This post is copy/pasted from my original JBR on TA.
Day 1 - Friday 9th March 2012 - Melbourne to Legian
We left home (Wonthaggi in South Gippsland) at 12pm for our 6:45pm Jetstar flight thinking we had plenty of time for a quick stop at Chadstone on the way! We were wrong!! By the time we finally made it to the airport it was a mad dash through security & straight onto the plane...
The flight was fairly uneventful, though felt like it took forever & was not very comfortable while pregnant. The staff were not very friendly & not helpful at all, I had my call light on for half the flight & no one bothered to see what I needed. Never again will I be tempted by cheap flights, I love Garuda & will never stray again!!
When we arrived we were off the plane & in our taxi within about 10mins, my fastest ever, very impressed! It was 60000Rp to Melasti Beach Resort in Legian. The taxi ride was a nightmare, it was dark & raining & the driver was going too fast. We hit a scooter with 2 riders on it, they hit right on my door where my head was leaning on the partially open window. They came off & we stopped a few metres down the road. We could see them on the road with the lights of the cars behind, one got up but the other was still under the bike with his foot in the air shaking. Cars & bikes were driving around them & some locals came out to help. One local came out from infront of us, had a quick conversation with our driver through the window & we were off without him even getting out of the car. We were horrified, not that it had happened, but that the driver didn't even get out to check how the riders were. When we arrived at the hotel he helped get our bags out of the car & then left without a word....
We checked into our cottage suite (large, but old & rundown) at Melasti at around 10:30pm & went for a stroll down to Zanzibar & back, it was strangely quiet, both Skye & I were shocked. We also both noticed that it was nowhere near as hot as it is when we normally go (her in June & me in October).
Day 2 - Saturday 10th March
We were up & ready for breakfast at 7am. The breakfast at Melasti has really gone downhill since last time I stayed there (2007), it was quite average food with not much of a selection.
After breakfast we decided to go for a walk, we stopped at Coffee Corner (Corner of Jalan Legian & Jalan Melasti), the drinks & free wifi were great!
Being girls (that love to shop) I couldn't resist introducing the girls to Ketut on the way back (and a few more stops too lol). We grabbed a taxi to Discovery (Centro Kuta) to get a phone charger as Skye's didn't seem to be working (later worked out that it was dodgy wiring in the room..), just a quick stop there & then a taxi to Uncle Norm's for lunch, yummo & so cheap :-)
On the walk back to Melasti from Uncle Norm's we stopped at Made's massage in Garlic Lane for Skye & Megan to get a foot scrub & pedi (Skye goes to her every trip). The ladies in there are lovely & it's super cheap, 50000Rp for an hour massage from memory.
Back to the hotel for a swim after our lazy first morning had turned into a crazy Legian / Kuta adventure & it was now 4pm!
The girls went down to Melasti spa for a massage & I opted to stay in the room & rest my preggo body before dinner!
Ended up getting room service for dinner, not much I can say about the food at Melasti other than eat out when possible...
**** I can't find my original post with days 3 & 4, but I'm pretty sure it was shopping and eating! I also started getting up early before the girls & going out on my own for a wonder around Legian before all the shops opened & a quiet breakfast at mugshot!
It also would have described in detail all of the problems we had with our room, nothing in the bathroom worked properly, the aircon didn't work & the wiring in the room was faulty. They ended up moving us to a new room.
I also got Bali Belly (BB) on day 3..
Day 5 - Tuesday 13th March
I woke at 6am & went for my morning ritual walk around the corner to mugshot for an iced coffee, I need my coffee in the mornings but can't do hot drinks in Bali!
The girls were still asleep when I got back to the room so I had a read on the balcony while I waited for them to wake up. We went to Pavone for breakfast, which was delish, but halfway through I felt BB about to strike so I jumped in a taxi, made it back to the room just in time lol! Spent the day lying in bed close to the comfort of the bathroom while the girls caught up with a friend of Megan's who was also in Bali on a girls trip with two friends. They went out for lunch (at MBTS I think).
When I felt a little better at about 3pm I jumped in a taxi & went up to Ananta for a look, it was nice but very small & still under construction in parts. The rooms were TINY, I don't think I'd bother staying there. The pictures on the website are a tad misleading, it looks really big on there but it's just the angle the pics are taken on.
Still feeling ok, I decided to have a look at Pullman while I was out.
It was a beautiful hotel, not really resort! I would definatly stay there with hubby, but not the kids, I think they'd get bored after a day or two. The rooms were huge & everything looked so comfortable. As others have mentioned, I did notice the noisy floorboards in the rooms (probably the only negitive I saw).
By the time I finished there it was most definatly time to be back in the vacinity of the bathroom, so a (not so) quick cab ride up Jl Melasti & around the block was in order.
It rained quite heavily twice during the day but they were only 10 - 15 minute outbursts & the cool breeze that came with them was beautiful!
