I have never written a JBR before.. but thought I'd give it a go..
We left on Sunday 12th Sept flying Air Asia, plane was delayed by half an hour and heard the staff asking each other where the plane was.. apparently they couldn't remember where they had parked it!! Finally flew out 6.50am..
I went with my hubby, Mr 15 and Miss 13.It was my and Hubby's 3rd visit to Bali, Mr 15 and Miss 13's 1st ever visit.. So we were excited to show them Bali.
On arriving we stayed at The Harmony Hotel in Legian... which was a surprising Hotel. It is not a resort but a converted shopping mall.. It was in a fantastic location for shopping. The place is so clean. The hotel included free airport transfers. We stayed in Room 302, a family room, and it was massive!!! It had a king size bed, and 2 king singles with an extendable divider between the two areas. Also had a medium sized fridge, desk, TV, table with tea/coffee facilities, a large wardrobe as well as a lounge suite. Bathroom was fairly standard.. supplied the little things too, like shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste etc... And so very clean.. Towels not so white, but clean. Not a mould spot in sight. We were very impressed for only a basic, very cheap (only 800,000 a night) Hotel.. Breakfast was basic Indo, but you could ask for eggs any way and banana bancakes.. And the staff were very friendly...
On Tuesday, we all went to Waterbom. We rented a gazebo right next to the lazy river. Great idea with kids, because it gave them a base. Mr 15 went on all the water slides. Miss 13 spent most on the day on the lazy river. It was a fantastic day out. We had arrived at opening and left on closing...
Thursday we had decided on different activities, So off Miss 13 and I went to the Safari and Marine park. I had pre booked and paid for the Rhino package through Bali Discovery Tours. I also organised with Scooby Doo (who was recommened through this site) to drive us there and back. Scooby is fanastic, nothing was too much trouble, he was on time, kept in contact before we lwft with email, and then with texting when we arrived. He speaks great english and is very knowledgable about Bali. His rates were great and he was fantastic with Miss 13 practising her Indonesian (that she learns at school) on him. (Captive audience for her! lol)
It was the a first for both Miss 13 and me to go to the Safari, and we both loved it. We arrived a little before opening time at the park but all the staff we wonderful, chatting with mostly Miss 13 as her Indo is actually pretty good and can hold basic conversations. The park itself was amazing, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We did a little off everything, the camel ride was ummm... interesting. I have decided to stick to horseriding... lol The elephant ride was so much fun, with all the elephants deciding to to spray water everywhere, including all the people. It was definately the highlight of the park for me... Miss 13 would say her hightlight was the baby orangatang. She had a photo taken with the orangatang earlier in the day, but wanted to go back in the afternoon. There was no other tourists there, so the guys let her play with the orangatang. Miss 13 spent a good half hour just goofing around with her, she loved it, in fact I think they both loved it..
(Hubby here): I went with Mr 15 to the 'See Bali Adventures' buggy ride. The transport driver was in a bit of a hurry, and this didn't make for the most comfortable ride in peak hour to the venue. We weren't pressed for time, as there was only 4 of us going to the venue for the buggies. The staff were friendly, if a little disorganised on arrival. The buggies were in poor condition, only looking like those on the brochure after they had been through a war... The ATV's we saw were in worse condition, with many holes in the fenders, and quite a few had smokey motors. The guides were good, the scenery excellant, but the ride/tour was very short. About 1.5 to 2 hours, which is alot of money (1 mil rupiah for a tandem) for a 'half day' which most of it was transport to and from the venue. The supplied meal was basic; a watery corn soup, some type of pasta, and fruit for desert. 1 free drink was included, soft drink or a Bintang. A free T-shirt was also given. I beleive this is the only place that does buggies, so it is good for those not wanting to go bush and ride offroad as such, but I would look elsewhere for ATV's (We went Paddy venture last year, which was awesome for ATV's and better value).
Ok, back to me... The rest of the time, we spent doing the usual, eating, shopping and generally being lazy.. We ate a various places, but like most people, we have a favorites... The Sea Breeze, the Kopi Pot, and our all time favorite 'Tubes' down poppies II. We ate the Bubby Gumps again this year, but wasnt impressed with the food this time, maybe we just went on a bad night, but the food was rather bland. Our server was great though and made up for this, he was very entertaining, we for me anyways... In between courses he entertained us with magic tricks, but I think everyone was more entertained with me.. As magic does my head in as I can never figure it out.. lol
Shopped mainly at Ketuts. Mr 15 and Miss 13 wanted to try bartering... so we did go to various stalls.
Check out of the hotel was very painless, we had organized transfers to the airport for 12pm, but we were ready a little earlier, but no problems, the lady at reception just gave the driver a call and we were on our was 5 minutes later.. Waited in the Dewa Lounge, Miss 13 went to sleep on one of the upstairs lounges and Mr 15 proceeded to eat his way through the food.. Great value I think. Call out when the plave was boarding..
Flew back Asia Asia last night (18th Sept) Due to leave at 3.50pm... finally took off at about 4.40pm...landed at 7.50ish through customs no problem, walked out to pouring rain.... I wanna go back!!!!!
Would like to give a big thankyou to Fun Trecker for the loan of the Sims cards, made organising everything so much easier having the numbers before we left!! Thank You!!!