Bali Beckons For Christmas

Yes we’re coming back and looking forward to it, with a long list of must do restaurants and a whole lot of relaxing.

I think top of the must go to restaurants is the new French inspired Sakala at Tanjung Benoa, recently rated as the restaurant of the year the Bali eats web site www.balieats.com  As we are spending some time in Nusa Dua this trip it will be an easy one to get to.

Christmas and new years in Bali is always something special and we are hoping for a magical vacation.

 

Merry Christmas to all

Our Favourite Bali Restaurants – part one

Exactly how many restaurants are in Bali is a mystery, as there seems to be at least 6 restaurants on every corner. There are restaurants at every price point and just about every possible cuisine, including Indonesian, French, Australian, Mexican & Cuban. Some restaurants stay consistently good but some go from awe inspiring to jaw droppingly bad just by a change of management or chef as nothing is forever in Bali.

Seafood dominates and some of it astonishingly good, although prices are starting to creep up. A Bali first timer must visit Jimbaran bay at sunset for seafood on the beach. It’s a pretty damn nice way to end a day with a cold beer, perfectly cooked prawns, lobster or fish and an unbelievable sunset. I’m sure every one has their favourite restaurant there, but in truth they all serve pretty much the same, so just stroll around and pick one you like the look of.

Now to our real favourites and some our not so favourites:

1. Ma Joly – On the beach in Tuban or South Kuta, stunning views at sunset and incredibly well priced, by Australian standards.
2. La Lucciola -  One of our all time favourites almost a prefect tropical restaurant
3. Sarong – Asian street food meets western glamour, a must visit for some of the most outstanding fusion cuisine in Asia.
4. Kayu Manis – An absolute must visit in the back streets of Sanur, reservations are a must as it only has about 8 tables. Brilliant fusion food and i would give it 8/10
5. Queens of India – Seminyak & Tuban, consistently good Indian food. We always the Queens on the must visit list.

The above list is not exhaustive and if you looking for a good web site to track down a restaurant try http://www.balieats.com/ 

Now for the restaurants that we don’t particularly like

• Indonational – Basic restaurant that is over rated, has uninspiring food and not much to really recommend it other than it’s cheap. Some people rave about it but for love nor money we can’t figure out why.
• Pantai Restaurant – Read Indonational

Bali Travel Information Links

We all use the web to research our travel destinations and Bali is serviced by a multitude of web sites, some pretty average and some simply outstanding in the information they provide.

1. Tripadvisor – The worldwide biggie of independent travel advice, well structured and incredibly detailed information if your prepared to dig around. It also provides a broader cross section of views and reviews from around the world, rather than some of the other forums, which can be a bit too Australian centric and in some cases too Western Australian centric. It’s often refreshing to read the reviews from some one with a completely different outlook and cultural background. This link should take you directly to the Bali page on Tripadvisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g294226-Bali-Vacations.html
2. Bali Travel Forum – Has been around for a long time and has a huge devoted following. It is fantastic resource for any Bali first timer or seasoned Bali veteran. I think we discover this forum in 1998 and have used it ever since as a source of what to do, where to go and when to d it. The JBR’s are fantastic and really give you a good idea of what’s happening in Bali at any given moment. It should be noted that this site is run a by a company that rents out villas and has commercial interests in Bali, so freedom of speech is not exactly one their high priorities it has a well deserved reputation for arbitrarily deleting posts that the administrators deem to not fit their guidelines for posts, it really is a bit like North Korea. It is also very very Australian centric.  Having said that, it’s a great resource with with huge archive of searchable posts and we highly recommend it. www.balitravelforum.com
3. Bali Forum – Another great resource with a bit more of a community feel about it and huge amount of JBR’s and general  good information. It also seems as if large number of Aussie expats post here as well and is Australian centric. Highly recommended. www.baliforum.com
4. Virtual Tourist – I’m not sure which is the clone, virtual tourist or Tripadvisor. It’s another seemingly independent travel web site with a huge data base of information from fellow travellers. Have a look at it at get different perspective on Bali.http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Bali-1223706/TravelGuide-Bali.html
5. Flight Stats – Check the status of your flight and the number flights arriving and departing from just about any airport in the world. Brilliant web site www.flightstats.com
6. Seat Guru – Check which are the best seats on your flight. http://www.seatguru.com/

Our thoughts on Bali - part two

Where to next after the airlines? How about Bali airport or to use its correct airport code DPS.

DPS can either be a real breeze or a real nightmare depending upon how many planes have landed. So now to our key points:

1. VoA – Visa on Arrival, you will need to pay US$25 per person entering Indonesia for a visa, This is paid prior to Immigration/passport control and you can pay in A$, US$ or Rupiah, you will receive change in Rupiah.
2. VIP VoA – exactly what it means, you pay a fee to any number of organisations to speed your way through the whole VoA & Immigration process and makes you feel like a VIP. It works spectacularly well when there are huge queues, we have used this service twice and on one occasion we estimate that it saved us a good 60 – 90 minutes. The fees vary and we suggest you Google or Bing VIP VoA, also certain Platinum Credit Cards (MasterCard) offer this service at a much reduced fee.
3. Porters – an unusual sight if your a westerner, we use them as it makes getting through the airport easier and smoother – no need to worry about counting bags etc. We normally pay them about Rp10,000 per bag.
4. Money changers – there is a row of money changers directly after customs, the rates are not too bad but most people generally have enough Rupiah from the VoA process to pay for a taxi.
5. Transfers/Taxis -  Outside the terminal is a fixed price taxi stand, prices range from Rp40,000 for Tuban to Rp80,000 for Sanur. Quick easy and a cheap way of getting to your hotel. We don’t know any one who books transfers and we would be concerned about any travel agent that tried to sell transfers.

Our thoughts on Bali part one – the airlines

Ok well let’s start with airlines and our thoughts on the various ones that fly out of Perth.

1. Garuda – Full service and now has an excellent reputation for departing on time and quality of food, certainly the most expensive of all the airlines that regularly fly out of Perth. Highly recommended

2. Air Asia – Typical cheap low cost carrier where everything apart from your seat is an extra you have to pay for, little to recommend other than cheap tickets when they are on sale. Only use them if you have to and then only if the fares are on sale.

3. Virgin – we call this a hybrid airline, not quite a low cost carrier, not quite full service, buy your drinks and food etc. Great cabin service and tickets are normally very competitive when on sale.

4. Strategic – Full service cheap airline with VERY LITTLE LEGROOM. Very good crew and well priced, but OMG a dwarf would struggle with the legroom you get.

5. Jetstar – Similar to Virgin, certainly not as good cabin crew and certainly not as good food. We quite like flying with them because we can access the Qantas Club Lounge and their fares are very good.