Sandra and family , back from Bali

My husband and I and our 22 month old daughter Tahlia have just come 
back from Bali.  This was our first time to bali and we were a little 
nervous travelling with a young one.  I have been looking into this 
website for weeks before we left, doing my homework.
Our flight from Perth Western Australia was only 3 hours long.	Tahlia 
was fantastic.	I was worried about her ears hurting so I took a bottle 
of milk for when we took off and sultanas for when we landed.  She was 
fine and her ears didn't seem to hurt her.  She was intrigued by other 
toddlers on the flight and the stewardess gave her colour pencils and 
colouring page to keep her a little busy.  Also she was fascinated by 
the headphones.
We stayed at the Melasti Beach Resort a 3 star place and very clean.  
We had a suite room which has a lounge partitioned off with a curtain 
to the main bedroom.  Tahlia is used to sleeping on her own at home, so 
I was worried about this situation.  We ordered a cot, but when we got 
there, the cot was not a portacot, it was like playpen	bars and Tahlia 
could climb out of it.	So I was worried that she would fall on the 
marble floors.	That 1st night, because we arrived at 10pm, it was too 
late to get a single bed, so she slept with me on the King bed.  The 
next day we asked for the single bed, which my husband slept on for the 
rest of the journey in the lounge room.
The room didn't have a kettle, so we couldn't clean Tahlia's milk 
bottles with hot water.  We had brought Milton anti bacteria tablets to 
clean her bottles in the bathroom basin, but the plug wasn't very good, 
so I kept losing all the bottled water I used to clean her bottles.  I 
just had to quickly clean her bottles, while my husband poured bottled 
water over the milk bottles.
The resort had 3 pools.  2 of the pools had kiddies pool attached to 
it, which is 80 cms deep.  My little one is 80 cms tall, so her head 
would be under the water.  We did bring with us a ring floatie that we 
put around our waist and it is attached to the toddlers floatie, so 
this was great for all over the pool, a good buy from Clark Rubber.
We knew that we couldn't go on any tours with a Toddler, but that 
didn't bother us.  We swam about 4 times a day and we went shopping.  
It took me ages to decide whether to bring a stroller.	Instead I 
borrowed from a friend a steel frame backpack that holds a child upto 2 
years of age.  This was great, also I borrowed a pouch that holds the 
toddler on your waist without you having to use your arm muscles.  That 
was from babyland for around $60.  Well worth it.  Tahlia weighs about 
12 kgs, so it saved me using my muscles too much.  The stroller would 
have been good if used around the resort and in the Matahari department 
store.	The footpaths are uneven and everytime you get to a driveway or 
road, if you had a stroller you'd have to keep on carrying it down and 
up again too often.  The kerbs drop about 30 cms.  Although it is good 
to have the stroller if the toddler sleeps in it and if you have one 
where the back goes down, this can come in handy for changing nappies.	
So it has advantages and disadvantages.  We did go to Matahari 
department store to look at strollers, but they cost around 560,000 
rupiah.

Shopping for Toddlers:
Kuta kidz was a great shop and cheap.  It is similar quality to Pumpkin 
patch, only cheaper in price.  The shops are small and there's 2 of 
them next door to each other and 1 store in Bakung Sari.  There is a 
factory outlet, but to go there you have to buy 100 pieces of clothing, 
so I didn't go there.
Indigo- had nice summer clothes, but more expensive.
Baby Bambino- About the same price as Australia
Fairy Shop- brilliant for little girls.  It's about 40 metres past the 
Melasti Beach Resort.  The designs are amazing.  Dresses cost me 40,000 
rupiah and wands were 10,000 rupiah.  I bought about 11 outfits in 
different designs and colours.
Matahari Dept store- Kids clothes were nice, but a little pricey for me.
Ramayana Dept store- This is in Denpasar, which is about a 25 minute 
taxi ride.  Good range of kids clothes, and quite cheap, very 
impressed.  Kids shoes are great too.

As for shopping for ladies, I didn't find anything I liked.  When I 
did, they didn't have my size.	If you're size 10 and under, you're be 
right.	My husband didn't find much either for himself.

DVDs:
We went to several different shops and they all had a player there, so 
you can check the movies. We asked to check the beginning and the end 
of the movie, as this is normally where things go wrong when burning.  
They cost 10,000 rupiah and you don't bargain, it is fixed price.  Some 
shops offer you specials, like buy 10 get 3 free, or buy 25 get 8 free.

Food:
We tried Jimbaran Bay for seafood.  We had a great feast and there was 
no one else there for lunch, but I hear that it is popular at night 
when you see the sunset.
Keputat- Fantastic Balinese food.  We ate around 5.30 - 6pm and no one 
else is there.	the waitresses took Tahlia from us and played with her, 
which gave us time to look at the menu, order, have a relaxing drink 
until the food arrived.

Waterbom Park:
Went there and our Tahlia, was a bit scared.  They had two kiddy pools 
and because kids were screaming, she didn't want to go down slides or 
climb up the play equipment.  At home she's not scared of the pool, but 
over there, it was totally different for her.  So we should haven't 
gone, and just stayed around the resort pool.  Best time to go is at 
9am, there's hardly anyone there.  It is cheaper to buy a 2 day pass, 
if you're thinking you might go again.

Currency:

We took US dollars and had trouble with money changers and hotels and 
Waterbom Park.	If the notes are issued in 1996 and 2001 they won't 
take it, and it they do take it it is at a really reduced rate.  We 
were in trouble as we didn't have any AUS notes with us or credit card. 
  We called the AUS consulate and they couldn't help, so we decided to 
call the US consulate and they said that there is 1 bank in Denpasar 
that takes those notes, called CIC.  So please be careful.  We think 
it's to do with 2 bombings that took place in 1996 and 2001 and that 
they are superstitous.	I don't know the real reason.

Anyway apart from the currency, we had a great time, would love to go 
back when the little one is a lot older, so we can do tours.

Hope this helps anyone who has a little one.

Sandra