Surprise!
My 45th birthday was celebrated in style with a surprise weekend in Bali.
My bag had been packed for me, minus the toothpaste and a few other essentials, but the bikini was in there, so didn't need much else.
Left Perth on Jetstar Friday morning flight, which departed one hour late due to a problem with a radio.....the cockpit door was open and so we knew something was astray when the engineers kept racing in and out.
Anyway, arrived in one piece and used Hadi to get us through VOA quickly, but we looked like the only flight that had arrived, so the lines not so long.
Travelled light, for 3 nights, so not a long wait for the single bag to arrive.
Noticed that the counters have been moved for VOA, so no more confusion as to which one to go to first....no finger printing or scanning, as has previously been discussed here on the forum.
We had bought in some deli meats, cheese and bacon in our luggage - so ticked the food item on the customs form, ready to open up the case. I also thought that since we had one bag between the two of us and the allowed 2 bottles in it, that we would certainly be picked up, but no - waved straight through and outside to the hit of warm air.
Anyar Estate
Our transfer driver was waiting with the name signs and we were off to Kerobokan.
This set of 3 villas, are owned by the same couple who own Scallywags on the Gili Islands. We got a great rate for using one bedroom of the 3 bedroom villa.
They are building two more 2-bedroom villas, which should be ready around September this year....experienced some construction noise, but nothing too intrusive.
The location is further out than we have previously stayed, but about a 30,000Rp taxi ride into Seminyak for dining and shopping. But having said that, the chef at the villa is available to cook all meals and this is something many visitors seem to take advantage of and don't bother venturing out much at all.
The villas are located in a quiet road, surrounded by other villas and rice paddies. The last 100 metres is a challenge for cars, as quite a rocky surface.
We had intended to grab bicycles and discover the surrounds, but the pull of the pool and the DVD player, meant that we just lazed around for the weekend.
The three bedrooms are located side by side and all have their own bathroom and tv's. The beds and pillows are extremely comfortable and the staff are lovely. There is a separate kitchen/dining/living open plan area. Plenty of glass ware, drinking water and recycling bins too. We had two fridges to keep the drinks cold.....got to keep up fluid intake in the tropics!
Shopping
We did a half-day trip with a driver for about 4 hours to run around to grab some ‘essentials'. The trip was all about eating and drinking, but we couldn't resist a few things in Seminyak.
Printing
I wanted some name tags/badges made at a small shop in Seminyak. They had a range of tags either made of acrylic or coconut wood.
I opted for acrylic, so nothing to declare.
Very pleased with the work.
The shop is on opposite side of main road to Bintang Supermarket, slightly south towards Kuta and is called Marga Kiranna.
Jewellery
I found the shop where my sister bought a beautiful pearl pendant, surrounded by silver filigree. I found one with a pink pearl and a leather choker. The shop had 45% off sign and ended up costing about 240,000 Rp. I have had many comments since coming home as how nice it is....will go back there again and buy some more.
The shop is called RK Silver and is on the same side of the road as the Captain Cook bar, past the Courtyard hotel, towards Jalan Raya Seminak. I have walked past it many times and never went in before, but happy that I made the effort this time.
Ace Hardware
I enjoyed looking around the hardware and came out of the kitchen department with a new whisk, tongs and a strainer....I know I could buy these at home, but I really wanted them!!
Bali Mal Galleria
Can't believe that I haven't been here before. We hit the shops for much window shopping.
My feet are a size 9, so I rarely find anything other than beaded thongs to fit me.
I wandered into a beautiful shoe shop called Arvida and on the specials rack they had sizes 40 and 41.....so I ended up with a beautiful pair of white bling-bling sandals for 250,000 Rp. They are really comfortable. Some of the shoes were stunning for a special occasion with diamonds (well, they looked like them).
Dining
We only had 3 dinners - so we planned them carefully!
Friday night was the in-house villa bbq at Anyar.
Sensational food - steak, huge prawns, salads. Dips and cheeses and a beautiful chocolate cake from Bali Deli with ‘happy birthday' written on it.
Couldn't have asked for a nicer birthday dinner.
The bottle of champagne I bought in the luggage was drunk very quickly before dinner started.
LaSal - Jalan Drupadi, Seminyak
This was top of the list - we absolutely love this restaurant.....Saturday night wasn't too busy and we had a table under the tree outside.
