In Reply to: Queries about elephants & specs posted by Freogal on Wednesday, 20. June 2012 at 09:32 Bali Time:
As regards elephants, we recently went from Ubud to the Taro park which is north of Ubud. Took about 30minutes to get there by car transfer. We took a package for ease - included transfers with one other couple, the entrance to the park, elephant ride (about 30-40 minutes I think) looking around the park, feeding bably elephants and a nice buffet lunch. We were picked up just after 8am and were back to the hotel by 2pm. I think the cost was about $80 Aus. Not cheap, but we had no luck bargaining it down much. We were inpressed byt eh standard of the park, the care the handlers obviously had for the elephants, and the amount of "infrastruture: in the park to ensure its long term viability. For example, there was a diagram on the wall of the water reticulation system, to minimise the amount of water they use.
As regards the spectacles, the cheapest I have struck is the man in a stall outside the Supernova department store in Kuta. Looks totally unpretentious, but he knew his stuff, and got my friend's prescription identical to the one she found in her her bag later which she had brought from home. My single vision non designer frames and lenses cost me $50.
Hope this helps.