My JBR
Flew from Brisbane to Bali - myself, husband, our 6 year old son, my sister and her husband. Flight was uneventful. Our flight arrived at 2.45 local time. I had organised an express visa service. This is a great service, if you need it. We were the only flight there, so there was really no waiting to be had.
We stayed at the Padma at Legian where we had connecting Lagoon access rooms. These rooms are fantastic. If I stayed at the Padma again, this is only room I would stay in. I booked the Padma, mainly for the location, the pool access rooms and the kids club. My son only went to the kids club twice. He was not really interested in it. I don't believe they had enough organised activities for him. He preferred to swim in the pool and hang with us (which is great).
I got a bit of the old BB for a few days. Only stopped me for a couple of hours though. I believe it was from the watermelon juice at breakfast, but really, it could have been from anything.
We went to Lembongan for a day as we had friends over there staying. Lovely island, very quite.
We did the Safari Park - absolutely awesome. We did the 10 minute elephant ride, pictures with the orangtun and the white tiger. My son and I spent about a half an hour feeding a mother elephant and her baby. No one else was there - totally awesome.
My sister purchased some furniture through Bali Gong. They organised the shipping of the furniture for her. Because of this, we decided to do some homeware shopping at Biarritz (sister of Geneva) and add it to her container. Got some great things and so cheap. Much cheaper than if you bargained hard at the markets.
We had to fly home to Brisbane - right in the middle of the floods (my heart goes out to all affected). Our airline Virgin suggested that we reschedule our flights. We were concerned that we could not get home from the airport to the Gold Coast. So anyway we stayed an extra 2 days and moved over to the Niksoma.
This hotel is a lot smaller than the Padma. The rooms were really quite basic. The staff though were exceptional. The Padma is so large that you really don't get the one on one with the staff. At the Niksoma the staff knew all of our names and referred to our names every time they saw us. The restaurant at the front is the best. Quality as good as back home.
Had a couple of massages at the Melasti. Cheap as!!
Prices we paid in AUD
Singlets $2
Smokes $1.30
Laser $10 (left behind)
Dresses - long $8
Dresses - short $6
Denim shorts $15
Hand bags $15
Cute frangipani thongs $2.50
D V D 's from shop ( Starts with S - front of Kuta Markets) buy 100 get 40 free - worked out at about 65 cents each
Chip for D S $75 - with 80 new games. Did not work at first because we had a newish D Si. They had to get their technician to do a new one. Glad I had the machine with me and a few days up my sleeve. Very apologetic about the whole thing.
T-shirts $5
Boardies - kids $3 - Mens $5
Got ripped off on the money changers about twice (that we know of). Went back and they just gave us the cash back. Lesson - if the price is high they will rip you off - you will not get the high price. Do not let them touch the money. They are so quick.
Flight back was crap. Delayed an hour - left at 1 am Bali time which is 3 am Brisbane time.
Had a great time in Bali - can't wait to go back again.
Cheers
Julie