Return from the Bali Tropik

by 

Mike H

February 2001

We have justed returned back from 8 days of heaven. We are family of 2 adults and 2 kids aged 13 and 10. we decided to stay at the all inclusive resort of the Bali Tropik on the edge of Nusa Dua and Tanjung Benoa. Hotel was great. Large rooms and great beds. Huge bathrooms. The staff were friendly and the facilities were good. Large pool with sunken bar. Free activities such as windsurfing Surf Canoes diving and snorkling. Power beach toys such as skiing and Jet skis. The beach was ok but not as good as Club Med next door however it was quite suitable. Food was a different buffet style each meal plus a 24 hour menu available when ever the need arose.  Great for hungry kids wanting ice cream and chips. All meals and Drinks were included in the price so the sunken bar was greatly used by all. The cost was much cheaper than we could have done eating and drinking out and with 2 kids was great. They could drink when ever they wanted and made our holiday even better. Funny enough with all that free fizzy drink and Ice cream our kids soon realised that water was the best thirst quencher and drank it by the gallon. The resort was ideally placed for a relaxing beach holiday without the rush of Kuta but was close enough that 15 mins in a taxi and you were in the middle of all the action. While we were there we were the only southern hemisphere guests. It seems to cater for lots of Canadians and Germans. There was a group of friends from UK there as well. Everyone mixed well which made for some great vollyball games and conversations around the bar in the pool.

We made use of taxis to see all the sites and do all the action. The kids thought White water rafting was just the best. They tried para sailing and diving and could barter their own deals with the beach toys with the best of them. We did the usual shopping and loaded up on play station games bought at the Raymayana supermarket in Denpasar. They are still 5000 rp each and they have the best selection around. Watches at 8000 to 10,000 each and T shirts 10,000 to 15,000 made the holiday for the kids. Their pocket money lasted all week and they had change to bring home. Rafting was $50 USD for the 3 of us which was good value and we hired a taxi for 250,000 rp all day for our trips to Ubud the monkey forest and the volcano (which was unfortunately covered in cloud).

We found the beach of Kuta ok but the hawkers rather aggressive in their tactics. The continual touching to attract attention was a pain. 
We thought Sanur was the pits and was glad we were not staying in that area. The money changers there were the only ones we had any problems with. It was almost a joke to see how they were cheating you. Once caught they refused to continue the transaction and suggested you went elsewhere. In the end I always asked them for the non cheating price and had a joke with them. You can tell the cheats by the better prices they offer. Stick to the bank type changers here they offer slightly lower rates but you will not get cheated. In other places we had no problems with changers at all. Even the rates offered at the airport is not that much lower than town.

Taxis from the airport to the Hotel was 40,000 rp and we noticed the price board has increased over the past few months. However remember this is still only $10 New Zealand and is unlikely to break the bank.

We flew Thai airways via Bangkok and Sydney and we stopped off in all of those places for a few days each. The flights were very good. Always on time and the service and crew impressive. They were always offering soft drinks every 30 mins or so so never got chance to get dehydrated. Meals were fine and the kids got the chance to spend over 1 hour up on the flight deck on the new Boeing 777. I was green with envy. The pilots explained all sorts of things to them both about the plane and the flight path. Showed them all the different systems including a camera situated in the tail which monitors the engines on the wings. I now have 2 budding pilots at our house.

We enjoyed our time in paradise and are keen to return and explore Lombok and the hinterland. Maybe that will be next year.