Back ground info - we're all from perth; there were 6 of us this trip - me (jess, 26, 3rd trip); gav (my partner of 10 years, 3rd trip); my sister, Bj (2nd trip); her boyfriend, scott (1st to bali though he has travelled most of indo surfing); and my parents, mum (57) and dad (62); it was probably about their 10th trip. We were unfortunate AP ticket holders so this was a trip we had to make the most of!
Day 2 - WEDNESDAY 28TH DECEMBER 2005
Our first breaky at the LPH. We woke at about 7:30 am to find Scott had been up since 4am spewing - bit too much Bintang and sun on day 1 - got my Gatorade into him and he was his normal self in an instant. Got to love that Gatorade! I swear by it - always seems to prevent me getting a hangover in Bali. Doesn't work so well in Perth though VBG
Breaky was a bit average to say the least. We had the old omelette chef which was great as usual; fruit, cereal, pastries and the traditional rice, vegies and chicken. I guess I was spoilt at the White Rose last year and was expecting the same sort of spread.
Off to the pool to chill out for the morning. A bit of a swim, sun bake and the first Binnie for the day, all seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was time to get a wriggle on and head over to the Padma and to meet Mum and Dad upon their arrival.
We walked up Jl Legian to Jl Melasti and down until we were distracted (needed a Binnie) by Bali Aussie.VBG. The Aussie flag table clothes, vegemite next to the salt and pepper, sporting memorabilia, signatures all over the walls and a great big water feature wall with a map of Australia and Bali - beauty mate - great place! Very reasonable prices and great service! Met Annie who took our order and sat down with us for a chat (20 questions) she was lovely (and remembered every detail we told her as we would later find out).
We walked on toward the beach and up to the Padma back-door. Security refused us entry and told us to go back to the main gate to be checked out. It was really reassuring though. Normally we Aussies can get around every where with no questions asked so it was good that we could tell Mum and Dad just how good their security was, especially in consideration to ours. The LPH had the traditional black and white boom gate and a metal detector that you walk through, like at the airport. Every time we went in and out of it, it would go off and we quickly learned that no-one really cared about that. It was very ironic really. I guess as far as security goes, the motto 'you get what you pay for' applies.
Anyway, at the front gate of the Padma, we had all our bags scanned and opened and we were scanned. It was very thorough, then off to find the parents. The Indo guy at the front desk had a perfect Aussie accent and told us they had only just checked in (room 543).
What a room!! Talk about luxury. Dad had decided to take the Deluxe Garden package and the room was at least twice the size of ours! At least!! Our whole bathroom would fit into their shower alone! We were all very impressed and just a little jealous VBG
We hit mum and dad's fridge and drained it of Binnies, then off to the pool. I love the Padma pool - it has hardly changed since my first trip there with mum and dad in 1994. Sneak into the grounds if you have to, the Padma pool is a 'must do'. We enjoyed a swim, a stroll around the grounds and a few more Binnies. Then it was time to let the parents settle in and head back to the LPH, our modest pool and some duty free.
We showered and had a few duty frees before we met back up with Mum and Dad at Gosha's - the old haunt. It was very sad and very quiet!! We were the only table in there and there were a dozen staff sitting around twiddling their thumbs. It was day two for us and the tourist numbers in the streets seemed to have doubled but the restaurants all were empty, including Gosha. We had a great night though. Jerry and Ray weren't there - it was their day off, but Ketut took great care of us. Most of the food was good - wouldn't recommend the seafood platter though - it was all a little tired looking. Cocktails were impressive! Go the Banana Rama - all about 45,000rp each and came in coconuts dressed to the hilt. They were beautiful. We had 6 huge meals, lots of Binnies and a cocktail each and it only came to 350,000rp total.
We called it a night there as Mum and Dad were still on their first day buzz and had caught the early Garuda flight like we did the day before.
We parted with the parents out the front of Gosha and the four of us headed back down Jl Melasti to JL Legian with a little DVD shopping along the way (we always say 'no buying for the first few days' but it doesn't last that long). Gav and I got 35 dvd/cd for 250,000rp. They were all new releases and we were stoked. (we later discovered that about 1/3 of them didn't work; as per the conversation on the forum a few days ago - we should have checked them in hindsight but we never do. Dvd shopping is always a tipsy evening thing for us)
It was back to the LPH and up to the room for a little Myth Buster's repeat and bed.
