Arrived home from beautiful Bali in the wee small hours of the morning...we flew Air Asia, no complaints, both flights were early landing by 15 minutes, would probably skip their food in future, was rather average what I had. While the early morning flight PER-DPS seems a bit of a bother being at airport by 3am, sailed through the airport in DPS in no time at 8.30 and then you get the full day in Bali..so there IS an upside to very little sleep that night.
Caught up with my brother and his partner who were up there waiting at BQH Villas in Tanjung Benoa, and then the party began. We had other friends staying there as well in same complex, plus others scattered around various places.
Also met Gideon (a forum poster) and her husband, who I'd had some emails with before going, who happened to be coming off a boat near the villas our first afternoon there...really enjoyed having them at the villa for a couple of ours for some drinks and laughs. What a lovely couple.
Due probably partly to the number of binnies, partly to lack of sleep I cant give a day by day account of what we did, where we ate and what exchange rates were etc, coz my memory is not behaving so specifically at the moment...LOL I have to say the exchange rate is great though, still going up, around 8625 last time I changed money.
ACCOMMODATION:
Stayed at beautiful Benoa Quay Harbourside Villas, our favourite! Staff at BQHV were as beautiful as ever, always very obliging and happy to chat or help at any given time. Love that place! It's so like home..no, in fact its better than home! For a family or group its very affordable and great place to relax around by day, or return home to after a big day out (or night as was sometimes the case)!
EATS:
We had a number of meals at Surya Cafe on the Benoa Harbour along where all the watersports are. That is one of our favourite little places, just a few minutes walk from the villas, not over the top to look at, but their food is good and very reasonably priced. And sitting watching the harbourside activities and traffic is very pleasant. We wanted to bring home one of the young waitresses..she was so lovely and pleasant. Well they usually are, but this one was just a stand out.
Ate at La Scala one night on Jl Pratama, another favourite, didnt let us down at all, free lift home after dining there. Great staff as always, and lovely food at reasonable prices.
Tried a few smaller cafe/warungs etc along Jl Pratama, and one in a back lane, cant remember name where you get a nice Nasi Goreng for about $1, they were all great.
Had a BBQ one night at the villa, often take up our own sausages, or you can buy good meat up in Bali too, very pleasant way to enjoy friends at the villas around the barbie, with cool breeze coming off the harbour... aargh life is good!
PUB CRAWL:
About 15 or so of us decided on a get together one night and do a pub crawl in Nusa Dua. We only ever made it into 2 pubs, as we had so much fun in each of them. Started at Delilahs for what was going to be pre-dinner drinks, until they cranked up the Karoake (spelling?) and had a ball. Decided we'd move on and eat at another pub, and maybe come back later to this pub.
Went onto Cheers, and eventually after a few more drinks ordered some dinner, and continued the drinking. Oh its about now I should add in that somewhere along the line on our last trip to Bali, we adopted a large stuffed Homer Simpson toy, who tends to accompany us almost everywhere we go. Well Homer, in fact named Womer, he had a ball, chatting up the girls and playing in the band. More drinks, ate, more drinks...and so the night went on, we never did make it to another pub, seemed too hard to move.
CENINGAN ISLAND:
The day after the pub crawl (possibly not the best timing, but that happens) we (group of 12 or 13) took a charter boat to Nusa Ceningan.
Bit of a fun day and great to see whats happening on Ceningan at the moment with limited (very controlled and eco-friendly) tourism development underway. Really enjoyed this day, and especially the little ferry boats that take you into the island from the main boat (we felt like local fishermen), and then popped around to Lembongan for late lunch at the pub. Awesome sunset on the way home, really enjoyable day for something different to do. Could of taken in some snorkelling in Crystal Bay, which is fantastic, but with some of the troops suffering from the pub crawl, we decided to give it a miss this time. LOL. Of course, Womer came along on the trip and had a great time, driving the boat, rides in canoes and fishing boats, exploring the island, and all, a big day for a young bloke! Doh!
He even got his snorkelling gear on, and was quite disappointed we didnt stop to snorkel, but he went for a little drift in the boats tender for awhile as some form of consolation!
ORPHANAGE TRIP:
Went to Panti Asuhan Semara Putra orphanage in Klungkung, being one of the orphanages we support through our charity. It was a big Hindu holiday unfortunately and those children who do have family return to their villages, so there werent many children present. This orphanage is a 'disabled children's orphanage' so not all children are true orphans, but mostly put in the home because of their disability. Many are hearing impaired and we run a hearing aid program there and many other programs, so we always visit them to check progress and see what further help they need. Was great to see the kids we did catch up with, really missed seeing the other children, but we'll catch them next trip and go to the Karangasem based orphanage we support next time as well. Stopped off in Gianyar on our way up and had a bit of a shop up and also had a few donations from back in Perth to take along. All good, had a big meeting with Made the head carer and discussed lots of things we could do to assist further. Her numbers of children have grown substantially and this has put huge pressure on her to manage the kids effectively. Were really pleased to meet Stephan, who is volunteering there from Germany for 1 year, a valuable contact to have to be able to keep in contact with the orphanage and whats happening there, whats needed etc, otherwise it usually has to wait till we visit. So very worthwhile visit, despite the holidays.
