AP flight was fine and on time. Pack your lighters in your hand luggage and your tweezers in your main luggage. No locking paranoia 4 us. Remembered the tickets, the passports, the money. Phew! Creative Holidays sign easy to spot. Hiccup when raspberry syrup bottle broke sensibly packed in same hand luggage bag as all the electronic valuables (well it was sensible until someone else plonked it down on the tiled floor of the airport. Fished out the important bits and put the empty bag including the broken glass and sticky mess in the bin. Was amazed to see a man dart across from the central reservation and retrieve it. Instant reminder of the economic difference between Australia and Bali.
Our deal included 2 nights on arrival and 2 nights plus late checkout on departure. Own arrangements in between. Holiday rep herded us into bus, telling us all the while to book tours through him, and then dropped us at wrong hotel. There are 2 x Su's Prince. Nevermind, a phone call between the 2 and we were transported on back of motorbikes (luggage delivered sep or that would have been a sight to behold ) through the streets for an instant hit of Bali. Woo hoo! Thankfully I didn't fall off and disgrace myself. Our Su's Prince much nicer than the glimpse we had of the other one. A good sized clean pool, bougainvillea on each corner and welcoming sunloungers. The 2 br bungalows overlook this - our 1 br was at the back but at least it was more private. Spacious w. A/C BR where they set up extra bed (for our 11 yr old) , open plan L/Kit/Din area. You wouldn't want to cook there. (well I wouldn't) A couple of sad chipped plates and a benchtop gas hot plate. A bit faded and in need of a good update. Don't pull the shower curtain or it will fall down.
Up to now we had no local dosh so first stop out to Bintang supermarket via moneychangers (about 7250/AUD) to get supplies - large water container, tonic for the duty free gin (don't bother, it's cheaper in Bali), Bintang, nibbles & apples (Fuji imported but cheaper than home) biccies nuts & strawberries Hadn't picked a restaurant so just went to a pizza place near Bintang which was fine but nothing to write home about. Tired (time diff) so vegged out w. satellite TV BBC world news till sleep.
Next day was only shopping day before we headed out east & as I wanted to get prescription sunnies which take time to be made up so whilst others read/swam I headed out for Kuta Square, home of Matahari and Optik Seiss. Hailed a bluebird cab. Meter flagfall was 4000 RP and it was all very straightforward, just pay what it says on the meter and have a map infront of you incase you get taken the long way round.
Into Matahari, found ATM machines at the back. Couldn't figure it out and panicked a bit as had keyed in 300AUD equivalent but it didn't process - a kind security guard explained there is a maximum withdrawal of around 1.2m which is less than 200 AUD. Checked my bank balance when I got home and X rate was about 7250 which was more or less what the money changers were offering for bank notes that day. Stopped at chemist near the ATM and bought some Norrit. Rekkied a few other things had been interested in on the various floors of Matahari - game boy games, shoes, but wasn't interested in what I saw, So having saved an absolute fortune already, headed into Optik Seiss with empty packet of contact lenses to buy up big. Damn - they didn't have that sort and neither did any of their branches. Perused the shops around Kuta Sq. Priced up runners, a gold ring in Myang which Mike was to buy for me later, various surf wear and was well. impressed with Animale which was up market but still a good deal and more my age/size/style. Still empty handed, headed off to meet Mike & Charlie at Poppies for lunch with enough time to go through the merchandise along the lane. Stopped in TJ's for a coke by which time was feeling hot and hassled (1st day out remember) - recalled it from years ago & it still looked the same, lovely water feature and though I forgot to look the turtle's apparently still there. Frustrated attempts to buy a sim card in Poppies Lane but finally managed to buy something - 3 prs of sequinned thongs. Paid 125 for 3 pairs which was too much but I'd forgotten my little print out from Don's Bali Guide/Di's Do's & Don'ts (Di please add 'DON'T forget to bring your price guide out with you when you go shopping!). Anyway, everybody has to get ripped off at least once, and the mother & daughter in the shop did manage to keep their faces straight until I'd left. Whatever.... Relief to dive into Poppies cool and shaded courtyard to find the others waiting. Love the way they serve drinks in shaved coconut shells with frangipangi. So exotic! After a good lunch we all headed back to Kuta Sq. where I went back to Optik Seiss and ordered a pair of multifocus prescription sunglasses - DKNY frames, for about $220. My multifocal ordinary (well, shall we say ordinaire as the frames were French) glasses cost me $770 in Sydney so I was well pleased. My turn to mind Charlie while Mike went shopping so took him into Matahari to check out gameboy stuff (too young for him as I'd suspected) - we cabbed back to the hotel as he was hot and bothered & not in the least interested in shopping and wanted to get into the pool. Meanwhile Mike was off on his shopping spree and came back with 2 pr of shoes (identical) indeed they looked exactly like the ones he already had on. But he's the sort of bloke who goes to Gowings and comes home with exactly the same gear he's wearing. Once he got back I was keen to get out shopping a gain as I really needed some summer trousers & had read about Big Australia (am size 16). Cab straight there, in and out with successful (fixed price) purchases of 1 pr of excellent quality light (but not see through) white cotton _ length trousers & a teal blue singlet. Sorted. Mike couldn't believe the entire round trip was accomplished in 30 minutes. For those interested, a lot of the stuff in Big Australia looked like old ladies clothes to me - but there are a few gems in there and I do recommend it and the lovely staff. So now have top, pants and 3 prs of thongs. Plus sunnies on order. Mission accomplished.
