Recently spent 10 glorious day in Bali with friends, will keep the JBR brief.
Flew Garuda SYD-DPS, flight was on time and very smooth. Still no aero-bridge so on the bus to the terminal.Pre paying VOA and on board processing is awesome, straight through to the baggage carousel for the long wait.
Must say that the new airport is no improvement on the old.
Into the arms of our old friend Wolly with an esky full of coldies and were back !!
We stayed at The Pearl in 66. Lovely small resort of 14 rooms, no kids under 16 years and must say we all really enjoyed it. The rooms were nice enough (nothing flash but comfortable and clean) pool was beautiful and well kept as were the gardens. Breakfast was included and although not a lot of choice it was always very tasty.
Its a little oasis in the ever growing high rise of Legian.
We had motor bikes so the little extra distance to the beach was no problem. (All licensed to ride bikes in Australia, International licence etc).
We had a couple of day trips on the bikes to Geger, and while a lot of the beach front has been developed it was still a beautiful place to swim, eat drink and have a bit of fun away from the hassle of Legian.
Enjoyed riding on the toll overpass, what a great time saver.
Had a day at Finns Beach Club after checking out Semara Villas for our daughters wedding. Finns was great, lovely clean beach and the low tide had us out on the stand up paddle board and canoes. Good fun, great food and ice cold San Mig Lights.
Best meal of the holiday was at The Pearl's French restaurant. It was our one big splurge of the otherwise budget holiday. The food was amazing, silver service and Jeremy the French Chef could have stayed and talked to us all night (well the girls anyway !)
Other worthy restaurants were Warung Asia, we had two fantastic meals here, great service and enjoyed the food.
Romeos (at the site of the old Bali Coconuts)had a few lovely cold bevvies here, ended up staying for dinner where those who had them said the ribs were the best ever !
Sacred Ground in 66, best coffee in the area, food was also really nice and I would highly recommend this great little cafe. Modern food in a lovely setting with great staff.
Blacklisted this trip is Motel Mexicola in Seminyak. After reading good reviews we headed up for a meal and I would say it was the worst I've ever had. It was like a beefed up Bubbu Gumps with a Mexican theme.
Waitresses who couldn't have cared less, minuscule servings of food and hot beers.
My one negative is the smokers in restaurants. Its just plain rude and offensive. My favourites are the smokers who have their ciggie holding hand over the back of their chair so they don't smoke out their own tables but clearly couldn't care less about the people they are blowing it all over. The sooner Bali is no smoking in eating areas the better. Rant over.....
We had perfect weather, hot sunny days and mild nights.
Saving our dollars for our next trip next September for our little princess's wedding in the Isle of Smiles