Бали - 2008 Bali - 2008

Hi all! We rested in this hotel from 24.09. 08 to 8.10. 08 with my family - me, my wife and adult daughter. Impressions - a lot! The most unpleasant moment in this journey for all of us was a very long flight (about 13 hours from Domodedovo non-stop to Bali and back, with a stop in Singapore, the flight took even more). Come on, the flight itself, but what we flew on cannot be called a comfortable plane. We did not like our Boeing-747 as soon as we saw it. A shabby nose, peeling paint on the fuselage in places... However, the liner did not look very good in the cabin either. Worn upholstery of the walls and seats, some of which had torn pockets, not very carefully swept the floor of the cabin. Yes, and it was somehow cramped for me to fit in, with generally not very high growth of 186 cm, my legs rested on the front seat - and this is in a Boeing ?? ? And if it weren’t for Hennessy, foresight purchased in duty free, a sleepless night would have been provided. During the flight, DVD players were offered for an additional 500 rubles, for everyone else to listen to music or monitor sound with headphones, but the funny thing is that almost all of them either did not work at all, or only worked halfway, that is, in one ear. There were not enough warm blankets and socks for everyone. Generally TRANSAERO burns! Upon arrival in Denpasar, we were greeted by tropical heat, and a pretty girl Katya is a representative of Lanta-Tour. We were supposed to drop into our hotel 11 people (three couples and ourselves). But two guys disappeared somewhere. As a result, tired and sleepy, we waited for them at the airport for 2.5 hours !!! , but we never did! As it turned out later, upon arrival, they immediately got into a taxi and left for the hotel on their own, and we, like idiots, stood and waited. Finally, we were loaded into a minibus and taken to the hotel. The first thing that struck me on the streets was a very intense left-hand traffic due to the huge amount of motor vehicles. So many motorcycles, which ride both old and young, I have never seen. The journey to the hotel took about 30 minutes. . At the entrance to the hotel, as elsewhere in Bali, our bus was checked by friendly guards, and here we are at the entrance to our hotel. Two girls in national costumes sprinkled us with flowers, and we went to the reception to the sounds of local musicians. We had a double room with ocean view. The room has three beds, a toilet, a bathroom, a shower, a wardrobe with a built-in safe, 2 coffee tables, 2 armchairs, a bedside table, a cabinet with a minibar and TV, an air conditioner, a kettle, a hairdryer, and, of course, a balcony with 2 chairs , a table and a gorgeous view. Of course, the room is small for three adults, but given that we paid 1.5 times less for the third place, we got what we wanted. Now about the hotel itself. It is located in Tanjung Benoa, a 25-minute drive from the airport. Among the chain of 4-star hotels in this resort, Grand Mirage is considered the most famous. Firstly, the hotel itself is a solid 4-storey building, albeit an old building, but in good condition, with a huge beautiful garden and many waterfalls, the largest of them is located right inside the hotel, there is also a pond with numerous ever-hungry red fish, which We fed every day after breakfast. By the way, I do NOT advise you to take BB (all inclusive). We limited ourselves to one breakfast, and did not regret it at all, because the breakfast itself turned out to be so dense (buffet) that the thought of lunch did not even arise, and you could have dinner at any nearby cheap restaurant with a variety of cuisines, well, during the day, ice cream or a light drink with a beer or a cocktail was enough. And save money, and at least some variety. By the way, about money. In Bali, everywhere you can pay equally in dollars and local rupees. But if you decide to change, I do not advise you to make an exchange on the street in local exchangers, even if the rate there is high - they can deceive you. Change either at the airport or at your hotel at the reception. Secondly, 100 meters to the ocean, on the beach there are a lot of sun loungers and shelters from the sun both on the sand and on the grass. Almost right on the beach there is a fish grill restaurant, the waiters walk right along the beach and offer drink, ice cream, and they can bring dinner right under the umbrella to you. In the hotel itself there are three more restaurants, one of them with karaoke. There are also several souvenir shops, an Internet cafe, table tennis, courts for the big ones are located next to the hotel. In the pool every day at 11.30 aqua aerobics begins with an experienced instructor for everyone, there is also a bar on the water, there is a “paddling pool” for children. Thirdly, there are a lot of servants, everyone is very friendly and good-natured, constantly smiling - and these are absolutely all Balinese! The hotel also has a small summer theater with a stage where theatrical performances take place exactly every other day with national costumes, music, dances and beautiful tables in the auditorium with a buffet, Bali roast pig and a bunch of all kinds of snacks. You can book a table during the day right on the beach in the magazine by choosing any table on the map. Yes, I almost forgot. When registering at