We travelled from Perth with Air Asia, which was a great flight. This was the 7th time with them and I find them good value and have no complaints except for the bright cabin lights so early in the morning.
Once out of the airport, my driver Tajus and a friend with a 12 seater bus were waiting for us. The 10 of us plus luggage (4 teen girls = luggage+) got in our transport and headed off to Bintang supermarket for supplies and eskies and cartons of bintang, ice, water and drinks. The moneychanger at the front was honest. Be careful which water you buy as it can be more expensive than the beer.
I tried getting a simcard there but they wanted 40,000 which is normal in Kuta. If anyone can point me to a shop with 25,000 rupiah simcards, please tell. (I got one in Amed for 25,000)
We headed north east to Taman Tirtagangga water palace for our first cultural insight to Bali, well some of our group anyway as this was my 4th trip so I sort of became tour guide.
We paid for a local guide to show us around. It's funny how the tour comes to a sudden stop once the rain starts and then he talks about money for him and sending his children to school and could I have a cigarette? We were happy to pay what we paid him plus a ciggie (not what he suggested) so I suggest take care if you get a guide not to pay too much. (300 000 IDR is too much)
We then headed for our accommodation at Amed (which a member of our group asked not to mention as it may become hard to get reservations) to settle in for a couple of days of relaxation. We went to a new restaurant (Kemulang Warung) for a late lunch which was great value and tasty. The satay was very popular. The view from the warung perched on a hill was spectacular, looking out to the Gili's and Lombok can be seen on a clear day.
Back to our bungalows, we ended up sitting in the warm calm ocean sitting sunset drinks
Until dark. By now we were re - laxed...
The next days were spent snorkelling and doing nothing. Excellent. The massages on our balconies were rather average.
Day 4, All in the car and we're off to Lovina via Kintamani and Gitgit waterfall. The scenery between Amed, Amlapura to Rendang and up to Kintamani is quite spectacular.
We stayed at Lovina Beach Cottages, which was a great cheap clean comfortable hotel. We ate at Sea Breeze café just to the left of the dolphin monument. The meals here were good and live music was entertaining.
The next morning we headed off to Air Panus Hot Springs for a morning soak then to Munduk waterfall for an invigorating dip in the cold water. I reckon this is a lot easier to get to than Gitgit and doesn't have the pesty sellers either. The prices at Gitgit seem to be on par with Kuta now.
We went to the buffet restaurant at Lake Bratan for lunch, as it was quite cold outside. A quick look around the gardens and across the lake and temples then we were off to Ubud for a night.
We stayed at Adi Cottages in MFR which was excellent, went to the Ubud markets for a squiz and had dinner at bali Pesto again then drinks around the pool til midnight and off to the reggae bar for a late night drink. Oh dear, My niece has spotted her mother and me on the photo wall of shame from 2 years ago. Mmmmmmm how do we explain this one..
The next morning we went to the monkey forest for the kids to see monkeys then back to the hotel to pack up and head to Kuta.
We stayed at Champlung mas, which was really good for us, as it's a bit quieter up that end. I stayed at the Vilarisi last year and liked the area. Garlic Lane is one of my favourites. We found ‘Warung Pan Toh under the mango trees' in a little lane between Jl Legian and Lebak Lane. The meals are delicious. The Gordon Blue's were popular. I liked the chicken cooked in Coke. It sounds weird but the caramel flavour is yum. Their Illusion's are yum too.
Massages were had at a great new place called ‘Serenity Spa' on Lebak Lane at the dogleg near Sayang Maha Mertha hotel. I highly recommend the four hand massage for 130 000. The ladies there are terrific and 60 000 for a 1 hour balinese massage is a fair price. They offer ginger tea at the end too.
While in Kuta we did the rafting and quadbike tours. Some others did the bintang bike tour and loved it. We spent a day at waterbom, the new tube ride should be nearly ready. The bale cost 150 000 IDR but was worth it. I didn't know waitresses would bring your meal to you which was good.
Service and value at Ketut's fixed price shop in Garlic Lane was excellent so we spent heaps there on clothes and things. Dvd's from Bali gong and Megadisch on Melasti both offered great service and most disks work. The dvd shop opposite Pub Bagus in P2 had a huge selection but the staff were rude.
We ate at Warung Pan Toh, Indonational, a new warung in Lebak lane, I think it was called Warung Happee. The meals were sensational but service was slow but the place was clean so we didn't mind. Macca's was still crap. The hotel Sayang Maha Mertha advertised cheap meals and were good. The corner café let us down unfortunately as the meals were slow and service not good. My meal came out after everybody had finished which was annoying but the bintang was as cold as ever. Unfortunately, my plans of visiting Billy's for a bbq, La Lucciola, Ours and Kori's didn't happen so I guess I will have to do that next time eh.