Part 2
Shopping
We did most clothing shopping at Ms Deby in Garlic Lane and Dianne Shop in Kartika Plaza. Both were very easy to deal with, no hassling, fixed price and between them they had most things we wanted. Dianne had some nice wrap skirts but I needed them a bit bigger, went back a couple of days later and she had them for me as well as some boardies that hubby wanted in a specific colour. These took a little longer but no problem at all. ‘Don't worry be happy' is her catch phrase. Another thing that Dianne had as footy tank tops and t-shirts. I especially liked the West Coast Eagles ones saying ‘Bennys back' and ‘Juddy'... on the ball or what!! Great pressies. Ms Deby had a fantastic range of copy clothing, got some billabong and roxy long sleeved, zip up jackets. Also had to change a few things, this also wasn't a problem.
Shoes I bought from Matahari (kuta Square) as well as Jocelyn Shoes (Kuta Square). I also bought some imitation crocs from the markets, they are the best things to wear when doing lots of walking. My feet thank you!
I had my leather jacket made by Putu at Bali Brumby (BTF recommendation) - cost AUD100, good quality leather, nice and soft, fit first time. Perfect!!
Gameboy games we got from Matahari (toy department) as well as the little stores within Discovery Centre. They varied in cost from about 150,000rp to 225,000rp. I think the kids got 5 each. I also bought Bali monopoly from Matahari.
I purchased some lovely pieces of silver jewellery from Ubud markets. I found them the cheapest and they had what I wanted.
Also did a big shop at Geneva - spent 820,000rp there. We made a mistake though and bought some lovely cushions for our outdoor setting. On entering Australia they were xrayed to reveal seeds in the stuffing. We are paying the $60 to have them gamma-rayed (or whatever they call it). Still think they work out cheaper than buying here. In future we learned to only buy cushion covers and fill them ourselves on our return. Oh well, you learn these things. The other thing is that if you are prone to hayfever - take an antihistamine before you go to Geneva - I came away with nasty hayfever because of all the dust etc
DVD's we pre-ordered with H - had a designated time for delivery at our hotel - perfect way to shop. Saved us hours browsing DVD shops.
Restaurants
Some of my faves were (in no particular order)
Kin Khao - beautiful thai food, they even had a kids menu with packages eg: soft drink, fettuccine carbonara, fries and icecream.
Kori's - can't beat Kori's - had my birthday dinner here - I would have to say this was probably my favourite meal
Poppies - Nice garden setting like Kori's - You must have the Pina Colada which is served in a coconut carved into a monkey's head.
Mini's on JL Kartika - owned by different person the one on JL Legian. Similar style though. I had half a dozen jumbo prawns freshly bbq on coals for 100,000rp (aud $13). Everything we had was delicious.
Fukutoro - very, very slow service. Had to wait ages for our meals. Expensive (by Bali standards) They had a band playing which was way too loud especially for early in the evening. I could understand if it was louder in the evening when people were mainly drinking and dancing etc. We came across others who thought the same thing. We vowed never to go back there.
Pundi - Pundi (Ubud) - this is a new restaurant (opened 18 Aug 07) just up road from Tegal Sari. Absolutely lovely food - reasonable prices and very friendly staff. Staff are still in the training process but with time they will improve.
Nomad (Ubud) - delicious meals here - I had the prawn laksa - yummmmy!
Uncle Norms - the kids loved the card and magic tricks. The staff were great with them.
TJ's - always great - gotta love the frozen daiquiris!
Wayan & Friends - nice but wouldn't rave about it - staff were a bit cold
Pantai - nice location - had the fish and was very disappointed as it was very thin, dry and tough. The other meals we had were also ordinary.
Impalas - went there twice, great meals each time. I had the Rijsttafel which was delicious.
Ours - great food and exceptionally friendly staff
Indian Palace (I think this is the name) opposite BGH (upstairs). Reasonable food, expensive for size of serves and absolutely appalling service. I had to get up twice to ask for service.
Warung 96 - cheap - I suppose you get what you pay for. Friendly service though.
If you are looking for a quick lunch meal try the Kebab Palace on JL Kartika. We had lovely Souvlaki's for about $3 each.
Spa's
Febris - I had the Mommy's Dream package which was two hours of bliss. Lovely relaxing surroundings with bird sounds and running water in the background to set the mood
Bali Ocean Spa - This was a little spa down a lane running off JL Kartika. This was pleasant and well let up but not in the same class as Febris. I picked it mainly because I wanted somewhere pleasant and quiet to take my daughter for her 11th birthday. Her first spa treatment with a hair creambath along with a manicure and pedicure, then had her hair braided again. Of course I had to occupy my time as well so I had a massage and manicure and pedicure.
Waterbom Park - I mentioned earlier. I also had a massage on the beach, mainly to give these ladies some business.
Other bits...
