Nusa Lembongan Continued
And of course one afternoon I walked along to Mushroom Beach. It really is not that far, you go along the hill past Coconuts and down onto Coconuts beach. Behind the little shop there are a rough set of steps and they lead to a track that goes past the new Japanese development and onto another beach where Villa Manor Wayan is situated. The restaurant here is good for a quick Bintang and the food is really good as well. You then walk down onto the beach and then up through a few Villas that are perched on the hill. Over the hill and you find yourself on the far end of Mushroom beach. Just past Bali Hai Huts there is a road and this leads directly to Lembongan Village, if you keep following this road it goes up a hill and then down the steep hill back into Jungabatu Bay.
The accommodation along Jungabatu Bay is very cheap and negotiable. It pays to find out what other people are paying. One couple that we became friendly with had arranged to stay at Jungabatu Bungalows, this place is at the very far end of all the bungalows along the beach, and it can be booked through packages from Australia. A boat picks visitors up from the Perama but once these people arrived they were disappointed. The bungalows are very small and even though they have fridges and TV the power is not available during the day and they don't appear to have their own generator, and the TV's have poor reception. The restaurant menu is extremely limited and the charge is 25US per person. They tell them thanks but no thanks and walk back along the beach to Ketuts Losmen. Ketut has built two new bungalows and they have air-conditioning and hot water (Ketut does have his own generator for during the day when the island power is off). They negotiate a price of 250,000rp per night and are happy with this being less than what they would have paid at the other place. The next morning they are chatting to the people in the other bungalow and find out they are paying 150,000rp per night. So they have a little chat with Ketut and yes no problem they get theirs for the same.
Along the beach you will find Puri Nusa, the farthest one down the beach apart from Jungabatu Bungalows. It is set up high with high concrete steps coming up from the beach. The restaurant is at the front. The food is good in the restaurant and is popular with a lot of people staying at other places. There are two 2-storey bungalows at the front with great views of the surf breaks. Each room has double bed and bathroom with cold water. They also have verandas with nice furniture to sit and take in the views. These rooms tend to be between 60,000rp to 80,000rp depending on how full the place is and how good your bargaining skills are. Behind is a three storey concrete bungalow with a mix of rooms. Some of these rooms could do with a reno but a cheap price can also be reached on them. Then there is a block of single storey concrete bungalows, all with clean white tiles and either three or two beds, there are four of these. Then there is a small courtyard and at the far end is the family bungalow that we stay in. The middle is two storeys with a veranda off the ground floor and nice furniture. The bottom room has a queen bed and the bathroom is off this room, clean with toilet, shower and bath. There is a very steep set of stairs inside that lead to the top floor. A double bed is all that is in this room, but it is very large. The staff gives Tom a mattress and Zoe gets a double to herself. Next to the family section is a room on either side. These have two single beds in them and a bathroom.
Next is a place called Lindas, owned by the lady that used to own the B&B on the hill. They have painted the bungalows and the standard is about the same as the Puri Nusa. Next-door is Agus's, formerly known as Wayan Tachis (his father). Agus is an absolute delight, nothing is too much trouble, can stay up as long as you all want to drink etc etc. His rooms have all been renovated and now have flush toilets. He has also built a really nice room at the back of his property. Room prices are very negotiable, depending on how long you are staying, and would be between 60,000 to 100,000rp. Other places worth a mention include the Surfers Café. They have built some new bungalows at the front of the place and are nice. They are around 100,000rp per night. The food in the restaurant is great and they have a DVD player for a bit of entertainment. The Mandala is also OK, this is right in front of you as you get off the Perama. Rooms for around 80,000rp. Further down the beach there are a few other nice places including World Dive. Certainly no shortage of places to stay and really no need to book anywhere.
We were ready to leave by the time the 17th April came but were still sad to say goodbye to everyone. Had phoned the Car hire place and organised to see them to organise a car for five days and rang Made for transport back from Sanur, but he was booked, rang his brother but he was also booked but said he would arrange a friend, Hubby told him what shirt he would where and Wayan said will tell friend. We pack only two backpacks to take with us on this stretch of our holiday and pack the other two to stay at Melasti, we are booked into Melasti on the 21st for our last five days. We are all decided upon visiting Baliaan for two nights and then across to Ubud for two nights before returning to Legian. Made, the owner of Puri Nusa, is meeting up with Hubby to look at some stone ware that we are considering importing into Australia, while we are in Ubud.
