My first JBR. Hope it's not boring.
Currently going through the worst part of every trip. The flight home. I HATE flying and the flight back is a little bumpy. Typing on the iPod is probably not the smartest thing to be doing!
We have just has 10 wonderful days in Bali. Our second family trip. At times it can be a bit of a headache with the wife and 4 kids, but we love it and will be back as soon as we can afford it.
HOTEL: stayed at the Bali Garden Hotel again Tuban / Kuta. 6 of us crammed in a second floor (they call it third floor???) Family Room. One of our boys was officially in our friends room, but he stayed in with us. Me and the wife in the king size bed. Eldest on the floor trundle. No.2 on the top bunk. 9 yr old twins "top & tailing" on the bottom bunk (which is a 1.5 width bed). Yes, a few times complaining about "his feet are in my face"! LoL.
The upper floor Family Rooms have a balcony that looks out on to the side of Centro Discovery Mall. Quite ugly, but who cares. Only use it to dry the clothes. The upper family rooms are slightly smaller than the lower level family rooms. But we preferred it because the corridors are open to the outside and have a few couches to hang out on. Will be posting some pics on TA. Just posted so don't know how long it takes for it to come up?
We really love this hotel. Nice staff. Excellent pool for the kids. Some people complain about it being an Aussie bogan hotel. But I am yet to see it. Maybe I am an Aussie bogan?? Boardwalk restaurant is yum, but serve sizes seem to be getting smaller. Breakfast is good. Love the double omlette extra cheese with bacon on top.
FOOD : didn't really try much different food this time. Cant believe we had Burger King 3 times! Really enjoyed the station hotel restaurant (railway??) for traditional Balinese and Asian food. Batu Warun (front of Bali Garden Hotel) is excellent for traditional Balinese. Also Really loved the restaurant at the top floor, very back of Discovery Mall. Overlooks ocean. And our driver took us back to our favorite Babi Guling (sp?) spot in Nusa Dua called Warung Bakas. Awesome. Also had meal at Black Canyon which was good. We always plan to get off the main roads and try some unknown places, but it never seems to happen.
Great Thai meal on Jl Melasti near Jl Legian.
Oh. Nearly forgot. Had a bad meal at "the Pub" in kuta. They had a cool magician performing. We were the only people in the pub and it took over an hour and a half to get our meals. Hamburgers, cheese Toastie and Satay (advertised as the best Satay in Bali). There was not even any peanut sauce with the Satay. I thought that's what Satay was?!? It was beef on a skewer with soy sauce. At least the AFL was on the huge screen.
ACTIVITIES : white water rafting on the Ayung river was awesome. We used Mega Rafting. Very happy with their professional service and gear. So much fun and our guide , Made, was fantastic. Cost us $30 USD per adult and $25 USD per child. The meal at the end was reasonable and the drive there and bak was very scenic. Next time we will do Mega Raftings telawaja river course. It is a bit rougher.
WaterBom park. Awesome as usual. Unfortunately the kids play are is closed for April, but they were more than happy to spend hours on the Lazy River.
Illusion show at Bali theatre next to where slingshot used to be. About 80k I think. Worth it. Some good illusions. Seen them all before on tv, but better to actually have them dome in front of u. Make sure you get the illusionist to show u some card tricks after the show. Great.
SHOPPING : a lot of time spent around the markets in kuta and legion. Heaps of Nike shorts 30k each. Surf shirts 40k. Soccer tops 30k to 50k. Sunnies oakleys 25-30k. Polarized oakleys 60k (make sure you test they r polarized coz many sellers will tell lies), bintang shirts 15-20k. Ladies dresses mostly 40k or a little more if the wife really wanted it. Kids vans 90k. Adult vans, tigers and nikes (canvas) 110-130k. Leather adidas 150k (am I a sucker?). Most of these prices were for single items not bulk purchases. You might get a bit cheaper if u r an experienced Bali shopper and can be bothered haggling longer.
Well, hope u found this interesting or helpful.