We got back from Bali on Friday 24th Nov, it was our first trip to Bali for both Wade and I so was not sure what to expect but got a few tips from here before we went.
Arrived on 9th Nov got through customs etc pretty quick as we got our US dollars before we left Perth so we didn't have to wait long to get through and out of the airport, walked out the front of the airport and lost my breath as the humidity was so high it took my breath away and boy was it hot!! I remembered to make sure we only got a blue taxi so saw what I thought was a taxi out the front so went to jump in but Wade realized it was a police car and not a taxi so decided against that one and went to the taxi bay and got a REAL blue bird taxi to the Bali Garden Hotel where we were staying, cost us 30,000 rp from the airport to the hotel which I thought was very cheap but couldn't get over the amount of motorbikes on the roads and that there was no road rules! Everyone to their own! Thank god I sat in the back and not the front seat of the taxi haha.
We had a lovely room on the third floor on the corner so we had a big balcony and the air con worked like a dream.
The first week we shopped till we dropped and found a lovely lady called Diane who has a clothes shop opposite the Green Garden Hotel, no bartering as her prices were so cheap there was no need, we bought heaps of clothes from her and if she didn't have what we wanted she would get it in the next day, if anything needed turning up like dresses etc she did it all in 24 hours and it only cost 5,000 for hems to be turned up. We also found a really nice man in the Black and White store who is affectionately known as the Chinaman, his shop is just up the road from Diane's, he sold all sorts of medication you could want in Bali and at good prices from antibiotics to mozzie cream, plus Bali thongs for ladies at $3 a pair and men's surf thongs for $15 which sell here in Perth for near on $100, and lots of handbags at very cheap prices.
Once we found Chinaman and Diane we didn't really need to shop anywhere else except for DVD's which Wade was like a man possessed.
We did go to Poppies Lane II but really didn't like it as I got dragged down the steps to be pulled into their stores a couple of times and seeing I only have limited movement in my right food due to a motorbike accident it was quite scary, I found them quite aggressive for you to buy in Poppies II.
We had some glorious meals while we were there, lost count of where we went but some of them were, Bali Colada (great pasta), Mini Bar (the best seafood and the biggest prawns I have ever seen in my life), Indo-national (just bloody brilliant), Waru Batan (next to our hotel and where all the room service and lunches in the hotel came from), Padmar (the food sizes were very small here so only went once), and these were to name but a few lol
Wade had a leather bike jacket made at Merryana near our hotel and it was just perfect, fitted like a dream and all for $120, I got mine 2 years ago here in Perth and paid $345 so it was a huge saving! Plus he delivered it to the hotel when it was finished.
We spent hours and hours in the hotel pool drinking Bintangs at the pool bar and met some really lovely people from all over Australia some of them I think we will be having a lasting friendship with.
We didn't do much touring around as we wanted to veg out but did walk around 5kms a day walking about lol
I found the Balinese people to be the nicest people, so helpful and friendly, they really are the most beautiful people you would ever meet, well the ones we met were anyway.
We had a lovely driver named Adi who was only 27 but spoke very good English and was a really good driver, he took us anywhere we wanted to go for a very cheap rate, we got on so well with him that we will be keeping in touch, he has already text us a few times since we have been back and when he took us to the airport to come home he bought me 2 sets of beautiful beads and Wade a wooden motorbike, for him to do that brought a tear to my eye as for him it would have cost him a days pay, he was such a beautiful young man, we would definitely be using him next time we are in Bali.
We are booking to go back in May for 4 weeks next time as 2 weeks wasn't enough and friends off ours are coming too as they have been to Bali around 16 times and knows much more than us greenies, it was so sad to come home and the thought of going back to work was awful, but I think of it as saving for my next trip in May.
Just after 1 trip to Bali we are totally hooked and can't wait to get back.
Feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about our trip.
huskynun@iinet.net.au