Hi All,
I am sad that my first holiday in bali has come to an end. We took our 3 kids with us ages 6, 3 and 20 months. Stayed at febris
the room was a great size and clean, bathroom was impressive with a large corner bath with shower over it, rooms cleaned daily, sheets changed daily, friendly staff, nice food, good variety for breakfast but after the 5th day got sick of the same thing (i love new things lol), pool was lovely, but didnt get to spend much time in there.
we stayed 7 nights but we lost 2 days as our young son caught a bug (we were out in sanur that day) so my baby was in hospital on a drip for 2 days - lucky we have travel insurance - we went to BIMC hospital and it is absolutely stunning, private room which resembles a 5 star hotel room, i was so impressed, i even got a bed put out for me - so dont panic if you get sick, this hospital is very good and very comfortable. it has doctors and nurses from all parts of the world working there.
I filled up my empty suitcases i was going to travel to bali with, with new toys my children still hadnt used (so spoilt from birthdays and christmases) and second hand toys and clothing and this gentlemen (Smudge) who is an angel to the poorest balinese children, came to our hotel and collected them. Lovely man and met his beautiful wife and they had 4 children with them that they were caring for. At Christmas time they will have 25 children staying with them, maybe more. Last year, his wife wraped up 247 gifts for the children of bali, which included gifts of toothpaste and toothbrushes - these are things we all use everyday, yet for balinese children they are the best present in the world. I have been told from someone that Smudge pays for medicines out of his own pocket for these children. I also gave Smudge a cash donation too, and he tried to give me a receipt, i told him not to worry. He is a very generous honest man. So if you are travelling with empty suitcases and have second hand or new items you could donate, Smude (his real name is Barry) will come and collect them from your hotel. I have his details if your interested.
SHOPPING - i loves shopping, went to markets in sanur, poppies lane and around kuta (opposite mataharis), i didnt like the markets next to our hotel, they were triple the price of all other markets i been too. also i love love love Jennys Shop, she is fixed price and about a 30 second walk on the from and on the same side as febris heading into kuta - Jenny is fixed price and charges what i was bartering for in the markets and a bit cheaper. this was my husbands favourite shop - quicksilver mens tops - great quality approx $5au. cant complain.
Hair braiding - my daughters had their hairbraided by a lady in the markets next to febris (last shop in the first lane called Green ..... cant recall the rest. I was told not to pay anymore than 90,000rp, and i asked the lady whose name is wayan for a price and her first price was 50,000rp so i didnt bother bartering, i felt that was reasonable. the shop was a little dirty but hey, it is a third world country and i was happy to giver her business as she is very quiet, not much business her way and she has 4 children.
Febris Spa and beauty salon - WOW WOW WOW i love it love it love it. I was in heaving, had loads of treatments here from balinese massage, stone massage, foot reflexology, hair and scalp treatments and massage +++++, this was heaven sent especially after all the shopping trip and the stress on my arms and legs and neck lol. Sooooo clean and stunning, People from other hotels come here for their treatments, so well priced and the most lovliest of people. when i go back to bali, if i dont stay at febris i will definitely return to their salon.
Bali Safari and Marine Park - we did this on our last full day. It was lovely but we didnt get the full enjoyment as it was sooooooo hot that day. Its a huge place with lots of lovely stone carvings and features, saw elephant show - it was fantastic! fed elephants, had photo with orangutan, you get a free photo but its only to have photo taken, you have to pay 80,000rp to take the photo away with you. We did the tram ride to look at the lions and other animal, by then we were all worn out and we found the waterpark and had a ball, it was sooo refreshing (we wished we did it first) kids loved it, lots of fun things for kids in the water park, we didnt have time to make it to the rides, i didnt even get to see them as kids were worn out.
I also got to meet fellow forumers - sparky perth and stormy - lovely lovely people, great to meet you if you are reading this, and sparky perth i hope your beautiful daughter is well and enjoying the rest of her holiday, i hope you all are.
We had family staying at the bali garden, this is where we spent some of our time, we really loved the pool here as they have a swim up bar, great kids pool and one of the nicest restaurants where we ate often called THE BOARDWALK, such a stunning relaxing atmosphere, beautifully decorated, you can look out to the ocean, yummy cheap food! I wouldnt mind staying here, this hotel is massive but very very impressive. Whenever i went to dinner here, it was so relaxing that i could stay there forever.
TRAFFIC - wow! unreal! cant find the right word but its sooo amazing, no road rules, cars and bikes pushing in left right and centre and no roadrage! they are great drivers, but in this lifetime you wont get me behind a car in the streets of bali lol.
TRANSPORT: for short trips we used blue bird taxis - we used them quite a lot as with young kids and the heat and a sick bub, it was too hard to walk all the time. its less than $1au to go from febris to mataharis, and under $3au to go from febris to Carrefors and BIMC hospital. We used a driver for safari park - a family member arranged it and it cost us 400,000 rp for a day, i had a previous quote of 250,000rp so you can get it cheaper than 400,000rp but thats only a different of about $15 so not much really.
Well that is a brief of my holiday - boy i could right a novel lol, i loved it and was sad that we lost a few days due to my son being sick , but my husband and I plan to go on our own hopefully within the next 6-12 months. I didnt know what to expect on our first time, but it is such a beautiful place where you can be pampered and live like a king or queen and meet such beautiful friendly people.
If you are leaving for bali soon, i wish you a fantastic holiday!!!!