Surfing the net and checking out where to stay in Bali in July!
I tell you.... July is certainly not the best time to go to Bali.
PEAK SEASON!!!
When we went to Bali in April 2008, and stayed at the Novotel Tanjong Benoa, the rate was only like USD 85 or something like that. When I checked for July this year, it's USD 180!!!
Peak season rates also apply in all other hotels that I checked.
Initially, I was going to LUX it out. I told H that we stay at either The Ayara or The Inter-Continental at Jimbaran Bay. H was okay with this idea..... until we decided that we were bringing the two boys to London in September (that will be in another post) during the Raya holidays, so there goes my LUX OUT of the door!!!
So...there begins by surfing and surfing the WORLD WIDE WEB for the best deals in a nice hotel. It has been a painful ordeal. Painful because my neck is aching like h#ll from the funny posture that I sat to surf. Bleahh.....
Here is my very painful process.....
First - I consulted the recently received Bali Guide from Citibank ...and saw that the Bali Khama all-suite and villas looked quite decent, but a tad expensive at USD 179 with no breakfast. Then I went on to look at others...and shortlisted Nikko and Melia Nusa Dua.
BUT BUT. I told myself that I don't wanna stay in Nusa Dua/ Tanjung Benoa again. I mean the last 3 times we were in Bali, we stayed in this area...
After lunch with my friend, she said that I should just stay in Seminyak since I could get a villa with private pool at approx USD 160 with free shuttle, breakfast etc etc. So there goes the surfing to look at the BEST deals for a Seminyak villa. I tell you... there really is ALOT of villas with private pools at that price. So which one to take? Spent soooooooo much time looking, and then shortlisted a few, and then told H to do the final decision on the villas. Suggested this one that is sort of close to Ku-de-Ta... then he said "That's quite far out. Why don't we just stay in Nusa Dua/Tanjung Benoa. USD 20 is not going to make a lot of difference! We can just take a cab if we want to go to Seminyak."
So...off I went to book The Bali Khama.
After I booked, and then the more we discussed, it seemed that we won't really be spending time JUST at the beach...since boys are not with us. We wanna check out the restaurant, shopping and night scene over at Kuta/Legian and Seminyak areas (as we never get to do these if my boys were here)
And what do I do?
Went back and CANCELLED the booking!!!
Aduh!!!
And then we talked some more...and then decided to maybe stay one night in UBUD.
Looking for a hotel in Ubud also headache. There are the really really HIGH END ones which we can't afford, and then there is the cheaper ones...which H doesn't want to stay. Very few mid-range! I saw some places at USD 70 which had quite good reviews at TripAdvisor, but H said NO. Then I thought how about The Mansion which was voted best in something in the Conde Naste Mag. At USD 170 per nite, H said OK. But then I go and read in TripAdvisor, reviews were like "not worth the money, not as advertised...blah blah blah" so that was out. I think at this point, H got abit fed-up liow...and was like "Can you please book already!!!!!". So the next one that came up was The Bali Payogan. Photos looked alright and H said "Just book lah". So I booked lor. But when I read the reviews at TripAdvisor, really make my head spin!
Some reviews were d@Mn good and some were d@Mn bad.
How like that? Which reviews to believe?
Anyways, booked already and don't want to go search anymore. H says "Aiya...only one night. How bad can that be??" So I will post MY review of this place after our stay.
After lots of DING-DONG here and there, this is where we are staying...
17th to 19th July - 2 nights @ DONNO where. It will be up to where the DIVE company book us. This will be close to the DIVE sites. I really don't know what and where we will be. It will be a SURPRISE!!
19th to 20th July - The Bali Payogan Resort, Ubud in a Garden Villa
20th to 22th July - The Holiday Inn Baruna Resort, Tuban. Figured that since this is new and from a chain, the rooms would be quite decent. It's close to Kuta and all the action, plus I do get to have my Pina Colada on the beach!
2 comments:
lucky u no stay at the ayana..
for that price..i felt it was quite old..and i wasn't that happy. next time i go, i'd stay at a private villa..might as well.
Mott - How like that ah? Some private villas are also quite old. I supposed we Just have to search for NEW NEW hotels that just opened?
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