Firstly I would like to thank all the forumites who posted such fantastic reports and responses that I was able to check and gather current information for our trip.
I travelled with my husband, 18yo son & 14yo daughter. and we stayed at the Kumala Pantai again. I noted lots of different nationalities staying here, German, French, Japanese among many others.
Our aim this trip was to have family time, have some clothes made, and to relax!!!!
We left Brisbane airport via Pacific Blue. Not bad, (after all it is budget) - the fact that seats didn't recline of course had benefits in that you did not have seats dropping onto your lap unannounced but difficult to sleep, still I would rather not have the seat in lap.
Arriving - no great problem, except with the bank up of people prior to flu check.........we came down the escalator and as were about halfway I thought my god we may not be able to get off......people were moving as quickly as possible and there was soon enough room for us to move off but still people were coming on and down- short term panic as authorities intervened and stopped the escalator.
The realisation that we are back in Bali.....................
Our Prearranged driver wasn't there amongst the sea of drivers!!!!!!
we waited and waited and waited and finally left in a taxi. Taxi drivers were giving unreal prices everywhere, we finally found the taxi counter where we were given a fixed price based on our destination Hotel - 60,000rp (MUCH better than all offers of cause) we were given a slip with a number and then he called out the number to which a driver responded and told us we would have to bring our luggage to his car and pointed over to same.
After a couple of near miss accidents(one in particular!!!!!!!) we arrive at our hotel...
We feel good!!! We are alive and we are back in Bali.
All our meals were wonderful, we ate mostly along the beach strip near our Hotel.
All fantastic and it is so good having so many to choose from.
Sea Side x 3 as always a family favourite, something for all tastes and our two teens love the pool table.
Lanai - lovely.
Batan Waru (next to Centro) Fantastic
Café Marzano - fantastic
Bianco - as always fantastic, watched state of origin football so place full of Ausies, great atmosphere (esp if you were from NSW)
Zanzibar - good
Flying Piano - as always great night, new threesome playing, just as talented & entertaining. Privileged enough to have Pedro/owner play the grand piano - fantastic. daughter loved playing grand piano also. Food great.
Rumors - great
La Monde - Very nice.
Waroeng Asia - nice, (thai green curry VERY hot)
Kusnadi Hotel - great
Tekor Bali - Fantastic
Lunch;
Kumala Pantai - great
Teens had lunch at the Pizza Hut Galeria Mall - Loved it 'wished was as good in Australia'
Lunch at Skygarden - not so good this time.
Café MOKA - great
Bali Colada(Centro) - Very good
Posers Bub - COLD drinks.
Bagus Pub - COLD drinks.
Breadtalk - family loves this place.
Tommy's - We had lunch whenever possible here - LOVE THIS PLACE - their iced coffees are 'simply the best' Teens loved the Iced Milos. The menu is short & simple - everything is fresh and delicious!!!
- the service is the best and the icy towel on arrival is great.
As posted by ‘saronggirl' Desma helps out with street kid work and sells copies of hand painted cards painted by street kids to raise money to assist with same. Saronggirl also posted that Desma had a problem with condensed milk in Bali as it had changed and wouldn't work in recipes so I took some over (which was very much appreciated).
If anybody going over has time and space they would really appreciate Golden syrup as unable to source same at present.
Will miss all of Tommy's staff, not to mention the beautiful food &drinks!
No Bali belly this trip so that was a real PLUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just Love my laundry man Nyoman(opposite KP hotel) another holiday luxury-he just makes my holiday!!!!
Son had his feet nibbled by fish in Fish Spa at Matahari Kuta (100,000rp) he loved the experience - Poor fish.....
Breakfast at our Hotel was as always wonderful, adequate variety, great service, something to please most tastes, I just love watching the beach come to life while having breakfast.
We cannot go past the Green Edan massage place just around from the Hotel. They also have another one down further down and around. Very well priced, both product and service fantastic - the staff are just wonderful, we all had ‘something' most days, boys mostly full Balinese massage, the girls - facials, pedicures, manicures, leg scrubs, reflexology, massage etc - just love this place.
Great having KP Hotel Spa now also - had legs waxed and hair cut, coloured with highlights done here.
KP Hotel staff as always wonderful - cannot be more helpful.
The Hotel grounds are as always just beautiful, I so want my yard too look like this.
Pools great, love the new seats at the pool swim up bar.
Love those king sized beds and just love those clean sheets everyday (I know it is wasteful but hey I don't holiday that often and this too me is sheer luxury!!!!!!!)
This time we were in the original section of hotel - no difference in quality or standard. Except night lighting less - would not be a problem other than when tailor was there on dusk - very difficult to see detail...... but hey - we managed.
Nice and close to breakfast as well.
Tailors............I had a bad experience last time so I had taken particular note to my trusty forumites reports and experiences and I am pleased to say this time I had a very different experience!!!
Tailor one AVI (opposite Hotel) My sister had clothes made here previously and was happy with result. My experience - Many, many, many adjustments required and only complete hours before we were said to be leaving. The item requiring most adjustment were pants made for my daughter. End product still poor but we were so over it and they were never going to be what we had asked for. We took all our material here and the prices did not reflect this so remember to ask for this to be accounted for. Prices way over any other tailor and quality of work overall the lowest I have encountered. All items required many adjustments - satisfactory result only. Thankfully when I asked him about another dress initially he said 'the cutter would not be back in time to do'.
