This was our first trip in 2009 after going to Bali 2 times last year and once in 2000.
We headed off on pacific blue on Friday 31st July.
Nice quick and easy flight, a few pints before at the airportmade the trip nice and relaxing.
Arrived at Denpesar airport at 11.30pm and finally got through to our bags at 1.30am, with 4 flights
all arriving and some very, very slow lines.
So the Lion, tipcat, the croat, token and I all check into the Bounty hotel.
3 of us are married and 2 single.
Now we are all in ages ranging from 30 to 40, so we were glad we the 3 of us in the triple room were over the far side of the hotel with our nice quiet pool, the lion and token had a nice honeymoon suite with a king size bed and red rose flower petal, ( a great revenge prank at 2am for the very homophobic pair).
Once sorted an extra bed off to the pool for a few beers. no-one felt sleeping so a night of drinking then nana nap followed.
I had organised some t shirts before we left Perth to be made for our business as well as some stickers, it was done by a great couple who i found on BTF who trade under D and T design, everything we had done were excellent quality and price and nice they were very easy to work with. I have left my email open if anyone would like there information
The next 8 days was a blur...between drinking sessions at the wonderful stadium bar and watching the aussies smash the poms at the ashs as well as both WA AFL teams getting a win, we just simply did what all aussie blokes do, went to live music bars, drank heaps, ate heaps, special mentions to our favourite eating and drinking spots.
STADIUM BAR
MEXICAN IN POPPIES 2
STADIUM BAR
THAI PHOA TUM (or something similar)night near febreez
STADIUM BAR
Were the picks of the eateries...no bad meals besides a 6 pk of doughnuts picked up from donut king..they went down and then back up again very quickly.
A few tips for forum readers as learned by our group.
• The 2 unmarried males of our tour learned the hard way about making sure b4 going to enjoy the company of a Indonesian lady at 4am...make sure she has no tackle.
• Gt taxis everywhere, theres nothing worse than walking in the heat of the day (especially when you are walking the wrong way)
• DONT GO TO HEAVEN nightclub....we went on our way from stadium to paddy's and its not the sort of place westerners should go to.
• DO see the live music at the bars near pady's and he bounty.
• Watch a rap battle on the open street...it was very very amusing.
• Buy all the cheap fake gear...its all part of the bali experience
• Buy suitcases in bali, we got big POLO suitcases from martaharis for $20A.
We found the Wednesday night all you can drink and eat at paddys great value and good fun (unlike the morning after headache). The live music around the pubs was excellent aswell. I even enjoyed the open mike nights at bounty nightclub...there was some great tunes and great and not so great singers.
Everyone was in good spirits, the only violence we saw was between 2 girls
The best part of the holiday was when the boys left bali back for Perth, I stayed as I had organised my wife and kids to come over for another 8 days!
We stayed at the bali garden hotel. This place has amazing pools and restaurants...the rooms on the other hand are very different.
We checked in at 4pm and told hotel was at capacity.....i wasn't going to another hotel so amazingly 2 rooms (as we booked) were found and even side by side as requested. We were facing the street and woken up at 6am by noise and people screaming in the corridor. We asked to be changed and with a little niceness (from my wife to the reception men) we were moved to a great location near the pool and away from the noise.
I don't think the connecting rooms had been used in ages (probably next on the to do list with the renovations). The room was very old and bodgy, but away from the noise.
We did the usual shopping and the kids love the meals at febreez, green garden and malasti. We were regulars at centro as well as the shopping at Kuta square and martaharis.
We booked thesafri park with wotif and this was the highlight of the trip.
The restaurant with the lions watching us eat, the photos and hands on with all the animals and the theme parks was a hit with the kids.
We also did the night safari and the feeding of the zebras. We had great guides whjo woulnd windows down for close up photos of the lions etc too.
The accommodation was 5 star and service wto match. We didn't want to leave. We highly recommend this trip to anyone with kids or people who love animals.
After a day of rest i took our girls, 11 and 15 on the bali baik tour with I Wayan. This trip was so much fun, after a great brekkie at the volcanoes we rode 25km downhill through the countryside and small townships as well as rice plantations and coffee manufacturing plants (no we didn't drink the cat poo coffee) finishing with a great traditional Indonesian 8 course meal.
Theres been a lot of pros and cons on BTF regarding bike riding, but Wayans tour business is sensational, its great value for money and our guides were fantastic.
Then back to BGH for a day then checkout.
I got 2 great tatts done as recommended on BTF. Goenk who operates georat tattoo came to the hotel room and i had a 2 hr sitting for 2 tattoos in the comfort and surrounds of my own hotel. These were my 5th and 6th tattoos and he did a great job, was very clean and professional.
Now its time to organise 2010 trip!!