Day 6 - Wednesday 14th March
After breakfast at Coffee Corner we came back to the room & got ready for a day out. We hired Wayan (recommended to us by our neighbours Dave & Norma in our first room) to drive us in to Denpasar for a look at Jl Sulawesi & the market. The market stunk just as bad as I remembered, but I think everyone that goes to Bali should experience something like that at least once, Megan's face was classic!! I got a bit of fabric but couldn't really be bothered shopping that day.
We got Wayan to take us to Ramayana for lunch. LMAO at me having to use the squat toilet with my big pregnant belly (sorry if that's tmi, but it was hilarious!!)
We stopped at Discovery plaza in Kuta on the way back (man those girls can shop) & another quick stop on Jl Legian.....
Back to the hotel just in time for another round of BB.
We paid Wayan 250000Rp for 5hrs & I slipped him an extra 20000Rp.
We hired a dvd player & got room service for the night
Day 7 - Thursday 15th March
We had booked to go to the Safari & Marine Park (Megan's choice of day out), they told us to be at Dynasty in Kuta by 9am for the shuttle. So we decided to go early & have breakfast & a look around at Dynasty (for future ref for trips with the kids) before we went. The breakfast was beautiful, Skye & I were delighted to show Megan what a true Balinese international buffet breakfast should be like & she loved it! The resort was great, it looked like such a fun place to stay! We had a look in the family room & it was a little smaller than it looks in pictures but still a fantastic set up, we were all very impressed & are even looking at doing a big 3 family (7 kids in total as it will be after I have this one) holiday for a week there!
Anyway, I've gone a little off track, back to the safari! We got out to the bus at 9am as directed & they didn't have us on the list, apparantly we were supposed to be at Kuta centre, news to us!! So there was no room on the bus, it was super hot & we were all feeling a little off so instead of fighting with the guy we just got him to call & organise it for the next day for us. We ended up doing MORE shopping, like I said, those girls can shop! I was completely bored with it & took the oportunity to relax in the "Husband Chair" wherever I could, I was enjoying watching the girls barter for things though!
When we got back to Melasti we decided to head down to the pool for a swim & then lunch on the pool lounges (never had trouble getting one, people didn't seem to be "bagsing" them for the day like they do at Padma etc), it was really lovely just to relax & do nothing (although as mums of 1,2 & 3 year olds we all found it very hard to do nothing for long) We all ended up burn't to a crisp, Skye made a wise move & cancelled the hot stone massage she had booked that evening.
Back up to the room to get ready to go out for dinner, more BB in the meantime. Lots of moisturiser used that evening, still peeling now..
Dinner at Blue Skyz next to Kuta Lagoon Resort on Jl Legian. They had an amazing live band on & the atmosphere was fantastic!!! I ordered the garlic prawns but I thought they tasted a little bit funny & I really didn't need to be any sicker than I already was so I didn't eat it. We walked most of the way back to the hotel, & then got a taxi for the last little bit.
Day 8 - Friday 16th March
We ended up cancelling the Safari trip. We had a cruisy last day, all of us were sick so we just took it pretty easy, did a little bit more (you guessed it) shopping, packed our cases, spent (quite) a few hours at the spa getting the works (ahhhhhh just what I needed). The girls had a quick dinner at Mozzarella by the sea (I wasn't feeling up to it so I stayed in the room & did all of my last minute packing etc.)
I have massive foot phobia after my first trip to Bali when I had a pedicure that (mentally) scarred me for life, so I decided to give it another shot & grimaced my way through a pedi, never again, give me a facial any day!
We had quite a bit of luggage for the trip back & didn't think we'd fit into one taxi, so we hired a driver from the hotel to take us to the airport for 130000Rp (only just over what 2 taxis would have cost us) in his van. Got there just as check in was opening so we didn't have to que for long. We went to the Prada lounge (the first time I've used one of the lounges), it was great, we were lucky enough to snag big comfy armchairs (I wanted to take mine on the plane lol). It was really great just to have somewhere comfortable to sit while we waited to board. Security getting onto the plane was much much more intense than it was when I was there in Oct, heaps of bag checks & pat downs, I'm now wondering wether it had something to do with this weeks terrorisim revalations??
The plane we had on the flight home was a lot newer with screens in the back of the headrests & slightly more comfortable seats. The Australian staff seemed much friendlier than the crew on the way over too. It was a very turbulant flight & Skye is a terrible flyer but had taken 2 sleeping tablets (from an apotek) before we borded, she was out about 10mins after take off & woke up just after landing lol! We got through Melbourne airport in record time too, we had to declare a few things at customs & were the only ones in the line. We got our shuttle back to Andrew's airport parking & picked up the car & set off on the 2hr drive home. I was completely zonked after being up all day, sleeping for about an hour on the (11pm) flight , and then driving for 2 hours. A week later & I'm still recovering from my holiday!
Thanks for reading & happy travels fellow Bali lovers!!
Gemma xox
Skye & Megan at Mozzarella By The Sea (Skye got her last cocktail for the night "takeaway"!
Mozzarella By The Sea Cocktails / Mocktail
Pavone fruit juice with breakfast
This is Putu, her dad owns a shop next door to an art store on Garlic Lane that we bought some paintings from. She was such a sweet little girl, I gave her this wand & she was sooooo excited!