A LOCAL TANJUNG BENOA EXPERIENCE:
We love being in TB and mixing it with the locals and some of the experiences you share with them. One of the classics this trip was a friend and I thought we'd take in a locals salon for a manicure and pedicure. Not your traditional shopfront type salon, I mean a real local salon, where the locals go for haircuts and beauty treatments if they can afford to. Well what an experience it was! We were in stitches. After trying to negotiate with a local (with extremely limited bahasa) and not really being sure what we might get, another lady stepped up who had better english, so a bit more talking and hand language and the deal was set! We werent sure what we were paying but we thought yes lets give it a try and see what we get for however much money it is we have to pay. By this time we thought for 'professional' was 50,000 rupiah for manicure and pedicure (more expensive than the locals price) but we were happy. So the warm water in the baby bath was poured, with a bit of this and that added..then my friend and I sitting on the same bench seat, had the bath put in front of us, and all 4 feet go in together. Well now we knew we were in for a treat..LOL. The non-english speaking lady started work on my friends feet, the other lady starting to chat to us again, who when I asked if she was the owner, said no, I'm a customer. Time for my friends existing toenail polish to come off, no we wont use the bottle of nail varnish remover sitting on the tray, we'll use a emery board and start rubbing it off. By this time we are almost in hysterics. Embellished totally by the antics of the 4 year old daughter of the owner who was bouncing around the room keeping us entertained when we could take our eyes off what might of been happening in the baby bath in which our feet were wrinkling up in by this stage. Then, in walked another lady (the professional) who took over and re-discovered the bottle of nail varnish remover and put it to good use, much to our relief, as time was ticking on and we had to meet some friends. Ayu, the little girl who was having a wow of a time, offering us brochures to read, photos to look at and stickers she found to stick on our arms, in between tickling games, decided we were most likely getting hungry at this stage. So she disappears into the house and after some time comes back with a tray of (I'm not sure what its called) but could be described as jelly, although quite a solid type of jelly. Firstly a pre-cut piece she picked up and started sucking on, and then she decided she should put that back on the tray and cut up some more and serve them up on a plate which she kindly offered to us. I can safely say hygiene was not high on her priorities, but we did note a couple of pieces which she hadnt been sucking on, so we politely accepted her offer and took a piece each and thought, well whats the worse that could happen. It was all good. With her staysharp knife she continued to slice up pieces of 'jelly' (and lick the staysharp knife), then took off outside to offer to the neighbourhood, before coming back to play games with us. Once our nails were cleaned, cut, etc, we decided we were a bit short on time, so we called it a day to get back to see our friends, paid 50,000 rupiah each for the experience, and left laughing our heads off. A memorable manicure. You gotta love them..bless their souls!
RELEXOLIGI:
I had an awesome reflexologi foot massage one day along with getting my nails finished off at "Herbal Secret" in Jl Pratama. Was to die for (I suffer with my feet and walking around Bali in sandals doesnt help any), and was cured for a few more days of jalan-jalan. No more pain. Would recommend that to anyone staying in the area.
Beautiful salon with a full range of massages and body treatments. Probably not the cheapest along that strip, there must be at least 30 of them along there, but was well worth it. Bliss!
OTHER:
Some of us went into Kuta one afternoon for a shopping fix, but after lots of trips, thats something we dont do a lot of. Kuta is always nice to visit of course, more a Kuta fix than a shopping fix, but somehow the relaxing atmosphere of catching up with friends at the villa has become our way. Then wander out for a meal of an evening.
NEW PUB:
Found a new english style pub about to open in Tanjung Benoa on Jl Pratama, sign was just going up, and had a chat with the owner. They have a few other bars and restaurants around Bali, and we'll certainly be visiting there next time we stay in Benoa Quay villas. He said it was about 10 days away from opening (but was supposed to open in September)....so anytime in the next few weeks should be open if we work on Bali time! Is called "The Tree" and is almost opposite Peninsula Beach Resort.
Other than that, much lazing around the villa, in and out of the pool, lots of catchups with friends and a totally enjoyable holiday.
Our last meal was a very traditional Balinese buffet, prepared especially for our group at the villas, unbelievably beautiful! Great way to finish off good food, cold drinks, overlooking the harbour at sunset and into the evening, with great friends. Was sad to leave and come home last night. But we'll be back again soon.
Missing Bali already.
Hope you enjoyed the JBR - just some of the main things of our visit.
We probably do Bali a bit different to a lot of people who go for the shopping fix. But its all good either way. Our trips are more catching up with friends and "Bali family", see the kids at the orphanages and having a nice relaxing time all within the Bali environment, and mix with the locals along the way. And we totally love it.
Cheers :)