Seminyak

You don't come to Seminyak to see Bali. You come to Seminyak to laze around a pool in a private villa or resort, to shop and to eat at one of the very many quality international restaurants. Seminyak itself is a building site surrounded by a traffic jam. When we first came here to stay, in early 2006 not long after the second bombings, there were few people here and we were actually thanked by local people in the street for coming to Bali. Not long before that, Seminyak wasn't even here. Now it's an extension of the Kuta/Legian strip, with a mediocre beach but some good fashion shopping. But to see Bali? No.

So why are we here*? If you have been reading this blog for a while you will know that we occasionally need to head out of the hills to watch our respective football darlings play on television. Normally we go to Sanur, which is a bit closer to Ubud, but after a disappointing hotel last time we thought we'd give resortville a try.

Last minute hotel booking sites are great. You can stay within budget and compare facilities before committing. Seminyak was generally cheaper than Sanur and Wotif had an interesting looking mystery selection that was $10 a night cheaper than the two-star place we last had in Sanur. It ticked our boxes of parking and cable tv, so with nothing to lose we took our chances.

So here we are. It's away from the traffic chaos, the car is tucked away in secure parking and we have been doing the pool lounging and tv watching thing in a lovely room overlooking the aforementioned pool. Quality bath and bed linen, a really, really comfy bed, brilliant breakfast this morning - it's everything Seminyak is about. So good in fact we have booked for another night and negotiated the same mystery deal. A little bit of luxury at a bargain price is not to be sneezed at. We don't need to shop, and we might (or not) wander out to a restaurant tonight.

Oh, and my particular darlings have just won a critical finals game. All's well with the world.

*Still a mystery for a little while. I'll add links back in Ubud. Tablets are not link friendly.