5th trip to Bali - 4th family trip. Hubbie (51) me (43) kids (14, 12 & 7).
DRIVER
We were given the name of Made 'Aussie Bemo' who is located outside the Dynasty. His mobile number is 0817347136. He was fantastic - a very safe and careful driver. He has a van that seats 16 with a DVD player and he carries an esky with water and soft drinks on ice - no extra charge. He charges for the journey, not the number of people so easy for 2 - 3 families to use Made. His English is good and he couldn't do enough for us. We used Made 4 times - including an 8 hour shopping day which cost Rup 200,000! We always gave him extra. If you negotiate a price with him in the street with other drivers around, he will quote a higher price but will reduce it once you are in the van. I can't recommend him highly enough!!
SIM CARD
As we have pre-paid mobile phones, I decided to purchase Indonesian SIMs for myself and my daughter. Worked great for me but my daughter's phone was locked into OPTUS!!!! Two very frustrating phone calls later, we had my daughter's phone unlocked and no issues thereafter. I mostly used SMS to Australia - and it was a bit hit and miss as to who got my texts and visa versa - but it was very cheap for ringing and overall worked fine. I bought the cards from a booth about 100m left from the Dynasty and got all my top ups there too - no problems.
LAUNDRY
We used the Drop Zone laundry about 50m left of the Dynasty. Rup 10,000 per kg and they counted all the items so nothing got lost. Clothes all cleaned well and some pressed, or beautifully folded. We used this service every 2 - 3 days and then a big load at the end of the holiday. The first time we came to Bali I washed all our clothes in the room - never again!!!
SHOPPING
I am one of those women who doesn't really like to shop - but I made up for lost time on this trip!! On the 8 hour trip I organized to get a dress made (a copy of a dress I brought with me) and long boots. In the end I wasn't really happy with either so don't plan on getting items made in the future. We went to the surf outlets and my daughter's bought big time.
Bought 2 Pandora bracelets from Silverberry - really happy with them - bought 17 beads, a mix of silver and glass for each bracelet and paid about $105 for each one. This included a 10% discount. We shopped at Geneva - a great place for my daughters to pick up presents for their friends.
I wanted some leather handbags and Made brought us to a stall that supplies the markets - so I got 2 handbags and a purse for Rup 350,000 which I thought was pretty good value. We also checked out Carrefours on Sunset Rd, as well as Ramayanas for shoes. Had read about this place on the forum but hadn't realized it was in Denpasar - so a bit of a drive. The shoes were very good value but it mostly caters for locals - so the shoe sizes were too small for us. Anything above 37 is hard to find.
Went to Diannes and Jennys fixed price shops (opposite Green Garden Hotel) for the usual T-shirts etc. Also went to Ketuts in Garlic Lane and picked up a few other things. Bought shoes in Mataharis, and went through Discovery Plaza on numerous occasions. Also bought converse runners for 175,000.
Bought the usual tonne of DVDs - which is keeping the kids happy now and was great while we were in Bali, as we had a DVD player in the room.
Will follow up with activities and general observations later.....