Apologies for the delay in putting up a JBR. You know what it is like, life gets chaotic sometimes.
I would like to say a great big thank you to the forum for all of the helpful information received. As my close friend will tell you, I am often on the forum, searching for information, emailing them some ideas, recommendations etc that I found.
Being the obsessive compulsive that I can be, I copied and pasted all of the bits of information I found useful, and put it all into a small memo book that I took everywhere with me. Found this very useful. Had everything from emergency numbers, restaurant recommendations, activity ideas, shopping musts etc. Also laminated business card sized "cheat sheets"for everyone, including kids with conversion rates and simple phrases in Indonesian.
The trip:
We traveled with 2 other families on our second trip to Bali. 12 people in all, 6 adults, 6 kids (aged 9-14). A great big thank you to Nikki at Allround travel for the great deals and organising all of us!
Yep, this time we got a bit of BB, within 24 hours of arriving. Not sure what happened, did the usual, aqua gel, bottled h2o, yukult etc. Could have simply been a change of diet, or even something we ate on the plane. I got "stuck at pizza hut" one night (as we weren't very hungry, and didn't want to go far), climbed up the stairs, almost passing out, someone else in the loo, bugga, just held on and made it, guess what, no toilet paper! Left handbag down stairs with tissues/paper etc! So much for miss organised hey! They poor cleaner, who was walking past with a mop saved the day.
Flights:
This time flew with Pacific Blue. No problems, let on time, smooth flight. Memorable day in the airport, as this was the day that Michael Jackson died, saw nothing but the news coverage on the plane. ADEL to DEM $807 return each.
Accomodation:
Stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.
We chose this hotel this time, as most of our kids were teens, and love music (and for the pool). Last time stayed at the Bali Dynasty.
OMG! What a pool! I think this is why we ran out of time to do everything we wanted, we had to spend every other day by the pool!
We lost the kids there on a regular basis, lucky they are bigger and swim well. Games by the pool, mostly weekends though.
We had superior rooms (yep Nikki got our 14 years olds in as kids, which other hotels won't let you do). Average sized rooms, 2 QS beds, so 2 kids shared. We don't mind, as it saved us a fortune! We wanted to stay at the Dynasty again, but they would not let the 14 & 12 fit into one room, there fore would have cost us heaps more, so overall the HR was cheaper. We didn't spend much time in the room anyway (except for the odd day of Bali Belly), so it wasn't an issue.
Meals and drinks pricey though, but I think this encouraged us to eat out alot. Beers 35,000 by the pool, 40,000 in the bar (compared to 12,000 on the beach or local restaurants), cabanas 200-250,000 per day (we shared one for 3 families, only the mums used it), pizza by the pool 76,000, BBQ night 150,000 AD, 75,000 kids (well worth it, included seafood, fantastic!). Breakfast included.
Overall, found the hotel pretty good, but did lack a little of the intimacy of smaller hotels, hey but this trip was for the kids. If the kids are happy and entertained, we can relax! when we go as a couple, we would personally choose a smaller hotel. The location had its good and bad. Great to be so close to Kuta, walked a lot this time. Traffic bad due to the holidays (apparently). Sometimes Kuta was grid locked and it was quicker to get out of the cab after a day out, and walk (except after Geneva, too much stuff to carry!) think it was about $4,000 for 16 nights for 4 people (2AD, 2Kids 12,14)from memory.
Got around 8000-8200 for most of the trip.
Drivers:
Took a list of drivers with us, but found some drivers locall that were great:
Steve Mc Queen +62818353124
excellent English, clean, air cond car, good sense of humor.
Laundry:
Like most things at the hotel, getting your laundry dome was expensive. Met some regulars to the hotel who recommended Danny's laundry, poppies 1, LHS if heading away from beach. 7,000 per kilo. Went there every couple of days, and just before we left. Lovely couple. Great English. Also has a shop, you know the usual, TS, sun dresses, does fixed prices if you ask. Remembers your name etc. when walking past for dinner.
Restaurants:
Ate occasionally at the hotel when too tired (or sick) to go out. The BBQ was the highlight, restaurant meals were very average.
Went to:
TJ's mexican, poppies 1: very nice food and setting! Buffalo wings are way too spicy for the kids thought!
