Yeah, off to Bali again. This time a villa in Seminyak, then a big hotel also in Seminyak. Sounds boring – yep we didn’t do much other than sitting around a pool (or bar) and drinking and eating. I even considered not writing a blog entry for it.
Villa Damai Oasis in Seminyak
My son, Anthony was joining Jane and I for the first part of the trip. We booked Villa Damai Oasis, a 2 bedroom villa in Seminyak. Anthony arrived the day before and already had the Bintangs on ice for our arrival on Saturday.
We arrived on time and were eager for the Bintangs, although, not before some umm pomoch’ drug drugu… Indonesia has recently introduced an electronic Visa On Arrival (eVOA) system where you can apply and pay for your visa before you arrive. Once you have that, you can use the electronic gates and bypass the grumpy immigration officials. I filled this in for Jane and myself. When Jane checked hers, she noticed that her date of birth was showing as 30/12/00. Even though she’s not 2024 years old, the visa was issued without any error highlighted. We we got to the electronic gates Jane received the dreaded red X – no entry. I tried mine and got the green light. Jane had no choice to line up and go through the manual Immigration process. The immigration officer told Jane her visa was invalid and would have to pay again. As Jane was about to leave and line up to get another VOA… lets just say the nice Immigration officer let her though – all nice and legit like.
Made met us out the front and before you know it we were in full Bali mode in the pool with a good story to tell.
The Villa was nice and in a good location, although a little old. The rooms were comfortable and the bathrooms good. There was supposed to be shampoo, but we couldn’t find it despite the caretaker saying it was there. No problem though as Jane always brings her own shampoo and conditioner. The beds had a mosquito net which was a little annoying to deal with.
First job the next day was to visit Nikki Tailor. We have a few alterations and I wanted to see if I could get a linen jacket made. I got measured and left the alteration work with them and made out way back to Villa.
The next few days were spent eating, drinking and lazing in and around the pool.
Some notable restaurants:
Double Six Rooftop Bar has nice happy hour (2 for 1) cocktails and good food overlooking Double Six beach. We caught the sunset and had many many cocktails. Anthony’s fav was Pina Colada.
Asparagus has a great buffet breakfast for only $14
Che Gado Gado was a huge restaurant with a live band playing 80s & 90s classics. They also invited kids on the stage – mainly singing Taylor Swift songs. This was recommended to us. It was ok, but there are much better restaurants around.
Revolver (Seminyak) is a trendy little underground type restaurant with wanky coffees. We had breakfast there are the food was great. The coffee was indeed good. Highly recommended.
We also tried some axe throwing. Good fun.
Grand Mercure in Seminyak
On Tuesday Anthony was going home and we moved to the resort style Grand Mercure Hotel in Double Six region of Seminyak. As Anthony had a late flight he spent most of the day at the pool with us. The hotel was very nice. It has a huge pool which was a little cold as it was shaded for most of the day. That wasn’t a bad thing – less sunscreen required. Ordering food and drinks was pretty easy, by simply contacting the bar with a WhatsApp message. We opted for the Junior Suite room. It was huge with a sitting area, large balcony overlooking the pool and an awesome rain shower. At around $220/night it was good value. Breakfast wasn’t included, however we paid ($17) for it a couple of mornings. The food was very good with a comprehensive selection.
Again for the next few days were spent eating, drinking and lazing in and around the pool.
Some notable restaurants:
Santorini Greek Restaurant for dinner. Greek restaurants always seem to be good in Bali.
Legian Corner for lunch. Nice pub near the hotel.
Lunch at Mozzarella Dhyanapura at Seminyak. We’ve been to Mozzarella many times and it never disappoints. Cocktails were great. The have a few restaurants in Bali. This was the first time we’d been to the Seminyak one. Great menu variety and the staff are very friendly and efficient.
Yanti Bar for dinner. This a popular pub in Legian. We got there and watched Friday Night football. The food (pasta) was good and there was a excellent band playing 70s classics.
We ventured further out of the area a few times. We collected our alterations and Jacket from Nikki tailor. All the work was top notch. I was very happy with the Jacket. We will definitely go back there in future visits. I will look to get a suit made next time.
Jane got her hair treatment at Dhio’s Salon Seminyak
Home time
We had an early-ish flight back home on Saturday. We were up and checked out of the airport by 6am. Made took us to the airport. We checked our bags in to the news that there was technical issues at Perth airport and the flight would be delayed by one hour – no big deal.
