Came back to Perth last night after a quick trip to Bali for 7 days with my son, his cousin and my brother in law.
I would have to say Bali is so very busy at the moment - perhaps back to pre-bomb daysof the late 90's.... Great for the locals and tourists alike
Hotels with full signs, restaurants booked out solid, trafic can be a nightmare at times especially around Jalan Legian, Pantai Kuta and Melastie street. often it was quicker to walk.
We stayed at the Masa Inn in Poppies lane 1, the flow of people cars and bikes made the trip up and down a series of stops to move into shops and bars just to allow thew cars and bikes to get past. Guy's and girls with surfboards under there arms added to the chaos of Poppies 1.
Heaps of Europeans and Kuta Beach was packed every day. going along Jalan Legian past Ground Zero and the bars there was a total party scean at night. The surf was great as was the food and weather.
Had a ball - exchange rate varied only between 8150 and 8250 for A$ , you could try some of ther dodgy ones for a little higher but not worth the risk.
Never rained at all, lovely warm mornings preceded getting hotter during the day and staying quite warm well into the night - you will not need jeans, jackets nor jumpers.
We flew Virgin and arrived at 11.15 at night took us nearly an hour to get through. no more VIP VOA available thus a larger than normal crowd waiting to get through. of the 15 or so stations only half were manned - this was the only hold up (a stack of Imigration offices under investigation for corruption would have added to the problem). Once past there it was only a matter of collecting your bags and walking through Customs and out into the throng of drivers and warm night air. Had a small tattoo done for 300,000r and the BIL had a really big one on the lower leg and paid 1,200,000r which too nearly 3 hours to complete - less than half of what it costs here in Perth so very happy - great work
Had a small accident and ended up in the drain down at the beach. Was carring my body board in the cover and went to step betweem the bikes to get to the small path onto the beach (due to drain works). I did not notice the strap of the bag had caught on thje handlebar of a scooter and as i jumped accross the gap i want crashing down into the drain with about 3 scooters trying to follow. i scrambled up and grabed the bikes from lading on me as people came to help - Where was my son P1ssing him self laughing of dad down in the drain.... Thanks son !!!
Was just waiting for someone to come over and ask for money but was no damage to the bikes just my pride LOL :-)
Would i stay at the Masa Inn again - don't think so, The hotel is great and cheap too (Breakie is very very basic, you get what you pay for) the walks up and down Poppies gets to you after a while with the curent amount of trafic.
Now all i have to do is wait till March for another dose.
Rgds Fernandez