Early morning for us on Sunday 17th April and after a quick breakfast we are packed and saying goodbye to everyone. Wayan and Batu have arrived to take Zoe down to the Perama by bike, and Kal is organised to take Tom. We catch a boat down to the Perama with the bags and are quickly transferred to the Perama. After a bit of a rough start going across the reef, the rest of the trip is calm and we encounter no problems.
The bags are all located at Sanur and we are standing on the beach waiting for a driver to introduce himself. A man comes up and shakes Hubbys hand and we assume that this is the driver that Wayan has organised. We load up into his van and are headed for the Melasti. We soon realise that he is not the driver that Wayan has organised but one who is stationed at Sanur. We all have a laugh and keep going. Wonder what has happened to the other driver?? The agreed price is 50,000rp. As we pass the car hire place it is closed up and Hubby curses, which was the reason he rang them yesterday because he was worried that they were closed on the Sunday we were in Legian. Arrive at the Melasti and put away two bags in the luggage holding places. The guys working have a friend who rents cars and we settle on a price of 630,000 rp for five days, including insurance. The car arrives and is an older style Kajang, not great, but with good brakes.
We head in the direction of Baliaan, stop at a petrol station and then stop at the Bintang supermarket. Go in for a ‘few' things and of course come out with half the shop. Bought a good map, and even though it was 80,000rp, was worth every rupiah, a lot of detail. Lots of goodies, drinks, including gin and tonic (the local gin is great and so cheap), Coffee and those café latte sachet things, coffee mate instead of milk and plenty of chocolates and lollies.
First stop is Changuu and a café that we had visited the previous year, in the middle of nowhere, with the best coffee and pastries. Had a beautiful leek quiche and coffee, yum! As we were leaving the car was parked on some land next to the café, Tom was holding his game boy one minute, and the next it was in an open drain on the side of the road. We watched the bubbles as it sank. ‘Quick, I tell Tom, you are going to have to put your hand in and pull it out', which he does and I quickly remove the game and batteries. Then we get out the bacterial hand wash and all wash our hands and rub over the game boy. In the car we all find the funny side of the situation and I hold the game boy over the air-conditioning vents to try to dry it out. And would you believe it when we got to Baliaan, put in new batteries and it worked, even the game worked!
Baliaan is not easy to find. We have tried on previous trips and missed the turn. Counted the number of beaches using the map and decided that we were close. Made a left hand turn, down through some defunct boom gates that you drive around and we came out on one side of the river mouth but not where we were looking for. There was just a small warung and some surf breaks. But hubby now knew that we were close and just needed to get to the other side of the river. Back on the main road we noticed the Sacred River retreat, had read about this place in the Lonely Planet, must be getting close now. You go past this place and then head into a small town where there is a sign for Baliaan Surf Bungalows, 300meters, on the left. It doesn't have an arrow, but this is where you turn left (we wasted a bit of time going down the road looking for another turn). You travel down the street and meet a small boom gate. A lovely old lady comes out, smiling from ear to ear and you pay 1,000rp per day to enter their village. Along the road there is a surfers home stay and a bungalow complex. Then to the right there is a very upmarket resort and down to the left is the Baliaan Surf Bungalow, overlooking the beach and surf. There is a warung on the edge of the cliff but nothing else. Baliaan is a black sand beach but has a great soft wave that goes on and on. Tom had a great time and got some barrels!!!
Baliaan surf bungalow was lovely. On the ground floor there is a two bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom. On the next level is the section that we stayed in with a lounge room with a king single day bed, TV and DVD. Nice size veranda with a comfy lounge, kitchen with fridge and bathroom, with cold water. Up the stairs is a room that is open with a double bed and veranda, very romantic and great views of the surf. A mattress was brought in for Tom, and we were set. Phillip the guy that runs the place was lovely and we negotiated the place for 150,000rp per night. The fridge was stocked with soft drinks and Bintangs. We asked Phillip about places to eat and he explained that the Warung on the cliff closes at 6pm and the only other option was the resort, but was quite expensive, he invited us to his house the next night for dinner and he made it hard to say no, but we told him he had to except some money from us.