Tomorrow is day three and we all get back on our feet and right into Bali mode........
Day 3 - THURSDAY 29th DECEMBER 2005
We were up @ 6am - the boys had planned to head off to Sanur for a surf but the weather was no good. We laid in bed for a bit then headed up for breaky - in the hope that today's provisions would be better than yesterdays. On the contrary it was actually worse than yesterday :( The omelette chef was great but the fruit platter and Indo hot plates were severely lacking! Back to the room to brush the teeth then off to have a bit of a shop.
Mum and Dad met us at the bottom of the steps to our rooms. They had been on their morning walk and were all excited about being in Bali. So the 6 of us headed out, into a flash 4x4 driven by Bobby (20,000rp) and off to Matahari for some surf shopping. So great for shopping. I love how this street is lined with Rip Curl and Billabong shops and all the prices of the surf gear seem to be considerably cheaper here then in the surf shops in Kuta/Legian- especially for boys board shorts and girls jumpers. We did the strip then walked down to the beach.
A huge rain front was visible just off shore and we knew we had only a matter of minutes to find a safe dry place with cold Binnies to wait it out. 10:30am - first Binnie of the day, not bad - 130,000rp for 6 smalls. The rain stopped after about 20minutes and we walked up Poppies 2 for some dvd/cds 7,000-10,000ea (which turned out to be mostly good/working ones); 6x stubbie cubbies 20,000rp; great binoculars 50,000rp ea.
We stopped up at the Bagus Pub - 65,000rp for 6 cold ones and complimentary beer nuts. It really amazes me how the price for the same bloody beer can vary so much from place to place. VBG
Onwards to our fav Kodak shop (cnr Jl Legian and Poppies 2) to cash up after our little spree - we got 7100 again. It pretty much sat on that the entire trip. We found our new driving friend, Bobby, hangs out just across the road, so we priced a few more day trips off him and said we'd walk down and find him when we needed a driver. With no luck finding Alex (who normally organises everything for us) we had to find a knew buddy to get us around, I would much rather have paid Alex and we would have had plenty of fun hanging out but it wasn't going to be this time. :(
We headed back along Jl Legian towards the LPH and took Mum and Dad for lunch and to watch the cricket at Double D's. The food was pretty average and came out of the kitchen at all different times - Gav didn't get his until we had all completely finished. You don't go there for the food though, you go there for the big screen - cricket; 6x meals and 10x Binnies - 360,000rp.
The numbers of westerners seem to have increased again today. Maybe double again from yesterday. A lot of restaurants seem to be doing better then the last few days.
After lunch it was back to the Padma for Mum and Dad and back to the LPH for us - drop the loot off, swim, sunbake and another Binnie VBG
After our morning's shopping adventure Bj and I decided that it was time to leave the boys to it and hit the street and get our hair braided. It was bloody hot and my hair was giving me the willies. On our way out we thought we'd stop in at the beauty salon at the LPH and just see how much it was there. It was pretty rich, about 170,000rp each and that was with a 25% discount. I sad no thankyou and was asked why, which opened the lines of communication and we ended up sitting in the salon air con for the next 2 and ½ hours getting the neatest and tiniest braids in Bali for 100,000 rp each. It was more than I have ever paid before but the comfort and quality was worth it. We had our hair shampooed and the best head massage!
We made it back to the rooms at about 6pm and the boys were already way into the duty free - yet they had managed to shower and get ready for tea - we were very impressed with them even though they paid out on us for our hair VBG. So it was a quick shower for me and Bj then we headed out to the lobby, met Mum and dad and headed over to Poppies1 and Un's restaurant for dinner. Oh Un's!!!
The complimentary frozen margarita on arrival; complimentary appetizer; 20 frozen margaritas (between me, Gav and Bj); 1x binnie; 2x Harvey wallbangers; couple of aquas; 1x potato wrapped snapper; 3x sirloins; 1x chicken Maryland; dad's curry; great staff; ambiance; best Bali band ever ( red, red, wine....) - 1,200,000rp - priceless!
Not the most traditional Balinese restaurant or cuisine but so worth it - my fav restaurant in Bali!
A very tiddly night! We parted with mum and dad, all stumbling into blue taksis and headed home to the hotel.
Nice taksi driver - 50,000rp ride home - lucky day VBG