Kinda JBR...very loooong.

Well. Where do I start and how do I keep this short enough so as not to bore you all to death but make it long enough to explain the wonderful Bali thru the eyes of this Bali virgin.

I’ll try to keep to the point how’s that….not promising anything tho :o)

Well, we drove North to Port Hedland and flew on a Sunday to Bali. We stayed at the Port Hedland Caravan Park in a sardine can of a room…OMG what an experience. The ONLY saving grace was that it was close to the airport and we could trundle our cases across the highway. Review coming.

So we awoke early and got the heck outta there, we planned to just walk across the highway and about 500 metres or so to the terminal So hubby took off with our 7 yo and told me to meet him at the airport gate while me and our 5 yo returned the key to the room from hell. Having staggered across the road in the steamy Port Hedland heat wheeling a case full of clothes to donate to Rotary (very heavy) , we arrived at the gate only to discover that the rest of the family had snagged themselves a lift from a security officer and had driven in air-conditioned luxury to the departure gate. So we finally arrive at the terminal, very sweaty and in not such a jolly mood. He thought it was a great laugh that no body seemed to bother to pick me and his youngest child up off the side of the road to bestow on us an air-conditioned lift. Too bad for him I didn’t quite catch the joke that he seemed to have shared with all and sundry at the departure gate.

Anyhoo, we got our Skywest Fokker 100 (no I’m not being rude, that’s what they are called) and enjoyed our quickest flight to anywhere out side of Oz, just a 2 hour flight, by the time they had cleared away the breakfast mess we were approaching Denpasar.

I rushed the family straight towards the VOA counter with our US$100 waving in my hot little hand, I believe we may have set the record for fastest entry into Bali as we were lined up for our bags within about 5 minutes.

Of course with hubby having arrived at the airport WAY earlier than expected we were nearly the first to check in luggage, this is what I blamed for our longish wait for our bags at the other end, ie (put on plane first, taken off plane last). But we had a very helpful Porter looking out for our two cases with a trolley waiting to load them onto, not really necessary as the walk from the trolley pick up to the taxi is quite short…but he seemed to be a helpful fellow and directed us to the nearest money changer, then asked for a tip...Hmmmmm,having just changed money of course our smallest note was 50,000...”Oh that will be fine“, he says.

BEWARE - THE HELPFUL PORTER.

Then, straight to the pre paid taxi counter…hubby very impressed that I knew to “turn right” once we got out of the airport….pity nobody warned me about the porters?????

Got our taxi to Sanur and checked into the Bumi Ayu Bungalows (see Review for more info.)

Sanur was WONDERFUL, so quiet and easy to get around. A few of our favourite Sanur things were..

* Bonsai Café, sat and had our first Bali lunch there, the Bonsai plants are gorgeous, so much detail and work there. The food was great, service wonderful.

* Hardy’s, one of our first stops to pick up supplies, Bintang, Heineken, Yakult, Water and snacks

* Panache Hair and Body Works, great Hair Cream Bath, Pedicure and Manicure all for AUS$20.

* Mango Café, both on the beach and the street…Oh food to die for and wonderful generous serves.

*Bennos, very handy to the markets and great food, service and toilets.

*Cat and Fiddle Pub - Excellent Guinness Pie and Entertainment, close to The Pro Shop in JL Cemara, a Kite Surf shop that had some really great surf gear all at fixed price, good quality and different from everything else I had seen. Also close by was Lumut, which was a wonderful little shop and café full of knick knacks all at fixed price and very reasonable. We ordered dinner then I went for a shopping spree in both these places.

*Irma, who came to the Bumi Ayu to do the massage, 60,000 for an hour.

