Now, before I start let me say that the following are personal opinions and if you are not interested, do not read on. Was on the midnight flight out of Denpasar and I am knackered, so spelling may be shouse also!!
Hubby (poppynofriends) and I were very excited to return to Bali as this was the first time since 2004. This was our first time at Melasti Beach Resort at Legian as we have always stayed at Jayakarta. As this was a trip by ourselves, we wanted to go up market a bit and booked a deluxe suite and were very happy. On arrival we were put into a room with single beds but considering the size of them and it was only for one day, we had no complaints. Our new room was complete with king size bed, air con, excellent lighting, bathroom with separate shower and bath, a normal loo and one of those othery thingys. Considering some of the things read in this forum and on Trip Advisor, I must admit that I was concerned with staying at MBR, but thrilled with what was delivered. Yes, some of the staff were not as friendly as others, but that is human nature and no biggie.
Brekky was excellent. Egg station, cereal, fruit, pastries and 8 different hot offerings each day. Plenty to satisfy the most pickiest person.
Because of a bit of an "inerds" problem that I have, I decided to take Travelan before each meal. This ended up being a good decision as some of the spices did cause me to have a few problems, but thankfully they were short lived.
We mainly ate at Seaside on Legian beach. Food and service always excellent. Good value for the ever dwindling aussie $. Also tried, Lanai (service and food good) Kumala Pantai (food average and service was non existent), Indo-National (great food and service) and Bubba Gump (food good but way too expensive: 465,000rp for 2 and that was for mains, a large and small bintang and a coke.
Also intended to go to Jimbaran Bay for dinner but the night before decided to just go out and get something simple and this was PNF's downfall. There is a new take away fish and chip shop next to Lanai that only opened last week. PNF ordered grilled barramundi, thinking that there was not much that could go wrong with this... bad move.. only stayed down about 2 hrs and he was attached to the loo for the next 36 hrs. Take care if you intend to try here.
Did the BAli Baik Bike ride and had a ball. It was a boiling hot day but as there was only 3-4 challenging areas, it was definately doo-able. I would definately recommend this to anyone... what makes it even better was that the money goes to the local school.
Our overall impression, this time around:
.. Would definately return to Melast Beach Resort
.. Would definately recommend the Bali Baik Bike ride. We paid 400,000rp but it can be cheaper if booked in Bali. Considering where the rp is going, we were happy to pay the extra.
.. If you need a great driver, ask at the MBR reception to be put in contact with Gusmang (his wife Rita work at reception). Lovely gentleman and very knowledgable.
.. Take a calculator to work out what is a good price. PNF told me that I have possibly sponsored a whole family since I have been here as I am lousy at bartering as I feel like I am taking food from their mouths....
.. No I don't want a time share scratchie, no I don't have a $2 coin (what happened to them asking for a $1 coin??)
.. Some shopkeepers are becoming very pushy, so much that I had to ask them to take there hands off me... take care!! Some of the kids (8-12 year olds) are just as bad.
.. Yes, there are plenty of places to watch the NRL but make sure you check the price of the beer before you start drinking. 64,000rp for 2 sml bintangs and a coke is a bit rich.
.. Count, count and count again. Some money changers are good and some not-so-good. Even the good ones like the Kodak stores often forget to hand over all your rp, then make you feel guilty about asking for it.
.. Security now seems to be of great importance all around Bali. It certainly made us feel a lot safer.
.. Now, I know that every culture has their "problem children" but I was really embarrassed with the language spewed out by some aussies (male and female). I am sure that at times, it was a competition to see how many times the "f" word could be used in one sentence. Come on people, take a deep breath.
from NNF and PNF
with love!!