We have been back 1 week and seems a lifetime ago, back to the daily grind of work and home.
We departed on the 11/6/06 for three weeks of R&R 6 adults and 5 young people ranging from 10yrs to 18yrs (all girls). Departure and arrival from melbourne no problems, fairly quick through VOA and immigration and a small wait for bags and then straight out to taxi booth 50,000 to Legian and Melati Beach apartments.
Two families stayed at this fantastic accomodation, and 1 couple stayed at Jayakarta. We stayed in apartment 105 which was ground floor, 2 bedrooms with 1 x queen size bed and 2 x singles which was perfect for us, lounge room with dining area and kitchen facilities all tastefully decorated throughout, our friends stayed in the upstairs penthouse apartment, 3 bedrooms, lounge, dining area and fully functional kitchen including stove!!We had the best time here, fantastic staff,great food,cheap drinks and the best CAPPUCCINO. On our previous visits to Bali we often went past "The Coffee Shop" as there didn't seem to be much of a variety but how wrong I was, the food and service here was fantastic, Wayan and Made make every meal from scratch, all fresh ingredients and extremly tasty, their Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng the best I've had, fritters and pancakes, club sandwiches and lovely salad rolls. We ate there on many occasions and decided that our special last meal of our holiday would be spent there as we enjoyed the food and company so much.
Highlights of our trip were,
Bali Budaya Bike Tour
Fantastic, (except it rained for about 1 hour of our cycling tour)
We got to see so much of the landscape and local villages, all down hill, we got packets of balloons for the kids to give to the local kids (& adults) and they loved them. We watched wood carving and sowing of rice paddy's and just cycled at our own leisure and had a lovely lunch at the conclusion.
Day spent with Gilbert(from Coffee Shop) and his family at their village in Klungkung.
We hired a 13 seater bus for Rp 450,000 for the full day and arrived there at around 11.30am and were greeted by all members of his family we enjoyed their company and their hospitality all afternoon. We were shown around their compound, shared snacks and drinks we had brought along. They were preparing for a big cremation ceremony in July and we were priviliged to be able to see first hand the way they all participate in the preperations, the family spirit and sharing. It was a great day.
Dreamland Beach.
We had never visited here before and WOW what a lovely surf beach. We spent the day laying around, swimming, eating at a warung and enjoying the day. We would like to stay here overnight next trip.
Waterbomb Park.
We always manage 1 or 2 visits here, highlight this time was the new Bombarang slide, it was fantastic. Easy walk up and great ride down, we managed about 10 rides each and spend time on the lazy river and other slides. Food was good but we didn't like the new cashless wristband system. We seemed to have to top up all the time.
Shopping.
Didn't do a great deal, found everything to be same as last year, brought the usual amounts of dvd's and found some lovely small shops along Double 6 st, nice shoes, dresses and sarongs. Had some lovely pearl and bead necklaces made by Sahara, a guy who sells on the beach at Jayakarta and brought some lovely rings and bracelets from various shops and stalls. My girls brought heaps of different bits and pieces from many of the stalls near to Beach Apartments and made some great friends as well.
Dentist. (Although not a highlight)
Youngest daughter (15) had dental treatment 1 week before we left and needed 4 more fillings when we came home. Whilst we were in Bali, her teeth started hurting where she still needed fillings and where she had already had a filling so on the advise of Kerry and Milton (Indonational) we made an appointment with Dr Atmaja in Tuban and saw him a couple of days later. After the consultation he advised us that she needed 6 fillings including the one she had filled b4 we went away as the filling there wasn't done properly and that he was able to them immediatly and total cost, including clean and scale was Rp210,000,00 approx Au $300.00. She was in the chair for approx 1 1/2 hours and was completly at ease with him. He had this great little machine that looked like ultrasound but took images of the teeth and then you could see them on the computer. This was used instead of x-ray. I would highly recommend him. Hubby asked him the approx cost of full upper dentures and he quoted approx Au $150.00 and 2 weeks to fit, maybe an excuse for another trip over!!!!
Eating/Resturants.
We had great meals everywhere. We always went out in our group of 11 (excepting a couple of nights) and always the resturants would be quick to push some tables together to accomodate us all. We tended to stay within walking distance to Apartments, we tryed some new ones OURS which was lovely, nice food and lovely staff, Wali Warung which is a small resturant heading into the Niksoma entrance in Jl Padma Utara and many others. Except from eating at the Coffee shop and Legends Bar(we had a meal there and they told us that there was a chrismas party!! on the sunday night) I dont think we ate at the same place twice. One of our group did get severe food poisoning from a bad crab and had to get doctor and have injection but we didn't blame the resturant, it could have happened anywhere.
Boots and Formal Dress made.
My daughter has a formal coming up so decided to get her dress made. Went to Winda Tailor(across the road from Beach Apartments)and as they didn't have the fabric she wanted, they suggested I go to Altra Moda for material. I brought some beautiful silk and sheer fabric for approx Au $75 and the dress was made for Rp 150,000 and is beautiful, exactly what she wanted. Hubby had a pair of boots made and new leather seats and backs for 4 bar stools at leather shop next door to Winda (I'm not sure of the name)Boots cost Au $100 and same for the seats and backs. Beautiful soft leather and they reinforced the leather for the stools.
New Guitar for Budi.
We brought a new purple guitar for Budi who hangs out at Wayan's Bar at Jayakarta and plays and sings for tourists we also had a sticker made that says BUSKER so hopefully he will earn a few dollars to buy some rice as he doesn't have a job.
Other things we did,
Hula Bar- an interesting night, our girls were amazed at how good these girl/boys looked.
Massage/Facial- At Melatsi and Padma Spas in Jl Padma Utara.
After the facial at Melatsi I went and brought the full range of Martha Tilaar products from supernova for Rp250,000. Wonderful products.
Bintangs- Had many an evening session with friends, no hangovers
Morning Walks - Had some lovely walks along the beach, proberly not as many as I should have but I tried.
We had a fantastic time, new friendships formed and old friendships rekindled. Three weeks didn't seem enough maybe four weeks next time!!!
This forum has been a wealth of knowledge to me, so much information and advise a huge thankyou to everyone for your imput.
Cheers to all Sue