Hi All,
Returned yesterday from our wonderful trip to Bali! We had a fantastic time. I can't remember everything we did on a day to day basis, but have written about our experiences below. Apologies if I bore you with too much detail! For background info, I'm a 22 y.o and my mere male partner is 25y.o (...) My 5th time to Bali, and partner's 7th.
FLIGHTS
Departed Perth around 5pm with Garuda on Friday 22nd, got to Bali before 9pm and quickly made our way through customs/immigration with no hassles. Good flight, little turbulence and food was decent enough. Partner shocked me by asking for a red bull vodka (as if they have red bull!!), and was given a red wine with vodka in it.. Laughed my head off! Bit of a communication error with the hostess! Needless to say he didn't drink it.. Movie was Michael Jackson ‘This Is It', no headphones so they played it out loud which bugged us as we didn't want to listen to it due to the overhead tv screen in front of us was broken so we couldn't see anything! (Of course we had the only broken one on the plane - just our luck!)
Flight home yesterday left Bali a little late at 10:20am, but was *the best* flight i've ever had. Plane was brand new, and there were individual tv's for all. Picked out of a choice of new movies to watch, food was ok and was a really smooth ride home, getting back into Perth at 2:55pm. Used the fancy new automatic passport thingymajig at the airport for passports that have the implanted chip, made it so much easier and quicker, just scanned the passport and took our picture and off we went!
FYI - Departure Tax HAS gone up, and is now 150,000. This caught us out by surprise and we had no money for brekkie at the airport as a result (...)
WEATHER
Wet season in Bali at the minute, and there was some rain. Generally for less than an hour and mostly during the afternoon or evening. Honestly, it didn't bother us at all and it was a welcome break from the heat and humidity, plus it was fun swimming in the pool when it rained.
HOTEL
Stayed at Kuta Townhouses for the duration of our trip and overall we were delighted! Friendly staff, very nice clean room, comfy bed, excellent food very reasonably priced from the room service / pool bar menu. Breakfast was good, no buffet breakfast but ordering off of a small list of options including pancakes (yummo!) jaffles, eggs on toast or Indonesian noodles or rice, fruit salad. Only gripe was that breakfast only opened at 8am, which means you can't get breakfast if you are leaving early for white water rafting tours etc. Room services also starts from 8am and is available til 10pm. Awesome Mexican Meat Lovers Pizza (55000rp) and Vegetarian Pizza (35000rp), partner loved his Surf and Turf, 250g steak and 3x giant prawns with wedges and salad and corn and garlic sauce for 125000rp. Monday - Friday is happy hour at the bar. Vodka slushies 2x for the price of 1, or all you can drink Heineken for 50,000rp. Despite prior reports, towels did not smell like cat piss, but apparently they have been replaced, but all good now! Tour desk at the hotel is brilliant, Silvester and Hilary are wonderful and very helpful and all the tours we did had great discounts. Hired scooters from there also, no problems at all with anything. Two decent sized pools, lovely to swim in except for the fact that my blonde hair is now very very green!! I look like a blob of seaweed and am off to see my hairdresser ASAP as everyone at work now thinks I've gone off the deep end and just dyed my hair green, or dyed it for the Big Day Out which is a bit unprofessional!
ROSSO VIVO
Best food in Kuta! Is a bit expensive by Bali standards, but well worth the money. Rosso Vivo is set on the beachfront in Kuta, a few doors up from McDonalds. There is a pool, and fabulous wicker lounges outside with lots of cushions that me and my partner came and hung out at one afternoon for cocktails at sunset. Cocktails are between 65000 - 85000rp, but are top quality. Pool belongs to the attached hotel but you can swim as long as you bring your own towel. Came again to Rosso Vivo for dinner, Italian chef with all of the usual fare, crew at our table had some fancy beef entree (absolutely huge), me and partner shared a prawn cocktail (served with avocado, chopped lettuce and heaps of prawns in a yummy seafood sauce). Best prawn cocktail I've ever had! For mains, we had the Volcano Pizza and Chicken Scaloppine. Both were delicious and under 100000rp each.
KORI
Had an early dinner here one night and enjoyed it. Sat in one of the bales with the cushions, by the pond with the biggest koi fish I've ever seen! Kori is located on the busy Poppies 2, but really does feel like an oasis away from the hustle and bustle outside. We shared a avocado, prawn and crabmeat salad for entree (55000rp). It was good but way too much red onion for my liking. For mains, partner had spaghetti bolognaise and spicy wedges (100000rp all up), and I had the WA Steak with onion rings (130000rp). Both were very nice. Service was very attentive.
TJ's MEXICAN
Located on Poppies 1. Stopped by for lunch and shared beef tacos and chicken enchiladas between us. Chicken enchilada dish was exceptional! Chicken came cooked on a little hot plate, and there was a separate plate with the warm tortillas, plus a serving dish with sour cream with chives, salsa, diced onion and capsicum and a spicy salsa type sauce to spread onto tortillas. Yummy!
LA SAL
Spanish restaurant located on Jl Drupadi in Seminyak. Met a school friend for dinner here and really enjoyed it, probably second best meal after Rosso Vivo. Lots of tapas available, although we just had mains. I had the twice cooked lamb with terragon roasted vegetables and mash, lamb was super tender and really tasty, and vegies and mash were beautiful as well. Partner had the New York Strip steak which he didn't like as it was a bit undercooked for his liking and didn't come with any sides, which is weird! Friend had the tuna, and it looked very nice. They also give you a complimentary little plate with these home cooked spiced bready things with dip, and fresh bread rolls straight out the oven. The setting here was absolutely beautiful.. All white tables and chairs and linen napkins, lanterns in the trees, it's the perfect place to take your loved one for a nice dinner. Again it was expensive, but definitely worth it for me.
