Travelling with Husband, daughter 9 and son 11. Flew with Garuda from Sydney, flight was a half hour late, not really a problem I'm a very patient person, my family aren't, they were ready to go.
Arrived in Bali to rain. Through immigration within an hour, found our driver and hit the streets of Bali. We were immediately questioned by our driver about our travel plans and being told that we could cancel everything we had organised and rebook we him, he even said he would come to the hotel every night and teach the children to speak Indonesian. I finally got a word in NO, yay I can actually say the word, he pretty much didn't say a word from then. Neither did the children they were amazed at the amount of traffic and people.
Stayed at the Melasti Beach resort in Legian. After reading various reviews on this hotel we weren't to sure on what to expect. Sure the hotel is quite run down and needs a lot of maintenance. For the price we paid we were very happy. We stayed in a cottage suite overlooking the pool, plenty of room and nice cold air con.
Had a few Bintangs by the pool in the rain whilst building up the courage to go out into the street to find somewhere for dinner. After reading so many reports on this forum I still don't think we were fully prepared on what it is actually like, but by the end of our holiday we were quite used to it.
Day 2 Our second day was meant to be a day of exploring the legian area. We changed our money with Harry in the Kodak shop which is to the left of the entrance to MBR, we ended up using him everytime we needed too. He never made a mistake and was always very helpful with directions or any questions we had. Within half an hour of our expedition the heavens opened again very heavily this time, the streets flooded to ankle deep, daughter started crying, husband got ripped off (woops wasn't meant to mention that ever again), joggers were full of water and we were absolutely soaked through. Back to the hotel for us, no point in trying to jump puddles now. Room service for lunch then we sat looking at each other. OK time to do something, decided to go to Geneva handicrafts, this is a great place, we got lots of little nick nacks and had a good look around.
Day 3, still raining. We decided to go to waterbomb, cheers from children. What a great day out this was, we got a gazebo so I could sit out of the rain, lunch can be ordered and served to your gazebo. I was conned into going on the smash down, atomic wedgie big time, thank god for boardies.
All up this day cost us around $125au including lunch and is highly recommended.
Day 4, the sun is shining and we are doing the Bali Baik Tour organised before we arrived in Bali, 400,000 rp for adults and 250,000 for children, approx $155.00 for the 4 of us. This was the highlight of our holiday and is also highly recommended. Our guide was wonderful it was very hot and humid which our daughter wasn't coping with, he managed to push her up a few hills whilst pushing his own bike as well. We stopped at a village school to donate some exercise books, pens and pencils to the children, a big eye opener for my two. The coffee plantation was great, just don't buy the Luwak coffee it will be confiscated when coming back into Aus, we were assured that it would be fine to get back in. Lunch at the end of the tour was fantastic, we all loved it.
Day 5, Half day tour organised with bali explore tours before we arrived in Bali, 300,000rp/approx $35.00au, was another great day, very informative with lots to see. We loved the monkey forest, spent about an hour and a half here, just watching them. On the way home a big storm hit and once again the streets were flooded.
Day 6, relaxing by the pool, bit of shopping and hubby surfing
Day 7, Uluwatu where hubby wanted to surf. Met friends at Blue point spa and resort where for 150,000 you get full access to resort pool overlooking Uluwatu, towel, lunch and a drink. Hubby organised a driver 300,000rp 'Made' - Buffalo tour service. Fantastic young man, has a great car with cold air con, is very informative and speaks English very well. We recommend him highly.
Day 8, shopping, arrived at Discovery Mall just a bit before 10am opening time, we witnessed their morning motivational pep talk over the mall intercom, lots of cheers and claps from staff went on for a while. When we thought it was all over the staff danced to the song 'Lets get loud' all in unison what a fantastic sight wish we had the video camera. Also went to Matahari bit of shopping done here.
Day 9, Caught a taxi to Carefour, got Olay products for mother in-law approx $10.00au really stocked up for her. Also found Ando's thongs here, they are the most comfortable thong ever, so a, throwing the Haviannas out.
Day 10, Last day - Woke up with what I thought was a man cold, I was assured by my husband that it definitely was not a man cold as I still had to do the final shopping, collect the laundry, pack the bags and watch the children as they enjoyed their last swims in the pool.
I haven't mentioned any of our dining experiences as being the owners of a restaurant can sometimes be a bit critical and think that every bodies opinions of eateries and dining experiences can differ greatly, we tried many of the restaurants that were recommended on this forum. I will however mention Warung Yogya, a very busy little place on JL Padma 85,000rp/ approx $10.00 with drinks dine-in for 4 of us, we also got take away from here for lunch for 48,000rp/ approx $6.00, the ladies here are wonderful.
I also made the most of my currency converter this was a great little tool and was kept in the plastic window of my wallet and referred to so many times.
We are looking forward to planning our next Bali holiday, we will be looking at an area that is near a surf beach that is not as busy as Legian where we could really relax then maybe spend our last 2 days at Legian or Kuta for shopping. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading