I have been to Bali many times but this is my first JBR...
I left for Bali on my own on Saturday the 25th of April for 8 days via IndoJet from Perth, got flights for $545 incl. taxes so i could not refuse. The flight was fantastic, we even managed to arrive 30 minutes early, so my holiday was off to a flying start!
Breezed through immigration and customs and i hoped straight into a cab to my hotel (Fat Yogi Cottages - Poppies Lane 1) I love this hotel, i stay in the rooms 209-218 they are all newly refurbished and look gorgeous and they are very cheap.
I filled my days catching up on sleep, reading and chillin out by the pool and getting massages... Thats the life!
I went to Ubud with one of my good friends Wayan to see his family again, he is so sweet, i jumped on the back of his motorbike and we got there in about an hour as he took it slow so that i could take in the scenery... We also went to the Monkey Forrest, we did'nt stay long, as i would crap myself everytime a monkey came near me, no matter how much Wayan tried to settle me, there was no way i was letting them come to close, especially after a previous trip to the monkey forrest a few years ago resulted in my friend being bitten on the ear.... On the way home, we stopped and had something to eat at a local warung, so cheap and very tasty!
I spent the rest of the holiday chillin out and catching up with friends, alot of them would come and visit me at the hotel during the day - probably a good excuse to slack of from work a bit hehe...
One of the highlights of the trip was a few of my mates arranged a bit of party for my last night. The plan was to get everyone together for dinner and a few drinks, it was sooo nice of them... So i jumped on the back of my friends bike and a few of us went to the fish market near Jimbarran Bay and bought a heap of seafood (All different kinds of fish and a heap of prawns). We took all the seafood back to my friends place near the Jayakarta Hotel and i watched them prepare it (I did try to help on a few occassions but was told to go and sit down, that this was for me and that i was not expected to help) I was a bit shocked, but it was very kind of them.
So i stayed until they had finished preparing the food and by this time it was about 5pm. I went back to my hotel to freshen up while it was being cooked because i was told that it would take a while to cook. I got a call at about 7:30pm from my friend saying that the food was nearly ready, so i left my hotel to go and join them... As i was driving toward them the smell was fantastic! The food was laid out on the ground and we all sat around it and picked out what we wanted, although my plate seemed to be the fullest as everyone kept loading it up because they wanted me to try everything :) I done my best to get through it but struggled toward the end. It did'nt take long for the food to vanish, there were about 20-25 people there for the dinner. We all sat around for a while afterwards and had a few drinks. It was great fun!
The other thing that i done that i was pretty proud of is that i learnt how to ride a motorbike... It was great fun! A little scary but the traffic was pretty calm and we only done it late at night...
I had meals at a few places, Tom Yum quite regularly, La Walon restaurant, Amaro, Bamboo Corner, Crown Restaurant, etc. I had a few drinks one night at the Bali Beach Shack to see Ricky Ponting and the band play a few songs... they are just fantastic! The guys are hillarious and i can never wipe the smile from my face when i am there, they have infact dubbed me "Miss Smiley" over my last few trips...
I bought more pandora charms of Ali Baba, he had a pretty big range and he is a funny guy - he is located accross from the Melasti Resort in Legian next door to Tony Marone's shop.
On my last day (Sat 2nd May), i went and said good-bye to a few people and then checked out of my hotel.
A few friends accompanied me to the airport to say good-bye which was nice. I checked in for my flight and i was off, my flight landed in Perth at 7:10pm, we did experience a short delay as there was an issue with quarantine, i think it was regarding the swine flu, but all was good and i breezed through duty free, immigration and customs.
The time flew over there! I loved every minute of it - Bali is addictive!
Big thanks to all my friends over there who looked after me - Wayan, Alex, Tony, Ricky, Eka, Mr Renovation (haha), Charlie Brown, Didak and Mosquito. It would not have been the same without you guys!
Cant wait to go back! Infact im counting down the days now (hehe)
Ammie :)