Yep Bali again.

This time it was a trip of contrasts. The first three days we did it Bogan style in Legian. The last three days we traded the Bintang singlets for collared shirts in Nusa Dua.

Part 1 – Legian

We arrived late on Friday night, picked up as usual by Made and deposited at the Sun Island Hotel. We had stayed at the Sun Island before. It’s in a great location, cheap, clean and well appointed. This time Bettina and Bianca joined Jane and I. We had two rooms on the same level – upgraded to Deluxe! At $47 per room per night – its great value.

We did the normal Aussie Bogan things.

• Chilled at the pool (sneakily using our own Rum to mix with the coke we bought at the pool bar)
• Shop for cheap clothes (Bintang singlets for me)
• Massages and foot scrubs
• Looked at (every single) handbags on Legian Rd.
• Eat and drink (repeat)
• Staying up to 1 am singing Karaoke with new “Indo-friends” (Bettina and Bianca only)

 

 

Part 2 – Nusa Dua

After three days, we were sick of the bogan life and upgraded ourselves to celebrity status, checking in the the Hilton Bali Resort.

We were meeting our friends Clive and Susan. Clive, now retired, worked many years in the hotel business and had stayed at the Hilton before. His son got married there. He recommended it, so we joined them.

Made picked us up from the Sun Island drove us to The Hilton at Nusa Dua. Entering the hotel lobby we were all awestruck by the stunning view over the ocean. As we were checking in again we were mesmerised by the view behind the receptionists.

Our rooms were on the same floor as the reception. Level 6 on our wing – Level 15 on the cliff tower wing – it was confusing at first, but we soon understood it. Either way we were high up and had spectacular views. The room was huge and beautiful. The bed was the biggest I’d ever seen.

We had a big balcony with sweeping views over the jungle and ocean. We could see lots of monkeys in the jungle. The hotel advised us to keep our balcony doors closed, because the monkeys were known to “pay a visit”.

We had lunch at the The Shore restaurant. Again this was stunning, right on the beach. It was a hot day, but the breeze coming off the ocean made it perfect.

We then chilled by the pool for the rest of the day then got changed for dinner at the hotel’s Indonesian restaurant Paon Bali. The food was nice, but quite expensive for Balinese food. The setting was beautiful on the lawn, with the sound of the ocean in the background.

We headed back to the room and waited for Clive to arrive.

He arrived about 10.30 pm without Susan as she was committed to her work and couldn’t make the flight. She would join us the next day. He came to our room with a bottle of Wild Turkey. We also had a couple of cigars and talked BS for a couple of hours before hitting the sack. It was a great way to round out the day.

Next morning we experienced the Hilton Breakfast. Wow – what a spread!

They had everything – except, to Bettina’s dismay, guava juice, aka “Fancy Pink Juice”. She soon got over it when she seen everything else.

Susan was arriving at 12.30. Jane asked Made to pick her from the airport and also do some shopping on the way. Some drinks and snacks for the kids and a couple more cigars for the bigger kids.

When Susan arrived she joined us at the pool for drinks and the obligatory photo session.

We had dinner at the “Grain” restaurant which offered a seafood buffet. At around $50 each plus drinks this was an extravagance in Bali. It was a little disappointing with some of the fish and prawns dry and tough. The sashimi was quite good though. The highlight of the night however was the live band. Just a simple trio, singing the classics. Clive requested an old Tom Jones song. They didn’t know it, but sang Delilah instead. It went down a treat with the whole restaurant singing along…

My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah…

Bettina and Bianca got involved singing along with the band to “Dancing Queen”.

Back at Clive and Susan’s room for a night cap before an early bed. It’s been an exhausting day sitting around doing nothing.

The next day Made took us all back to Legian for the girls to get facials and look at (even more) bags. On the way back we stopped at Mulia resort for lunch. Mulia is even more fancier than the Hilton. Right from the entrance you can feel the opulence. We made our way down towards the beach and found the Soleil Cafe. We all had the “M Burger” and a Bintang. All agreed it was a first class burger.

Back at the Hotel in time for Susan to pack. Her whirlwind visit was over.

After she left, Clive met us at the pool for happy hour.  We had a few beers and cocktails and transferred to the Shore restaurant to share a pizza.

We finished the Wild Turkey with more cigars back at our room to top off a wonderful couple of days.

On our final day we had  a late breakfast and went the beach and pool for some more photos. The hotel allowed us a late check-out at 1pm.

Made took us to the airport and we said Goodbye to Bali once again.

We’ll be back May and June 2020.