Sunday, October 31, 2010

Our Favourite tips for Bali And Singapore

A selection of tips and suggestions to make your journey more enjoyable, we hope they help you gain more from your travel experience. Please add your comments at the bottom of this page and I can regularly add them in to this blog for other to share. It's great to hear of others special things too.

BALI:
Our favourite places to eat: (Bali has come of age with fabulous eateries everywhere - you can spend BIG bucks if you want, but it's not necessary to eat really well)

UBUD:
  • Casa Luna (great salads, drinks, pizza & you just have to try the chocolate brownies - 12 years later and they are still the best!)
  • Indus Restaurant Bali
  • Indus - sister restaurant to Casa Luna - go for lunch - the views are fabulous
  • Many, many along monkey forest road - all pretty good
  • THE LOTUS - had a fabulous atmosphere and if you go on a night where there's a performance you get a free view if seated along the lotus pond
  • There's a new restaurant called THE BRIDGE set to open which looks like it will be pretty special if they get the food as good as the location
SEMINYAK/LEGIAN/KUTA:
    
    Aromas vegetarian restaurant
    
  • Seaside restaurants along the strip between double 6 and the Hotel Jayakarta (all pretty good - TEKOR had great authentic dishes with really friendly staff that accommodated kids wonderfully, however, most along this strip are great)
  •  
  • AROMAS is always good for heaps of vegetarian options
  • THE BALI BAKERY is terrific for when a sweet tooth hits, a little further out (5-10 minutes on a motor bike), open late for sweet treats
  • MADE'S in Seminyak is always fun with a large menu (the one in Kuta seems a little tired now)
  • BALI BOULENGERIE - near Bintang supermarket is bustling and fun
  • 
    The Bali Bakery Treats!
    
  • ZULA - organic vegetarian food
  • On the beach - try a toasted jaffle from the seaside stalls
  • FOR THE KIDS: Fussy eaters - try the food court at Kartika Plaza, not like our cheap food courts, more like a series of small restaurants, where you can bring food from any to one table and please everyone at once, most meals are 10,000 - 30,000rp ($1-4) 
  • 
  • NEEDING SOMETHING RESEMBLING - FROM HOME:There's starbucks, coffee bean and tea leaf (with free Wi Fi) just about everywhere
Our favourite places to stay (prices are really approximate and based on what we found at the time):

UBUD:
  • TJAMPUHAN SPA (around US$80+) great pool, surrounds and grottos - an experience rather than just accom'
  • 
    Mara River Lodge
    
  • MARA RIVER RESORT - not just for the safari park, beautiful accom' and a fabulous experience for the kids, includes free park entry, a bit expensive but really worth the experience, stay 2 nights so as not to be rushed (AUD$200-300pn) 
SEMINYAK/LEGIAN/KUTA:
  • HOLIDAY INN - if you hav e kids and are looking for a place where they will be amused and give you a break, upgrade to the suite if not much more as it includes everything which will otherwise cost more in the basic room ($70-220pn)
  • 
    Kusnadi Hotel - Legian/Seminyak
    
  • KUSNADI - if you are looking for a budget hotel in Legian, right near everything - book the penthouse rooms, they are around $3-4 more per night and you have the entire level to yourself ($20-80pn)
  • THREE BROTHERS INN - basic accom, pleasant grounds, right in the heart of Legian ($20-70pn)
  • VILLA COCO - beautiful apartments off double 6 rd, self contained ($80-200pn)
TIPS for BALI: 
  • WATERBOM PARK - show your Singapore airlines boarding pass - it gives a 20% discount. The food is expensive here and if on the top of your belongings will be taken away. There is a place at the front where you can store large things - eg - bike helmets free of charge if you don't want a locker - just tell them it won't fit!
    Waterbom park rides
    
    Towels, etc are chargeable, bring your own!
  • CHANGE MONEY - at a place that ONLY changes money and counts it EVERY time after someone else holds it 
  • RENT A BIKE - to get around - it's easy! But you will need an international drivers license (doesn't matter if it's only for a car) make sure you pay the extra 5000-10000 per day which includes insurance in case you are in an accident and make sure your travel insurance covers you for the same reason.
  • LEARN SOME INDONESIAN - even a little will assist you to make friends easily
  • SMILE  - a lot, your life is more privileged than most of theirs will ever be (just by being able to travel there whilst most locals will never travel overseas)
  • WI FI - is available in almost every cafe for free
  • 
    I still haven't worked out the significance of
    these at every Bali hotel - please let me
    know if you know what it is about!!!
    
  • LOCK YOUR MOBILE PHONE FROM INTERNET ROAMING EXCEPT WI FI - it is hideously expensive at around $20 per 10 mg, a friend of ours did not realise the price difference when overseas and used her phone around Europe for 3 weeks, she came home to a $4200.00 mobile internet bill 
  • TRY SOME LOCAL FOOD - it's terrific!
  • 
  • ALLOW YOURSELF SOME LUXURIES - in a year you won't remember the $50 difference, but you will remember the fabulous meal you had at an idyllic location
  • HAVE SOME SPA TREATMENTS - they range from $2+
  • 
  • DON'T BARGAIN TOO HARD - the difference of 10,000rp is only $1.20 and won't make much difference to you, but it may be a lot to the seller
  • 
  • CHAT WITH THE LOCALS - We've made some terrific friends this way
SINGAPORE:
Our favourite places to eat: 
    
  • High Tea at Raffles - sure it's expensive - but it's a real treat!
  • Clarke Quay - if you are NOT on a budget and probably best without the kids
  • Food Courts in shopping centres - great food and not so expensive, especially the one at Harbourfront
  • Fresh Juices bars in the market - delicious for around $1 
    Fabulous Juice bars in Singapore for $1
    
Our favourite things to do/try: 
  • HIGH TEA AT RAFFLES - sure it's expensive - but it's a real treat!
  • UNIVERSAL STUDIOS - ask if there's any discounts
  • BOOK SHOPPING - at the huge book mall opposite raffles - great for home school books too
  • SHOPPING IN CHINATOWN - more expensive than China, but great if you're not going there
  • 
  • WALK AROUND SENTOSA - a free event with great things to see anytime
  • The sands sky tower - worth a try - wait near the elevators and ask if a hotel guest would mind if you went up the tower with them, most will say sure, you go up for free and get to see the whole tower, not just the deck
There's so much more we could add here, but we hope these few tips will make your journey more special.

That's it - we're home..................... for now....................... this blog is finished (for now - until the next adventure) thanks so much for sharing the journey with us, please add your comments at the end of any blogs, we love to hear what you think
Kindest regards,
The Mitchell clan


Bye Bye for now from the Mitchell's

Arriving home we realised that Pa had not been able to check all the hen house and there was another gift of 51 eggs he had missed waiting for us upon our return and every single egg was still good!

51 eggs found in the chook house at home


1 comment:

  1. Try visiting Ubud which is a lovely place with lots of culture, and Padangbai, which has some pretty beaches. You can do so much in Bali. If you find cheap Indonesia rent car surabaya. We help you make the most of your trip to Indonesia with discount airport rent a car deals.
    Sewa Mobil Surabaya

    Thanks ya :)

    ReplyDelete