Arrived home last night after 10 days in Bali.Flew with Garuda no problems, planes full but arrived on time both ways.
Stayed the first 5 nights at Aquaria in Candidasa and loved it,the food is so good, and reasonable priced that we found it hard to eat anywhere else.The staff are terrific and Villa 1 is definately the place for us,a bit more expensive but more spacious,private and looks directly over the ocean.
When we were able to drag ourselves away we had dinner at Toke which was really nice and a lunch at Rendevous restaurant which was also very good.
We had two lots of massage treatments at Andre spa which again was really good.
Had a day trip to Tenganan Bali Aga village (weaving) Tirtagangga Water Palace ,Amplapura traditional markets and White Sand Beach,all definately worth a look.
Candidasa is pretty quiet but for us it just allowed us to veg out and settle in to Bali style.We will definately be going back to Aquaria again.
Had tour up to Ubud included stop at traditional salt factory (interesting) Mother Temple, another weaving place at Sidemen which we enjoyed more than Bali Aga.Started raining heavily so we headed directly to Ubud.
Stayed 5 nights at Tepi Sawah Villas which was enjoyable,they have a very good restaurant,we ate there two evenings, a lovely pool which we basically had to ourselves even though all the villas were occupied.
We stayed in Taman Villa which is a groundfloor villa,very quiet private and had no problem with the fact we had a villa above us.
The only small problem is the fact Tepi Sawah is quite a long walk into the centre of Ubud, although the staff are great and the drop off and pickup service they provide is excellent.
One day we had lunch at Nomad's we had a 12 small plate tasting platter which was excellent.Another good lunch was had at Three Monkey's and Cafe Lotus both great.
We had dinner at Lamak which again was excellent,but for us the most outstanding dinner we had was at Tropical Bale it is a bit out of town but they are happy to pick up and drop off.
Enough about food!
We had two quite different massage sessions one at Ubud Bodyworks which was excellent and definately recommended.The other we had a morning spa package three and a half hour massage body scrub rose petal bath etc pick up 9am drop off 1pm to hotel was bliss all for about Aus$60.00 really looking forward to doing that again.
One day we went on a bike ride with Banyan Tree cycling tours and had a really enjoyable day with Bagi and his helpers,while riding through attractive rice paddies and small villages on quiet roads.
The trip was all most all down hill with back up vehicles (if you needed a break)and cold bottles of water supplied.
It was good to see behind the tourist show,how a lot of Balinese still live traditionally and how the family operates and how the village operates,gives one a different perspective on Bali.
All in all highly recommended.
This was only my second trip to Bali stayed in Nusa Dua the first time ( a different experience all together)
Had two very good drivers and tour guides Ray from Candidasa Transport and Dewa Poni in Ubud email dewapont@hotmail.com
Must say that having bali travel forum and travel advisor to research took all the guess work out off choosing where to eat sleep etc,thank you all.We will go back to Bali still lots to see and do.
Cheers everyone.