Ubud
Smooth and uneventful flight from Sydney. Despite the fully booked status, the Garuda service was excellent though the food was bland as only airline food can be.
As we were seated at the back of the plane we missed out on the rush to the immigration desks and so we were stuck in the heat waiting for an hour before we finally cleared immigration. At least we could take it in turns to go to the toilet, check out the duty free etc while we waited for the line to slowly snake towards the usual grumpy immigration officials. I think the most frustrating thing is that there's nothing you can do apart from giving bali a miss. I spoke to one couple who had arrived at midnight and had to put up with the same lack of acceptable service. Particularly galling seeing you have to pay $25US to get the visa! One small compensation was that our bags were off the carousel and waiting for us. We then breezed through customs silently wishing we had stashed a few bottles of wine in our luggage before we were greeted by our driver from the Tegal Sari.
I had booked our transfer after comparing the cost with the taxi booth prices (thanks to the people who have posted these)and the hotel was a little cheaper. The drive, like the flight was smooth and uneventful and seemed to take no time.
I was excited to be finally arriving at the much lauded Tegal Sari and I wasn't disappointed. We had booked two deluxe rooms back in January which is how you have to do it if you want to get these wonderful rooms.
Though I had read many reviews and checked out pictures posted on trip advisor and the hotel's own website, I really didn't know what to expect apart from views of rice fields.
We were in the downstairs rooms (21 and 23) and while I can understand that the upstairs ones are more sought after, downstairs were much better for us as we were able to go back and forth visiting without having to go up and down stairs. The rooms were huge and equipped with all the necessities (apart from a TV). The HUGE bathroom was extra luxurious and I loved having the small L shaped lounge to curl up on while staring at the beautiful views of rice fields surrounding the hotel.
I could rave on about how wonderful the Tegal Sari is but so many other people have done this it seems a bit redundant. Suffice to say that it is a special place that lived up to its hype. My only criticism (minor) was that the pancakes were not as good value for breakfast as the eggs/bacon and sausage. Fine if you don't want a big meal but not for those who can eat for a living.
We were starving by the time we deposited our bags, checked out the pool etc and so and headed up to my favourite restaurant Batan Waru. Readers can check out their mouth watering menus and excellent non-alcoholic cocktails on their website. I have tried to eat my way through the menu but their tuna in banana leaf and grilled chicken are so delicious I keep coming back to them.
More eating and some shopping to come...