Sorry I haven't got back with this before.
Re my experience with Romy, for people that asked about it, I posted it below my original post last month.
I think I covered the warungs and restaurants enough in my previous JBR. I bought a lovely Pashmina at a little place nr the resort. the woman there has her loom set up and has them and sarongs etc for sale. She says it takes a week to make the pashmina. I only bought the one should have gone back for more. Never mind there's next year. I said in JBR 1 what a wonderful 1st week we had at CD, was expecting the same for the 2nd week. The guests all changed for this week. This report is probably going to be considered racist/provocotive but I don't mean it that way, just think people should be warned. We had an influx of 7 related families from India, consisting of 26 persons. It was a nightmare. They completely took over the resort, were terribly noisy and inconsiderate. Other guests from different countries were upset and so were the staff. Complaints to management helped slightly as rules were displayed for them to abide to, which they did to a certain extent. According to the staff this is an annual event. They said don't visit here in June. Families from India come every year. They had booked through RCI. Requests from guests to the families to tone it down fell on deaf ears. They all left by Wednesday as they said CD was too far out and nothing to do, we breathed a sigh of relief that things were back to normal. I would stay at Royal Resort CD again but not in June.
I only had one massage while I was in CD and that was at a salon opposite the Lembogan Restaurant, it was ok but I've had a lot better. There is a hut near the resort that some of the guests had massages at and reckoned they were good, other guests said the opposite so I just gave it a miss. We had quite a bit of laundry done at resort, some of it was on 40% discount. Then I was told by guests of a local that did it and we tried that and it was very good and prices reasonable. They pick up and deliver to the resort. If anyone wants the mob no please contact me, I've left my email address open. We used the husband to drive us to Sanur and we were quite happy with him.
We go to Sanur every year but this year we stayed in 2 new places, Bloody Ron couldn't fit us in for our first 2 nights. First we stayed at Gardenia Guesthouse, there was only ourselves and a man staying there. Gloria and Ming weren't there as Gloria was unwell. Our room was as hot as hades and took ages to cool down. When we eventually met up with Gloria she said if she'd been there things would have been different. The staff were very obliging but really didn't have a clue in some respects. The breakfasts there were marvellous and I enjoyed chatting to Ming and Gloria. We found there wasn't enough hanging room for clothes and also no proper cupboards. The pool is nice but rather on the small side, also only 2 small pool lounges, they were a bit short for me not the length or width of a normal pool lounge. If all the rooms were full there wouldn't be room in the pool. There is still a lot to be done there. We were there nearly a month ago so possibly things have changed.
After we unpacked we decided to catch up with Eddie's brother Gordon who had arrived from UK the day before. We had a bit of difficulty finding Sanur Beach Villas. Eventually we got there and found Gordon lolling on a lounge by the pool. We sat chatting for awhile catching up on things and then decided we'd walk to Donald's on the beach, for a drink or 3. It was great to catch up with the staff again. As usual we ate quite a lot at Donald's either on the beach or in the street. Our friend Eka looked after us well and if he wasn't there Agus and the others did. We had a couple of meals at Ketsuma on the beach nr the SBV, I'd seen it recommended on the forum also Ron recommended it. A couple of nights we ate at Jepun something we have though of doing for years and never got around to it. Lovely meals and great entertainment. More expensive than Donald's or Ketsuma but still good value.
Ron picked us up from Gardenia on 8th June and took us to his place. We had a great time there and would go back again, if he has room and will put up with us. He has a nice size pool and the gardens are really lovely, they are his pride and joy. He was adding new orchids while we were there. We had a lot of laughs with him. He took us and some other guests to the Beatles Museum in Sanur which is worth a visit 20,000rp including a drink and life membership. My no is 725 and I wonder how many more he has added to the list by now. Another day Gordon, Eddie and myself went to the orchid gardens which isn't far from Sanur, we really enjoyed it. It was a very hot day and we were greeted with cold water and a icy flannel. After cooling the face off we put it at the back of the neck and left it there. Unfortunately forgot to take it off when the guide took a photo of us, not a good look.
Of course there was 1 family who was a fly in the ointment but nothing is perfect. Met some lovely people and we had some good chats. Gordon and Eddie really enjoyed drinking with Ron and other guests under the tree of knowledge and the extra cold beer from the big red esky. Ron said we were showering too often as he had to keep changing the gas bottles. On our last day we visited our friend Eka's Natural Gift Shop, a new venture. We bought some more massage oil and bath salts. It is in Pasar Seni Sanur Walk Blok A6, which is just past the Puri Santrian Hotel, if you can see the Pineapple Divers shop, it is 2 shops further in. His wife also does laundry and he picks up and delivers to your hotel, we have had laundry done by here other years. If you want mob no just contact me. This time we used the laundry at Ron's which was excellent, Irma his wife did it. Thank you Ron and Irma for giving the 3 of us such a marvellous time. Gordon stayed on for several more days and said he didn't feel lonely Ron and the guests kept him company.
We had our last meal at Donald's in the street and all too soon it was time to get in the car and off to the airport. The car Ron's driver uses is very comfortable and we enjoyed our ride as much as you can when you know you are about to leave Bali. We used a porter at the airport for our luggage and then went into a lounge can't remember the name of it but it was on the same side as the Prada lounge only further towards gate 9 (we were taken there by a tout)
The chairs were more comfortable than the other lounge we have been in other years. However they seemed to run out of drinks etc. Unfortunately we were called for our flight earlier than we should have been, the flight was delayed and the departure lounge was crammed full. The food wasn't as good on the way back on Garuda. We had to do a go around in Melbourne because of the fog but luckily we were able to land on the second attempt.
We got through duty free, immigration, baggage carousel and border control quicker than last year which was a blessing. Border Control was being filmed but as we weren't controversial we weren't filmed.