For dinner that night we chose Indo National as had noticed it (it's near Big Australia) earlier and had read about it on Forum. It was packed with Aussie tourists. Charlie was absolutely disgusted at the goings on at the table next to us where a large party had ordered a suckling pig. Babe was well deceased, baked to a crisp & had an apple stuffed in it's mouth. He was thoroughly grossed out. Said a quick hi/intro to Kerry who was buzzing around keeping everything humming - if running a busy restaurant like that is someone's idea of a seachange it's not mine. It was manic. Meal was OK but not exceptional. Atmosphere was very jolly and value for money excellent. Ordered my first bottle of Hatton Rose, found it comparable to the home brew we used to make from kits at college & resolved to stick to Bintang & G&T from there on in. We asked Kerry if she could recommend us a driver to take us to Amed the following morning and she not only did that, she booked it for us. 300,000 RP for the day. I guess if we could have been bothered we could have negotiated something cheaper from the guys on the street but it's all an unknown quantity that way and of course I had forgotten to bring Snoopy's number. (so much research and it all fell down in the practice!) Home to hotel, packed *up ready to go next morning. Read through my notes determined to do better next day and not let all that research go to waste.
* A word here about the packing. I really thought I had it down pat but I brought far too much. It wasn't clothes, or shoes (I only brought the pair I was wearing) - it was that bag of bathroom stuff. Sun cream, shampoo, conditioner, sorbolene, eczema cream, beroccas, anti mozzie stuff, stopitch, cleanser, cotton wool, eye makeup remover, nail polish remover. Baby wipes. Enough already!. Put it all together and it weighed a ton. And a lot of it was in travel size bottles. Forget makeup and nails, plucking and waxing. Nobody cares anyway, it's all just too hot. And you can also forget heavy bottles of raspberry syrup while you're at it. We did use a lot of the electronic stuff and the adaptor plus plugboard (power surge) was very useful. We had: video camera, digital camera, game boy, portable DVD player, iPod complete with speakers & earplugs, both of which worked with the portable DVD player, mobile phones x 2 (or was it 3) and a spaghetti junction of chargers for above. Oh yes, and a mozzie burner w. tablets. Hmmm bit OTT when you put it like that. Still we did actually USE all those things and it was fun to watch DVD's at night. And whilst it all went into one piece of hand luggage it was easy enough.,
Anyway, back to the tale. Next day, had requested the car to come at 11am so had time to go out to breakfast. The 'included' hotel breakfast consisted of a fruit plate, tea or coffee, 2 squares of pallid white bread, so lightly toasted it would be better described as warmed. An egg with a barn constricted pale yolk. Not too inspiring. So having read about the hash browns at La Lucciola on the BTF (thank you for the person who tipped us off about that - was it Fiona?) we cabbed it there to arrive just before 9am and nab the best table in the open plan pavillion, looking out over the lawns to the beach beyond. This meal was really excellent. Top notch. Especially the side serve of hash browns, which lived up to all expectations. No idea how much it cost but it was never more than our local café in inner city Newtown. People spotting was fun too. This is the high end of town. Think we may have sat next to Filo's dog owner friend. (was his name Jeremy?) If so he had an exotic and naturally beautiful modelesque girlfriend with equally beautiful 3 year old daughter, and a golden Labrador. And everyone seemed to know them. I guess if you're a dog owner you must live there, right?
We had let our cab go and the restaurant seemed a bit remote but we had no difficulty picking up another bluebird to take us back to Su's Prince. I had time to check out a few of the shops on Double 6 St. (SP is in a laneway called Gang Villa Coco which is about half way down 66). It's the centre for sarong buying, Skin Atomic and a few other shops I'd read about on the forum and also has a branch of Betty Bu with silk / satin bedspreads and cushions, The bedspreads weren't for me, but if you want the harem look they are undoubtedly good value If you're thinking of buying this sort of stuff though, measure your quilt before you go. One person's Queen Size is another's double. I would recommend the cushion covers in pinks, aqua and green silks as pretty good value and a stack of those could look wonderful in many different settings, indoor or outdoor. It's easy enough to pick up the cushion inserts here. They bolsters & tab have curtains too.
