Sunday, Sept 21st
It took me a while to post from Bali but we are all settled and adjusted so let me see if I can catch everyone up. We left Merv & Michelle’s at 9:30 pm on Saturday and Merv drove us to the Perth airport. There was no traffic so we got to the airport in plenty of time. Check in was quick and easy and then we had a bit of a wait until our flight at 3:30a.m. The flight was not crowded so we were all able to spread out and even have a little bit of a nap. We flew Air Asia and just like JetStar everything is a cost including water and soft drinks. Of course the cost is minimal but at that hour of the morning we needed nothing. We landed right at 7am and unlike other international flights it did not seem like a bunch of planes all landed at the same time so no crowds. This airline usually lands on the tarmac & buses passengers to the gate, but being early we got a jet bridge. Another advantage of early arrival. All of immigration is electronic so scan your passport and off you go. We were met by hotel staff after we picked up our luggage. Since Merv & Michelle stay here so much they are well known by hotel staff and warmly welcomed. We had 2 cars for our transport to the hotel and the ride took less than 30 minutes. No traffic at that hour of the morning and also being a Sunday.
The hotel staff warmly greeted M & M (Merv & Michelle) and we were introduced as their American friends. Check in was quick and easy and our room was ready on arrival. We guess the room being ready is because we were with M & M. It was so nice to be able to go to the room where the luggage already was and get unpacked for a few minutes. The room is beautiful. There is an entry way when you walk in with a cabinet that holds the mini fridge and a coffee maker and a kettle for hot water. M & M had them remove everything from the mini bar prior to our arrival so we would not have to deal with that every day. There is a walk in closet with a vanity seat/mirror and a cabinet with shelves and robes and slippers. The main room has a huge bed and then a love seat, coffee table and a credenza with a chair under the TV. Large bathroom with walk in shower and a porch with a bench seat in the shade and a drying rack for clotes. We are on the second of 3 floors.
The entry way looking at it from within the room. The door is on the right and the cabinet with the fridge and you can see the vanity table on the left. The right hand picture is the walk in closet with cabinet and vanity table.
The main room
The huge walk in shower that leads out to the porch, gotta remember to lower the shades… Our welcome gifts of fruit, cookies and crackers.
After settling in for a few minutes we met M & M and went to the included breakfast. Breakfast is available everyday from 6:30am until 11am and it is a very extensive buffet and there is also a menu you can order from. Being with M & M is like being with royalty. All the staff are so happy to see them back and greet them warmly and they know everybody and everybody knows them. We were seated immediately and then things just start appearing on the table which are all of Merv’s favorites that he gets everyday he is here. First comes a plate of fresh cut mango and then the fried spring rolls. They take your coffee order and they serve everything from iced coffee with caramel sugar syrup to expressos and lattes. They have fresh squeezed juices but also different juices in bottles on the fridge. They have apple, pineapple, guava, orange and mango juice. The breakfast bar is really a food bar. There is a gluten free section, a pastry section that has fresh bread, croissants (plain, chocolate and almond), muffins, donuts, granola, cereal and for some reasons jars of candy. They have smarties (which are fake M&Ms), Maltesers which are fake malted milk balls and they have jellies, marshmallows, sprinkles and dried fruits.
They have another section with meats and cheeses and olives and capers and different nuts. One hot section has 2 rows of covered serving platters that include scrambled eggs, some kind of sausage, some kind of potatoes and then several dishes that are more like dinner dishes than breakfast. You can also get omelets made to order. They have both crispy American bacon and fatty pale beef bacon. Another section has salad ingredients and there is also a soup section where you pick all your ingredients and they add it to a bowl of noodles and cook it for you and bring it to the table. Lastly there is a fruit wagon with all different kinds of fresh fruits and then another section with steamed rice, some sort of carved meat for the day which rotates, steamed rice, sushi, sliced pizza and 2 or 3 more main meal options. Plus don’t forget the items you can order off the menu just in case something is missing. We now understand why you don’t eat lunch in Bali. We have now had breakfast there for 5 mornings and I still don’t think I have seen everything.
The fruit cart at the buffet.
After breakfast we went our separate ways and agreed to meet up at 6:15 to go to dinner. M & M have been trying out different restaurants knowing we were coming so they have lots of places for us to eat.
The view of the main pool from the lobby area. They have 1 main pool and then they have the garden pool. M & M have a spot at the main pool that the staff hold for them even though there is no saving of seats. We like the garden pool better because it is quiet and they have double loungers that are sort of like in caves so you are well protected by the sun. Plus the pool has more shade so the water is cooler.
We stayed at the pool for a few hours then took a quick walk to a Circle K to get some Coke Zeros and a couple of other things (Bintang beer for Kathy).
Our Circle K purchases which are 3 vodka coolers, 2 Coke Zeros and 3 Bintang (the local beer). All of this was 10 US dollars. The US dollar is strong here and things are very cheap. To give you an example 100,000 Indonesian rupees is worth 6 US dollars so very easy to spend 4-5 hundred thousand for a meal. Very hard not to look at it like monopoly money. Our hotel bill for the 23 days we will be staying here was 78,000,000.
We went back up to the room to rest a little since technically we were up all night. At 6:15 we met M & M (we are staying in the room right next to the room they always stay in) and we walked a short way down the beach to a restaurant called Zanzibar. We ate on the deck overlooking the beach. I had the traditional Indonesian dish of Nasa Goreng which is a rice dish that has a fried egg on top and 2 chicken satay sticks on the side. Kathy had penne arrabbiata.
After dinner we stopped at one of the lawn areas within the hotel grounds where we listened to a local guitar player/singer who was accompanied by a saxophonist. It was excellent and they have music on the lawn every Sunday night so we will try to catch it again. We agreed to meet for breakfast at 9:30 and whoever got there first would get a table for 4.
We managed to watch a little TV on the iPad and I should mention the TV in the room is excellent, tons of English channels and also 3 HBO channels and Cinemax so lots of choices. The air conditioning in the room is also excellent so we slept great.