Over the years I've loved reading all the advice and JBR's so I think it's about time that I posted a JBR!
My holiday (me, 28, and grandmother, 78) begun on Tuesday August 9 flying Jetstar from Melbourne. The flight took about an hour longer than expected due to head wind. It took 6 hours 20 minutes before we landed in Denpasar. We were quite disadvantaged when it came to getting out of the airport quickly as we had seats towards the back of the plane. It was about an hour before we got out of the airport.. We stayed at the Aston in Tanjung Benoa.. my third time staying at this resort. We had a deluxe ocean view room.
Breakfasts were included in the package.. full buffet..amazing as always! Choice of a dozen hot foods (they vary slightly each day), pastries, cereals, juices, toasts... luckily I managed a few sessions on the treadmill while I was there! After breakfast we sunbaked on the beach until the early afternoon. Great weather..every day was about 29 degrees, and we only had one morning with a few drops of rain, and one cloudy day. The resort lounges around the pool and beach would all be taken by 10am. The resort was quite full..not many Australians though, mostly Europeans. In the late afternoon we'd have a happy hour Bali Moon cocktail at the resort...delicious, especially the Bailey Comets! I also enjoyed the Strawberry Crush...quite potent! Our package also included two 50 minute massages, and dinner for both of us at the resort. Oh.. don't forget to bring some mozzie repellent (I forgot) as they're out in force in the evening and constantly went for my legs and ankles.. not pleasant while eating out!
For dinner we would go to one of the restaurants across from the hotel. Cocos had great italian food (as usual) and most nights had young indonesion girls dance at 7pm. We also visited the Peninsula Hotel next door on Thursday nights for their roast dinner/trivia/karaoke night... great night, full of Aussies and it's always a bit of fun. There was also a new restaurant across the road from the Penisula (i think it's called Dewi Sri).. they also had great food... and were very cheap as everyone 25% off as an opening special.
On our first night we experienced an earthquake! It was midnight and I woke up to my bed shaking. It didn't last long and was quite minor. A day later I heard that Java was hit by a 7.5 earthquake.
Shopping / Purchases - One Friday afternoon we hired Dewa Parita as recommended by Don on the forum, and on his website. We went to Putra Silver (near Celuk) as recommended by others on the forum. When we arrived at around 1:30pm the shop was shut!! Dewa did some searching and found a couple of the ladies to open the shop for us. The jewellery was extremely cheap... only a few dollars for silver hoops. They don't really have modern designs though, just very basic, simple jewellery... well worth a visit though. The prices are marked on the jewellery and there's no need to negotiate them down any further. Afterwards Dewa took us to another silver jewellery family business. We saw one of the silver makers in action, and then went into the shop. I ended up buying a cubic zirconia drop pendant, and a couple of pairs of earrings. Prices weren't marked here and had to be negotiated. Afterwards we went to Geneva.. my first trip there. It was so huge I was surprised how many aisles there were and just how many homewares were there. It was a litte off putting that we had a lady follow us around the shop the entire time we were there. I ended up buying a couple of cushion covers, and three little glass candle holders. Prices were marked as expected and were reasonably cheap.
We then headed into Legian (Garlic Lane) and visited a couple of the market shops there. I bought two long sleeve zip up surf tops - one Billabong and one Quiksilver. I also bought a couple of pairs of sunglasses.. got them all for 150000.. probably a little too much however the tops were worth it and i didnt come across them anywhere else. I couldn't believe that one shop owner started at 700000 for two kids butterfly watches... unbelievable.. it can be annoying that they start so high considering the end price was 90000. On the way back to Tanjung Benoa, Dewa drove me to a mobile phone shop so I could get a simcard and credit. I think it cost 10000 for the simcard and then i got 35000 credit. It lasted a few days.. I only used it for SMS's. SMS's cost around 500Rp. That was the end of our afternoon shopping tour, and I would use Dewa again. We got back to our resort at about 6pm.
On Sunday 11th August we got a taxi into Kuta (Poppies Lane 2). It costs 70000 from Tanjung Benoa. We went to go in a Bluebird taxi however he said to go in the one in front.. a brown one.. no big deal, and same price as Bluebird. We shopped in the morning (thankfully it was cloudy) for 3 hours. Bought many bags (designer bags e.g. Gucci, Chanel were 100000 each), watches (2 for 75000), sunglasses (5 for 150000). Even though I've seen this in the past it was still amazing to see the shop owners dig out Billabong/Roxy surf clothes from either under a floorboard, or get the ladder out and go out into the ceiling! We bought some cute roxy kids clothes and a couple of adult roxy t-shirts. There are also loads of Stussy, Ecko, Diesel, Nike t-shirts to choose from. On the way back we headed to the Green Garden Hotel as I also read on this site that Rika and Dianne's shops were worth a visit. They sure were! These shops started off at a reasonable price, and to be honest we hardly negotiated down much further.. may be a few dollars lower than what they were asking. We bought some kids sequined thongs for only a couple of dollars each, along with some xlarge adult tshirts (Diesel, Stussy). There was also a nice lady selling the designer bags (a few shops up from Dianne's).. she had a big variety. Ended up buying 5 bags here!
That afternoon we had H***** deliver my DVD order. He sent his girlfriend as he wasn't feeling too well. Very happy with my order.. as always. Have dealt with him the past two years. Bought around 150 from him. Bought another dozen or so in Kuta, and some music DVDs across the road from our resort. I ended up getting three folders for them (two provided by H*****, and one I bought in Softcomp for 50000)
On Thursday 16th August we walked up to a shop just across from Bumbu Bali restaurant in Tanjung Benoa and bought an extra 25000Rp credit for my phone. Then we went back into Kuta in the afternoon and did much the same... shopped for a few hours and stocked up on some more sunglasses, bags, purses. I'm pleased with my purses... they were all 40000 each... Chanel, Guess, Prada, Burberry. I also bought a cotton knee length dress... they're everywhere and have silver patterned trimming... got a pink one and black one.. they're only around 35000Rp each! This time we managed to walk over to Kuta beach and checked it out and took a few photos. Loads happening on the beach as usual. On the way back we bought a few more things from the shops across from the Green Garden Hotel. Got two big round face Dior watches (75000 for both with spare batteries) with mother of pearl faces..love them! Oh, and just a tip for any others staying in Tanjung Benoa or Nusa Dua... the shop owners often asked where we were staying and in the end I told them the Green Garden as everyone automatically assumes you've got plenty of money if you say you're staying at the Aston and start off at a ridiculous starting price. Also, tell them you've been to Bali many times, and if possible wait until you've got a bit of a tan before you head to Poppies Lane!
We had late checkout at 6pm on Sunday. We sat around the lobby for a bit and then had dinner before being picked up at 8:40pm (they were meant to come at 9pm) which was perfect as we were ready to go anyway. Luckily my case weighed just under 20kg as I put all my dvd's into my backpack! The flight left 20 mins later than expected, we were sitting in row 41, right near the toilets.. not pleasant, and I didn't manage to get any sleep. Arrived into Melbourne almost half hour late and stocked up on some perfume and rum! Got home and slept 2 hours, and then had an early night..bed at 9:30pm, and woke up at 9am! Then the fun began.. unpacking and reviewing my purchases!