Righto - part 2 and heading off to Nusa Lembongan for a couple of nights.
First of all, need to drop our suitcases off to Bintang Bungalows & Pool in Sanur, to mind while we are away. That was very good of them.
Upon arrival, we discovered our name was wrong and the dates were wrong. O.K. They can still fit us in, all done.
Next morning and down to Shindu (sp?) Beach and looking for the Perama.
I ask around, yes yes, its over here. Somehow it didn't look right and hubby asked a couple of ladies who said they'd been heaps of times before. Well, the boat still looked wrong to me and we let it leave without us. Under pressure here now folks. Wander around a bit more and lo and behold, there is a red Perama boat waiting. Grab bags and head off to boat. This boat was packed to the rafters. Everyone squashed in, no where to put feet due to luggage, over loaded to the hilt. The best bit was when we ran out of fuel and they had to move everyone ( well, us up the back in cattle class anyway) and all the luggage to get to the fuel. This was of course stored under the seats where the life jackets should be. WTF. Can't get started back up. Just float along.
Finally underway and as NL comes into sight, run out of fuel again. Repeat step 1 as above, except leave all the containers out, so now daughter & I have no where to sit or stand. Think I'll just ski off the back. We made it alive despite the two stops at the service station. Of course they wanted more than I was quoted, I just paid up because I was pretty much over haggling at that point. They were very nice about it.
No one on beach with our name. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Nice chap from Pondok Baruna ( Kadek, I think. Lovely sunny happy disposition) says to come anyway. Upon arrival our rooms have accidentally been booked to someone else so we were given assistance to find more beds. We ended up next door at Murianis Nusa Villas. Sue at Baruna was very apologetic and extremely helpful and generous in assisting us. Thank You Sue. While I was waiting I was checking out their dive equipment and instructions to divers etc. It seemed to me they have a pretty tight ship in this regard. It was all pretty professional.
So, off next door to Murianis. From the beach, it is the joint to the right of Pondok Baruna, still on the beach. Maybe 3 minutes walk, if that.
There are 6 villas. 3 up, 3 down. The king rooms were upstairs however, the trees blocked all the view, and as there was no electricity that day, there was no water upstairs either. So, of course we took 2 twin rooms downstairs. The view was perfect and there was water. They were pretty big beds for singles, more like ¾ size. Our villa had spotless white sheets on yummy thick mattresses and a sarong to sleep under. The kids sheets were stained and yucky and their mattresses were more like futons. Neither of them slept well on NL.
HUGE room, A/C, telly, safe, and that's about it. When the electricity was on, the A/C was brilliant. 1 towel between us so I used my sarong as a towel, not fussed. Huge bathroom with bath and hot shower. Toilets flushed, that's all I care about. Grounds were simply a little garden at the front with a couple of sun lounges right on the beach. Balcony had a table and 2 chairs - with best view ever. I had big plans of sitting there for 3 entire days. No reception, lounge, pool or brekky. That's not what we were after anyway. Rp250 000 night per villa.
Wandered up to Playgrounds for a game of golf. Another note to everyone: Playgrounds does not have golf anymore. When they saw how we had arrived with our Coles bag full of balls though, they found a gold club and the manager offered to give us his t shirt if we got the ball in the boat. Well, it got very very close, but not close enough. One ball did land in the next boat over though, so some poor soul would have gone to take his boat out and wondered why there was an orange golf ball in it! Rick also carefully replaced the divots from behind the Playgrounds pool in case you are wondering.
Next, to the restaurant right at the front of Playgrounds....Lembongan Reef Restaurant. It was the BEST meal of the entire trip for me. Thai Green chicken curry. This restaurant was cheap, with good food and the best views ever. 4 feeds, 6 drinks (large Bintangs) rp 250 000. (The curry was 30 000)
Wandering back to the villas along the beach found a nice little dress shop, then stopped to play some cards with the locals and won a bit, with a copper helping.
The last little shop before Murianas we sat and bought coconuts to drink as it was really hot. We left with a friendship and 2 motorbikes.
It was somehow automatically decided that Hubby & BF would be the riders - don't know how that happened or who decided it. So that left daughter and I to be bikie moles. After their comprehensive motorcycle lessons ( 5 minutes ) off they went. Filled up with petrol, no helmets, licences or safety gear. Both got growled at and I got on, on the proviso we didn't go over 40. I thought at least I might live through the injuries. Actually, I don't know what I was thinking at all - it goes against everything I teach every day as a professional road safety officer.
I can't believe I was glad I had my Crocs on; as I figured they would protect my toes better than thongs.
So, off to Café Pandan, Dream Beach & Devils Tear for tea. Fantastic as always. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed his red Thai chicken. He said it was really hot ( as in chilli) and heaps of veges. I don't know why this place was empty. I was upset at seeing turtles in a crate of water all trying to get out of course. When I asked, I was shown how they were cleaning their ponds out, and they would stay for a few months then be released. Happy now ! Few games of 8 ball after tea then head back. Are bikes meant to have brake lights or tail lights at night?
Back again next morning to see in the daylight and go hooning all over the island. Took the kids to Mushroom Beach and NL Villas where we had our honeymoon. They were suitably impressed. I thought I'd impress them more with a drink in the lounge. I think Visa were suitably impressed with my purchase. Rusty memory tells me around 250 000 for 4 dinkys. Far out.
Found the bridge over to Nusa Chenigan (sp?) which we didn't find last trip. Far out that was scary going over on the bikes. Only inches to spare both sides and if you looked down, you got the wobbles.
Wouldn't you know it, a local friendly guide just happened to be waiting on the other side to show us around!
