Just a quick JBR (whilst on hold with Virgin!). Just had a week in Bali courtesy of Virgin's cheap specials.
Myself, husband and two boys: 3 & 5 yrs. Many times to Bali!
Flights out: Departed on Mon 23/3. Good flight. Left ~15mins late but made up to land on time. Foxtel channels offered for $4.90 (credit card swipe only). Did this straight away for myself and kids as good value. Tip: hold off as they had to reboot twice cause not working then announced it was free!! Oh well.
Thru VOA pretty quickly. Paid with 2 x US50 notes. No problem. P/up from Patra waiting for us outside and at hotel within 5!
Patra: First time here. Lovely hotel, beautiful grounds. Stayed in a deluxe suite - first impression of it was amazing. I had emailed the hotel a couple of days before requesting a suite with the dividing door between rooms and also airport p/up and that the sofa bed be already made up for kids as we were arriving ~11pm. (normally hotels are lugging around at midnight sorting out beds for us so didn't want this hassle). Lovely email back saying no problem and all was as I'd requested. All the staff at this hotel are lovely and everyone greets you everywhere you go. (recently stayed in Thailand hotels and the staff constantly ignored you or were rude-gave a real down feeling to the place so this was so much nicer!).
Very comfortable for us in suite but don't know that we would have got the 15yr old in there as booked.
Beach path is great down to Kuta but we found it too hot to walk with the kids. Hotel will call you a metered taxi (or offer you their's for a dearer price!) Always the 'other' company not the bluebird I requested, maybe they have an arrangement?
Only thing that would stop me staying there again would be the price of food and drinks at the pool. A round of drinks was costing us ~$40AUS (2 cocktails, bintang, 3 juices). Food was expensive also and not especially nice, ok but not to rave about. We certainly couldn't afford to sit around the pool ordering drinks and snacks and be able to pay the bill at the end of the week. I would prefer to stay somewhere that I can order a few drinks and not worry about going bankrupt. No other complaints about hotel though. They do have a kids club but pretty basic with no set activities.
Supermarkets: Went to Pepitos and stocked up the next day. Not been before. Lovely supermarket with everything you need. Bought a ctn of sml bintangs. Charged x24 singles not a carton price so not cheaper this way. ? 260k for ctn. Don't know if that's a good price but cheaper than the Patra!
Went to Carrefour day before Nypei to get snacks - I think everyone else in Bali was there as well! Boy was it busy.
Sick: Only I got sick this trip. Not sure that it was bali belly. Only slight 'D', couple of bouts of bad vomiting and the most severe headache for 3 days - not heard of headache with bali belly? I certainly felt very nauseous and wishing I was dead for about a day. On the + side, lost a couple of kgs eating only white rice!
Nypei: 26th March. Went to go watch the parades at Kuta at 5.30pm the night before. Had been told they started around 6pm but when down there someone said 7pm. No way could wait that long with kids so went back to hotel. The Patra did their own Ogah-Ogah Parade and this was very good. 'Ran' around with him at hotel entrance and then down to burn him on the beach. Was really nice after sunset. Kids found it quite fascinating. Try explaining it all to a 3yr old!
Being too cheap to pay for the Patra's buffets on Nypei Day I'd bought quiches from Carrefour the day before and carted home. Wondering if this is where I may have got sick from but husband had same and wasn't ill so who knows.
Ubud: Stayed up here for 1n. Went up on Saturday 28th (Kuningan). Booked a room at Gayatri Bungalows 2 from BTF recommendation. Arranged with them to collect us at Patra on 28th at 11am, take to Ubud then the next day take us from Ubud to Safari Pk then home in afternoon. Paid 400K. No idea if that was good price or not but seemed reasonable to me as it was over 2 days? Really lovely new van with seatbelts all round and front 2 seats in back like ?armchairs with arm rests on the two seats then bench seat in back.
This hotel was fine for us. VERY basic but I had read this and was ok with it. As we'd already paid for this night at the Patra I hadn't wanted to spend alot of money on another room. Overlooking rice paddies, very large room with 2 x qn beds. Large fridge and that was it. No TV. Lovely large front patio area with seating. They did provide tea/coffee (no milk). No kettle but they brought around a ?thermos jug and left it on your outside table in the afternoon and morning. Small pool that was adequate for # of guests. On recommendation we requested room # 10 which was ground floor overlooking rice paddy. There were 2 levels above us (2 bungalows each level)with quite steep stairs. On top of roof their was a lovely view that you could get up and see. Well worth the trek. B/F provided at their restaurant out on the main street. Basic but fine.
