In Reply to: We are going too posted by Husky on Saturday, 23. February 2008 at 16:31 Bali Time:
What I noticed very much during the 2007 Christmas (my first away from most of the family)was that Christmas itself was very low key in bali. It is predominantly a Hindu culture and Christmas trees and decoration were really only seen at the restaurants and hotels with a European influence. I was in Ubud at the time, not sure if Christmas in Legian or Kuta is a bigger deal. New Year on the other hand was big big big! Everywhere! The atmosphere was amazing.
I also found the wet a bit hard to deal with. Not so much around the pool or in the shops because it didn't stop us doing that. But, driving and exploring days were more difficult up in the mountains and I was a bit nervous about the mud slides we saw. We saw a great deal of damage in the villages. One poor family had their whole courtyard wash away, bricks and all into the road and gulley. One house was completely engulfed. With all the rain, rafting wasn't an option. The river was full of debris.
If I was there for Christmas again, I would take a few stockings from home and fill them when I got there. I'd also book a nice restaurant. Our resort was stunning but we were virtually the only guests at Christmas, then the place was packed for New Year. The Christmas evening meal was slightly awkward because we'd eaten more than enough during the day at a gorgeous open air restaurant in Ubud, shopped till we dropped then got back to the resort to realise we were the only ones there and we felt obliged to eat the special Christmas meal that had been prepared. We didn't want to offend anyone so we sat and worked our way through turkey, NZ lamb chops and specially prepared desserts. In hind sight, it was funny. I guess in some ways it was just like home. Way too much food :-)
Really the highlight for us was being among the locals in Kuta during New Year. Just being on the streets was exciting. People come from everywhere and all roads lead to the beach and it is just a wonderful atmosphere. I'm sure you and your family will have a great time.