Bali In August

Sometime in June I visited the Air Asia website for the free and easy packaged holiday and stumbled upon a reasonably cheap ‘go holiday’ package to Bali for August. Since we do not have anything urgent planned for August I booked a nine days package that included air fare and hotel accommodation with breakfast for a surprisingly low cost. We had visited Bali for four nights in January this year, on similar ‘go holiday’ package and stayed at a hotel in Nusa Dua. This time I decided to try another hotel, and in the Legian area, North of Kuta, staying eight nights but paying a little less than what I paid for the January trip.

We took the evening Air Asia flight to the Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar, Bali from KLIA. The flight was delayed for about 45 minutes due to some technical problem but it was no big hassle. We arrived in Ngurah Rai Airport at 8.15 pm, not too late and the airport was not too busy. We took a taxi, through the coupon system, from the airport to the hotel. On the way we passed through the Kuta shopping area and then northwards to Legian. Checking into the hotel was a breeze and the staffs handling us were very friendly and helpful. After getting into our room and settled in, we took a quick tour of the hotel area. Its small, has 68 rooms in three three-storied buildings, a restaurant, a swimming pool, spa facilities, and all in an area of about four acres. The room was air-conditioned, with attached bathroom, and was moderately furnished and comfortable. Extra power points were provided in the room which was convenient for me to power up this laptop or recharge the camera and pocket pc batteries, boil water and so on.

Breakfast, provided by the hotel was a reasonable buffet-styled spread of juices, coffee and tea, cereals, eggs, main entries, bread and fruits. Good enough to start the day. Food was timely replenished and the restaurant staff was all friendly and helpful.

The hotel is within a 10 minutes walking distance to the Kuta/Legian beach passing through the shopping streets, cafes and restaurants. There was a short-cut to the beach through a very narrow lane that passed in between tall walls marking the boundaries of private properties and hotels. The short-cut route is only about 5 minutes to the beach and is quite heavily used by pedestrians going to or returning from the beach as well as people on small bikes. The lane is so narrow that when a motorbike passes through it has to stop to allow pedestrians to pass by before moving on. However, the lane is not lighted up hence it is only useful during the day.

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya