Part 2
Legian and Sanur
7th May - 24th May
Mum, Dad, 3 daughters and friend aged 16 - 21
I forgot to mention in part 1 that my daughter got a very bad cough/cold/flu/asthma type sickness in Legian and went to a local clinic just around the corner to the left from the Puri Raja road exit. Very thorough, given lots of appropriate medicine and cost about $120 aud.It was funny though that he said it was a very bad winter there and that could have contributed to her problems!! Also one of the local shop keepers stopped bringing his baby into the store as it was getting too cold to bring the baby out every day.....I think he was serious!
Also we did some shopping in Seminyak, we started at Seminyak square (? I think that is what it is called) and walked along that street, the girls quite liked all the boutique type shops along that street. Something different to all the market shops and they brought a few things.
Hubby and I also went to Ku Da Ta, ok so it was stunning and the food was fantastic, and I totally enjoyed it, but, it was very expensive, about aud $160, and we did have entrees, seafood mains, dessert, drinks and at home it would have been well over $200. I would say save it for very special occasions but give it a try if you don't mind spending the $$$. It was very dark in there and they gave my hubby a little tiny torch to read the menu, lol, very cute.
I did some shopping at Bintang silver in Legian, I splurged on a lovely long thick silver chain, a few pendants to go on it and 4 pairs of earrings. I spent about $85. I am not a big jewelry buyer but I just loved the price and product, I had never really looked in there before but I think I will definitely be spending some $ there next time.
So after 11 lovely days at the Puri Raja and sadly still having restaurants on our list that we didn't try (next time will have to try them) we moved over to The Besakih Beach Resort in Sanur. Hubby and I stayed there last September and loved it but we were a bit worried that the girls would find it too quiet.
Need not have worried, they said it was like Fiji only it was in Bali!!
Sorted out our 3 rooms, the two girls rooms next door to each other and us a few rooms away, we were all in the bungalows at the back of the resort and they were great! Clean and comfortable.(Cleaner than our room there last time so a bonus!) Even though we were at the back I timed my walk to the beach and pool one morning and it took 2 min and 40 seconds at a very slow dawdle so not a problem.
The girls were very impressed with the beachfront setting and settled in for some sun and sand.
We made a trip to Hardy,s for supplies and to check out all the touristy stuff on the upper floors, and to orientate the girls and we were all set for 5 lovely nights.
Breakfast is the same as Puri Raja a selection of fruit, juice, coffee, tea, eggs bacon, pancakes, pastries, toast, perfect. The restaurant is beachfront and in a superb setting. The pool is also absolutely beachfront and a great spot to watch the world go by.
The beach was beautiful and warm and clear and calm.
Two of our daughters went out snorkeling on a boat from the beach and said it was fantastic, not a lot of coral but lots and lots of fish.
So spoilt for choice with restaurants, do you go beachfront or out on the street, we did both, Bennos and Bonsai were beach favourites.
The village on the street, turn left from the Besakih, was fantastic, a bit dearer but well worth it, I had Ravioli with Caviar cream sauce, yummmmmmm.
Jepun was nice and they picked us up and brought us home again for free.
Ratatouille (Spelling?) was another very nice restaurant and on the last night we ate at Mades Warrung and that was very nice as well.
Some nice shops for the girls to explore and the ever present market type shops.
Sunrise is stunning there and one morning my hubby and daughter got up at 5.45am and took pics of the sunrise with the volcano in the background......amazing!
Beach chairs always available any time of day....a bonus.
Lots and lots of older couples staying there for the 3rd 4th 5th 10th time etc time. A few families there also with smaller children.
The reception staff are friendly, all the auxiliary staff lovely. The restaurant seems to have a lot of trainee staff who don't have a great grasp on the English language, this didn't bother us at all but some people got a bit frustrated trying to order breaky, I always take the view that we are in another country and we should never just assume that they will speak English for our benefit. Patience and a good sense of humour goes a long way in these situations.
Also breaky was funny in that all the food comes at once or in reverse order of what you are expecting, so if you have ordered fruit, eggs and pancakes it will probably all arrive at once or the eggs will come first then the fruit then the pancakes while the person you are eating with will get theirs in reverse order to you all within minutes of each other and its a bit of a juggle fitting it all on the table, but again, a sense of humour comes in handy. lol
I noticed one day that they were doing a cooking school at the Griya next door on the beach, that looked good.
Jennis and Tootsies fixed price shops at the markets on the beach (turn into the markets at Benno's and they are up towards the back of the markets) were fantastic as usual with a great choice of bags and everything Bali. Getting past the market ladies on the beach in that area was as always a challenge and to be honest they turn me off buying anything from them, grabbing your arm, rubbing your back and sulking when you wont go with them, but you must just say no and take it in your stride, they sat waiting for us to finish lunch and latched on again when we had finished, seriously I think they are over the top and lose business for themselves, but that is just my opinion. No where else in Legian or Sanur were we hassled as much. Infact no where else in Sanur where we hassled at all!
I love Sanur, but I would only stay beachfront now as it is such a beautiful stretch there near the Besakih, especially at night with all the restaurants and hotels lit up.
Hubby and one of the daughters hired bikes also and went riding along the beach path one day.
