We flew out on the 2nd of March, Brisbane to Sydney then on to Denpasar and Jetstar were on time (much to our relief and surprise) and onboard service wasn't too bad. Arrived in Denpasar, picked up bags, cleared customs etc and were on our way to the hotel in about 20 minutes. Things went rapidly downhill from there.
We'd booked into the Sinar Bali, which to all intents and purposes certainly appeared to be a nice little family run hotel. My friend and I had book 'family bungalows' as had our other friends who were arriving the following night.
It was good to be back in Bali and the taxi ride from the airport was quick, although the road works made for some interesting detours. Finally we pulled into the Sinar Bali's parking lot and walked up to the front desk. The night manager materialised from a back room zipping up his fly as he approached us. Unfortunately I think that just set the scene for what followed. We were each shown to our rooms and I just stood there slack jawed and wanting to cry.
I hadn't expected the Marriott or the Sheraton. I knew we'd chosen a small hotel. What I did expect was clean and secure - neither of which these rooms could even remotely be described as being. My room stank of mould, the bathroom came complete with a ring around the bath that a potato farmers would have yielded a healthy crop from, the toilet defied description and the twin beds were breath-taking - one contained a number of late night snacks in the form of dismembered cockroaches and the other held the tell tale marks of a night of passion, piles of pubic hair (unless, no racism intended here, the last inhabitant of the room had been of African American heritage and rapidly going bald). I thought my friend's room must have been better because she wasn't on my doorstep crying. I should have just given my mouth time to close, because she was about two seconds behind knocking on the door. Her room was even worse. You could not securely lock the doors to either room, and hers came with a fool proof easy access system for any would be robber or person of disrepute to enter - you could literally fit your hand through the gap in the door and pull off the door handles. There was a tide mark on the bottom of the door and mould growing out of the floor tiles. Her bathroom was even worse than mine. Sharp edged broken tiles, a filthy bath and towells that would have been completely threadbear were it not for the strange stuff growing on them.
We took off back to the front desk, rounded up the night manager (fly done up this time), spat the proverbial dummy and set off into the night to find another hotel. Thank God for the Puri Raja just down the road, where the welcome smell of disinfectant and clean (cockroach and pubic hair free) beds awaited us. Needless to say, we traded in our accommodation vouchers and swapped hotels for the duration of our stay.
All in all we spent 10 days at the Puri Raja and trolled all the neighbouring streets for the standard bargains and stuff you just have to have. Everywhere was surprisingly quiet - not many Australians, in fact no a lot of tourists of any race, religion or creed. I was surprised at the number of children out and about late into the night attempting to sell you little strips of platted leather, fruit or just simply begging. Its more than obvious that Bali is hurting. One taxi driver was absolutely delighted to discover that we were Australians and announced that "Bali without Australia is nothing" - not a sentiment I was happy to hear, let alone see so plainly in the streets and markets.
Four absolutely wonderful nights in Ubud where the absence of tourists of the Australian variety was again terribly evident.
For the ladies - we shopped like ten demented women at the Christmas sales (only joking). I personally loaded up on tailored clothing from Janoko in Poppies 2, shoes from Matahari and Discovery and casual tops and dresses from the girls across the street from the hotel. Lots of massages at the Melasti - where I cannot begin to praise Made enough for both her expertise and absolutely sweet nature. For 'transport lady' we used Made from the Melasti's husband - confusingly also called Made - he is just a sweet and lovely as his wife.
Return trip on Jetstar for me on Friday night was painful and late and the onboard staff managed to teleport themselves off the flight at some stage as they were absolutely no where to be seen when I needed both a bandaid for a cut finger (from the toilets) and a drink of water. Flight was delayed 1 hour out of Denpasar and I felt like jumping up and down about the delay and the excess baggage. I don't have a problem paying for excess baggage but I was a little peeved (bloody furious) at being delayed, then delayed, then delayed to the point where I missed my connection in Sydney, only to discover after making the bus trip from International to Domestic that the domestic flight had been delayed by 45 minutes and I could have actually caught it home instead of hanging around for another 2 hours.
Recommendations: definitely the Puri Raja, Made from Melasti and her husband Made for transport, Poppies Restaurant, Nomad in Ubud and well - just Bali in general. No matter how many times I go there I still just love the people.