Arrived back from Bali on the 10th with AA. Had a great time in Bali with my Wife and 2 sons and was pleasantly surprised having not been in Bali since March 2002.
Shame, being a Qantas club member, that Qantas has removed facilities from Denpaser airport. You can still get access to the Dewi and Dewa clubs provided you are prepared to pay 100K rupiah at the front desk.We opted for McDonalds and window shopping instead ( which to my surprise was well priced?.
We stayed at the Kartika Plaza hotel in a family suite ( room 4007 )and it was a fantastic room. Twin beds for the boys in the main living area that was seperated from the bathroom and main bedroom by a door. Great aspect of these rooms is that there are two TVs which was great for night time viewing and time out of the sun for the boys.
Hotel was great, service impeccable, food top notch and they had real broadband access at the hotel ( 30K rupiah per 30 minutes ).
I won't go into the price of all the shorts, DVDs, legit Billabong and fake Billabong clothing but I would like to pass on a few places that we went to that we all thought were good value or experiences;
Segeara Cafe at Jimbarian Bay was a delight. Food and service were first rate.
Waterbom Park was a great half day and the slides are awesome. A tip for those planning to go...you will find people along Jalan Kartika handing out 15% discount vouchers. Take one of these and walk up Jalan Karika towards the airport on the right hand side of the road. Next to ( but before ) the Green Garden hotel and restaurant is a tour company. They will sell you the ticket to Waterbom park with a 20% discount. We went for the 1 day family ticket and purchased this for USD 40.00.
On the Green Garden Restaurant and Hotel we had a few family meals here and found the price, quality and service first rate. Would thoroughly recommend this place but it can get busy for dinner. The wait will be worth the meal though and the Bintangs, Carlsbergs are icy cold.
The Kin Khao Thai restaurant ( opposite side of the road to Green Garden ) has always been a favourite of ours and this has not changed. I saw that outdoor eating has also been added since my last visit and unfortunately, a large TV outside as well.
Directly opposite the Green Garden is a great DVD / playstation and CD shop. Great arrangement of CDs and some that I could not find elsewhere I could find there. This is a good place to shop as next to it is an enclosed set of shops with a great and friendly bunch of Balinese shop owners who are doing it pretty hard at the moment. I lucked in there one night after dinner and ended up doing most of my short, t/shirt ( they have Billabong ), laser lights for the boys, Rip Curl skirts and tops for my lady shopping from the shop owners here.
It was always enjoyable making the trip down there with a 440 ml can of Woodstock Bourbon and cola and seeing "Iguana", one of the shop owners.
My two sons and I went on a 30 minute elephant trek up in the hills. This was through the group that advertise under " A trully Balinese Experience".
The boys and I had a great time and the staff, elephants and food were great. The beauty of this group is that the trails actually do go into the "jungle" with great views of the Ayung river and the chance to see wild, feeding monkeys. I have been told that the other two operators have more of a set up with the trails following a track made around the compound. You will have to be the judge on that though.
The first morning in Bali the boys and I tracked up to Legian from Tuban to have breakfast at the Legian Garden Restaurant. We have always done this on past visits. Breakfast is set at 15K rupiah. Sad to say that much has been removed from the menu and the service was very slow. That is surprising as there were only two tables occupied and we were one of them.
With saying this, it was always busy and occupied for lunch and dinner and by all accounts the food, at those times, wass of a high standard as was the service.
Next morning we tried the Bali Aussie and this then became our regular breakfast destination. Great set price Aussie or continential breakfast and service is pretty good. Plus you get to autograph the walls of the building. My 13 year old loved this as this was the first time that he could legally do graffitti. They appear to be starting renovations and word is that the premises will be painted soon.