Bali 1st timer Late JBR Part 1
This is my first time writing anything like this on the Forum, so excuse me if my writing is not comprehensible. Here it is!
We went to Bali for the first time for 8 days on August 11th.
Just a little background information: My husband and I are Korean-Americans (Koreans, born and raised in U.S.) who are now living in Japan for the last two years. So, we look Japanese, but with New York City attitude. We have two daughters age 4, and 2. My husband travels a lot for work, so our whole family got to use his Continental frequent flyer miles to vacation this summer. After doing much research, especially on this forum since January, we decided to go to Bali. My husband thought I was crazy being online doing 'research' every night after the kids went to bed. We were initially thinking it might be crazy to travel so far to a third-world country with 2 young kids, but I'm so glad we finally decided to go to Bali, because it was one of our best vacation. I wanted to sample a little bit of everything in 8 days, so I ended up booking 3 nights at Puri Santrian in Sanur, 3 nights at Villa Sawah in Ubud, 1 night at the Nusa Dua Hilton.
VOA - US$25 x 4
We were there from Aug. 11th night to 18th night, so I was hoping to get away with 7 day visa for $10. My husband was telling me to just say 7 days, when we arrived at the Visa window, but I wanted to make sure we didn't get penalized on the departing day. So, I asked at the window, if 7 day visa was okay, they were not sure. After asking each other, they said it was $25, since it is actually 8 days. My husband thought if we didn't ask, 7 day visa would probably have been okay.
We had some Japanese Yen exchanged at the Airport, and the exchange rate seemed okay. Went strait to the Taxi window outside and off to Puri Santrian Hotel in Sanur. (RP55,000)
Puri Santrian in Sanur from August 11th - August 14th
We originally booked for garden room with extra bed, but they upgraded us to the Bungalow. The rooms seemed a little dark, but it was clean and close to the pool and the beach, which was perfect with little kids. The first night, we were so tired from traveling all day, we all crashed early. It had been 16 hours since we left home that morning, and the little ones and the parents were exhausted. Our stay in Sanur was a nice start to our sampling of Bali as first timers. We went to Sindu Beach Market in Sanur the first day, while my husband got a massage at Merciful Mother's I took the kids to shopping. Soon as we got to the beach stalls, everyone was pulling us to come to look at his or her shop. My 4-year-old daughter liked the attention, and said mommy, everyone wants us to come to their house. Everyone at Sindu Beach Market seemed a little more desperate than those in Kuta and other areas. I didn't see many tourists there like Kuta, at least when I was there. I felt bad seeing how desperate they looked to sell something, but that didn't stop me from bargaining hard. At least, that's what I thought. It was my first day out, and I thought I studied my notes of 'Don's guide' but when time came, I had forgotten what things were supposed to be. I had made my first purchase of a digital watch, which I bargained and paid RP 50,000. After the purchase, I looked at my notes and told my husband, 'I got ripped off! I think I was only supposed to pay RP 30,000.' He laughed and said, 'That's only $2! They can now feed their kids with that today'. I laughed too, at the thought of me getting so Pi**ed off about US$2, but when I got back to the hotel, I studied my notes a little more.
More to come. Villa Sawah, Ubud. Elephant rides and more...