We booked a Bali Hai day cruise from Sanur and we got a great price 72usd, I had high expectations for this trip as it is so expensive, but I was a bit disappointed. The boat was packed full and it was all a bit argy bargy. The pontoon was ok with lots to do, unlimited banana boat rides and snorkeling equipment a diving board and an island tour. We also hired towels and a locker.
My daughter also did parasailing, that cost about aud $25.
My daughters friend got sick on the way out and slept the whole day on board the main boat, poor thing she didnt get to do anything and we all took turns sitting with her watching her sleep and making sure she was ok :(.
Lunch was fresh and plentiful. I cant say one particularly bad thing about the whole day it just wasn't as good as I was expecting and the island tour was interesting, just that there was too many people.
Once again lots of free wifi around the place in Sanur and even the Besakih had free wifi at the restaurant and lobby, I found it to be a bit hit and miss though not sure what the problem was but I had no trouble elsewhere.
We had 5 nights in Sanur and I think for the girls that was enough, but for hubby and I we could have done another week at least! I just find it so relaxing, no stress, relaxing on the beach, eating and people watching, nice!
So we had a dreaded 1.10am flight home - again not the flight we booked but changed by Virgin...gggrrrrr. We had late check out on one of the rooms. We checked out at 6pm, went out for dinner and then left for the airport at about 8.45. Checked in and we still had about 13kgs of our 120kgs left, hmmmm we obviously didn't try hard enough!
Hubby had a bit of trouble getting through immigration, the guy told him he had his old departure card and it wasnt correct?????? So hubby called me over, yes I admit there was a few seconds where I looked in the other direction and pretended I was wondering where the poor guys wife was, lol.
So I go over and say is there a problem and the immigration guy says he needs a new departure card this is an old one, I ask him is it the same as mine he says yes but his is an old one....hmmm, I ask him to explain how our cards differ, he stamps away, I say is everything ok, he mumbles, I say you can keep my husband if you like.......he hands us back our passports and he mumbles at us that we can go through. My kids by now are a bit nervous so my eldest daughter says the biggest brightest friendliest hello she can muster and the immigration guy says to her why is everyone talking so much!!!
I have no clue what any of that was about but I suspect they were going to tell him he needed to pay for a new departure card or am I just being paranoid??
So we negotiate entry to the Prada/executive lounge for 500000 for the 6 of us and spend a few hours using wifi drinking bintang/tea/juice and eating and sitting comfortably.
Our flight left a bit early and arrived early, I managed some sleep, but hubby didn't, although I swear I heard him snoring at some stage! I was pretty glad for my $2.50 blow up neck pillow I had brought from home!!
Arrived at Sydney, went to duty free, straight through immigration collected our bags............well all but one of them. My hubby went to pick up a bag of the same colour and I said nope that's not ours. So 10 minutes later almost no one left at the carousel and this lone purple bag going round and round and round....hmmmmmmm, penny drops, whoever owns this bag has our bag, oh crap!
After much debate I drag the bag off and ring the phone number, a man tells me yes it is his brother, and he has just realised and is on his way back to the terminal with my bag. Hmmm what to do now do we wait there, go through customs, take his bag through????
So we ask for advice/assistance of 3 different customs officers and they all say oh gees I don't know what you should do or where you should go, they just didn't want to know. One of them did say we shouldnt take the bag through, and I had already thought this as I had no clue what was in this bag, I never thought for a minute there would be drugs or anything but it would only take a bottle of wine or a peice of fruit or wood to show up on xray and I would have to explain why it wasnt my bag. So hesitantly we go through customs and find a lady waiting with our driver who is holding up our name, it is the wife of the guy who has our bag, oh how clever she thought to do that.........HOWEVER.....her husband has gone off in a flurry with our bag trying to find where to take it too and he doesnt have his phone and no one can find him.
Cue the Benny Hill chase music for the next 40 minutes while everyone was running around the airport trying to find eachother!!!!!
It really was funny, I just couldnt be angry, his wife was so upset and even after the flight from hell and being so tired I wanted to die I just tried to fund the funny side. I think a sense of humour is always good in these situations!! He apologised several times, its all good I say, I have a husband too so I understand how these things can happen.
After leaving a bag in our driveway when we left home and then this at the Airport I think its time to get new bags!!
And so ended a fabulous fabulous holiday, it was so nice to be able to spend time like that with our mostly grown children who I know also had a fantastic time.
Bali can be anything you like from full on tourist activites,cultural/spiritual enlightenment, fine dining, cheap eating, endless relaxation or shopping like a mad man, laying by the pool or full on activity, I think we did a little bit of each one of those things, and I think that is part of the attraction for us.
Two things I will not miss....Gluggy salt shakers that you can not actually get salt out of and cleaning your teeth using a bottle of water just never gets easier, but if thats the worst of it I can survive. LOL
We arrived back with a thump to pouring rain and freezing cold and to add insult to injury a problem tooth I had been trying to ignore suddenly gave me immense pain the day we got home and I had to have a big old molar out the next day, oh gees, talk about the holiday being over!
At least I have the rest of the week off, everyone else had to front up for work the next day....poor buggers.
Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy your Bali adventures, whatever way you choose to enjoy your time, as much as we did.