This year I took my younger sister for a look at Bali for a couple of weeks of R & R as she hadn't been before. My first visit was last year.
We flew the Garuda 7:15 flight from Perth, which was quite good, better than Qantas actually.
After landing at the airport about 20 minutes early and getting out through customs etc quickly as we only had cabin baggage we were met by our driver, Tajus from Amed. We loaded ourselves and bags into his car and we set off for good Karma Bungalows in Amed via Hardy's in Sanur where we stocked up on fruit, bintangs, redbull and softdrink for the vodka and cheese and biscuits. Wow, cheese is expensive. We exchanged some cash at 6150 to the dollar. It was 6350 at the airport...
We stopped in at Taman Tirtagangga for a look. They are rebuilding the large bale that blew down early last year.
Tajus hooked us up with simpati simcards for our phones for 60 K each with 54 K credit. If we dialled 01017before the number, calls to Oz were cheap. SMS cost 600 Rp each.
We settled into Good Karma for 3 nights to veg out and do some snorkelling etc. The restaurant there is A1 with beautiful food and cheap too. It was a pity they had no black rice for porridge at breakfast so we had to have banana pancakes instead. Breaky was included
( 2 dishes plus freshly made fruitjuice or coffee tea etc).
We went to Sails restaurant for dinner one night as it has had so many good reports and it's no wonder why. It was sensational. The NZ steak was melt in your mouth style and the crepes with icecream and palm sugar syrup was unreal even if sickly sweet.
When we left we felt a bit disappointed ‘cause its just an awesome place to chill but nevermind, I'll be back.
We headed off for Lovina via the coast road that heads south. I reckon that's very worthwhile as it's quite scenic and the little bays and high roads are such a spectacular sight.
We travelled through Amlapura, Rendang and up to Kintamani for a bite to eat at one of the buffet restaraunts overlooking the lake on the main road. The view is spectacular there, especially when the cloud lifted.
After lunch we set off for Gitgit via Singaraja for some exercise. Man those stalls there are still very cheap but the children are too persistent trying to seel you stuff you cant even get through customs in Australia. They just don't let up. After checking out the waterfall we headed back down the mountain to Singaraja past a funeral procession off to yes, I've heard it all before, the Melka hotel in Lovina to check out the dolphins. They put on a good show and all the animals looked healthy there so no complaints there. I don't think there's any cruelty going on. The dolphins come from Java and apparently they shouldn't be split from their families. I am unsure about that so can't comment. The Melka was very nice and well priced as we booked through Asia rooms although they hit us hard with the drinks, especially as by now my sister had developed a taste for bintang.
The next day after a buffet breakfast we headed to Air Panus Banjar hot springs for a relaxing swim. A little tip... don't go when a bus full of Japanese tourists rocks up. I am sure they don't mean it but they can be so rude.
We left after about an hour to visit Munduk waterfall. This is truly spectacular and a far easier trek to the water and only one warung on the way and they just waved and said hello. On the way up they asked if we wanted cold water or bintang with no pushiness at all. I wish I bought something from them now just because they weren't pushy.
We jumped back into the Kijang and took the high road along the northern tip of the crater above Lake Buyan and stopped at the temple at Lake Bratan. It was raining there which added to the glory. It is a very photogenic place and a nice cool rest stop. Lucky we had digital cameras or developing our photo's would have cost us more than our flight.
Back into the Kijang and now we went downhill as if in a race to be first to the bottom. Upto 80 km/h at times. Whoa, so fast...and past the coppers too which got the driver worried for a bit.
We ended up at Cendana resort in Monkey Forest Road in Ubud for a couple of nights. On the first night, we went to River View Restaurant for a cheap and tasty meal, recommend that one. The following night was pizza at Bali Pesto. Recommend that one too. This joint is awesome.
After a huge night out at an upstairs bar and margherittas, blue lagoons, shooters and bintangs later we staggered back at our hotel to crash before visiting the monkeys the next day. Man that place stinks when you've had a hard night out. Anyway, we checked them out. They seem more active in the morning especially one which found a new fluffy toy. I'd call it a dead kitten but the monkey was enjoying playing with it.
That afternoon we signed up for a massage at the resort. Now I know about the paper jox thing. The massage was great if a little expensive.