*Tootsies in Sindhu Markets, lovely shop with A/C and the owner is more than happy to let you browse in comfort. This shop has a bit of everything, bags, shoes, clothes etc

We did the Safari and Marine park from Sanur, catching the free shuttle from the Inna Grand. The kids adored the animals, although it kind of distressed me to see them so dopey, (the animals not the kids.....then again????) While the boys were having a photo with the baby tiger, the tiger actually yawned. My hubby got THE best picture of the boys sitting with the tiger at that very moment; it looks like the tiger is roaring rather than yawning. We just paid the entrance fee than an extra 100,000rp for the boys to ride an elephant, they loved this. When we got to take photos the handlers were more than happy to let us snap away.

Waterbom was great, we used a voucher from the Kuta Book, that gave us a free lunch. We all had a ball here and I think putting money onto the wrist band is a great idea, no worrying about money or wallets etc. we were going to purchase a second day, but I’m glad we didn’t as I think 1 day was enough for us.

After a week at the Bumi Ayu in Sanur we then moved to Seminyak to the newly refurbished and re-named Breezes Resort and Spa ex Contiki. See Review.

Bit of trouble checking in…but they soon had it sorted and we were deposited in our very spacious family room. The staff here are lovely, very efficient and gracious.

We fell in love with Ayu and the rest of the staff at the activities desk.

Favourite Seminyak things…

* The shopping in boutiques and small market stalls, too many to name.

* Bestest Café…YUM, we ate there frequently as it was close to The Breezes and it was raining a lot.

* Proximity to Kuta, we hopped the shuttle bus to Jl Melasti a couple of times and ventured down Garlic Lane for some bargain hunting.

* Cin Cin restaurant, great internet service and pool tables and really good cocktails.

* Not getting hassled by too many street vendors

* Choice of shopping was fantastic; boutiques to sidewalk markets all wonderful.

*

Unfortunately due to our youngest being ill and not wanting to move more than 100 metres from out Hotel (it was all too much), we didn’t get to try the wonderful restaurants in Eat Street, but hope to do that another time…maybe minus the children.

My first impressions of Bali were that everyone wanted “something”. I didn’t really relax until we hit Seminyak, this is when I discovered the Beautiful side of Bali and the beautiful people you are always hearing about on this forum. It was nice to chat and socialize with people who didn’t want to sell you something or take you for a ride.

I thank all on this forum for their wise words and help.

TMT

Kinda JBR...very loooong.

Hi TMT,

Thanks for the great JBR. We, too, are Bali virgins so I appreciated your views.

We head over next week and reading your report made me very excited.

We are staying in Legian and then Seminyak so am looking forward to the Seminyak bit after reading your review.

Glad you enjoyed your holiday.

Cheers,

NJay

Kinda JBR...very loooong.

thank you for writing about your bali adventure. sounds like you had a great holiday. what a shame your youngest child was unwell. glad to hear you are planning to return (maybe minus children). the safari and marine park is a great place. we really enjoyed the elephant ride. waterbom is a great day out also. the wristband is a good idea. we stayed there until closing.

Thank you for your great JBR TMT, I really enjoyed reading it.

There have been some posts warning of the porters in the past, sorry you got caught. Just a tip for next time.....ask the money changer to give you some (not many, but some) small notes. The money changers at the Airport are honest so you won%26#39;t be scammed there, so a few smaller notes is safe. Or if you don%26#39;t want a porter, just politely say no thank you.

Hopefully, when you return to Bali you will be able to get past the ';wanting something'; of the locals. I can remember feeling the same way on our first trip, but now it%26#39;s just them trying to make a living in a very competative market. Usually though, once they know that you don%26#39;t want to hire them or buy from them, they relax a bit too, and are open to conversation and jokes. I also think that the locals can usually tell just by looking at people if they are Bali virgins, so they are hoping for an easy target. When you return you will probably be more confident and the locals can tell. Just my theory.

TMT! long time no see!

I enjoyed your TR, I hope your youngest is O.K now.

That%26#39;s an interesting theory Whinnie, if only we had some way of testing it.

