Just got back and thought I'd share some details of my trip. This was my families second trip, we went in November last year, and loved it so much, we postponed our trip to the Gold Coast in favour of another Bali trip. I brought my mother over from the Gold Coast to come to Bali with us, as the poor dear would have missed out on seeing the grankiddies, and it worked out a few grand cheaper too!
We took a Jet* morning flight over from Perth, no problems, out 10 mins early, and into Bali 20 mins early. Nice. Then Immigration.....
I had the US for the VOA, and that took about 30 seconds, but the line for immigration was long and slow, took about 1 hour and 20 mins. But all that was forgotten as we trundled into two cabs and off the hotel.
This trip we wanted a three bedroom with a kitchen for easy lunches and snacks for the kids, so I picked the Oc~en Outrigger on the corner of Double Six and the beachfront street (cant remember the name) A very modern hotel, more suited to Noosa, or the northern beaches of NSW, but not Bali. It was spacious and comfortable, but was built cheaply, and most of the fittings showed. The shower sprayed water in every direction but down, and we needed to use all the spare towels to stop the water flooding into the bedrooms, as the shower drains were not the lowest point in the bathroom. There was other stuff, but the maintenance guys sorted it quickly, so not worth stressing over.
Traffic was terrible, so going anywhere in a taxi needed planning, as a simple trip to Kuta, or Carrefour was a 45-minute crawl. Moving around was so bad; we ended up canceling a lot of our planned trips, in favour of the pool or the beach. Sometimes I would go out to get what we needed on my own, and stopping a local on a motorbike, waving a 20, and scooting off through the traffic! Win-win!
On the first day I called Mr. Honeyman (thanks BTF!) He came straight to my room, and showed us about 10-12 cases of glasses, all of which were modern and quite good quality. We ordered 5 pairs of prescription glasses for 2.2mil (A$280) They were delivered the next day and were perfect, even with my mothers glasses, which she had no script for, he just took them away, put them on the Vertometer, got the correct script, and dropped them straight back to the hotel. Easy.
A few days later we saw Mr. Lalau, he sets up a motorbike stall selling glasses outside the Kamula Pantai, and had a more modern range, with the Ray Ban, Oakley wrap around style that I prefer, so we ordered 3 more pair of sunnies, and clear glasses from him. He originally wanted 5 mil...and after hysterical laughter, on both sides, we got him down to 2 mil. But....he was late delivering them, and we only got them 1 hour before we left for the airport, and the sunnies I wanted the most were delivered in the wrong colored tint, I ordered brown, and they come in a yellow-green colour, totally useless, and he argued with me for ages that this is what I ordered, until I showed him the receipt, which said Brown....I took them, and knocked 200 off the price, which he took, but I would suggest giving Mr. Lalau a few extra days to deliver. All in all, 8 pairs of prescription glasses for $545. I paid more for my crappy Just specs in Perth.
We did a trip to Costa (Tanah) Lot, and had a nice meal over looking the ocean during sunset. Did other stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that you all haven't read a hundred times on this forum.
Best meal Double D in Kuta, next to Kuta art markets. A Chinese, Asian place with the nicest Hunnan I've ever had. Also had a great meal at the Nikko, Mozzarellas sister place, awsome steak, and not expensive, I think 8-900 for 5 of us inc drinks.
Worst meal, Zanzibar....awfull, bland food, crunchy spaghetti, stale bread. No excuses for undercooked food. Shame on them!
All in all, a more relaxing trip, as we settle into the Bali routine. We are already planning another trip in Summer, this time I'm going to try one of those deals you get on the Fax machine...a lucky dip holiday to Bali. I'm game, what can I loose...an ordinary week in Bali, still beats......