Just back with kids
Well another trip to Bali is over and the next one is already underway.
Air Paradise took us there and back, heaps of leg room but for 3.5 hours I would have stood up if I had too (ya got to love flying from Perth)
We stayed at Ramayana hotel right in Kuta in one of their family rooms (there were 5 of us) in the new wing on the 2nd floor.
The room consisted of 1 huge king size bed (as only found in Bali) and 3 singles. This room had a big balcony which overlooked the art markets, my sister in law had the same room 2 floors above us and has ocean views as well. Much use was made of the balcony and the mini marts underneath were we would send the kids to bring up various amounts of cool drink to be consumed with the duty free. The balcony gave us a great view of the markets where the kids would spend much of their time looking and bartering with the stall holders, when they had finished the people would stop the traffic and get the kids across the street safely - this would not happen here in Australia.
We frequented many restaurants for food and ate only occasionally at the hotel for pool side meals as we thought it overpriced.
Favourites were Bali Aussie and Bali Aget for breakfast others used for dinner included Goshas, Kori's,Jensens Inn, The legends Bar and one we had not used before Uncle Norms in Melasti street - this became our favourite, they have a guy there called Joey who would do magic tricks and keep the kids amused for hours on end.
We went white water rafting - this we purchased through a tour operator in the Kuta night markets and paid only A$40.00 for the trip including lunch and a drink , the Bali Aussie also had a trip for approx A$38.00 with no steps but due to the Gulungan festival they were closed for a couple of days when we wanted to book. All the kids came from 8 through to 15 - this was a fantastic day. Our group swelled to 14 and a day was spent at Waterbom Park all in our group went and had a fantastic time, all up we were there for around 7 hours . You think there are a lot of stairs at W.W Rafting - try counting how many you go up just for another ride down the slide!!!
The girls shopped for hours/days at a time whilst the boys entertained the kids and drank by the pool, If we did go shopping we would sent the kids back to the hotel in a taxi when they had had enough (or we had) - never a problem. Kept in touch by sending sms messages back and forth.. Leather jackets and shoes were ordered and made by Matt at French's Leather in Jalung Sahadewa in Legian right next to the Melasti street markets - these were fantastic and we would defiantly buy from him again
Another big day was had on board the Bali Hai Reef cruise - this lasted all day from Benoa harbour to their pontoon just of Nusa Lombogan (I think) on the pontoon were water slides, snorkelling gear, banana boat rides and a glass sided submarine which took you on tours through the reef. Optional activities were scuba diving and parasailing for a small fee. Lunch was provided and the drinks were cheap - they also had a great band playing on deck all the way there and back and made for a great day out - this we purchased in Perth as it was cheaper than in Bali.
Would we go back ?? Without doubt (already looking)
Did we worry ?? apprehensive prior to arrival but never felt safer once we arrived and started looking around - let our kids do things that we would worry more about back in Australia
Tourist numbers are increasing but Aussie numbers are still down - it's time to come back and enjoy Bali again
Rgds Fernandez