the reception, you will be charged a $200 deposit per room. At first, we decided not to get into the minibar and pay in cash everywhere in the hotel, so that when we check out from the hotel, this money would be returned to us. But it turned out to be very inconvenient. The dollar exchange rate against the local rupee is 1:9100. Imagine a wallet in which you need to constantly have at least about 1 million rupees in it (it's just a little over $ 100). It is very inconvenient to pay with these numerous banknotes. As a result, we began to use the minibar, eat and drink in the bars and restaurants of the hotel, while on the receipt you just need to indicate your hotel room number, last name and signature. It's very convenient and you don't have to carry cash around with you. As a result, upon discharge, we simply paid another $ 260, but we did not deny ourselves anything. Now, the most important thing. Gentlemen, please note that the sun is very dangerous in Bali, it fries so that it doesn’t seem enough! My daughter managed to get sunburned in cloudy weather! There were only 2 such “gray” days with light rains and t = 32, on the rest - parevo 35-37. Be sure to use creams, and sunbathing is best in the shade. Now about the ocean. The ebbs and flows are perhaps the only negative of this particular resort of Tanjung Benoa. The fact is that the ocean in this place goes about a hundred meters twice a day and comes back. If you get up at 6-7 in the morning, then there will be no ocean yet. At this time, preferably before 8 am, you can go get beach towels and take the best places on the beach on sun loungers under an umbrella on the sand, but the best place is under a large beautiful tree on the grass next to an open fish restaurant - I recommend it! It is especially pleasant to sit in this establishment in the evening, at dusk, by candlelight, to eat some lobster or an ordinary kebab on sticks and listen to live music - here four guys go from table to table and offer to sing any song with them, they know from Russian " How delightful evening in Russia". But I ordered them "Bessame Mucho", this is a THING! And only 2 guitars, drums and a small double bass - they sing amazingly! So, after taking the sunbeds, go for breakfast (I advise you to lean on fruit). Then they changed and went to the beach. By 9.00 - 9.30 hours the tide will already take place and you can safely swim. I won’t say that the ocean is very clean, or rather the water is clear in it, but ribbon algae come across - the tide brings. The next low tide begins after 13.00 and by 17.00 the ocean leaves again. At this time, you can switch to the pool, or put on something from the scorching sun, wander around the shallows, pick up shells, crabs, and various living creatures there. Beware only of sea urchins, so black with long spines. Somewhere around 7 pm the tide starts again. The sand on the beach is also not perfectly white, but all this probably makes you call the Grand Mirage 4 * hotel, not 5 *. We did not find any cons in the hotel. In the restaurants of the hotel itself, prices are not the cheapest - about $ 70-75 for three with beer. If you want variety and save money, you can leave the hotel, cross the street and see a bunch of small restaurants with lower prices. The same dinner for three will be about $50-55. Personally, we really liked to dine at the Massimo home restaurant in Mtalian. Taste real pizza and tartellini bolognese, taking into account huge portions and wash it all down with great red wine, chat right away, or you can take a picture with Signor Massimo himself (he is also the head chef) - and All this cost us some $35!! ! The only bad thing is that this restaurant is located in another area of ​ ​ Sanur, and the round trip taxi cost us another $25-30! But, gentlemen, it's worth it, in Moscow you can't find such yummy and for such money! In general, the choice is yours. As for the taxi, this is the only type of public transport in Bali. There are no buses here, with the exception of tourist buses, and no trolleybuses. If you decide to go somewhere, I do not advise you to order a taxi at the hotel. The cheapest and safest public taxis are silver and blue checkered cars equipped with meters. You can easily catch them on the streets. But if you need a car for the whole day, and there are places to go to Bali, it’s better to negotiate with a private trader, and for $ 40 you have a car with a driver at your disposal all day. I will not say anything about the excursion program - choose for yourself. The only thing I would advise you, in addition to the bird park, the zoo and the monkey forest, is to take a yacht ride to the nearest islands. Just $85 from the bow - and you have a whole day on a yacht, plus a snack, plus riding bananas and catamarans, diving in a semi-submarine, light diving, etc. , etc. In general, we LOVED everything, I hope you will and you! And the last thing - remember, it is NOT customary to leave a tip in restaurants in Bali, the fact is that they already charge you for service, all this is included in the amount of the check that you pay to the waiter, it is customary to give 2000-3000 rupees in a taxi - not more, well, in the cleaner's room, we left a banknote of 2000 rupees on the bed. So it’s not customary to waste money there, you don’t need to turn Bali into Turkey! Have a nice holiday!