We found another Revolver restaurant in the departure lounge and settled in with a coffee (iced matcha for Jane). The travel-blog gods must have decided this vacation was way too boring for a blog entry, so they decided to spice things up by cancelling our flight.
Apparently, the technical issues at Perth airport got serious enough to cancel ALL inbound and outbound flights. Something to do with the Fuelling machine. This was a first for me. I’ve had plenty of delayed flights, but never a cancelled flight. To try and get more information, we hurried to the gate where an angry mob was quickly forming. A nervous Jetstar employee addressed the mob and explained that essentially Perth airport was closed and no flights were allowed in (and out) until further notice. He explained that Jetstar will endeavour to rebook all passengers on later flights. He also suggested that we could re-book ourselves online. The mob seemed to get angrier for some reason. Jane and I left the poor Jetstar employee with the wolves and made our way back through immigration to the check-in counters to collect our bags. Jetstar check-in staff explained the same situation. We quickly realised that we’re spending another day, at least, in Bali. While we were waiting for our bags I checked online for other flights. There was only one available the next day – but that was via Sydney. Denpasar to Sydney: 5 hours – a 5 hour layover – Sydney to Perth: 5 hours. It didn’t sound pleasant, but we booked it anyway. We could always change it if something better opens up. At least we knew we’d be back in Perth on Monday – unless the travel-blog gods decided to even more brutal and close Sydney airport too.
A young girl backpacking by herself looked very confused and asked our advice. We told her we’d booked the horror flight back and we were going back to a cheap hotel in Legian for the night. She asked if she tag along. We caught a ride back to the Sun Island Hotel in Legian. We had stayed there a few times before and know that its comfortable and inexpensive. The said they had a room for a night for $75. We had stayed at this hotel before for around $40/night, so this was a bit of a shock. Nevertheless, we took it. This was a little pricey for Marcel, the backpacker, so she left to find cheaper digs. We learned later that she managed to get on a flight to Perth later that night.
While we were waiting for the room to be ready, Jane decided to relieve her stress by having her nails done (Sharon Spa – Jane recommends). I found a café to resume that coffee that I started in another life. I searched for a better flight. Nothing doing. The fuelling issue was still unresolved, with more flights cancelled.
We walked around the streets of Legian killing time. The fuelling issue in Perth was resolved around noon and flights resumed. We persisted looking for a direct flight, without luck. At least we knew now that the airport would be open for our scheduled return time.
We found a nice restaurant for dinner: Bande Nere Pizza & Brunch specialising in Italian food. We chatted to the owner who introduced us to the young chef. The food was very delicious. We’ll definitely be back.
The next day we tried to negotiate a late check-out. The desk clerk said they could only do 12 noon, but could offer us a room for an hour later in the afternoon for a shower. The football was on at 11am so we checked out and found a sports bar to watch the Melbourne v Fremantle game. The game was great if you’re a (Fremantle) Dockers fan with a 94 point thrashing of the (Melbourne) Demons – at least something was going right. Jane decided she needed her hair washed ), so we trudged the streets again looking for a place she had googled – Prestige Beauty Salon (Jane also recommends). After that we found (Jl.) Benesari Street in Legian. This narrow street runs parallel to (Jl) Legian and is full of cafés, shops and hotels. We stopped in Benih Cafe for lunch. This trendy little restaurant was great and the food was delicious.
Soon it was time to leave for the airport after our shower and “freshen up”. This time we caught a Grab taxi and got to airport in good time – and cheaper too! At the check in counter we asked if we can get on the earlier direct flight to Perth. The check in clerk said that flight was already over-sold, so no dice.
We eventually boarded the Boeing 787 to Sydney and arrived 6.15am. We had to collect our bags and proceed through immigration/quarantine and travel by shuttle bus to Terminal 2. This was getting tiring. Upon arrival at Terminal 2 we were told we cannot check-in until two hours before departure time. So, we had to wait a couple of hours on uncomfortable chairs. Eventually they let us in, and had something to eat and tried to make ourselves comfortable for another five hour flight.
After being awake since 8.30 am Sunday we eventually made it home at around 3pm Monday: 35 hours of very little sleep. Special commendation to Jane for not killing anyone during the ordeal (although she came close a few times).
We’re not sure what happened to the other passengers on our cancelled flight. Jetstar didn’t appear to put on any extra flights. Perhaps they’re still living it up in Bali with a nice insurance claim. I guess we’ll never find out.
Despite the challenges of getting home, it was another enjoyable Bali holiday. We’re already looking to book another one in October… and perhaps December too.
JellyfishKing Travel 