That stands for "Back A Month" for those wondering :)
We left June 15 with Jetstar from Adelaide with our super super cheap fares. Couldn't really fault Jetstar, but wouldn't fly with them again to Bali, as it is a pain going via Sydney. I've always been happy using Jetstar as a domestic airline however.
Big thanks to BOPGIRL who gave me exact instrucions on how to handle the ADL/SYD/DPS transfers and boardings. It's one less thing to stress about when you've been told exactly where to go and what to expect!
The crap thing about the flight over....the other passengers! I was on the same flight as MISS BOSSYBOOTS who posted her JBR last week. We had to put up with a small bunch of people who decided to drink all their duty free during the flight. The older woman with them did indeed sound like a witch cackling when she laughed, which was about every 20 seconds. Twice during landing a couple of the blokes were told to sit down or they would be met by security at Denpasar. Honestly, who would want to arrive in Bali so smashed that they'd have to spend the whole next day with a hangover? Also I would be very scared to face some of the serious and scary looking guys at immigration if I was that drunk!
Onto the Losari Hotel at Legian. We arrived at around 1am. The taxi driver decided to warn us about the "special" club next door. "Special club for men only" He says. Ohhhhh, now i get it :) The staff at the Losari are fantastic! We were starving on arrival, so they cooked for us at 2am! How fantastic is that? The rooms were great, the pool was fine (i had read it could be cold because it's in the shade a lot of the day - but who wants to get into a hot pool after a hard days shopping?)
We spent 3 days in Legian, mostly walking, eating and shopping. Had a great time in those 3 days, ate locally and never had a bad meal. The shopping is fantastic, I came home with nine handbags all bought in Legian.
Onto Amed!! We stayed at the Blue Moon Villas which without a doubt has to be the best place to stay in Amed - if not the whole island! We had a private villa with the swimming pool practically at our doorstep. The food there was fantastic and the staff were so nice. I think that Sue and Komang John (the owners) have a great team. I could have pictured any of their staff working in hospitality industry here, they all had great personalities.
Best meal in Amed was Bakso. I lived near Jakarta when i was teenager and this was my nightly dinner, so I wanted to get my husband to try it. Walking down the road for lunch, we came across a Bakso man. Loads of locals had come for their lunch too, so we got a bowl to share. As soon as my husband tasted it his face lit up and he very quickly asked for his own serve. At Rp5000 he proclaimed it the best meal he'd had the whole holiday! I waited until later to tell him that a couple of years ago in Jakarta the government had cracked down on Bakso sellers after learning that a lot of them were using rat meat rather than beef for their Bakso hehe!
Should also mention we did a bit of snorkelling at Amed. I wasn't expecting to be very impressed, it didn't look like there would be much down there (under the sea that is) but I was so wrong! Well worth a look!
After 3 days in Amed it was time to go to Tuban. We'd stayed here before at the Ramada Bintang (great!) but decided to get somewhere a little less pricey this time and chose the Green Garden. I did not like this hotel at all. Perhaps because i had been spoilt at Blue Moon? Hmmmm...anyway, we checked in and were shown to room 22. Is this the older section of the hotel? The bathroom looked kind of old, which didn't in itself bother me, but on the ceiling there was a massive patch of something that looked like either smoke damage or mould. After 4 days of staring at in the shower i still could figure out which it was. The aircon in the room was kinda noisy also.
I know i'm going to get shot down for bagging the Green Garden, it's just that I was so disappointed. I didn't expect luxury but i did expect more. The breakfast was just awful. I skipped it the last 2 days. The evenings there were noisy, I'm not the sort of person who likes to shout over my dinner! The singer was good, but loud! The staff were really blase about everything. Not rude, but not helpful either. I asked at the desk if they could call the airport for me to confirm a flight my friend was flying in on, and because she was not a guest of the hotel - they didn't want to do it. I explained that i was the one who was going there to pick her up and that I wasn't familiar with the domestic airport and that my Indo wasn't good enough to ring them myself. So she did it, but wasn't happy about doing it. Lucky she did as the flight was an hour late!
I heard a couple of guests talking amongst themselves about how nice the Green Garden is and how wonderful the staff are, but i just didn't see it myself. I didn't complain though, as i knew we would be spending a lot of time out and about during those 4 days and i knew that they were fully booked so we wouldn't have been able to change rooms anyway. I just wouldn't stay there again. I paid only $3 more per night to stay at the Losari and the difference was incredible.
Next door to The Green Garden is a small resteraunt called Warung Warung. We ate there twice and it is well worth going there! Both times it cost us under Rp70,000 for two meals, two bintangs and a coke.
I met up with my friend from Bogor who I hadn't seen in 15 years which was fantastic! As she was fairly new to Bali we spent a lot of time doing the touristy things - kecak at Uluwutu, Snow in Bali at the Galleria, Sunset at Gado Gado beach.
As usual, had a great time! Next time, me and hubby would like to take our 3 kids aged 9, 6 and 3 with us. The Losari is definately on our list as a base down south, but we would love to take the kids to Amed, Candi Dasa and maybe Lovina, where it is less busy. Also, after 3 trips to Bali, I have never been to Sanur....I don't know how that has happened, but will have to do someting about it next time!!!
Thanks for reading...hope it wasn't too boring!
Vikki