails etc on the iphone. What a bargain. The first time we used our Aus sim card years ago, we had a $400 phone bill when we got back home, so I highly recommend taking a list of the phone numbers you need to call back in aus and leaving your aus sim card in your luggage till you get back home.
I brought $500 cash and used the ATM's the rest of the time, the atm exchange rate is the same or better than the rate on the street and you don't have to worry about the money changers magic tricks they perform with your cash!! I suggest you take 2 cards over for the same account, leave one in the safety deposit box or in a different wallet with someone else just in case your card is lost or the machine chews it up. One machine I used, I put the card in and the screen just displayed (insert your card) I got a bit worried but it kicked in an recognised I put the card in about 20 seconds later. I didn't use that particular machine again.
Day 1 and 2 were just showing the newbies around, quick trip to K fixed price so they could get an idea of the cost of things.
I headed down the beach in the arvo and first person I saw was Harry the hat man, dragging his massive bag of hats around, he remembered me, I bought a couple of hats for my kids and ordered a few different ones for the next day to give to my other 'adopted sons' (my sons friends). We chatted for ages as the beach was pretty quiet, not many new tourists for Harry to pounce on.
Later on we all ventured back down the beach again and caught up with N number 10 ( she's a lovely old lady that gives a great back massage while you're sitting down drinking Beer with 'Chonky and N' at the beach bar. Wendy was there and so was Andy the sunglasses man, he wasn't wearing his Vic Police hat, he said it got too old and he had to throw it away. Lucky I bought him a new fire brigade Victoria hat to wear, I think he loved it, he wore it all the time, I even saw him a few days later wearing it instead of his motorbike helmet, he said he doesn't need to wear the helmet on short trips, I told him he should as I want to see him in years to come so he has to look after himself. 25 pairs of sunnies later, that should last me and my mates a few years.
Beer time every afternoon was my favourite event (even without the Beer a few evenings), just being down the beach with the locals who I miss so much now I'm home. An old bloke would come up and play the guitar after sunset, he didn't know many words but if you started singing a song, he would pick up the tune and go for it, he was classic. A few nights later we sat and spoke for hours just about his life and mine.
This year my wife and I did the cooking classes, she has wanted to do them every time, we just never got around to it, I learnt about Maria on the BTF and she was great. Maria emails you the list of dishes you can choose from, there are 40 and you pick 3 to do. She gives you the recipes for all 40 when you get there though and you take this home with you. When you prepare the meals, you take a photo (if you take your camera) of the ingredients and finished product, this helps you to remember when you try it back home. You should also take a pen as it's good to add a few of your own notes to the recipes. I think when I do the base of the dishes at home, I will be using a food processor rather than the mortar and pestle, grinding all the ingredients together is hard work. She was a great cook and teacher and a really lovely lady. I can't wait to try it out at home once we get some of the ingredients.
I convinced my wife to do the Bike Tour (I even pre purchased a gel set cover before leaving). I woke up that morning to a huge bang and a flash of light, a massive thunder storm and it was POURING. The streets were flooded and I wasn't real keen riding a bike in that weather. As usual though, an hour or so later, the sun was out and most of the water was gone. After our van broke down from overheating(he tried to fix it by topping the radiator back up with a cup filled from water from the puddles in the street, I had to show him he was wasting his time, as he was pouring it in, it was pouring out just as quick from underneath. They arranged another van and we were on our way again in 20 minutes, this was fine, all part of the Bali experience I reckon. When we got up to Kintamani, we had Bali Kopi and a few banana fritters then out to pick our mountain bikes and helmets. We were ready to roll. We then had the compulsory safety speech (keep left, single file, use rear brakes etc) then he told us it is a 40km ride for 3 hours, if looks could kill, I would not be typing this, my wife looked at me and said 'you're dead' The tour guide as 60% down hill (yes I got another look from the wife), 37% flat, (the look softened a bit) and only 3 % uphill. Pfew , that should be OK. We loved it, I will do this every time I come now, you see all the local villages, stop along the way, all the kids come running out of their villages saying hello and giving high fives. My wife was walking funny for a day or so afterwards but she was fine after that and I was back in the good books.
We also did the dolphins this time, that was great, my wife enjoyed that more than the bike ride. You get to cuddle and feed and pat the dolphins and they do tricks, if you like dolphins, I would suggest this. For me, I preferred the bike ride but the dolphins were still good. If you had teenage kids, they would love it.
My sister in laws went to Bali Safari and said it was fantastic, they took a couple of hundred photos.
My brother in law and his wife both got tatts done for $300 AU each, they were happy with the quality and price. You can get cheaper but not sure what the quality would be like?
Our driver took us to Ubud to a friends shop that makes the wooden statues, it was about 400% cheaper than on the streets and there was millions of things to choose from. We got a 5kg elephant and a smaller one plus a few other things. I wanted a bigger elephant but was worried about how much luggage we already had, turns out I had a few kilo to spare at the end, oh well, there's always next time.
This time I was more relaxed with the money, the taxi drivers always got at least 4 times the fare, our driver always got a good amount, even it was only a 2 hour trip, he always said 'no, that's too much' but I just shoved it in his pocket and said he deserved it. I know there's a million drivers out there but I have used him the last 2 times and found him to be the most informative and trustworthy than any others, we went to his village for a ceremony (rooster fight) and music and food etc. A really great guy who I miss heaps.
I was pretty relaxed with the bartering when buying from the shops and on the beach, once you get into your head that they are only asking for $5, I just said OK and bought it. My wife was even more generous, $7 for a kids watch!! That's a lot when I know you can get them for $3 easily.
We went to heaps of different restaurants and tried out the seafood in Sanur, very relaxed, cheap and yummy. K and W Asia and W Tropical were my favourite. Eric at W Tropical was very funny.
The afternoon of the last day was very sad, we said all our goodbyes to the guys and girls on the beach knowing they have to struggle to find new people to sell hats and sunnies to is very sad, I wish them all the best.
We flew out at 12am so checked out at 9pm and left the motel the same time. It went fairly quick if you just go slow around the airport, have a coffee etc.
Back to Melbourne, freezing cold and back to reality. Oh well, time to start planning the next trip, my boys will be coming on the next trip again so it won't be for 2 years as it adds up when you have to pay for 5 people rather than 2.
Hope you enjoyed the read, I enjoyed writing it.