The start of a holiday is always an exciting time but this year there was an undercurrent of trepidation, at least on my part.

We usually take over gifts for our friends and for the orphanages etc that we try to support, and both Garuda and Air Paradise have always helped with a bit of extra, no-cost freight. But this time we had over 100 Kg's beyond even that allowance! At Aus$12 per Kg I knew that there was a lot of money that would not reach Bali to be distributed amongst the locals.

The manager of Air Paradise and the desk staff were particularly helpful when we rolled up with two trolleys each, all stacked well above the height of the handlebars and number one daughter dragging our suitcases. A new check-in was opened for us (we had forewarned them about what we were coming with) and the wheelchair and crutches were booked in as un-accompanied freight, at a cheaper rate but due to arrive up to 10 days after us. Somehow, however, they all seemed to find their way onto the same aircraft!

My trepidation was justified with a freight bill of $720 despite the best efforts of everyone. Number One daughter was a bit sarcastic, I think, with her comment that we could have taken her instead and saved a few dollars. My response that it might be more peaceful if we did - and gave her away while we were there - was not well received.

In case you think we were trying to sink the island of Bali beneath the waves with all this weight let me tell you that Her excess freight costs coming back was $638 so She did her best to return the status quo to the load on Bali's shores! (Before you ask, I bought two three-packs of jocks and two shirts.)

Loading the van ready to go to the airport.

Its a long wheel base HiAce and the loading extended right to the tail gate. Number One daughter also followed us to the airport with our suitcases.

We had a nice program planned, right up until the Saturday night before we left, and then the wheels fell off.

That night was the Adelaide Bali Travel Forum dinner at the Pondok Bali restaurant in Adelaide. It was a night to gather and raise funds for the Helen Flavel Foundation Learning Centre up in Singaraja, north Bali.

Of course all sorts of things had been donated for door prizes and the raffles and auctions, and this is where I came undone. The Rambutan Cottages in Lovina had donated a free night's accommodation and the Pacung Indah, about half way up the mountains towards Bedugul, had two nights on offer. We'd stayed in both places previously and the thought of being able to go back even more cheaply than the normal rates was too much to resist and I wound up winning both auctions.

These nights had to be taken within 12 months so that meant fitting them in on this trip. Since one night up at Lovina is really just an overnight stop between two days of driving we booked two more nights to make the trip worthwhile (and we found that even that was not enough) but the five extra nights really plumped up the whole holiday because we didn't totally drop anything out of our plans.

Air Paradise awaits on the tarmac at the old Adelaide International terminal.

For the past several trips, while cheap package deals have been on offer in Australia, we have taken the lowest airfare/accommodation deal available. This has taken us to a few 2* hotels which we have found quite acceptable as we only use our initial hotel for showering and sleeping. This time the return air fare and 7 nights accommodation cost $1840 for two of us, including all taxes and fees and insurance.

Accommodation was in the Sinar Bali Hotel, down a short but narrow lane off Jalan Padma Utara, right in the heart of Legian. It turned out to be the very best of the cheapies we have so far come across.

At the end of the lane off Jl Padma Utara you come to a small car park with the reception desk on one side.

The staff we found to be very friendly and interested in your daily plans and activities.

Opposite the reception desk is the restaurant/dining room where breakfast is served. We were quite happy with the standard Indonesian breakfast included in our cheap package deal. The food selection changed each day, hot food was kept hot  and it was a self serve arrangement which allowed you have seconds if you wanted to eat your fill.

On a third side of the car park is the gateway to the hotel grounds proper, including the gardens, pool and laundry.

On one side of the central pool is the two story wing (single story bungalows are on the other side) with stairways up to the second level. The glazed window/door section just to the left of the stairway is one unit, matched with an identical one above. Sound retention was good and we heard no sound at all from our neighbours above or to the side.

The pool was kept very clean and was most inviting after a day of bopping about. It was not uncomfortably warm as some pools in full sun seem to be, but neither was it bone chilling cold even though we were told the heater was not working. A long, cold B & D or a chilled bottle of Hattens Alexandria in the hour before dinner ended most days.

