We flew Malaysian Airlines from Heathrow via KL and the flights were fine, food on the plane was OK.
Return was good as we had 3 seats between the 2 of us between KUL - LHR, which was lucky as the flight was quite full.
This was our 4th time in Bali and our 3rd at GBB, but even though we'd done quite a lot of the tours, it was 5 years since our last visit so we still wanted to revisit the highlights.
After a couple of lazy days, we had a day out to Klunkung, Besakih and Kintamani.
We love the view at Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung, and for the first time the weather was clear so we could see the top of the volcano.
The 'guides' are a bit of a pain but we just kept saying 'No thank you'.
We had another day out to Tanah Lot (the last time we were there it had scaffolding around it as they were sorting out the sea defences), Lake Bratan (hubby's favourite place), Bedugal and the flower, fruit & veg market at Candikuning.
Memo for next time:
we do NOT want to have lunch at the restaurants around Kintamani and Lake Bratan - overpriced buffets.
We also visited Jogja to see Borobudur and Prambanan (for the second time).
Borobudur is stunning!
We were sad that Prambanan was fenced off after the earthquake in May 2006, it did quite a lot of damage.
It was a very long day as we left our hotel at 06:30am and didn't get back until midnight, but in our opinion well worth it.
We had a few afternoons in Kuta (me shopping, hubby drinking) and had planned to go in for one evening but never got round to it.
We stayed overnight in Ubud and really enjoyed it.
We went to the Botanical Gardens just outside Ubud which were small but nice.
We stayed just down the road from the Monkey forest, so we visited it as soon as it opened.
The temples in the forest were fabulous - very Indiana Jones.
We had lunch at Warung Ibu Oka near the Palace which is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide - they do suckling pig or suckling pig.
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We arrived about 12:30 and had to queue.
As we were waiting they brought out another pig and if that was suckling, its mother must have been the size of a hippo!
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It was delicious.
For 20,000 Rupiah (just over £1) you got rice, some green chilli stuff, some succulent pork, crackling and what looked like black pudding sausage.
The place was packed, apparently it only opens between 11am and 4pm and they get through 4 or 5 pigs about the size of alsation dogs.
We also went to Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida on the Ocean Rafting trip run by Bali Hai Cruises.
We enjoyed the Bird Park and Orchid Garden (hubby grows orchids), the Reptile Park is not so good but they do have Komodo Dragons and you can get a combined entrance ticket for Bird/Reptile Parks.
We had some fabulous food at a place called Laghawa Terracotta Garden (there's appears to be 2 restaurants within a short distance both called Laghawa).
We also had some good meals at a place called Randy's that was Canadian/Balinese.
We tended to drink at a place called Jimmy's.
As I've mentioned in another post, it was initially quite difficult to get gin & vodka in restaurants and bars which was a bit of a pain.
Beer was readily available but it's not really my cup of tea, if you get my drift.
One thing we could have lived without was the constant pipping of the taxis and bemos, but I guess it's the same in most places around the world (it certainly is in Goa).
All in all, we had a great holiday and would definitely go back.
Fiona - hotel report to follow - I promise.
Polly