Next morning we found our way to Sanur where we were supposed to get on a scoot boat to Lembongan Island for a night. Somehow we ended up on a public boat which ended up being a faster and better boat than scoot. It was about the same size but with 2 x 200 hp outboards on the back. The boat is called REEFIA , which is owned by the people at Lembongan Reef Bungalows and Restaraunt. Before I go any further their Restaraunt is the bagus. 3 mains and 2 lge bintangs for 150 000 is excellent value. Their nasi goreng is hard to beat too. We stayed a night at The Villas near Coconuts in a 2 bedroom villa (Villa Aman) with plunge pool dvd, stereo, big spacious verandahs etc which was excellent. We got a special price for the villa but normal price was US$85 per night.
As I had ripped my toenail on the boats mooring rope at Sanur, I decided not to do any snorkelling as the corals can be highly infectious, We went for a walk along the cliff top to Mushroom Bay and came back through the jungle which was very good apart from the stench of the fertiliser sheds of the farmers. It smelt a lot worse than a long drop...
The next morning we soaked up the luxury of the plunge pool and got ready to head back to Bali. My sister wanted to eat at a real warung and was determined to try out warung Relax. Well we went in, looked around and I said 'I don't think they'll have it here' and walked out.
There were more flies hangin' round there than in the fertiliser sheds. I said when we get to kuta, I'll take you to a proper warung (warung 96 in mind).
We caught a bemo to Hotel Barong in Kuta for our second week. Damn now we are half way through our holiday. Help!
On the Sunday, we walked up to Bali Gong in Garlic Lane to select our dvds and get that out of the way. Then it was back to the hotel and fall in the pool. A couple of big illusions each at 100 000 plus taxes for about a litre went down well as we lounged in and around the back pool. Lucky we got an exchange rate of 7100 by now.
In the week we were in Kuta, we ate at Bali corner cafe' 5 times as it was so hard to beat on value, quality and because it is so open. Their food has really picked up which was probably why the place was nearly always full. And its interesting watching life in the street especially as a car attempts to go down a lane with a heap of oncoming traffic. People just help the driver to reverse into the clear then the bikes roar past and he has another attempt but with no agro anywhere in fact I didn't see any road rage or agro in the 2 weeks we were there.
We ate at Warung 96 (degrees) once. The food there is very good. The steak was better there than at Corner Cafe.
While in Kuta we did the quad bikes with See Bali Adventures which was awesome and the lunch at the end was fantastic.
We went rafting with Bali International Rafting on the Telaga Waja river near Rendang and ended up in Klungkung which was AWESOME. It is the longest raft ride on that river and has the least steps at the end. This guy from Portugal was in front of the raft and every time Wayan, the guide yelled out boom boom or hold the rope, this guy's taking a photo. It was so funny and he'd keep paddling to overtake anyone he saw or get close to splash other rafts. Needless to say we got splashed heaps too.
I was convinced to go with Sobek but Nanta at M BA Poppies 1 said B.I.R. was heaps better and he was right. Actually Nanta and Koming at M BA were very helpful in choosing the right company to go with.
We had to do the Waterbom thing too which was un-real. I hurt my back big time on the racetrack slide after getting seriously airborne on the jumps and coming down hard. It was still fun though. I thought the new superbowl was disappointing and boring but the boomerang with 2 people was thrilling. The Macaroni was also better with 2 people as you went down faster but it was even better if you lost your raft in the tube and went down on your back although I wouldn't recommend that.
While in Kuta, we didn't go clubbing as there was a risk of something happening although it didn't which was good but we wanted to come home so we could return back to Bali. The Barong put on a show Thursday night which was good and we ended up having a late night after the show, in the pool.
Damnit' Saturday came and after breakfast it was off to the airport where we checked in and headed for the Prada lounge (100k each) for free internet, beer and snacks. It was well worth it and will do that again. Plus, they look after your bags so you are free to move around the airport too.
So now it's Bali blues at home finishing a JBR and thinking of what to do next trip. One thing I didn't do which is on the list is parasailing and have found a cheap price of 300k including 15 min jetski and 15 min banana boat at Nusa Dua so I guess I have already started planning my next trip. There was so much we didn't do as time ran out so fast. We didn't get to S & S to meet Trevor and Carole and others, didn't even find aussieoutlaw at the Barong, still haven't been to Tanah Lot or Ulawatu so... next time.