JBR 6-21 Jan - Part 1 - Kuta
Firstly, thanks to other forumites for all tips and the person who lent me a Simpati card, which I put in an old unlocked Siemens. I recharged after 2 days with a scratch card and was good for arranging drivers, contacting my hotel, and phoning back home.
Travelled with wife plus daughter aged nine years, both of them newbies. Took Virgin Blue from Canberra via Melbourne and Perth, 8 hours flying time. Bags were checked through for the whole journey. Gave a voucher to the transfer bus in Perth. Be sure to get the voucher at the check-in if travelling from another city. Discovered there was a great variety of duty free available in Perth's departure gate area.
Arrived in DPS at 11.20 pm in rain just before the JAL flight arrived and went straight through normal VOA, immigration and customs in 15 minutes. VIP VOA staff were holding a sign with only name on it. At the Airport money changing booths, I could get 8200 per AUD and all of them had the same rate, so changed a small amount of money for the taxi. Went past the prepaid taxi counter. I was left holding all the luggage as youngster went to the toilet, and was approached by a blue taxi driver who wanted me to negotiate directly with him. Got it down to Rp 70.000 to the Ramayana Hotel in Kuta where we stayed for 9 days before going to Ubud for 5 days.
Had been in Bali 15 years ago and noticed the expansion from Tuban to Seminyak and also to the east of Kuta. I also saw that KFC/Gelael Supermarket got three times taller than it used to be. However other places such as Mades Warung in Jl Pantai Kuta and some other restaurants in Jalan Legian appeared to look the same as they always were.
RAMAYANA HOTEL
Stayed in the family room on level 7 facing Jalan Kartika. I found later it really was only the second floor above ground and that levels 1 to5 were in other wings. Was centrally located between Matahari and Discovery shopping centres and noisy, but couldn't hear much music or many motorbikes after midnight.
Breakfast consisted of a buffet with a wide selection. Often there was a long wait for eggs and omelettes which were made to order. Had to ask for bacon which was kept behind the counter. If we went to breakfast too late such as 9 or 10am, there were no pancakes left. The chefs then filled the pancake bowl with French toast instead and this made the youngster not too happy. Sometimes there were very few places left in the breakfast restaurant and coffee and cutlery wasn't readily brought across to the outer tables. On the positive side, there were two good pools with a good towel service in the second pool and friendly security checking through all bags entering.
An older Russian lady in the pool tried not to get the coiffure wet, but my youngster accidentally splashed her jumping in. My only words were sorry as my Russian is restricted to a mere 'privy et'. (No wharfie around.) There were also friendly aussie bar flies at the pool kicking back on binnies.
SHOPPING
On the first full day, walked to Dirgha Ayu money changers at Bemo corner which I found reliable and then on to Janoko Tailors in Poppies II for alteration of two shirts and making of one suit (wool cotton blend) and two business shirts. The total cost of the alterations and new garments was Rp 810,000 and were ready in 5 days. On the next day I realised I should have ordered more clothes and went to Liza Tailor in the same street, getting three trousers and three business shirts for Rp 1,150,000 which were ready in 6 days. Give your tailor enough time by going early in your trip.
Diannes fixed price shop in Jl Kartika Plaza was a great find. She is beautiful hearted and was pleased when I told her of recommendations on the BTF. Purchased 3XL sized T-shirts at Rp 35.000 each.
Went to TandaMata in the Discovery Centre and purchased a fan for Rp12,500 and a great 12' painting of Rama and Sinta in Balinese dancer style and framed in glass for Rp150,000. They had a large selection of other arts and crafts ie carvings etc.
Purchased a long gold box chain for Mrs Lofty from one of the gold shops on Jalan Hasanuddin, Dispensary for Rp 1,800,000. The gold here is more pure than the nine carat gold you find at home, closer to 16 carat and above.
Silver Instinct in Jalan Sahadewa almost opposite Miss Debby's sold Pandora bracelets with 21 silver charms including some containing amethyst for Rp 1.3m. A few large glass beads were also purchased separately for Rp 25,000 each.
Found you could get some compilations of over a hundred popular Indonesian mp3 songs on one disk for Rp10,000. However, most of the stores in Kuta specialised in recent release English language media with a buy 10 get 2 or 4 for free policy. Nothing much was available in older titles, so you probably wouldn't find 'Gone with the Wind' here and most of the PC software utilities for sale at Rp20,000 appeared to be the same as open source downloads.
EATING OUT
Found Solara in the food court on the top floor of Discovery very cheap for lunch and has a great view of the coastline. A meal for 3 cost only Rp175,000 including light drink.
The Stadium on Jalan Kartika provided large servings with dinner for three just over Rp200.000 including a couple of bintangs. During the day, they carried live cricket from the Australian Nine network. At night, it was English Premier League on Star Sports or music videos.
Blue Planet on Jalan Kartika had 30% off each evening. This amounts to 15% off after the addition of the tax and service charge, still fairly well priced. Service and food was good and had a resident live band who played music on request. Had a seafood barbecue out the front.
Bread Talk in the front of Discovery had fresh cakes on a self serve basis. The cost of 3 cakes approx Rp 25,000 total.
Had a a great meal for 3 at Matahari Cafe at Jimbaran Bay including snapper, rice, potato fries, vegetables and a few drinks for Rp 462,000. A good cultural dance show was included. Have to choose your seafood and get it weighed out the front before they cook it.
ENTERTAINMENT
The monkey or Kecak dance at Uluwatu was interesting at a cost of Rp 70,000. Fortunately, the rain held off until right near the end of the performance. Hanuman came into the audience and growled right next to my daughter which I filmed on video. Didn't know that tattoos were traditionally worn by monkeys!
TAXIS
Tried to use bluebird as advised on BTF, but found Bali Taxi Co and Ngurah Rai Taxi Co just as good. I didn't have to ask for the meter to be put in any of these and the cost from central Kuta to Legian was about Rp11,000 via the beach. On another day the fare approached Rp20,000 using Bluebird because the driver went back in the other direction past Bemo Corner and through Kuta East. Not really a large amount of money though. The fare from Kuta to central Denpasar was Rp60,000. I found one of the grumpiest drivers was a Bluebird and one of the friendliest was from Bali Taxi.
ANNOYANCES
People conducting surveys outside Discovery and the Bomb Memorial. I told them I didn't want any phone calls for hotel membership and they went away. Similarly, I didn't accept any scratchies or postcards from people near Kuta Square who said they weren't selling anything.
The market in little Kuta square off Jl Pantai Kuta had a few touts which gave strange names such as Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan. They would lead you into their stall and ask for exorbitant prices such as Rp 2 million for a few T-shirts. They weren't interested in a reasonable price, so I walked away and they didn't bother chasing me. I can only assume they were keeping their stock to totally rip people off.
Received 3 text messages on Simpati in 2 weeks, telling me how to claim prizes. I deleted these and didn't reply not wanting to lose any phone credits to see whether they were genuine.