Excellent JBR, and close to my heart as when I first visited Sanur I had similar experiences, but this time with a porter at the taxi counter who didn%26#39;t actually tell me he was a porter (and I had read about them on TA in the baggage hall). Bonsai was also my very first restaurant in Bali, arriving after a long flight, sat there with some sate on it%26#39;s little charcoal burner and a huge bottle of ice cold Bintang in a bamboo cooler.

Thanks for evoking such fond memories.

Hi TMT,

I really enjoyed reading your JBR %26amp; also your sense of humour!

Thanks for the tips re: shopping %26amp; restaurants, it%26#39;s always good to visit new places, so I%26#39;ve added some to my little Bali Bible which I%26#39;m never without when I visit.

I had a great day out at the Safari %26amp; Marine park last August, one of the highlights of my holiday.

It can be intimidating to be harrassed by sellers but usually a smile %26amp; a joke helps. Good to hear that you finally discovered the beautiful Bali in Seminyak. It is the wonderful balinese people themselves who make Bali so special.

Cheers

Ursie

Thanks TMT for your great JBR - it is always lovely to hear about Bali virgins%26#39; first experiences of Bali. I would have been absolutely furious if my husband had left me at Port Headland airport too - not a good start to a wonderful holiday.

It is also wonderful to hear someone write praises of Seminyak which is absolutely my favourite haunt in the south of Bali. I have stayed at Nusa Dua, Jimbaran, Ubud and Amed but just feel at home in Seminyak and around that area - fabulous shopping and fantastic restaurants.

Many thanks once again for taking the time to write.

Comment from Whinnie

';I also think that the locals can usually tell just by looking at people if they are Bali virgins.';

This made me laugh Whinnie...my boys always put their foot in it. If anyone approached us on the street or a taxi driver asked ,';how long you been here';, I usually told a little white lie and said ';a week, and we go home tomorrow';, just so I wouldn%26#39;t get hassled. I could usually get away with this as I have quite a tanned complexion from living in the North West, so they assumed I had been in Bali a while. The first time I tried this though, my youngest pipes up and says, ';But Mum, we only arrived yesterday';. Kids, gotta love %26#39;em.

Thanks all for your kind comments, the youngest is well, funny all I was worried about was Bali Belly so we took all the precautions; red cordial, yakult and diligent hand cleansing. Believe it or not I was the only one to get Bali Belly..Grrrr, not so bad that it stopped my doing anything though. I put this down to the fact that I ate alot of Vegie dishes, I think I lived on Gado Gado for the first few days...this could have been my undoing. Someone told me once that the spinach and some other vegies are grown in really awful swampy areas and the leaves take up this awful water and it makes you sick...could be??

My youngest got an awful body aching flu, the Doc we called out actually thought it may have been dengue fever, thank goodness it wasn%26#39;t. It took him a couple of days to get over it.

Cheers

TMT we took our kids to Disneyland about 12 years ago and the buffet breakfast was calculated for kids by $1 for every year of their age. Well, hubby the tight ar$e that he is, told the guy at the counter that all 3 of our kids were a year younger than they were.

Have you ever tried to put your hands over 3 kids mouths all at the same time? He could have warned me so I could warn them.

When I got the kids oustside our middle son who was 9 at the time (and we had told them all about the fact that we would loose a day when we flew to the USA so they understood that) asked with really wide eyes.....Dad, when we flew from Australia to America did I lose a whole year AND a whole day?

All the adults were laughing to hard to answer him, poor kid.

Great JBR TMT! So glad you enjoyed Bali. Sorry to hear you and your little one got sick while there. I find I always get a bit of a funny tummy but I think its just the more spicy foods and perhaps a little too much alcohol!

My 7 year old had some terrible rash with achy joints last year. Poor thing was bed ridden for about 4 days. It was our first trip to the Bali Hospital BIMC and I have to say I was very impressed. Nice to know its there if there is an emergency!

I%26#39;m sure you will be booking your next holiday soon!!