Hi All
Belated JBR, 3/1-11/1. Myself, husband and kids 11,6 & 12 months. All of us have been to Bali on previous occassions. Being that we had stayed in many accommodations previously (and not being able to find just the right place) we decided 1 night at the Bali Safari Park and to take a risk and book a mystery deal through wotif and ended up at the Harris Kuta Beach.
Flew Air Asia, great flight, pre booked the back row and ended up with a spare seat (same on return). Took advantage of the free transfers provided by the Safari Park and headed straight there from the airport.
As we had stayed at the Safari Park previously and were aware of the limited food avaliability (room service very $$$$$) and having a late night arrival we packed dinner in our suitcases - the kids had baked beans from the tin that night!!!We had also packed soft drinks to make the most of our duty free. This may sound a little extreeme but i find the mini bar prices extreeme. Great buffett breakfast the following day followed by a swim in the hotel pool, check out and a relaxing day looking around the park.
Headed to the Harris Kuta Beach Hotel that night. Our inital impression of the hotel was wow, this is great, but by the end of it we had decided we wouldn't stay there again. Why? the interconnecting rooms don't have balcony's or terraces, the hotel food itself was not great, and both of our rooms leaked a lot and there were always puddles of water on the floor. We did love the pool area of this hotel, slide for the kids and plenty of activities going on. The flying fox over the pool was a hit (charge 40 000 per go). The breakfast was lovely, one of the funnier moments of our holiday was when our daughter ordered an omlette, no egg, just cheese!!! They just smiled and made her a cheese omlette!!
My daughter had her hair straighted the next day at Discovery Mall (700 000, very happy with the results) I just shopped, wined and dined for 5 1/2 hours while she was having it done, great saled on, mainly puchased childrens clothes and shoes. Other shopping at Matahari Kuta and Bali Galleria.
As much as we wanted to we didn't do any market shopping this time, our wardrobes are bursting at the seems from previous trips.
We hit the beach bars a fair bit in the afternoon, nothing better than a beer, and a massage while the sun sets over Kuta beach. The kids loved the fresh fruits and ice creams that appeared aslmost as soon as requested...They knew that Dad was an easier target than I so I often finished having a massage only do discover that more money needed to be changed before dinner.
We ate at many places, mainly down Poppies 1 and 2 and Bensari Lane. Fave's include Enhay (just love the goulash soup and the kids love the chicken in a basket), IMAX Mexican (The best Mexican I have had in Bali) Swells (forgot to order the ribs, I hear they are great), Warung 96 and Mades Warung. We also ate at Hard Rock on the last night, great meal but very $$$$$$.
With the kids we were home by 10 most nights, we did think that it was very quiet in a lot of places that we had seen busier on previous trips. Felt bad for the staff at Bali Rock, this place used to be busy every night but now is very quiet. They didn't appear to be doing theme nights or having happy hour any more :-(
Did the usual trip to waterbom and had a great day, we are heading back in June and hope that the new slide will be ready (due May 2010)
Great trip home again with Air Asia, as I mentioned we are heading back in June, this time for 17 nights. Pls feel free to ask any questions.