About us, Im Australian ( Female 30 y.o expat living n working in Jakarta, 4th time to bali, but 1st time after 12 long years... ) and Fiancee who's Indonesian (28 y.o - never been to bali)
First Day, Wednesday 28th June,
a quick flight over from Jakarta with Garuda (1hr n 27mins) food was ok, and arrived on time. Blue skies all round YAY !! We stayed at the grand hyatt Nusa Dua, they were at the airport to meet us, then directly to the hotel. We didn't have to wait for any other passengers. There was no need for us to clear immigration or visas etc so out in the car within about 15mins.. However it seems every plane I get on, it always parks at the gate that's the fartherest away...
Got settled into the hotel and decided to get room service for lunch. Now, this being the Grand Hyatt the prices are steep. But lucky for us, this was an accommodation expenses paid trip he he he he...
Anyway, after making the call to room service, my 2nd call was to Gede from Lembi Leather, we wanted to get a leather jacket for my fiancée made, and a handbag copied for me.
Gede came over to the hotel right on the dot of 4pm. He left about 5.30pm after taking measurements etc, and talking business, then when this was over he stayed around and chatted with my boyfriend about motorbikes... he said work was starting to pick up a little, as more people we arriving in bali. (especially the domestic tourists, our plane from Jakarta was full) Anyway, the handbag was 250 thousand and the leather jacket cost 700 thousand... and they both turned out great
After wandering around the hotel, which is huge and beautifully laid out, we decided to have a swim in the club pool, which is for the 'club' guests only there are about 6 pools in total at the hotel. ... and then find somewhere for dinner afterwards. For dinner on the first night, we decided not to venture too far, and take my parents suggestion of a small 'warung'near the hotel called Yasa Segara K.U.D. its actually run by people of the local village there.
For both of us including drinks and 1 dessert it cost about 150 thousand. Its on Jln Pantai mengiat and its right on the beach. To reach it from the GH, if your facing the beach turn to the right and follow the little path along, you will pass two other hotels and it's the only 'resto' there. It took us about 10mins to walk there.
The weather while we were in Bali was fine and a few clouds most days, but I would say that Jakarta is a lot hotter. However it's a lot more easier to get burnt in Bali, because Jakartas' skies are usually covered in smog! The sea breeze on the first night at the 'warung' actually gave me goosebumps but then again I haven't felt a aussie winter in about 3 years !
Day 2
Day 2 June 29th Thursday
Today was the first of our ‘day' trips... we headed up for the mountains up to Bedugul. Our driver Made, whose name I got off the forum here, was ready at the lobby at 9am sharp. After making a quick pit stop at circle K (to buy snacks and drinks) and wow for me it was exciting to see Smiths Crisps at Circle K, at Circle K in Jakarta you have nothing like that whatsoever he he he. You would have to venture into a duty free supermarket. Which I don't often do here.
Anyway, we headed straight up into the mountains and deciding to do all the tourist stops on the way back, as I had planned to meet a long time friend at 6pm later in the day. Anyway my boyfriend n I aren't 'shopping' people so we told any of our drivers from the beginning that we wanted to see the 'nature' side of things instead of markets and shopping areas.
So we went up past the lake area first to check out the monkeys on the side of the road. We jumped out of the car to see the view, and one of the lovely little monkeys went straight for my boyfriends back pocket, where he kept his wallet. Lucky it was a zipped up pocket otherwise he probably would have lost it.
Starting our way back down the hill, we stopped in at the bedugul temple on the lake and took a look around... and boy did I freeze up there. Even my boyfriend was freezing, but its such a nice change for the humid weather we have here every day at home.
Continuing further down, we stopped at the candi kuning markets, to visit Crackers, use the toilets and had a hot tea and sausage roll (another bit of aussie food I haven't had in years) and a rest, we didn't bother wandering around the markets there either. Our driver suggested we drop into Pacung Indah Hotel to view the rice terraces, but to be honest we have seen thousands of these in Java, so its nothing new to us.
I guess this part makes us a bit different from the other tourists that might visit Bali. My boyfriend being Indonesian, and me an expat who's lived on and off in Indonesia for about 15 years, get too see the 'other side of Indonesian life ' every day.. so we don't spend long periods stopping, or shopping at the markets, as we can do this anytime.
Anyway, continued all the way down to Kuta, we just wanted to do a 'drive by' and check it out... but because of the time I think it was about 3pm, there was traffic... ha ha another thing, to us there is no traffic in Bali, at least in Bali it keeps moving... try the traffic in Jakarta then you'll really know what a traffic jam is. I live 7 km's from work and to get home at 7pm it takes me 45mins to an hour!!!! Nothing like Kuta traffic..
This is what annoyed me, the driver was too lazy to go through this traffic so decided he didn't want to and headed back to Nusa Dua, now I don't know what his problem was, (we didn't complain to him) but we just looked at each other and shook our heads. What a *****. So while still quietly fuming we decided to head down to Uluwatu and check that out, still great views as always, and still as many monkeys. While we were there, 3 Japanese had their glasses taken by the monkeys. One set was broken and the others were eventually retrieved.
So after leaving Uluwatu we decided to head back towards the hotel and maybe drop in a couple of places on the way back. We asked the driver about visiting Dreamland beach or GWK, but he said oh no that's the other way, or too far.. which was a load of **** cuz we knew were. exactly it was all located