So off to the Warung for a quick dinner before she closed. Nice watching the sunset from the cliff. We had a few DVD's with us that we hadn't watched so it was back to the bungalow for Movies and munchies! A few gin and tonics, plenty of munchies and an early night, lulled to sleep by the sound of the surf. The next morning Hubby and Tom went for an early surf and Zoe and myself relaxed and watched a DVD. Phillip dropped by to see if he could clean for us and even though I said no need as we would be going tomorrow, he still insisted on sweeping. He informed us that there was a marriage on today in the village and that the warung would be closed. He arranged to pick us up at seven to take us to his home for dinner. When the surfers returned we decided the only place to try for a late breakfast was the resort, so we piled into the car and off we went. The resort was beautiful and you could see why people stay at 160US per night. The restaurant had stopped serving breakfast but then the waiter came to the table and said that the chef was prepared to do breakfast. So we all ordered a full breakfast and it was beautiful, fruit, juice, coffee, eggs and bacon. But the price was a bit over the top at 250,000rp, that 21% tax gets you! After what we thought was a substantial contribution into their economy we asked if we could use the pool for a quick swim. Yes we could, so we stayed for about an hour, swimming and relaxing and trying to keep the kids reasonably quiet.
Following this rest we jumped in the car and headed for Medowi. It probably took about half an hour and as we arrived the rain started pouring down. Tom headed out for a surf and we headed across the road to the resorts restaurant where we spent the afternoon drinking, eating and reading, watching the surf and the wild weather from the restaurants windows. Headed back to Baliaan about six and got organised for dinner at Phillips place. He arrived and we gave him a Billabong wallet with 100,000rp inside, he was very happy! Tom jumped on Phillips bike and they lead the way to his house. It was back on the main road but we turned off the opposite side and drove into the jungle. He had a nice simple house and his wife was busy the whole time we were there, mostly preparing our food. She greeted us when we arrived and came and said goodbye when we left but otherwise was in the Kitchen. We ate chicken curry and fried banana with palm sugar and coconut. It was a really nice meal. We sat and chatted about Phillips life and he showed us his photo albums. Exchanged a bit of Indonesian and learnt a bit more from him. Left around ten and we had all had an interesting experience, plus a few additional mozzie bites! Another good nights sleep back at the bungalow.
The next morning the surfers hit the surf and after a bit of packing we meet them at the warung and have some breakfast. Then back to the bungalow and pack the car. As we were leaving three motorbikes pulled up with three guys looking for somewhere to stay. We tell them it's a great place to stay and are pleased that we may have brought Phillip good luck! Promise to stay again next time we are in Bali.
Next stop is Batubalan and Putra Silver. We buy silver from this place every year and Made, the owner of Puri Nusa, says his house is close and when we get there we are to ring him and he will come and show us how to get to his house. We get from Baliaan amazingly easily, even going through Dempasar. The only time we have a close call is at a set of traffic lights, we thought we were in a turn left or go straight lane. There are a few policemen on the other side of the lights. A man comes up to the side of the car and frantically waves for us to turn left, points at the coppers and back at the left hand turn. We thank him and quickly turn left and then a quick U turn.
At Putra Silver we have a quick buying frenzy and leave with lighter wallets. But the bargains that you get here are terrific and really give you good bargaining power when you are back in Legian when you tell the sellers what you pay at Putra Silver. Made arrives and even he is amazed at the prices. I bought quite a lot for my daughter who is not with us, chunky stuff, and the sort of thing young people really like. But I also got some beautiful flower brooches for my mother that is very fine filigree style. We have something to eat at one of the local warungs but Made will not let us pay as he says we are visiting his village so he must pay. I tell him we would like to take him and his family out for dinner before we go and it will be in Kuta, tourists' village, and we can pay.
We arrive at Mades house and it is a very nice house. The entrance area has a lounge and chairs and we are offered a seat. There is a Koi Carp pool next to the lounge and some gamelons in another part of the room. On the wall is an aquarium with a huge Saratoga in it. Made introduces his wife, as she arrives with soft drinks, but she then disappears for the rest of the visit. Made has been to some of the people he knows to find out more about the stoneware and gives us some catalogues. Arrangements are made for tomorrow and we are back on the road to Ubud. We travel up to Ubud probably takes about 20 minutes and straight into Hanoman street and we find the Dewa bungalows where we have stayed before. It much busier than we have ever seen it and we cannot bargain a room nere the pool for 100,000rp like last year but he shows us another room next to the pool but down below it and we are quite happy with this room. They bring in a mattress for Tom and he states how nice it will be for him to get back to Melasti and have bed after all this time on mattresses. We venture up the road to a restaurant and have a beautiful dinner and back to the room for an early night.
Will post part 3 soon, Ubud shopping and back to Legian. Will also include the list with contact details.