Flew Garuda from Sydney on August 17 - Independence Day!
Visa purchased after check in for AUD$37 - no problem getting change from $50 but I was among the first dozen to check in. Immigration on board was a breeze and made life easier on arrival. There was a fair crowd lined up that we were able to breeze past. Luggage took around half an hour to come out and it was easily through xray screening and out to meet my friend and driver Wolly.
Staying at Suriwathi in Garlic Lane, Legian for the third time now. Got a good rate for a longer stay and for being a return visitor. In a deluxe room, which has a king bed, bar fridge, tv, air-con etc. All the basics. No DVD player but they do now have a good range of satellite channels including movies, FOX, Setanta (so I could watch NRL games in the room) etc.
Since I'm staying for 4 weeks, and was only just here in March, it's mostly a relaxing holiday with a few trips along the way. I mostly eat from warungs now and there's a few good ones not far from the hotel. The Padang food warung about halfway along Garlic Lane is great, as is Wr Bu Dio in the lane down beside Legends - great laundry down there as well. A few a little further walking distance but not far.
Had friends staying close by for the first part of my trip so some meals were at restaurants, but they enjoyed trying some warungs as well.
Meals
Swish in Garlic Lane - good deal on cocktails here - buy 2 get 1 free.
Hitana on the beach road was fantastic and happy hour with 2 for 1 cocktails was good. Shame it ended at 7pm!
Mozarella by the Sea was a good meal, also with 2 for 1 cocktails. Prices on kids meals and desserts were a bit steep though - Rp100K for two little bowls of icecream!
Puri Bali Indah on Jl Melasti - always a good meal but the cocktails were way too strong to enjoy. Good for some maybe :)
Gosha on Jl Melasti - good value meals every time and well cooked seafood.
Warung Taulan in Kerobokan - We had one of the set meal packages and it was all awesome, tasty food. Some quite spicy, but definitely edible for someone like me who doesn't like a huge amount of heat. Lovely setting with a man-made lake and set among the fields.
Basically, haven't had a bad meal yet :)
Breakfast is included at Suriwathi but it's very basic and their extras are a bit overpriced so if I want a good breakfast I just go elsewhere. Again, Swish is good for breakfast and just across the road. Garlic Lane Resto and Indo National are also good for breaky.
Visited my sponsor girl (Rotary School Kids Sponsorship) at SD2 in Sobangan. She's now in 4th class and such a gorgeous girl. I had also sponsored her brother who has just started his 2nd year of high school now and is doing well. Agung did a great job arranging this visit and for a push bike to be delivered for Ayu. She's quiet and shy but was very happy to get her bike. She did very well holding off on peeking into the backpack of goodies I'd brought for her, even though I told her to go ahead and look :)
A friend of mine was in Bali at the time so I invited her family to come along with me to visit the school as she'd been interested in making donations somewhere. She has two sons, 8 and 4, who came along and also her husband. The boys had a great time playing with the boys at the school. Jump rope and soccer were popular, while the girls practiced their English on us and gave us an impromptu Balinese dancing demonstration - and lesson!
I always enjoy visiting the school and it was wonderful to bring some friends along and introduce them to it as well. :)
Another day with some other friends, we went to the Bird Market in Denpasar. Very much an eye opener and quite sad really. I'd always known it was there, but had never been before. So many animals in such a small area. So hot and such small cages. I'll leave it at that.
Had two nights in a villa in Tabanan - Villa Taman di Blayu. There's 8 villas in the hotel complex and at any time I think there was only one other villa occupied. It's in a local village with no other restaurants or tourist facilities around. The property is separated from working rice fields by an irrigation channel, so you can spend your day watching the workers from the comfort of the pool sun lounges if you wish - feeling kinda guilty but not really :)
The hotel also provided a map to use to walk into the village and see the local temples, market etc and come back via the rice fields. I did get slightly lost along the way (it's not a great map, lol) but that was all part of the adventure. I managed to find my way back via narrow gangs and dirt tracks - with a little assistance from the GPS on my phone to tell me I was headed the right way, even if the "roads" weren't marked!
Shopping has mostly been at Ketut's in Garlic Lane for some clothes to wear here, Bali Galleria and Carrefour for groceries and toiletries etc, and I did check out the Krisna outlet on Jl Sunset yesterday for some souvenirs. I really haven't done much yet though. I'm not a big shopper and a lot of gift buying (mostly for nieces and nephews) gets done last minute.
Rate on the street has been around Rp10,800-10,900. I use ATMs and have been averaging around Rp10,600 so I'm happy with that.
Weather has been perfect. 27-28 most days with a lovely breeze. I don't do too well with humidity and it hasn't been a problem. In fact, the evenings have been almost cool. No rain aside from a very light sprinkle early on my first morning, which cleared up by breakfast time.
I think that's mostly it so far. I'm about 2 weeks in and just under 2 weeks to go.