We visited the Monkey Forest whilst in Ubud and I surprised myself as to how much I enjoyed this. I suppose I thought it would be very touristy, which I suppose it is, but the grounds are just so luscious and peaceful. We bought some bananas for the kids to give to the monkeys and once we ran out of bananas my son would pick up the skins and fill them with stuff lying around and trick the monkeys into thinking he had more bananas. You should have seen the questioning looks on the monkeys faces when the opened them up to find no banana - Priceless!
When we were in Bali in 2005, hubby did the paddle for peace and as he was paddling out some huge, big sets came through and he couldn't get out the back so a jetski came by and dragged him out which we thought was quite hilarious. I'm sure there is a saying somewhere like 'Old surfers never die they just......' What I can't believe is that Andre and the Sunset Bar (where we always drank) remembered this and hubby. What memories they have, 2 years later and thousands of tourists in the meantime. It's now nice to know that when we go back again, we have some good friends waiting for us. The other thing we really loved doing was taking lollypops, stickers, pens, notepaper, bubbles, 2nd hand toys (that my kids brought up) and handing them out to the kids wherever we went. We would sit and blow bubbles with the local kids and they would chase them with squeals of laughter. We got more out of it than they did I'm sure. Priceless!
Whilst in Ubud we dropped into the Bumi Sehat centre which is basically a birthing centre offering pre and post-natal care for mother and baby to low income families (which is the majority). It was a privilege to be shown around this centre and introduced to some of the new mothers and their babies. Even though the birthing facilities are basic compared to our standard, the professionalism, respect and care given is equal to ours. We also took some baby clothes, blankets, bra's etc which they were very grateful for.
Ida from BGH organised cakes for both of the kids for their birthdays which was wonderful. The cakes were waiting for them in the room with candles, plates and even matches on our return from the day out. He even put a Happy Birthday sign on the door.
We also had great fun on the kid's birthdays with fireworks on the beach - they got such a buzz from this. We did have a laugh though when one missed-fired and split a pack of Japanese walking along the beach - I think they are still running! It could have been disastrous but since it wasn't - well it was funny. Priceless!
Our son got an ear infection so we took him to a clinic called Surya Husada on JL Kartika, opposite Ramada Bintang. I was impressed with the care given here by the staff - it was much quicker than BIMC. We got a report and receipt ready to claim back on our travel insurance.
There was a very unfortunate end to our holiday - our camera was stolen from the pool area at the hotel! It was our 2nd last day, we had just finished taking photos of our daughter's birthday celebration, cutting of cake with holiday friends etc - I went back to room, hubby and kids went to play soccer on the beach with the locals, came back to room. He didn't notice the camera at the pool, so thought I had picked it up. It wasn't until next morning, after much searching and tossing of room that we realised it had gone. Hubbies prescription sunglasses also went missing. The most upsetting part of all this is that our memory stick was full of 2 weeks of bali, the kid's birthday's, the kid's first overseas trip, so many memories. I don't care about the camera or the glasses, they can be replaced, but the photos can't. So I had to go to the police station and report it, mainly for insurance purposes. That was a fairly nail bitting experience - the police officer wanted to know what sort of work I did, what sort of work hubby did, and was suggesting that maybe we could sponsor his son to come to Australia so that he could go to university. Geezz, I don't know if I can afford to send my own kids to uni! A security officer and Ida from the hotel escorted me there which was very kind of them. This was not how I planned to spend my last day in Bali. Some friends that we made during our stay at the BGH very kindly (if you are reading this THANKYOU) lent us their camera for the night, so we took a few pics of us having dinner in poppies 1 before flying out.
Oh the other thing, stupid us, with all the fuss I left hubby to pack bags and he wasn't aware of the LAGS rule and packed a full bottle of Contrieu and Tequilla in our hand luggage along with my Martha Tillar skincare.....grrrrrrrr....confiscated!!!! That was the icing on the cake, I lost it!! It was all too much for me. So I'm sure the security guards at the airport are enjoying some nice drinks at the moment!!! Our fault really, just a reminder to you all - tell your spouse everything about the rules and regulations.
Well we said ‘til we meet again' to Bali as our delayed flight returned home to Perth. We are busily planning our next trip, hopefully for next year before daughter goes to high school and we have to go during school holidays.
Ooops, nearly forgot - apologies to all those we were supposed to have met at S&S on 12 August. At this early piece of the holiday we weren't really up to socialising too much as 2 weeks prior to going away hubbies father passed away suddenly. We had only just got over the funeral and were packing our bags to fly out. So we really did just need some family time together before we ventured too far. Hopefully we will get another opportunity. We did meet Mr & Mrs Walkabout though at Perth airport while waiting to go.
I would like to thank all of those on this forum who have offered advice and recommendations over the time I have been listening in - forever grateful.
Terima Kasih
Bratz