I didn't buy any of it, adopting a wait till we get back approach.
The car we had arranged went to the wrong Su's Prince (despite having given specific address) and it all got a bit confused when a driver who was not 'Jason' (the person Kerry had booked us) turned up. We thought he was taking us to the other hotel whereas in fact he was taking us to Amed. Half way to the Sanur bypass we had established that we weren't being kidnapped/hijacked by the hotel's own transport person & what was what. No worries. First stop Makro to stock up on soccer balls, G&T & Bintang. No soccer balls, and a really long queue at the checkout as people stock their shops and restaurants here. Meanwhile the others were flagging in the hot car and pretty fed up by the time I got back. Robinsons Gin 50,000 RP, bought Bintang in cans because bottles too heavy. Bought too much. More baggage. Live & learn. Finally off into the heavy traffic (requires a leap of faith getting used to it) toward Candi Dasa which was next stop for lunch. Additional to agenda was to rekkie some accom for when we returned there from Amed probably some 3 days later. Journey to CD pretty uninteresting, past roadside displays of building materials.
Got to CD and pulled up under shady tree opposite Grand Natia, then all headed out back to the restaurant by the pool as recommended by Filo. Didn't take long to realise that the whole town was pretty much deserted. Checked out the rooms which were lovely, but too small if you need to squeeze in an extra bed. Ideal for a couple though, particularly the 2 at the back overlooking the pool and the sea. The bathrooms, as you can see on the website, were very nice. Opening offer from them on prices was US35. After lunch we got the driver to take us to Nirwana, on the incoming side of CD down a bumpy laneway past ducks and pigs & dogs. This is beautiful accom and the pool looked great, by the sea, much much bigger than the Grand Natia. There was a bit of a beach there, whereas there's none along the main drag, just the breakwater. There was only one other guest and he was checking out the day we would have checked in. Pretty remote therefore, all up. By now we had the idea that we would have no problem finding accom in CD whenever we wanted it and decided to get going on the road to Amed. This part of the journey was much more picturesque, past ancient rice terraces and winding our way between mountains. Lot's of ooh's and aaah's and now that's more like it's. Eventually turning off toward Amed, and the winding hilly road that connects a string of fishing villages - heading toward our pre-booked accommodation at Coral View. Wonderful to get there at last, far from the madding crowds, and unload our luggage into our delightful little bungalow with verandah overlooking the good size and nicely landscaped pool. A thank you at this point to Tingadding and everyone else who contributed to our accom enquiries. Checked out our Balinese garden style bathroom - very nice. - air con in br working fine. No fridge but only had to ask and they brought one over. Stocked it up with Makro booty and headed for the beachside restaurant. A beaut spot, right along side the beach. Menu prices very reasonable, decided to have dinner there later Bintangs cold and welcoming. No need to bother with cash, just put it on your room number. Mike paid with Visa at the end and everything on the bill was accurate. Time to settle in for a few days and start to unwind.
A walk along the beach resulted in immediate hard sell from all directions. 'You want massage? Snorkling, diving, transport boss? ' Bit of peace and being left alone boss was all we wanted at that point, but this is Bali and what can you do. Retreat back into the hotel grounds, that's what you can do. Rinse the black sand off your feet in the beautiful outdoor hotel shower (disguised as a wooden statue) on the way in. Realised it takes longer than this to get into Bali mode, maybe by tomorrow - after all it's been all travel and rushing about so far. Back to the relaxing verandah, out with the good book & the G&T.
For dinner I had satay and was very smug about my choice when it arrived - they come on hot coals in one of those little wooden burner things. Mike had grilled fish, also a good choice. Charlie survived the whole trip on plain rice, chips calamari and cheeseburgers supplemented with as much fresh fruit as we could get into him and the garnishes off our plates (cucumber, carrot) Sat back, replete, to admire our surroundings. Beautiful outdoor restaurant with tables overlooking the beach, the fishing boats and the sunset. You couldn't be bad to it as they say in my home town of Belfast. Finally starting to feel ourselves getting more in sync with our surroundings. Good night's sleep anticipated.
Cock a doodle doo!
Thought those bloody things only crowed at dawn!
Beep beep -
Beeeep Beeeeeeeep !!!!!!
Who the hell's blowing their horn in the middle of nowhere at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Where did I pack that ear putty. (See, you can never over-pack after all.)
To be continued, but not sure when. This far I had made notes. Rest is up to memory which may have been depleted after all that G&T