Bali is one of those places that I thought had been done too many times by every single Australian. I never really had an urge to visit Bali & couldn't see it on my list in the distant future. But it's amazing how a free trip can change your mind.
I flew out on Friday morning at 8.30am aboard Garuda Indonesia with 14 or so other travel agents and the Gaurda Indonesia Rep headed to Bali on a short 4 day Famil. It was only on this trip that I realised how long it actually takes to fly across Australia. After 5 hours of flying we were just crossing the west coast of Australia which left us with only 1.5 hours until we would land in Bali.
We touched down at about 2.00pm and stepped out into the dry heat that is South East Asia. As we made our way down the stairs & onto the tarmac we were herded in to an airport mini bus that drove us to the customs office. As we were making our way through immigration I couldn't help but think about the Schapelle Corby incident. Once through the visa section I was very quick to grab my bag from the Indonesian men who insisted on carrying it for me.
We all met outside and made our way through Kuta by private coach to Seminyak. We were staying at the Sofitel Seminyak, that's right, daddy spared no expense. Upon arrival we were greeted by the friendly staff and shown to our rooms. As with all free trips, they pair you off with someone to share a room. My room mate and trouble magnet would be Colin, a fellow FC lad.
We were both keen to get out and soak up the Bali feel as soon as possible so we changed into shorts & thongs and made our way with the rest of the crew to "The Villa's" which is possibly the nicest hotel I have ever seen. We inspected the amazing villa's and the health spa before making our way to the restaurant located for an absolutely amazing feast of sea food & Bintang (the tasty beer of Indonesia). After this Gary the GA rep told us of a few good clubs to go to which had cheap drinks and quite good bands. It was kind of a cruisy night & after all the flying we were starting to feel quite tipsy from the tasty local drop. Close to midnight decided to call it a night as we had a day full of hotel inspections the next day.
The next morning we were up bright & early at 7.30am eating from the varied buffet they had prepared for all the guests. At the start of the trip Gary said we would only do about 5 hotel inspections for the whole trip. He said the best way for us to sell Bali was to see it which sounded great to me as hotel inspections can get very boring after the first one. After breakfast we began with an inspection of our hotel. First we check out the different rooms then the massage parlour, followed by the gardens & pools. We then took the bus to a few other hotels before eventually making our way to the Hotel Padma where we all sat down to another huge buffet meal where we were waited on like kings. That afternoon we were set free to do our own thing. The only directions were to meet at the hotel by 5.00pm so we could all drive out to Sharky's at Jimbaran Bay for dinner.
Colin and I decided to go do a bit of shopping & made our way back through Kuta stopping to buy some DVD's and have a look around the Bali Bombing Memorial. We both bought the usual crap like beer coolers, t-shirts, shorts & carvings. We decided it would be best to drop off all our crap so we could continue walking around before heading for dinner. After the crazy cab ride back to the hotel we dumped the shopping & made for the shops again. This time we thought we would go and grab a beer & maybe a few Billabong t-shirts for Colin.
As we walked along the road window shopping we were offered Billabong shirts by a few of the store owners. After going in to take a look Colin decided he would buy 8 shirts and I though what the hell I'll have 3 as well. After trying to barter for a few minutes Colin decided to convert the money into Australian dollars to see if he was getting a good deal. Even though it was cheaper than at home we still felt as though we were getting ripped off & decided not to buy from this store as they wouldn't budge on the price. As we decided to leave, the five men standing around didn't agree with our decision and started yelling for there friends from the stores next door to come and help keep us cornered. It was at this point that we though we were going to either get mugged, stabbed or thrown in jail. We tried to push our way through the ever growing Indonesian wall but it was at this point that one of them started shouting & pulled out his mobile phone & said he was calling his cousin who is a cop. Even thought we towered over these guys it was getting harder & harder to get out with about nine of them blocking the way at this point. We offered one last price before we were going to fight our way through & luckily for everyone they agreed. So now it was time to pay. I grabbed my wallet & nothing, I had no money & neither did Colin. Could this get any worse we thought to ourselves. We managed to scrape together enough Aussie dollars to buy our shirts & eventually our right of passage.
By the time we got out it was about 7.00pm & we were two hours late for our pre-arranged final meal. We both realised this looked very unprofessional especially considering this was a free trip. We arrived at Sharkys & made our way down to the beach where we apologised repeatedly to Gary before telling our story to the travellers.
That night we decided to go out & have a drink to unwind. It was another steamy night in Kuta and our last night in Bali. We found an Aussie pub & played a little pool before making our way to a bar down the road that had a swimming pool in the middle of the club. What the heck! We all jumped in the pool in our jeans & shirts & pulled up prime position on the pool bar stools. After several hours of drinking & chilling out we headed home on the back of motorbikes so we didn't have to make the long walk in soaking wet clothes.
The following day was spent walking around the streets feeling as though I had 14 beers to many. We flew out at 10.30pm that night bound for Brisbane Australia.
I was only in Bali for a few short days but just from that I can tell that the people, food & scenery is amazing. I may go back there some day to spend a little more time checking out the scenery & culture instead of the shops, hotels & pubs.