It appears CX will have the new J seats (at least on USA-HKG) by the time the trip will take place. They seem to be much more travel partner friendly and less claustrophobic then the current high walled J seats.

I'd rather do CX to CMB and catch the 70min Air Sri Lanka flight to MLE. unfortunately a nice villa in MLE will cost about 2x as much as a villa in Bali

I am spending some time in Bali to and from OZFest in May, hopefully it will win my heart and save me the cost of going to MLE in 2012. At least my GF sees the method to my madness