Hubby, Myself and four very excited kids aged 15,13,12 and 11 left Kalgoorlie on the 21st dec arriving in Perth at 8pm for our 1am flight on the 23rd dec. Arrrived in Bali at 4.37 am and this was the start of our christmas holiday! We had been to Bali twice before but this was the kids first time, so as you can imagine they were full of beans and mum and dad were sooo tired!
We had booked two connecting rooms at Discovery kartika plaza with an extra bed in both rooms.It was handy having the 2 bathrooms,fridges etc Beautiful hotel and very clean,friendly staff and great service except for breakfast.The first morning we were told we hadn't paid for breakfast until the next day as we had only arrived that morning. I explained we had paid for the rooms from the 21st even though we hadnt arrived until the 22nd,all was good. The next morning we went for breaky we were told we had only paid for 4 people to have breakfast until I explained we have paid for 1 extra bed in each room which includes breakfast. All was good. The next day no questions asked but xmas day we do the usual room number thing, explain we have two rooms and off we go. I have half a plate of breakfast and this woman makes a beeline for me "excuse me, excuse me, you have too many people for breakfast,
you not pay" I explained we have paid for extra beds blah blah and she said she will check....by this stage I had had enough,everyone had stared at me as if I was trying to feed my kids for free or something. We paid good money to stay there and I shouldnt have had to explain nearly every day.She checked and said "oh yes you have paid for 6"....not good enough love! Hubby went to reception and told them to sort it out so we dont get questioned any more. The next day big smiles and we were ushered straight through, didnt even have to give room numbers.That afternoon we got back to our room we had two vouchers for complimentary massages and a letter of apology.Everyone was happy! Breakfast was uneventful after this until our second last day we went down to breakfast 15 minutes before it closed as the kids were tired and just lazing around. We were told it is too late,hubby said to them breakfast isnt closed yet and other people were still serving themselves food! Anyway it didnt matter it was more our fault for leaving it until the last minute and decided to go back to our room and get money and we would go out for breakfast.When we got there the phone rang and it was reception telling us that we could have breakfast, we thanked them but told them it doesn't matter...All in all this was the only complaint I have for the whole trip and I must add the food at breakfast is lovely. I would stay at the hotel again and on our last day check out was at 12 and they let us keep one room free of charge until we had to leave at 5pm.That was so handy and very kind of them.
The rate was 8900 everyday we were there,which was great.My oldest daughter 15 was spending money left right and centre because she told me she couldnt say no to them. She learnt to say no pretty quick after a few days lol We went over with 3 suitcases and come home with 8, so yes, heaps of shopping and the prices were great! We bought all the usual bintang singlets 20,000 rp each, sunnies usually paid 50000rp for 2 pairs, boardshorts 30000rp, handbags (Larger ones) 140,000rp each for the fake brands and purses 30,000rp each.The girls had a ball shopping!(And so did mum hehe) Hubby and his mate who arrived a few days after us paid 1,000,000 rp for fire works which were a dud lol They went back to where they bought them from and were told they were only the cheap ones and i can sell you better ones...so another 1,200,000 rp (Bloody men lol) they come back with these huge things and a few smaller ones. It was ok buying them but trying to set them off was another story! Everywhere they went they were moved on by security.They tried for 3 nights with no luck! One lot of security told them they could only let them do it if they set them off then run really fast haha On the last night they were determined to do it even if they had to run! On the way along the beach they passed Mr Policeman who asked them what they were doing...They told the truth and said they had been trying to set these things off with no luck and we were due to go home....They said we cant let you have the big ones but you can set off the small ones and stood there and supervised lol They also said they would have to put the big ones in the ocean...and they did,very honest indeed!! The men had their fun and were happy!
On Xmas day we went to waterbom park, what a fantastic place for kids! I must add too that xmas day without all the hassle of cooking and cleaning was great.Bali is definately on the cards this xmas! We went to the safari park which was great but so crowded lots and lots of people.The highlight of the trip was taking the kids to the orphanage at Amlapura..Kadek is a beautiful lady! Its the second time we had been there (Thanks Barry & Tricia) and have made a promise to ourselves to go every trip to Bali! The pleasure you feel in helping these children is overwhelming!
We ate at all the usual places around kuta and Tuban,we also had a few meals in the hotel and the food was great.The kids also ducked over to KFC as often as possible because living 50kms from kalgoorlie there is no takeaway food,so this was a huge novelty for them!
Something I will never forget...we were walking back from the kuta art market to our hotel along the beach and there were lots of people and music etc beside the path in front of us. I thought it was some kind of a celebration until we got closer.I told hubby I think its a cremation and he assured me it was just a celebration and they were cooking food!! Hmmm they werent cooking food and tried to be very respectable as we and many other tourist covered our faces whilst walking through the smoke.
The weather was great until the last few days we were there. It poured all day but that didnt stop us from doing anything.Discovery mall people were slipping and sliding everywhere! We had a great driver and made many friends (I think that had alot to do with hubby giving enormous tips haha Im sure he gave away more money than he spent) and it was great to visit friends we had made in previous trips.We had a wonderful trip and hopefully we will be going back in March, I am addicted!
PS This is my first JBR so please dont expect perfection lol