Tailor two Leon - I only had a suit made here for my son. Brilliant! My son is 18 and still growing so I didn't want to spend top dollar so to speak; graduation pending.
I spoke to the tailor - Jon and explained growing boy etc etc happy with his attitude and quote so we arranged to bring my son the next day for a fitting. Fitting was quick & no fuss, we arranged to return 3 days later - perfection. The back pleat didn't sit flat but he said still needed pressing as waiting to check fit first- come back this afternoon; when we did another person in shop explained not back from press so offered to bring to Hotel; arrived at Hotel in 2hrs as promised. I could not speak more highly of Jon and would go back here without hesitating. Great service and product!
Jon said they are moving location in August some time. I have phone number to contact prior next time and he said he would email when moved. A true gentleman who is very good at his trade.
Tailor three Brisbane tailor - unreal!!! - I had my daughter's denim skirt copied twice (once with my denim and a second with his denim so that a different colour) both perfection. I also prewarned Mr Ansor the day before that I would really prefer a very slight increase in length and that daughter of cause would not agree if I should suggest same, so he took care of same with the utmost of discretion and afterwards my daughter actually agreed that the length was so much better!!! - had denim shorts made from a picture with our denim which were perfect. - I had a dress made from a picture with my own material - perfection. He measured and measured and measured and hardly wrote a thing so I must admit I did wonder, my husband commented on the same thing after we left. I could not be happier with my dress - he lined it with colour matching fabric of his own- the fit is perfect and it is identical to the picture.
Mr Ansor said they will be moving site shortly and he will email me when they do so and I also have his phone number. This man is a true expert in his trade! I will definitely be going back.
Tailor Four - brought by Made(interpreter), tailor- Herry -excellent. He came to our room with Made as an interpreter, mind you I found his English more than adequate. I had a Linen top & skirt made from my own fabric which he lined with his fabric, the top had to be taken in, end product was very good. I had a dress made from his fabric from a picture - adjusted 4 times -end product satisfactory. Daughter had a jacket made from our fabric, picture - excellent result! only minor adjustments necessary. Daughter had 3 pairs of shorts copied in tailors fabric - good result. Daughter had a swing dress made from a picture, our fabric - adjustments necessary - good result. Herry is really an excellent tailor, I would not hesitate to use his service again.
We are very happy with our clothes, certainly a much better experience. Research does help.
I had prebooked the four of us into Anika Balinese cooking class(earlybird class). The minibus picked us up from our Hotel and as we were driving I jokingly said 'well you realize this puts us all out for entering Australia's Master chef!!!'
We arrived and joined another group to do the tour of the markets - fantastic experience in itself our guide was super knowledgeable and very helpful. Well......you wont believe who had joined our group from the other bus!!!!!!!! Brent a contestant from Master Chef, who by the way was very nice and also very knowledgeable!
Later when we were bussing back to resort for the cooking class another participant asked us 'did we know Brent was coming?' - as he had heard us talking about Master Chef on the way?!!! WOW - What a coincidence.
Our son is an apprentice chef so the course was very meaningful for our family and Brent certainly complimented our experience!!!!!!!
The cooking class was fantastic - great experience - everybody really enjoyed it. The food was great.
My husband & Son did a different quad bike ride this time and enjoyed this very very much (they also enjoyed last times but the tour office recommended this one).
Daughter and I had a lovely day shopping.
White water rafting was fantastic - we all enjoyed this very much. After much research we decided on BIR - definitely less stairs. Staff very knowledgeable and helpful. Unreal scenery.
Waterbom as always a fantastic day - the boomerang and waterbowl are finished since we were there last and are great. Cabana great!
Son went clubbing with girls he met WWR - had a great time - wishes clubs in Australia were so good.
DVDs again delivered to Hotel to save time - great.
During the second week My son unfortunately came down with flu and spent best of 3 days in bed - most unfortunate.
Lots of shopping and lots of relaxation.
Got new glasses and prescription sunglasses made - very good.
Trip home; Another scary taxi ride, I don't remember telling the driver we were leaving yesterday but I am sure that is what he thought!!! Some corners were on two wheels and on wrong side of two way road. No trouble with taxi rides throughout only coming and going.
Prada lounge great; food - not so nice, drinks - limited, seats comfortable, well worth it!!! very relaxed......... as son was still not well there was no way we could have sat it out as usual.
1hr late leaving. Difficult to sleep with limited seat recline; Did anyone see the breakfast round - because I missed it!!!!!!!!!! Staff again pleasant.
OH & 11kg under - can you believe it!!!!!!!!!!
if only ...............next time.
In summary we had a great time, a fantastic relaxing holiday and quality family time.
We all love Bali, just love the beautiful Balinese people, I wish we could take on board their relaxed approach to life!!!
Apologies for any spelling/grammatical errors.
This is only my experience/opinion - I am sure others will have different opinions - isn't it great we are all different.
Any questions - please feel free to ask,
Sue.