Nov 15th - 22nd
Our Garuda Indonesia flight was comfy, we slept for a while and watched some movies, got complimentary food and drink then almost there as it was a short 3 and half hour flight. We had shown with Garuda last year on an internal flight between Bali and Flores and both times very pleased with the airline, also you get a whopping 30kg of hold baggage on the international flights.
We knew what to do this time regarding taxis at the airport, you ignore all the touts shouting at you as you come through arrivals and queue at a taxi desk, the receptionist will give you a ticket number and assign you a driver who is waiting. Also the prices are listed so you can't be conned. We did however have one guy we thought was with the driver take our bags for us and carry them, but turned out he was just after some money so we shooed him away. The taxi was 110,000 Rupiah (£10) which took us to the Kana Kuta Hotel in Kuta, I had been in touch with the hotel over the past days informing them we wouldn't be arriving until now and they had been very helpful. On arrival we had welcome drinks and then shown to our spacious, pristine room where fruit awaited us as an apology for not staying with them for longer. (In total we missed 11 nights, now staying for just 3) We paid £36 pn. We do have 19 days total in Bali.
It was a 8- 10 minute walk to the beach front or the main street from the hotel, and whilst the hotel was luxury, the road to the front was over broken pavements and busy roads but reasonably safe.
The hotel was so kind that they even gave us a free meal at their Star Anise restaurant as a way of saying sorry for missing out on those 11 nights, we were presented with a degustation of 20 Balinese dishes and also a Balinese dance show which was beautiful. The food was all rather interesting and looked great, we didn't like all the dishes but loved the concept and thought it extremely kind of the hotel.
Our plan in Bali was to travel around and explore the island, but as we had missed so many days we decided to relax a bit longer in Kuta, so we moved to the Hotel Terrace for 3 nights (£28pn) which we had stayed at last time and loved, it was still lovely but not in comparison to the Kana. And then stayed one last night back at the Kana before moving on.
But whilst still in Kuta we spent the time at the beach, by the pool, having massage after massage- it is around £4 for an hour! Can't not have a massage if its that cheap! We also got a fishy feet massage, haggled for some tops at some of the hundred shops lining the main street and ate at the Sky Garden a few times. Last time we were here a year ago it was 50,000 Rupiah (£5) for all you could eat buffet now it was 100,000 (£10) for all you can eat and drink! The waiters would keep coming round topping up our glasses! Fab!
Now as I mentioned we went back to the Kana Kuta for one last night, we planned to rent a scooter and the hotel staff kindly booked for us, it worked out around £7 a day, but to rent a scooter there is very competitive prices. Also we asked to leave our big bags in storage whilst we were away, as we would just pack our 2 small rucksacks. We will stay at the Kana yet again in our final few days in Bali.
So scooter all sorted we headed off.... but first received some amazing news- Shaun and Jodie were coming to meet us! They'll join us in a few days!