Started with a few tapas dishes to share with our friends - baby squid, prawns in truffle oil, chicken croquettes and tuna tartare......all delicious and can't recommend highly enough. We then ordered a bbq plate for 2, shared by the 4 of us, which was ample and I think was about 350,000 Rp....can't quite recall the exact price as we drank a carafe of the red wine sangria, which is like lolly water! (I mean that in a nice way).
The bbq arrived on a hot plate, with coals and on top was steak, a lamb and leek sausage, one chicken breast, lamb chops and pork spareribs. It was accompanied with a salad, roasted peppers and sauces. Hardest thing was deciding what was the nicest and I think the consensus was the sausage!
Dessert was a caramel crepe and we all decided this was excellent value (this was part of the bbq plate menu item - dessert included).
Divine Wonderland- Jalan Laksmana
After dinner on Saturday night, we were in need of after-dinner refreshments, so headed to this newly opened bar/restaurant.....yes it is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and was a great fun place to spend some time.
You wander through the white picket fence to an outdoor area, with white wrought iron chairs/tables and then inside on the ground floor are some over-sized mad hatter chairs, a pool table, bar and many chaise lounges. It is funky and quirky works really well. Upstairs is airconditioned and the lounges are partitioned off with chiffon curtains and more chaise lounges.
We met the Perth owner - Dee and had a good chat. The menu is snack-style and we sampled some potato wedges.
After many frozen dacquiries, including the most sensational strawberry ones we grabbed a cab (well, slid into one) and headed off back to Kerobokan.............well past my bedtime.
Biku - Jalan Petitenget
The high tea beckoned, so we made a booking for a large table and met friends there mid afternoon on Sunday - glad we had booked, as was packed.....service was a bit slow, but the high tea was worth it (I think about 75,000 Rp)
The silver tea pot service comes on its own tray complete with the Royal Albert china. Then it's strawberries and cream in a small glass. The two-tiered cake tray comes out with sweets on the first layer (scones with cream and jam, a cute gingerbread man etc etc) then baby quiches and an assortment of finger sandwiches filled with ham/ mustard, cucumber and also smoked salmon (with the crusts removed of course)......I was hesitant to try to bubbles (which are an extra 45,000 Rp) but glad that I did as the champagne glass was cold and the sparkling was drinkable and very nice to round off the entire experience.
Others at the table ordered off the normal menu, with pasta or a rather good lamb pie, however I think they were all envious when the high tea platters rolled out and then they wanted to have some too!
Chandi - Jalan Laksmana
Sarong was fully booked on Sunday (glad we checked and had the staff at the villa phoned to arrange a booking), so we decided to book a table at Chandi on Eat Street.....we didn't realise that this is the location of an old favourite of ours - Med or Auroro in previous years. So it's had a makeover and was absolutely pumping with people.
We started with a shared entrée platter, it had a lot of fried things, like onion rings, calamari rings, squid and tofu. It also included four different dipping sauces, plenty of green soy beans and a few other items. An odd mixture, I would rate this only as good to fair - nothing to rave about. The 1.6 litre jug of strawberry and lime dacquaries for about 380,000 Rp was icy cold and very nice. Mains were much better than the starter....we enjoyed a 3-way beef curry with flat noodles (the rendeng was delicious), a tuna steak with side salad and a duck dish. We all had no room left for desert. I would return again and try another entrée.
Ryoshi - Jalan Legian, Seminyak
In my opinion, this place has the best, freshest sashimi anywhere!
We enjoyed eel, tuna and a beef rice bowl as a late afternoon snack, on our departure day and it certainly hit the spot.
Jetstar
For a no frills airline, I found them ok to fly and would do so again.
Yes the departing flight was an hour late, but we still made it. The DVD player cost $10.00 to hire and we enjoyed a movie, which made the flight a tad quicker.
They do serve alcohol, (unlike Air Asia) and I preferred their food selection to AA too (if you can say that about any airline tucker).
However, the seats didn't recline on the way home, so a most uncomfortable time trying to get some sleep..........I would make sure that I booked a daytime flight with them next time. We scored the exit row no.12 and had heaps of legroom, without having to pay any extra, which was a bonus, as my husband asked at the check-in counter in Denpasar.
So overall, we had a good experience travelling with Jetstar and had the use of the Q Club in Perth prior to departure. We knew that we couldn't use the lounges in Denpasar without paying, so just sat in a café for a few last bintangs before departure on time and back home to a cold wintery Perth morning.