Arrived home early this morning on a Garuda flight which was delayed by well over an hour due to two people being late on another flight. Hence to say it seemed like such a long flight - many hours at the airport.
My husband and I travel to Bali on a regular basis as we buy statues, hand carved stone, waterfeatures, indoor pots etc for our garden shop business on the Sunshine Coast. We travelled to Bali last in September - just before the bombings. We always stay at the Ramayana Resort & Spa in Kuta - in a poolside cottage - as we like the central location. We are usually out all day - buying - so it's nice to come back to a lovely cottage only steps from the pool. They also have a dvd player in each room which is a nice treat. (I have teenage boys so I always buy a stack to bring home for them).
Prices have certainly increased since our last trip but that was to be expected with the fuel increase. Didn't see many Aussie's and the Balinese that we spoke to - kept asking us when the Aussie's were coming back...... We went out one night to have a massage at 6pm and the shop owner told us that we were her only Aussie customers for that day!!
We had a wonderful meal at Un's which is in a side alley between Bemo Corner and Poppies 1. On Saturday nights they have live music and it was fantastic. Well worth going to this one. We went to LaLucciano for breakfast which is wonderful but certainly not cheap. Well worth spoiling yourself though. Also ate at Kopi Pot and that was great. I actually found the food in many places not as good this time round, I wonder if they are cutting costs in the preparation. We had some equally bad meals at other restaurants - the worst being in Jimbaran Bay - I had Nasi Goreing and it was disgusting - just yellow rice with some spinach through it - and at Rp69,000 was insane. My husband had fish and chips and his was Rp150,000 and also not nice. Our first trip to Jimbaran Bay and I don't think we would bother again.
The weather was very wet but warm - as we come out of The Sunshine Coast we didn't find it too hot at all except yesterday.
I used a laundry not far from the hotel. Come out of the Ramayana and go right, walk up as far as Nico's on the corner and turn left and you will find the laundry about half way along the street. The street runs to Bemo Corner so it's quite central. The laundry was so cheap that I kept giving him extra because I felt so bad. He spoke no english but was happy with my tip each few days. A mens shirt was Rp14,000 in the hotel to be laundered and Rp1,500 at the laundry. I liked being able to share my money around a bit rather than spend it all in one place.
I felt very safe in Bali, but also felt very sad for the Balinese who rely on us for their dollars. I brought a dress at the markets at 4pm one afternoon and she told me it was her only sale for the day. Waitpeople that I spoke to had either taken a drop in wages - up to half - or worked for tips only as it was that or nothing.
So if your an Aussie thinking about going to Bali - honestly, go. I love the place and we brought a 40 foot hi-cube container of goods so we will be helping the economy a bit. We will also return in the next few months - hopefully to buy more.
And also a big thank you to everyone on the forum who has answered my questions in the past - I love this site!!!
Cheers
Petals