The gardens gave us an endless supply of fallen flowers if you could get out there before the gardener came and cleaned up in the morning.

Desiree from Austria was one of our neighbours.

On the first morning I blew up a balloon for her in the pool and thus began a grandfather/grand daughter relationship that was mutually pleasurable.

She became a great flower collector and I made her little vases by cutting the bottoms off Yakult bottles, different size water bottles and soft drink cans. We often woke up in the morning to a carpet of flowers on our little veranda, or her sketches of Diddle (the soft toy she has here) and Diddle-ina (They are both Euro cartoon characters.) under a little stone or 'vase' of flowers to stop them blowing away.

We had many conversations in the pool and at breakfast (as in this photo) using her limited English and the fractured remnants of my secondary school German.

The post card from her and her mother that arrived home shortly after we did suggests that we might have an ongoing friendship.

Frangipanni in one of the water bottle 'vases'.

Putu Akah was one of our room cleaners. He got caught up in the exchange and display of flowers between Desiree and me. When we came home one day there was a crescent of frangipanni flowers facing us. They went from the foot of our bed on one side and curved up to the corner of the pillow on the other side.

This is another of his arrangements by the pillows of the bed.

This is another of Putu's arrangements on the shelf in our bathroom.

We also found this reaction from our cleaner, Ngurah, at the Grand Natia Bungalows in Candi Dasa in 2000.

People, including our friends, who have never been to Bali would not believe our multitude of tales about the toilet paper, so I just had to photograph this offering.

Thankfully this variety was much stronger than some of the other brands.

Our assessment of the Sinar Bali Hotel is good. The real, acid test is, would we stay there again?

We would, without hesitation.

Its actually a surprising little 2* place.

Not only is the location great, in the heart of the shopping and eating area of Legian and about a two minute walk to the beach, but being down the little private alley off Padma Utara it seemed divorced from the almost incessant traffic noise in the district. Relaxing in the pool late in the afternoon, sipping a cool drink or two and looking up to see the local kites floating in the clouds overhead and the native pigeons ("Merpati's") cooing in the coconut palms and flitting down to the pool edge to join us for a drink, was a welcome time warp between hectic days and noisy dinners.

The rooms were spacious enough, the storage adequate (even with our heaps of gifts), the air conditioner was more than up to the task, the rooms were clean (except for the morning the local poo pipe blocked up - and that was fixed before morning tea), the shower was not over a bath (which I think is dangerous) and the water was hot, the pool was clean and cool, the food was both good and adequate and the staff friendly and helpful.

We didn't want any more.

Well, maybe we did.

One of the first things we have learnt to do when we arrive in Bali is find a shop that sells light bulbs. We buy two 25 or 40 watt ones for the bedside lights (Bali is the only place I know of where 5 watt globes are not only available but commonly used in small hotels. I confidently expect that one day, in some small village, I will find bulbs with the original type of carbonised bamboo filaments that Edison invented.) and one 20 watt '3U' tube for the main overhead light. When we move on we replace the original bulbs knowing that we will most likely need our new ones at the next hotel we visit.

Most times I find that the shower head needs cleaning out so that the water hits me and does not spray all over the place, particularly into our faces. We carry a tool kit that contains a pair of slip joint pliers, a reversible, double ended screwdriver (flat and Phillips ended blade) and an old toothbrush for this sort of operation. At the Sinar Bali I also did this to the outside shower by the pool.

While I am so engaged She whips the filters out of the A/C unit and washes them, not so much to make them hygienic as to unblock the mesh by removing the accumulated dust and lint and ensure the best air flow.

We think of this as our contribution to tourist enjoyment as much as to room maintenance, which the Balinese are not good at.

- and, Yes, we'd still happily go back there again.

(But, in all honesty, we'd happily go back to anywhere in Bali, any time.)

On to the next part of our '05 holiday, the photos of the kids at the Negara orphanage? Just click the link.

Or to Negara part 2 for some more pictures of the kids, but mostly the disturbing photos of the facilities that they live in.

Or back to our home page index where you can select from a variety of story or picture pages of Bali or discover the secrets of Bali as discovered by many travellers in the Bali Travel Forum Recommendations.

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