Ok, this is a bit late and not a full JBR but points from our October trip for my 17yr daughter and myself.
Arrived Bali 15th October, plane was full but the majority of passengers headed for the transit lounge on arrival and were continuing on to Jakarta. Probably 25-30% was all that were staying in Bali. VOA etc was very quick, the porters weren't interested unless you approached them and customs officers only wanted to check on alcohol/tobacco quantities as usual.
This was the first time our driver Gede wasn't there to meet us as we had been given complimentary transfers so boarded our little bus along with one other couple and headed to the Barong for our 2 nights as per our package. We were booked in and ready to hit the streets by noon which was pretty good going having landed at 11.20am.
Now having stayed at the Barong many times it takes the first hour or so to catch up with the staff and the gossip of whats been happening since our June trip. Most remain the same, the 'little doll' Sri who works the restaurant informs us she is getting married on the 27th and would like us to attend her wedding, 2 babies have been born since our last trip and gifts are given to the new parents at which time we are informed 5 more babies should be arriving by our next trip in Feb/Mar so this is all noted for future referance.
This is to be a different sort of holiday in as far as after our 2 nights together my daughter is going to stay with her local friend Ricki so as to prove to me she can live like a local and I am going to stay with Shauna (inmyblood) who has now been in Bali 5 weeks of her year long intended stay.
The Tuesday arrives and Shauna collects me and the mountain of her luggage that I had taken over for her that didn't fit when she travelled the previous month. Now I know she has had the car for a couple of weeks so am feeling confident in her driving skills, decided after 10 mins up Poppies 2 and along Legian that best to pretend I'm not in a car and just enjoy the conversation. Arrive at the villa and dump all the stuff in mine and Shaunas 4yr olds share room for the next 20 nights.
Legian is all new territory to me as Kuta-Poppies is my normal haunt and all seems very quiet in this neck of the woods. Solution, call a friend and hire a bike for a week for starters. Easy done, bike arrives 6pm and all set, even have a surfboard carrier just in case, actually consider hiring a board just to look the part but after checking my balance decide not too. Now haven't been on a bike since last visit in June so decide to have a bit of a practice down our quiet lane to get the feel again before hitting the open roads. Twice up the lane and its all coming back, Shauna then decided she will have a go so 2 trips for her and we decide we can handle this. Now Jordy decides why should we get to be 'bikies' and not him so I take him on a slow trip down the lane. Not sure how the next part happened but Shauna is on the back, Jordan on the front and we are in the thick of it all driving down Legian st to McDonalds to meet my daughter and her friend. All the way Shauna was in fits of laughter and Jordan was playing the drums on the front gauge panel while I was have numerous heart attacks at the traffic and 3 on the bike. This was the start of how things were going to continue.