DAY 5
Had booked a driver through the bungalows to take us to Ubud. He arrived at 9.30 to pick us up. Great car with excellent airconditioning.
Stopped along the way at the Batik factory and at a wood carving place (both seem well known and popular). Bought a few wood items - intricate frog box, small rectangle carved box and 6 coasters for 200,000, really happy with the price and quality of the goods.
Had the driver park at the bottom of Monkey Forest Rd for us to walk up to the markets, stopping along the way for an iced coffee of course!
Bought some beautiful paintings on canvas for the kids rooms (small square). 7 of them for 150,000 a price we were really happy to pay without hesitation.
The Ubud market was like something I had never seen before - so tight and cramped with people everywhere. Got done over at the first stall - bought 2 batik halter neck girls dresses for 200,000, after I paid the next stallholder over comes to me and says that I can have 2 for 100,000 (so I bought 2 more). Son picked up a badly made wooden car for 20000 (the guy started at 350000). Got a bit much for the kids so didn't stay much longer.
Driver walked back to the car and came around to pick us up. Dropped into Carrefour on the way back as had broken our stroller the previous night and needed a new one. Cost about AUD$50 and wasn't great qualitym but would do the job.
Went then to Gado Gado restaurant in Seminyak for afternoon tea. We had our wedding ceremony there 5 years ago so it was great to go back and visit it. Looks exactly the same despite the changes we had heard about over the years. Enjoyed drinks and icecreams on the beach front in fine dining style :)
Quiet dinner back at Adika Sari again, with light shopping after dinner before heading to bed.
DAY 6
Headed to Centro as we had never been before. had a ball!! Picked up some more Converse for daughter as well as a heap of small souveiner items for son to take to kindy at home. Enjoyed a delicious iced cappacino at the place near Daily bread and enjoyed beautifully warmed pastries.
After a late lunch, headed back to the bungalows for a swim and relax before enjoying our last night in bali :(
After dinner (again at Adika Sari) my husband went nuts shopping on our evening walk. He was buying 10 T-Shirts at a time and negotiating some fantastic prices. I added a couple of handbags, dresses and soccer tops for family at home. Husband and son did so well with shorts and T-Shirts, most of them Diesel, Element for husband and Roxy, Billabong etc for son. Finished the DVD shopping (daughters list), then off to bed for the last time in our bungalow beds!
DAY 7
Walked through to double 6 down to JL Legian, then jumped in a cab to Matahari to pick up Converse for daughter that remained at home, painted cats that son wanted for kindy friends and fish mobile that I had trouble finding after not buying on first visit. One last walk through the supermarket area then strolled down to Kuta beach to walk along the road. Took in some atmosphere and when sons legs got tired hopped back into a cab home. Swam the rest of the afternoon and finished packing up our shopping.
Had final dinner at Adika Sari, made our booking in the family room there for August next year (18 nights next time) and bid farewell to all of the friends that we had made there over the week.
I collected the tablecloth, runner and cushion covers that I had made (unlikely to go back to the same place again - Dolly on JL Padma near Adika Sari as the runner was not the length that was promised and not great quality) and husband went for one last big shopping push...OMG I have never seen a man shop like he did in that last hour! I also picked up some placements to match the table cloth and made up cushions to match the ensemble. Then back to the bungalow to wait for our transfer to the airport.
Arrived at airport in plenty of time for flight, settled back and waited to go. Flew Garuda back to Perth, and apart from the cow of a woman in the seat in front complaining that my 4 year old son was talking to us (10 minutes after takeoff) the flight was uneventful with both kids sleeping most of the flight.
Our hell arrived landing in Perth at 1.45am, speeding through customs as it was empty and then having to wait until our 8.30am flight to Adelaide. Garuda had changed our flight changing our wait time from 2 hours (comfortable) to 5 and a half (not comfortable). We did finally get home at 2.30pm. Will not go that route again!
Great trip - already counting the days until next one.
SUMMARY
ACCOMMODATION - Unfortunately we did not enjoy our time at Yuli Bungalows. The only TV and DVD that seemed to work was in reception and the bungalows are filthy. Funny that there was enough time for the staff to invite friends over and play playstation in the empty bungalow but there was no time spent cleaning the accommodation. Things were too hard for staff to do...asked to pay drinks bill part of the way through and was told to do it at the end. Also felt quite uncomfortable with up to 4 or 5 people sitting around the table that is very close to the pool while I was swimming with the children.
The open air lounge area has no ability to move the air through, resulting in a sauna like experience. This would only be the case in bungalow 1 and 2, and the people in 2 explained a similar feeling to ours on the temperature. This meant that we were stuck sitting in bedrooms watching the portable dvd player with the kids in the evening - this is what it would have been like in a hotel room and had been what we were trying to avoid.
However, we did see some great accommodation around the area - Hidden Garden Villas, Fred showed us through one of the villas and it was STUNNING. There are a few in the group and they are booked well in advance. Adika Sari, just fantastic with a good range of rooms and 1 family suite that is 2 bedroom and the All Seasons was also lovely with a good range of rooms. I was also told that Sari Bunga on Double 6 was excellent for families and from what I saw outside it looked good.
SHOPPING
I was surprised at the great prices we got at Matahari, and found that apart from a few great places on garlic lane we could really do all of our clothing/bag shopping on JL Padma and surrounds easily.
GETTING AROUND WITH KIDS
It was a bit of a nightmare with the pram - we broke our Quicksmart stroller and had to buy another and it was too hot to wear the backpack that we bought. Taxis were a godsend and the kids loved travelling in them. It took about 3 days for son (4) to settle in and get used to the temperature, walking etc and he was a delight the remainder of the trip. We enjoyed a different type of Bali holiday with small children, and relaxed in a different way than on our previous trip without them.
Loved every minute though and cannot wait to go back!
Thanks for getting this far....hope it was worth the read.