Bagus Bar: went there for afternoon beers "bloody cold beers mate!"
Great food, cheap.
Flapjacks: pancakes, nice for the kids, bit sickly, American style, don't do the service questionare, they call you non stop re promotion.
Sheppy's: Legian, pretty good, cheap, Aussie owner
Treehouse cafe: nice cheap indo food. Cheapest meal we had. Small restaurant though, hard to get all 12 of us in there.
Kuta townhouses: watched the footy, cheap, nice, great frozen cocktails, cheap.
Went to heaps of others around poppies 1 & 2, in general, only 1 bad meal. Stick with Indo food, and can't go wrong. Had a revolting steak (can't remember the name of the place)but all the Indo food there was superb. I should have know better, but I had a craving for a steak!
Activities:
So much to do and so little time!
I really wanted to do a cooking class, kids wanted to go Quad biking and to the Tree top park, but ran out of time. Oh well, next time.
Bought entry tickets over there, much cheaper. Best deals we found from out the front of Matahari's (beach side entrance)
Safari park: love it, kids had a ball, well worth the money! Great photos of Bronne the orangutan. Yep the tiger and lion appeared sedated, mmmmmmmmmmm. Thought the general standard of the park was very good,animals appeared very well looked after.
White water rafting: Payung rafting fantastic day, not too scary for the girls (youngest 9), but thrills enough for the lads (14)!
Helen Flavel Learning Centre:
Just our family and kids 14, 12 yo.
Went to visit our sponsor child for the first time. We found our about sponsoring a child's education through Helen Flavel via this Forum, after our last holiday in 2004. Wow! We were very apprehensive at first as we did not wish to intruded on the family, and make them feel on display". We were reassured by Helen, that the family would be given the opportunity to decline if they felt uncomfortable, and would be supported by staff at the centre.
This was a fabulous experience for us and especially our children! They still talk about the family.
Made (driver for HFF) was a great guide, fabulous English, and very knowledgeable of the people and area. He took us from the hotel to the centre (2.5 hours)where we met John who showed us around, then to the market and on to meet the family. On arrival we could see that the family had prepared for our arrival, neatly swept driveway. We were presented with fresh coconuts and bananas. They even had soft drinks for the kids, but they wanted to try the coconuts. John translate for us, and explained the day to day lives of the Indonesian family.
The children were fascinated by us and my husbands camera. They laughed themselves silly when they saw themselves in the screen. They are very athletic and quickly learned how to kids an Aussie rules footy!
This beautiful large family made us feel very welcome, and the ladies doted over my daughter (who has very long blonde hair, in braids)and tall son. In spite of their economic situation, I found them to be genuinely happy and generous people, and hope we get the chance to visit again in years to come. Our visit really brought to home that we don't need loads of fancy "things" to be happy.
Thank you Helen for arranging this visit, and for all of your hard work and dedication to helping Balinese families.
Shopping:
Wow, my other love!
Couldn't get to everywhere, but boy did we try!
shopping highlights:
GENEVA: well worth a trip, loads of goodies, cheaper than the markets. My daughter went off with her basket, filled it up and it was only $12 worth. She was rapped! I spend a little more! haha Went twice and got: mirrored bowls, candle holders, cushion covers, beauty/bath stuff, hair clips, placemats (which customs now have bugga) and loads more.
Got some leotards and body stockings custom made for Calisthenics.
Got some stubby holders made with names etc. Not bad, but spelt names wrong for one mum. Promised to redo, went back 3x, not ready, shop closed, no won't re do only one stubby holder! Hey, you printed it wrong! Should have kept the wrongly spelt one!
Bali Ballet shop: very cheap split sole jazz shoes, fairy costumes etc.
TOKO central: cheap sequins etc for dance stuff
Billabong outlet: it's the best, don't bother with the others. Got loads of stuff! most TS $7-12, bags $15
Got the usual: Wii games, DVD's, CD's, tshirts etc from the markets, some lovely sun dresses that I haven't seen before.
Well that's it in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed my little read.
Had a great time there, with the company of fantastic friends! We are now all suffering holiday withdrawals!
Bye for now
Penny