If I wanted to complain (which I don't-was happy with hotel for the price) perhaps the bathroom hadn't been cleaned? Someone's used bath towel hanging there and rubbish lying around in bathroom. Small issue that I didn't bother bringing to attention of hotel as we were only there 1n.
Had booked 1n in Ubud to spend a couple of hours at markets while others at hotel. Of course the markets weren't open being Kuningan! Still had a nice stay up there. Have previously stayed for 3n and next trip will definitely book a few nights up there. Love it. Great base for the activities up that way or just to have a lovely relaxing break.
Restaurants: Only went to 4 I think, oh and KFC makes 5! Febri's for dinner twice, Mini for seafood dinner twice (we still reckon this is the best place for seafood). Lovely meals both nights. Seafood is cooked superbly. Wish I was there right now, I can taste it!
Ubud. Casa Luna undergoing renovation although I think the sign said they are serving at their home? Babyface for lunch which was nice and then Cinta Bar and Grill for dinner which was really nice. Such good value.
Monkey Forest: Went here with our 4 bananas we'd brought from our hotel. Despite instructing kids, 5 yr old still tried to keep banana out of monkeys reach above his head and ended up with monkey attached to his front like a backpack. Some monkeys (even young ones) were pretty aggressive. Have told other people perhaps not for young children and would still go with that. An Asian lady walked in and pulled out 1/2 loaf of bread. Provided entertainment and photos for us as she got full on attacked for it. Not hurt at all but I think she learned her lesson!
Safari Park: 2nd visit here and had a good day again. US25 entry (under 3yrs free). Saw all the usual. Kids had been excited about an elephant ride. Went to pay and nearly had a heart attack when she said 238k ea for elephant ride. It was 100k ea last June. Had to give it a miss at that price. Camel rides were 30k each and kids and husband went on that instead and enjoyed it.
Husband got picked out of crowd in elephant show (I didn't even know he had his hand up!). Got carried around by 2 elephants, walked over whilst lying on the ground and a flower lei put on and then a kiss to say thanks. He was pretty chuffed with the experience.
Water park was a welcome relief as it was a hot day. Had lunch at UMA restaurant and this was good again and reasonably priced.
Arrived at park at 9.15am and left at 3pm.
Shopping: Really didn't do much to speak of. Boardshorts and sandles at Diane's. The usual DVD's. Husband bought a Casio G Shock watch same as his worn out current one at Carrefour for 1M rp.
Rate: Changed $1000AU the first day at Kodak near Dynasty (didn't want to have to walk back again to do more!) Rate was 7900.
Changed more on 29th and rate was 7825.
Weather: Was lovely if maybe a little hot ~35deg at a guess. Rained one night only.
Flights home: Arrived at airport at 1pm for 3pm flight. Not too much of a queue. Thru immigration and was going to head to Dewa lounge but a man standing there asked if we wished to go to Prada lounge for 100K ea, kids free, so ended up going there again instead. Nice, clean place to sit and have some food before getting on plane.
Good flight with very friendly staff. They were painting the kids faces which they liked! Foxtel live was free on way back (usually is as it doesn't come on till you cross into AUS airspace).
Our stroller was the last item off the plane so we were last to go thru customs! As we only had kids snacks that I'd taken out with us he quickly xrayed our luggage and we were out. Asked what the bottles of liquid were and then realised it was the leftover Bintangs!
Note re duty free in Bali: Can only comment on Bailey's as this was all I looked at. On arrival in Bali it was US25 in the arrivals hall there. In departure it was US18. If I'd been more organised I would have got a bottle but didn't worry about it in the end.
All in all had a good time. As this was 3rd trip in 10mths we'd only booked a week but next time will definitely book no less than 2 weeks I think with a few nights in Ubud. Husband was telling kids it will be 5yrs before they go back as we're buying a camper and travelling in that for a couple of months next year but I've got a strong feeling we'll be back sooner! Am still on hold with Virgin (nearly 2 hrs later!) 15yr old couldn't (or wouldn't!) travel with us this trip and they've agreed, after receiving my feedback on the subject, to transfer his return ticket on a Go fare to a 1way fare in January. Will depend largely on specials available but maybe we can sneak in a trip at the end of January. Worthwhile changing it if possible and see what happens. There were some good specials released for January just gone so who knows.
Anyone who is going to stay at the Patra soon - I have an internet usage card for hotel that still has over 1 & 1/2hrs left on it to use. Happy to send to someone if they can use it. Let me know!
Cheers : )