got home sunday 8th but my computer is broken so i'm borrowing hubby's.
we spent 13 days in bali. 6 nights at novotel bali benoa for the 3rd time. we love it there. :) only problem was that the pool we like was broken and of course our room opened RIGHT onto the pool didn't it!!! typical!
had a lovely stay though. didn't do a heap but we tried the hotel's balinese and indonesian buffets 2 evenings which were fabulous. exxy though at 200k ++!!!!
took a day trip to kuta/melasti st/legian, markets etc. and to galleria. was sitting at flapjaks and i took my watch off while waiting for the others (we were there with some friends) to finish shopping and i left it there. argh my $80 ripcurl watch. i wasn't too impressed since i don't wear it much, mostly on holidays and i actually bought it last time i was in bali. and it's waterproof.
got halfway back to benoa and realised, so our lovely driver took us all the way back in the horrible 8pm traffic. he got a nice tip. :)
we had a good driver our first week. i'd got his business card last time we were in bali (18 months ago) and texted him from home so he picked us up from the airport. that was great since there was 4 of us and we'd otherwise need 2 taxis for us and our stuff. he was happy he got a job for the day of course.
it was our first trip to bali with our daughter who just turned 1, so she was passed from person to person and barely touched the ground! it was lovely a few nights when we were eating dinner and she was grumpy, the staff would take her and stand by the footpath and chat to people so we could eat in peace. heaven!!!
our week at the novotel went altogether way too fast! had a couple of massages and a pedicure but didn't do too much apart from our day trip to kuta etc. and bali collection of course!
oh we also had an evening at jimbaran. driver dropped us at genesa restaurant and they offered us 25% off. we had a walk and decided to go back. looked the best. food was great although i don't eat seafood so i had the ONLY non seafood item on the menu besides hot chips. sate ayam. :) our daughter had chips. haha.
after our week at the novotel we said goodbye to our friends who were heading home, and then moved over to sanur and stayed at sativa cottages. it's down the bottom end of jl danau tamblingan, past the roundabout on jl cemara. cheaper than the novotel, but quite comfy. bed was nice, room was big, we were upstairs. pool was lovely. brekky left a bit to be desired specially after the amazing novotel brekky buffet, but hey who cares, it's bali!
didn't do much our 2nd week we had no money left whoops! did a bit too much shopping the first week!
me and hubby mostly tag teamed every day so one of us would go get a massage or something, and the other would watch the baby, then we'd swap in the arvo. found a lovely spa, amelia spa. kadek was lovely and i seriously had THE best foot massage and THE best pedicure i've had in my life. definitely go there!
did a cooking class at the caesar restaurant by the hotel. 400k and i did it on my own so i got to choose the menu. bean and chicken salad, chicken curry, samal matah and banana fritters. it was great fun, and they let dh and our daughter come and eat with me for no extra charge. :) great way to spend a morning. :) i'd been desperately wanting to do a cooking class in bali but nobody ever wanted to do one with me so this time i said stuff it, and i did it alone!
our week in sanur was very quiet, swimming, spa, popping up to hardys etc. also did a trip to denpasar as i wanted to buy an indonesian baby carrier - selendang bayi - and i found out that you can get them at clandys baby shop, so we got a driver to take us. i knew there was one in tuban but he said nah we'll go to denpasar as it's closer. he was great, very good english and he came into the shop to help me find them since i had no idea what i was really looking for! so that was good. :)
the only other thing we did was go to waterbom. never been before. had some other friends who were in bali for a wedding so we met up with them at waterbom for the day. unfortunately our daughter got a horrible temperature and was burning up and really sleepy. i got a pass out to go to discovery to the chemist for panadol, but the staff at waterbom were concerned so we took her to first aid to get her temp checked. quite high so we panadolled her, then popped her in the water for a bit to cool off which perked her up and then we headed off and went to discovery to keep cool for a while before heading home. ended up at waterbom only a few hours and i went on ONE ride! dh went on none. poor thing. we did do the lazy river a couple times though (dd was falling asleep on me which is totally out of character for her as she LOVES the water, so i was rather concerned). we'd love to go back so we can try a few more waterslides.
dd was fine by the next morning. :)
we left saturday the 7th (flight was just after midnight sunday morning) and headed to the airport. was quite pleased that dd wasn't charged for departure tax, and we used the garuda lounge, which she was also free for, so we came home with 200k - we'd ran out of cash so we'd put aside the exact amount we would need for the airport, and ended up coming home with money. score!
landed in perth at 4.15am and were waiting for my brother to pick us up by 4.50. quick trip home via maccas for brekky and in bed by 6am. :)
can't wait for our next trip, but it might be a while, we want to buy a house.