great last minute 7 night trip to Bali. Stayed 2 nights at Lokha Legian because some family were staying nearby at the Padma, then 4 nights in a fabulous villa in Penestanan, last night at Bumi Ayu hotel Sanur (family also staying here). Two-year old very good on the flight which was a relief after horror behaviour to Thailand in May. The Earplanes earplugs as well as watching Elmo on the laptop seemed to do the trick. Very quick getting through customs at Ngurah Rai, about 5 mins!! Finally worked out the easy taxi system at airport after 6 trips (!), pay the man in the booth the set amount, and off you go with your driver. 55000rp to Legian. Room at Lokha large, 2 double beds but I had to insist on the Baby Cot they said I hadn't asked for! Hotel fine but third floor with 2 yr-old and pram a bit tedious (no lift). Checked out Padma, not impressed! Very nice gardens etc but the rooms were very small and looked out over each other and sooo expensive!! Good for first timers I guess (first time we went we stayed in the Patra so I get why you'd stay there). Much better value elsewhere. Enjoyed Legian for the short period we were there (haven't stayed there before), especially the beach warung/bars at sunset. Nice atmosphere. However Legian altogether not my scene; after a great day at Waterbom and lunch at Batan Waru (excellent), hightailed it out of there in our hire car up to Ubud. (incidentally, hire car was pre-booked on internet- they brought around a differnet model and tried to get another $15 out of us. As if!) Stayed in Penestanan, out of the action in a deluxe 2 bed villa, own pool and huge walled garden. Perfect for the kid to run amok without disturbing other hotel guests. Beautiful rice-paddy walks all around- did not want to leave! Went to my fav Ubud eating place, Cinta Grill and had wonderful 2-for-1 mojitos and very very good food, Bali-style grilled chicken, ribs and tasty side dishes. On 3 nights we ended up getting home delivery which is great when you've got kids and so cheap. Ordered from Pizza Bagus, Mojo's Burritos, Bayu's Kitchen and Warung Mendez, all fantastic! Checked out Naughty Nuri's once too- not quite what I expected, like a roadside hole-in-the-wall BBQ pit. Ribs were really nice and we did sample their lethal martinis, mind you at 100,000rp they'd want to be strong!! Bit touristy but fun for a visit. Also finally took partner to Ibu Oka for the Babi Guling, sensational (esp. with a Green Sands to wash it down). Really keen to have an adults' night out, wanted to check out the amazing salsa dancers at Cafe Havana, but Bali Belly struck (me) so it will have to be next time. Went off pretty quick to the Apotek for antibiotics and feeling much better within 12 hours. Had a huge day out driving, first up to Mt. Batur, never been before. Well worth a look and great to arrive early before the tour buses. Drove down into the crater, checked out all the amazing market gardens growing along the lakeside, all so fertile. Got lost trying to find a road to lead to north coast and ended up driving all the way round the volcano through lava fields, very rough roads!! Then we drove all the way to Padang Bai for lunch, nice spot at Toto's at the end of the beach. Bay looked lovely but on closer inspection, there were old nappies and other rubbish floating around in the water's edge! Oh well, I wasn't going to swim anyway. Up through Candidasa, did not stop 'cause we were on a mission to find the factory for fabulous Sensatia soaps in the nearby village of Jasri. After driving around for ages finally did the sensible thing and asked a local! No probs, found their storeroom/salesroom and bought a whole heap of soap. All natural and so lush. Then all the way back to Ubud for dinner. Big day! Had great cheap beauty treatments at Eve Spa- 2 hour massge, lulur scrub, yogurt mask and flower bath for 180,000rp and later a 1 hour facial for 90,000. Brilliant! One afternoon attempted to visit Reptile park, but they were only selling combined Bird Park/Reptile Park tickets and it was approx $25USD each. Was 3 pm and they were closing at 5 so we said 'no thanks'. Took the kid to Monkey Foreat instead which he loved.Finally had to leave relaxing Ubud and drive down to Sanur which seemed very busy in comparison. Nice large poolside room at Bumi Ayu hotel, 800,000rp. Only problem is the distance to beach and main street, too far IMO. Not my choice of hotel, family had already booked. Had quite nice lunch at Beach Cafe (staff surly however) then godawful worst meal of trip on last night at The Wicked Parrot, again not my choice! Sate Ayam an abomination. Oh well, had a great trip altogether! Not much shopping done but lots of eating, relaxing and exploring. Can't wait for next trip!
PS it won't be with AirAsia though- apart from rotten food and indifferent service, both times we checked in they put all three of us in different sections of the plane. When we realised and went back to the check-in counters to complain they explained that there was an extra fee to keep all the family members together. There were two adults and one 2 year old. Outrageous