Just home yesterday and already dreaming of next trip. This is my 4th time to Bali and this time stayed at Matahari Bungalows, directly opposite Kopi Pot and Sea Breeze resturants also about 200 metres up from Bomb Memorial (same side).
Location of this resort is awesome, you walk straight out and your in the thick of it. We stayed at the back of this resort and heard nil noise at all, in a deluxe suit 3rd floor with balcony overlooking beutiful pool. The rooms are very basic, no austar, only 1 english chanel on the 32cm TV,(as if u have time to even watch TV).......bathrooms are very dated and old, BUT, cleaned everyday and new towels everyday. So, at first I was taken aback, but got over it as soon as we settled in. Its the old goodie, you only use your room to sleep in,it really is true! The grounds and pool are gorgeous, comparible to much more expensive resorts. I will definatley stay here again, and its soooo cheap, bonus!
This holiday was all about relaxing, as I left my 2 little ones at home and needed some R&R. Did lots of shopping, which should be noted, I was doing a hell of a lot of "walk-aways". The haggling is much harder and prices I was paying before, were not going over too well on the street. They would start at absalute laughable prices, like 350,000 for 2 bintangs singlets, and I would tell them 50,000 been here before, Im not japanese and they would go through the whole "dance" and ultimatley in alot of occassions, I would end up doing the walk-off and too my surprise they would let me. Im not a unreasonable shopper and shopped over Legain & Kuta, but, like I said, I was just surprised at how much they want for things now. Prices have definatley gone up.
Visited Miss Debbys (kids clothes 25,000 each piece, adults 40,000 a piece) in garlic lane and got alot of little boys stuff there. Just opposite there is also another fixed price shop "bali shop" (opposite legends), with alot of little girls stuff, and she was lovely, and even abit cheaper then Miss Debbys, with certain garments. Got a nice Jimmy Choo purse for 30,000 as opposed to on the street,where they want like 100,000. The madness was doing my head in!
Done the usual and found a massage place on first day, and continued to go there everyday (between me, hubby and friends). Foot massages were 40,000 and very good. Had a hot stone treatment, which was awesome 1.5hrs for 175,000.And Ear Candleling for 40,000, this was to get fluid out of my ears after snorkelling and forgetting my earplugs. Cannot remember the name of the place, but they were just next to DD spots bar, and wore orange tshirts, the spa facade had green writing on it. All the staff here were lovely and so so so nice. We were sad to be leaving and they were sad to see us go when it came to our last day, as business is slow and with so many massage places, im sure its a tough business to manage. Personally, I like a place thats clean, smells nice when you walk in and has that spa atmosphere and this place ticked all the boxes. All services were very cheap.
Did snorkelling off Nusa Dua (half hr drive from Kuta) and was pleasently surprised. I didnt expect to see anything worth looking at and told my group, not expect too much,as I had heard you need to go alot further to do "good snorkelling". So glad I was wrong, There were heaps of gorgeous tropical fish to see and although the coral looked unhealthy, the abundant pretty fish had me wishing for an extra hour in the water. I will defiantley be doing this again next time. It cost our small group of 4, 1 million total, which included snokels, flippers and the boat trip which was 15mins off the shore. This was a highlight of my holiday.
Had dinner at Tanah Lot (1hr from kuta) and throughly enjoyed it. So cheap to eat up there and had great front row seats to catch the sunset. It was low tide, so, hubby and I donated a small amount to get blessed by the priests at the temple (which is only done due to accessibility on low tide). This was also a highlight. The markets up there are very busy and I would say alot easier to haggle the price with.Obviously because they are busy. We left Kuta at 3pm, so we would have time to do everything there and get good seats for the sunset and this worked out perfectly. Seen the BAT, and hubby and friend got a photo with the massive snake here. Nice souvenir photo of the evening and still cant believe he did it. The snake is massive (takes 2 guys to handle it) and unfortunaltey didnt look very happy to be on dislay and handled so much. I cant blame it!
My friend is coffee crazy and for anyone that is interested, you can get "beautiful" coffee at Posers, Heaven (out front of Matahari bungalows), Kopi Pot and Starbucks. I dont drink it, but she was all over the best spots to have a coffee, and found Posers to be the best!
Very Nice place to eat is Maccaronis in Kuta just down from Poppies 11. Abit expensive (for bali), but bloody tasty. Everyone has to eat here once.
Legain Pub, is also another one with great atmosphere. Cheap as, and serves yummy Pizza and mexican. Has kareoke and we picked a awesome night,as we had this young american guy who was freestylin to humps by fergie and it was so funny. The atmosphere is great here and now one of our favs.
Another new favourite is Eikon in Kuta. This place looks expensive,but is very cheap and so tasty, we went back twice. I recommend this place to everyone and everyone should check it out. The food is the best!
Also showed friends "Bubba Gumps" and food was also very good here. But expensive, your paying for a gimmicky chain resturant, but food is good, so its all good!
Done Waterbomb park and had a ball, another must do activity. Buy your entry fee on the street, its much cheaper, then paying at the gate. The set up here is fantastic and would give any waterpark a run for its money. Great for big kids and little kids.lol
Shopped at Geneva (seminyak), still fantastic set price shopping and tried out Krisna(along sunset strip), which I have never been too. I much prefer Geneva as it has all the handicrafts and wood. But, my friends loved Krisna for its prints. Perhaps worth a look at both just to satisfy your curiousity. Geneva is still a must see shopping destination. Great also, top get your head around, what things should be worth on the street.
Anyway, theres prob more, but Ive probably waffled on abit much already. Im off on another holiday,so I can answer any questions in about a week.