Will start with the leathergoods and homewares we collected on the way back to Tuban (ordered in week 1 when we were staying in Legian).
We had fully intended to have some leather handbags made at Tommys in Jln Padma given the excellent reports noted on this forum. Visited his shop, and quite honestly, he must be so busy that he doesn't need any more business. All the bags in his shop were very large. There were a few that we liked the design of - however he advised that he couldn't make them in a smaller size. My sis had a photo of a designer handbag with lots of different shaped studs all over it. He looked at it and advised that he couldn't make it. So we walked out of there thinking that our handbag dreams weren't to come to fruition. Walked along Garlic Lane on the way back to our hotel, and went into a shop we hadn't heard of before - turns out - they were wonderful.
234 HOUSE OF LEATHER - JL SAHA DEWA LEGIAN
I had a crocodile skin belt made for my son at a cost of 166000rp. Buckle can be screwed off and changed (which is what the young ones want).
Sis had her designer bag with all the studs over it made. She was not expecting a great result (given Tommy's reaction). Turned out exactly like the picture and was causing quite a stir amongst other customers. (I think it will now be one of their display items). Cost was 600000rp. Absolutely beautifully soft leather and very well made.
Sis also ordered another larger bag that was on display. Once again, beautiful quality and 600000. Would highly recommend this place and the lady who runs it is lovely.
MONICA COLLECTION Jl Sahadewa
Had 1 Queen Size doona cover, 2 pillow cases, 4 cushions and 3 muslin curtains made - total cost 1050000rp. The doona and cushions are excellent quality. Curtains well made.
Have to be honest - I didn't check the curtains until I got home. (You know - very hot shop - just want to get out into the air - so pay up and go). One of the curtains was for a wider window with a short drop. They made it the wrong way round - so I have a long curtain that only covers about half the window. Fixable though - just have to buy a couple of bottles of wine for my sewing friend here!!. It really was my fault for not checking - and I don't hold any grudge against Monica. She was very pleasant to deal with, and once again - all items were ready on time and quality of sewing was good.
SANTIKA BEACH RESORT TUBAN:
We were thrilled with this hotel. Had booked a Garden Bungalow. We were upgraded to an Ocean View Suite - Yoohoo.
These suites would be absolutely wonderful if you had a group of adults going over for a special occasion. It is a gated community of 8 units. Overlooks the beach and has a lovely swimming pool. Butler is in the area of the pool that should be a swim up bar (but isn't).
Breakfast was amazing. First morning we ate at the beachfront restaurant (included in cost). It was a la carte style. We ate at the buffet breakfast for the next 2 days. Largest buffet I have ever seen - if you can't get your fill there, then you have something wrong with you. Includes a fritter station, egg station, pastries section and every other version of breakfast you could possibly imagine.
Staff were all lovely - and grounds great. Easy walk along the paved path to Discovery Shopping Centre etc, and our favourite coffee shop Black Canyon. Just watch out for king tides. On the path one day the tide had come up far higher than normal and was washing over the path. A security guard in one of the resorts got our attention and asked us to walk into their property to get away from the tide. Unfortunately just as I was walking off the path into the garden a wave washed over the path and I couldn't see where I was putting my foot. Straight into a gutter with a lot of pain and a bit of blood loss to follow. Still a bit touchy now after 3 weeks. Lucky it was just that minor.
Restaurants:
MA JOLLY:
Apart from the yucky half board meal we had at our resort in Candidasa, Ma Jolly's was really the worst meal we had on our trip. Terribly expensive for what is only ordinary food. Table cloths were stained - they are charging what are pretty much silver service prices in Bali - without the silver service.
I think half the problem is that the menu is pretty limited, and it also isn't well described, so you really aren't sure what you are ordering. You end up chosing something that isn't quite what you would want - because there isn't any other choice.
We had Entree, 1 steak tartare and 1 tien of prawn. Main 1 Steak Medalian with veal jus - and 1 fish dish (so unmemorable my sis can't remember exactly what it was) 995000 for two courses each and 2 beers/2 cocktails.
I wouldn't recommend it. (they are charging Gado Gado prices without any of the Gado Gado experience)
KUNYIT (At the entrance to Santika Resort).
I definitely would recommend this one - we thought it was great. Authentic Balinese food. We had 2 Singapore Slings, 2 x Sate entrees, 1 x Lamb Stew, 1 x 6 King prawns, 1 Black Rice Pudding, 1 x Lak Lak - all up 380000rp.
PANTAI:
We thought this was good value for money - and meals were nice. Nothing to rave about in my opinion - but nice.
Had heaps of excess baggage on the way home. We had digital scales with us and tried to avoid charges as best we could. My cabin bag weighed just over the 7kg allowed. But they didn't weigh that!! If I had know that - I would have rearranged things before hand. I was also trying to look like my handbag was just normal - but I actually had 100 DVD's in there - which weigh quite a bit when you are carrying them in a handbag!!. Turns out my suitcase was 5kg over - at USD15 a kilo - that wasn't nice. We were there very early - so the girl asked me to open my bag and take things out to redistribute. I always think this is VERY weird, as the ultimate result is still going to be the same amount of weight on the plane!!. Anyhoo - I didn't have any one item that weighed any great weight. I took out the evening jacket that I had tailored over there and laughingly said - well I can wear that. Threw a couple of things into my sisters hand luggage. At that time, the guy in charge of the checkin station next door looked over and said "its OK - just leave it as is". No excess baggage charge - yeeeha.
We used the Dewa lounge for the 2 to 3 hours we had before the flight. Would highly recommend this. For 100000 each, you have a buffet of food, Bintang on Tap etc, and they will watch your bags while you are out looking at the shops (or getting a reflexology foot massage as we did).
Flight home with Virgin was good. 1 hour less than the flight over. The only negative I have about Virgin is that they really need to change their practice of only accepting credit card payments. Takes forever for the crew to do a food service given they have to process a credit card payment for each one. While they were doing a food service I wanted to get some new earplugs to watch a show on TV because the ones I was given didn't work. Took about 15 minutes for them to be able to respond to my service light because they were doing food service. (Missed half the show I wanted to watch - Buggar).
We really did have a great holiday. On day 3 we realised that we hadn't turned the TV on in our hotel room - hadn't even thought about it. So we decided to make that a theme of our trip. We didn't turn TV on in any of the resorts and had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world. If we saw someone trying to sell newspapers in the street we would look the other way. We knew that if there was anything happening that we absolutely had to know about - our families would let us know via mobile phone. Very liberating we thought.
Loved watching the Balinese social and family life. They have such a lovely time with each other. There is one image that will stick in my mind forever. A family all dressed in their white temple gear loaded onto a motor bike. Dad driving with a young daughter in front of him. Young son behind him before Mum on the back. They were all smiling - but the Dad just had the most beautiful smile on his face - obviously very proud and happy with his beautiful family.
Also loved seeing the teenagers all out playing soccer on the beach or on any spare bit of ground they could find of an afternoon. No sitting at home in front of a TV or computer after school. Lots of excercise and fun with their friends.
Thanks for reading my JBR's. Hope they have been of some assistance to anyone planning a trip - and more than happy to answer any questions you have.