Our Bali holiday this time was a real family affair. It was to celebrate my nephews 21st and my third sisters 50th. There was a group of 16 of us arriving and departing at a variety of times but a core of two weeks together....school holidays unfortunately; Australian and Indonesian. It was a wonderful way to spend time with family.
I must say I am never flying via anywhere again. We left our booking too late and had to fly via Darwin, there and back. Domestic to Darwin but our bags were checked straight through to Bali. The Darwin stopover on the way home was a killer. We left Bali at 10:55pm Saturday and arrived in Melbourne at midday Sunday....four hour layover in Darwin in the middle of the night! I had to go to work the next day and it's taken till now to catch up on sleep and get back into routine.
Everyone talks about how awful the arrival in Bali is but no one ever mentions this end! The domestic Jetstar check-in at Tullamarine was terrible. We arrived 2 hours early for check in ‘cos we like to sit down and relax before the flight and grab a bite to eat. Big mistake. The queues were so long and we counted 6 counters operating and over 11 flights checking in. There were Jetstar staff helping people to do the automatic check-in...great idea but you still needed to queue to drop off your bags. Because we had an international connection we couldn't do the auto thing. As each flight was nearing its cut off point those passengers were called to the front. It took over one and a half hours for us to check in. When we finally got to the front the lady we got couldn't check in international connections! More waiting! We had 20 minutes to spare before boarding!! So much for a relaxing lunch. Two hour stop over in Darwin where we did our duty free shopping and then a hop, skip and jump to Bali.
Breezed through Denpasar airport; first in the VOA queue and immigration...bags waiting and out of there in 10 minutes....must be a record! Had to laugh...at VOA I handed over $70 AUD and got back $10AUD. The couple next to me did the same thing and got rupiah back!! We changed money at the airport for the taxi to Sanur - 95,000rp
Our first hotel was Villa Puri Ayu in Sanur. We had a garden room which was very pleasant. It had a little outdoor kitchen with full sized fridge and water cooler/heater and an outdoor bathroom. Great big comfy bed and comfy pillows! Flat screen TV with DVD player and 60 channels....hubby was happy.
There was also a small garden with gazebo and chairs. One of my sisters stayed in one of the deluxe rooms near the small pool and it was great too.
Two other sisters and their families shared the Villa Diamond. This villa has 4 bedrooms, kitchen and a swimming pool in a private garden. It was a good set up but a little run down. The roof supporting posts on the top floor were riddled with white ant...they were spongy to touch! Bathroom roof leaked every time it rained. For the price there are a lot better villas around. The Emerald Loft suites are quite new and look great. It is a pain having the bedroom upstairs in the mezzanine and bathroom downstairs. The huge floor to ceiling windows also allow in far too much heat...no window coverings so the air conditioner was working overtime.
We aren't familiar with the southern end of Sanur and were pleasantly surprised when we saw all the restaurants, I had only read about on the forum, right at the end of our gang.
We usually stay up the Sindhu Beach end but most of those hotels have increased their prices too much for us.
The facilities at the hotel are good. Agung at the front desk was extremely helpful and nothing was too much trouble. While we were there 5 of our group got conjunctivitis. One sister (birthday girl) got a really bad case. Agung called the doctor and even offered to pay for the treatment. The doctor assured us and Agung that it is an airborne bacteria and nothing to do with the pool. Took a good week to clear up with antibiotic drops and tablets.
We noticed that eating out in Bali has become a little more expensive than in previous years. We were made more aware of this as my youngest sister had her 3 kids with them; two of whom are teenagers, and to find restaurants that came within their daily budget was hard. Many now charge not only the 10% tax but 5% service charge. Kesumas on the beach was a favourite and no tax! We also ate at the Cat & Fiddle, Donald's and Bobby's. ..can't remember all the others!
Having some newbies with us we wanted to show them some of the Balinese culture and the beautiful scenery. A trip to Uluwatu to watch the kecak gave them both. I had planned for this to be a cheap and cheerful afternoon and nearly died when the cost of the kecak ticket was 70,000rp each. It cost the family of five, $50. When there's just the two of us travelling we don't take much notice of how much stuff costs..oops. They said they enjoyed it though. Having seen kecak several times before, I was kept entertained by how many people they keep shoving into the space. It was packed!
We asked our drivers to take us to a restaurant on the way home and yes you guessed it!! We ended up at a ‘friends' place at Jimbaran Bay. Funny thing was they gave us a 15% discount and then promptly added it back on at the end in the form of the tax. So my great idea of a cheap and cheerful night out failed miserably...bread and dripping tomorrow...or should that be boiled rice!
While in Sanur we all did the Baik Bike trip. It was a fabulous day out and boy has Wayan expanded his business since we last went with him 3 years ago. The pig pens have been replaced by gardens and a new house and there's a big, brand new bale to accommodate all the riders for lunch. Wayan and his wife still provide a very personalized service and the food is still as good as ever.
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