my wife & i arrived home monday after 2 great weeks as usual.
will try to keep it short as dont want to ramble on as most know how great the place is.
this was our first trip for 3 years without our daughter & grandson(7),so this was a different holiday for us,last there april 05.
garuda late out of brisbane,3 hrs,god knows why.no probs once on our way,bintang warm as usual,but not to worry.
quickest we have ever got through voa etc,then onto the smells,heat,brilliant.
got to bali garden 11.30pm,got room then out to stadium to watch the togger,bolton v man city,magic except for result.
got room 135 over cemetry side,asked to be moved in morning,got 175 facing ponds,great.
To be honest we thought the place was a dump at first,our opinion only.but we then grew to like the place over next 2 weeks.the staff were all great,location excellent if you like being amongst it all.
im a shift worker,so sleep is unstable first few days,woke up 4am one morning,thought id go to reception for a coffee & a fag,so as not to disturb my wife.
went up & asked bloke for a coffee,he says yeah no worries sir,go over road to the circle k
,so i think 24 hr room service is not on at bali garden.
to top it all i had no money,but lucky for me the lads remembered me from last year so my coffee cost me 20,000 the next day,isnt bali great.
rained hell of a lot,but warm so wasnt too bad.the streets at tuban were full on,but tourists mainly euro,javanese & taiwanese,gave it some atmosphere at least.
centro was always busy,especially bread talk,what a place,i was taking some photos to show people back home & got jumped on virtually,no photos in centro.
it was a different holiday in many ways,we,ve been most places around island so spent a lot of time in tuban,kuta,seminyak & denpasar,& my wife shopped,and shopped & shopped a bit more.47kgs over at 16$us a kilo,hid me cards,had 250 aussie left and luckily for my missus they took that or else she,d have been leaving plenty behind.
anyone into bintang gear,if you spend 450,000 which is easy,you get 3 cans,3 glasses & a bintang flag,quite large for free,plus a set of 3 original posters,soon be on my bar.
also anyone into bali moon,you can get it in litre bottles now from supermarket,112.000rp
cheaper than taking them heavy houses home.
All in all a great holiday,shame to see it quiet again but no where near as bad as after first bomb,thankfully,but they still do it hard.hope i didnt bore anyone,but its hard writing things in a few lines innit.
tailor:MR GUMP,lane next to ramada bintang,leads to ma jolly.this bloke was great,copied 5 things from home,perfect,good laugh,he was magic
his brother next door made me a great copy of some" watercooled" shoes,of mine from oz,cost me $185 he copied them perfect for 450,000rp.
driver: putu pariartha sits outside rani or bali garden,great bloke,7 seater aircon van,do
anything for you,good english,married 2 kids.great bloke putu.he even found bali moons head office for me.
restaraunts: we all have our favorites,but heres a few good uns from this trip,some first time,some many visits.papas kuta....great meals,400.00 for 2 drinks inc
koris poppies 2.....magic...450,000 """"""""""""""
atmosphere...back of centro upstairs on balconies,food as good as
any we have tried in bali over the years...250.000 for inc drinks.
black canyon...back of centro,cafe style but great food & prices
most meals 20,000,bintang cheap too,great place to sit at lunch,over beach
maccarroni...legian st near memorial,best pizza in bali by far
zanzibar....end of double 6 on beach,great.
blue point villas....padang padang beach,great place.
gracie kellys...dynasty..cottage pie 40,000rp
sorry i better stop,could rave on for ever,so depressed at present,bali blues i think its called.back in october for my daughters wedding.
thanks for all help on this forum,we left our bible with putu,as it was too heavy to bring back,so if you need a driver with a full bali bible,so he can reccomend places to newcomers,email me for his details...bye....