NERO'S
On Jl Legian. Does great frozen margaritas, and other frozen drinks like red bull and vodka. Generally around the 35 - 40000rp mark. Don't really like the food here though!
HAVANA'S
Cuban themed place on Poppies 1. We were told to try the Havana Cheese Burger, and oh my god, the best burger we've ever had in Bali and one of the best we've ever had in our lives (and for my partner that's saying something, as he eats burgers ALL THE TIME!) Came with a heap of French fries and a weird looking cabbage salad that we were too full to eat. Burgers were around 65000rp.
KUTA STEAK HOUSE
Bit of a dingey looking place located a few doors down from Kuta Townhouses. Were told to give it a try and we were sooo surprised! We had 260g steak stuffed with mushrooms bacon and cheese, served with mash and vegies for 85000rp, and an entree of prawn cocktail and calamari. Entrees were 20000rp each. Steaks were fantastic! Our advice is to disregard the looks of the place and just give it a try, it was one of the best finds we've had in Bali and will definitely be returning!
CHASERS
Located down a little street behind Bamboo Blonde shop (Bamboo Blonde located on Jl Legian). We shared some calamari fritti (20000rp) and a pizza (39000rp). Both were absolutely awesome. One of the best value places in Kuta for sure! Service was attentive.
SKY GARDEN
We came here a couple of times to drink. First Saturday night in Kuta we hit this place up and made the most of the happy hour drinks, from 6pm - 12am. 25000rp for Strawberry Daquiris, Peach Bellinis, Mojhitos, Long Island Ice teas.. Really cool place to hang out, lots of couches to sit around and drink at, we met some nice couples there too. Unfortunately I don't think the spirits they were using there were the proper ones, I think they were probably substituting with cheaper stuff like Arak, but that's to be expected when the drinks are so cheap! We had a good dance when the DJ came on and headed back to our hotel when we knew we'd had too much to drink! Partner started throwing up in the toilet, and I rushed in to check on him. The stench was horrendous and I started to vomit in the sink! HOW ROMANTIC!!!!
WHITE WATER RAFTING
Booked via tour desk at hotel, and went with Bali International. Long drive out to the river, about 1hr and a half, but beautiful scenery once you get out there. We were picked up from hotel in a mini bus with 4 others and trekked it out there. Driver was a bit of a nut case and we did have several close calls which made us a bit nervous. Once we arrived, we were paired into groups and we got a great river guide, Wayan. Water level was up quiete a bit as there was a big rain the night before, and other recent rains as well. Us ladies jumped into the back of the boat, men in the front. Was a bit unlucky as guy in front of me lost his paddle within first 10mins trying to stop us bumping into the rock wall on one side of the river and it went flying and hit me in the face! All good though, and continued downstream ducking under very very low obstacles and bumping into stuff and having an awesome time! My fella is a bit of an adrenaline fiend and he was loving it and so was I. Went down a 5m slope and nearly wet my pants but it was over pretty quickly. Rafting goes for 16km, hop off at the other end and climb up some stairs to have buffet lunch over looking the rice paddies, food is average but a pretty unique experience regardless.
BALI SAFARI PARK
Partner really didn't want to go to this one, but kindly indulged me and we booked and paid $30 each. Again, a long ride out there over an hour, bit of a difficult trip for us as we were quite hungover! Oops! We met the mini bus at Gloria Jeans in Kuta Square. Got to the Safari Park and first thing we saw was the Piranhas. Watched them being feed a whole chicken carcass, which they absolutely chomped down. And that was it, partner was hooked and really excited! Heaps of other marine creatures, then we watched an environmental animal education show with trained hornbills, cockatoos, an orang-utan who was as cute as can be. You can ride ponies, elephants or camels but we skipped on that. We did the safari tour of all the animals and it was awesome, and watched the white tiger's being fed. There is also a water park here with pools and kids slides and a fun park with bumper cars etc. I really recommend this place!
MASSAGES ETC
We tried a couple of places, just walked in off the street. First place was Dikitu, on the opposite side of the street across from KFC at the corner near Mataharis. We had a half hour back massage for 40,000rp each. It was pretty good. Not the nicest place but just a cheapy. I tried a facial at Soul Paintei also on the same street as this, on the same side of the road as KFC. Facial was 70,000rp. Reasonably nice place, but unfortunately the ambience was ruined by chatting and giggling of therapists who didn't have clients and were just sitting around in the booths upstairs near us. Third place I tried was a green-themed place across the road from Chasers. Can't quiete remember the name unfortunately! Partner had a one hour back neck and shoulder massage, and I tried a reflexology massage. 60,000rp each. The ambience was excellent, we were put together in a nice room which had a spa bath and a shower as well as the massage beds. Aircon was nice and cool and therapists were lovely. Came back two days later for a 90 min hot stone massage, my first time with that and I absolutely loved it. It was 135,000rp and well worth it as I left feeling very very relaxed.
DVDs
We bought about 120 DVDs all up, most from a place on Poppies 2, next to the last Circle K before Jl Legian. Can't remember the name I'm sorry. 10,000rp per disc. They offer specials such as buy 50, get 25 free. You can also test them to make sure there good quality. We tested a handful of the newest ones and they were all good.
Thanks to everybody who gave me advice when I've asked questions on the forum. I hope I can be of help answering any questions you might have after reading my JBR!
Pussum xx