So, for the princely sum of rp100 000 this young man took us up to the lookout which was actually amazing, then down to a temple and swallow cave which was right out of Deliverance, then to a cove with the most amazing sapphire water I've ever seen. I didn't want to leave. Actually, it was worth the $$$.
Dropped off chuppa chubs as we saw children, you know in memory of who.
The ‘don't go over 40' thing didn't really work that well because the speedo didn't work. So I just growled now and again when it seemed a bit quick. After 2 full days I noticed the fuel tank hadn't moved. It was stuck on empty. So I asked BF how much petrol they had used. ‘Don't know, the fuel gauge is stuck on full'!
Next night enjoyed the Moet and tea at Baruna. We also had brekky here. Food is OK, reasonably priced, staff friendly.
We had some more clothes, bras and nail polishes etc. which somehow didn't make it into Smudges bag, so we gave them to the lady at the shop with the coconuts & motor bikes. Honestly, she was so grateful. Next day she had one of the tops on already ( because it was long sleeve) and everyone had dibbed in for the bras and nail polishes. She gave daughter & myself a beautiful scarf each.
Well, long story but, we had brought a gift from Tassie which needed a good home so we took that to her. It had a pair of toddlers soft booties done as little Tassie Devils. Fangs n all! As she had a gorgeous little girl walking, it was perfect. Also, some handmade Tassie soap & moisturizer, lip balm etc. She was stoked !
All safe, bikes dropped off.
Feed at Scooby Doo. 4 meals, 3 drinks & entrée rp 184 000.
O.K.
If I'm going to honest and factual, there was a little blip on the radar at the Villas. Not a biggy, but here goes.
In the telly cupboard we found crockery, cutlery etc and figured a previous guest had left their stuff there. Maybe housekeeping hadn't noticed it. No problem. Then we discovered the DVD player in the bag with the pornos. OK, this isn't good. Then we discovered the bag with the boxes of ephedrine, spoon and other assorted drugs and thought, oops, this might be really bad for us. We mentioned it when we left and wiped all our prints off.
The trip home on the Perama was not as crowded. I also discussed how we had paid too much to come over and they adjusted the price down. No hassle. They were pointing out what a bargain we got as, due to the big boat being serviced, we were on a smaller boat which only took as long as the Scoot. When I went hunting for the life jackets before we left, I found some under the front seats ( none in the back) and the rest stowed in the front of the boat. Pity they threw luggage on top of them. There were not enough life jackets for the number of people on board. There was also no way the jackets stowed at the front would be retrievable in case of emergency. 7 adult & 3 child life jackets for 17 adults on board. There were no briefings as there are meant to be.
I know some of you are probably thinking that a bit rich coming from someone who just dinked on a bike with no safety gear. Go ahead and think that, I'm stating the facts as they stood. Thankfully, no stops at the service station on the way home. Safe and sound to Sanur and a surfing comp.
Off to Bintang Bungalows & Pool in Jl Danau Toba (North Sanur) hop skip & a jump from Shindu Beach market area.
As they don't have a website, we booked and thought we'd wing the rest.
Rp 170 000 villa per night. The rooms are brick downstairs and the thatch rice barn upstairs. You get both floors. Downstairs, different versions of a lounge with table and chairs, a good little fridge, and maybe a telly. No balcony or verandah - opens right onto the pool. Only 8 or 11 bungalows as I recall, so very cosy. Bathroom also downstairs. Dunny that never flushed properly in either bungalow the whole time we were there. Cold water hose for shower. Fan. BYO loo roll and we asked for towels please. Sheets not changed in 5 nights, so I guess that was on arrangement only. If you want A/C, I think they bring in a mobile unit. Upstairs there is room only for the queen size 4 poster with mosquito net. That had its own little fan inside the net. What that all meant was you could close the skitta net and leave open the windows to catch the breeze off the beach each afternoon. Laying in our bed, we had a perfect view of a coconut tree and it was soooo relaxing. The stairs were really steep and the handrail dodgy. Also, you had to take a blind leap of faith at the top and go down a step or two til the handrail kicked in. Not for the faint of heart. On the last night when I wasn't feeling well, I thought if I tried those stairs in the night I was be risking it so I asked if I could have bed downstairs. No worries, and a mattress and a sheet arrived. I used my sarong as a bed cover. I felt a lot safer being closer to the loo and on the same level.
The pool there is utterly brilliant. 13 m and always empty due to the low number of bungalows. Clean, cool and great fun. There is a share kitchen with 2 tables and chairs. That makes it cheap to make your own brekky. Also a nice way to meet and chat with folk, which we did big time. Just love meeting different people from all over the world. One poor girl from Melbourne had Dengue Fever the whole time. The Dr. seemed very nice and came in each day for blood tests. Finally he gave her the ‘all clear' to go home as long as she went straight to hospital, and by coincidence, Jetflap rang her and said they thought they may have found all her luggage - in Melbourne. Fancy that !
Another chap there also had Dengue Fever and he ended up in hospital.
We ate at local warungs and the food was great. Wandered around to Uncle Bloodys for a BBQ - interesting, intelligent company as always. I don't think there is any chance of dehydrating next to that esky !
Ate at Puri Kelapa one night as they had the Legong Dance. God those girls were good. Unfortunately, none of us knew they dragged you up one by one at the end so you could show off your Balinese dancing skills. More like a pack of sick octopi. The dance was free, so instead of paying elsewhere, try this instead. 4 meals, plus a soup and 6 drinks rp 204 000.
Had a feed at a popular restaurant 2 doors down from Bintang Bungalows, which although full of expats drinking each day, didn't appeal to us as we were so badly bitten. We asked for a skitta coil, but despite that, we ate as quickly as we could then fled.
Found Flashbacks and had a drink there while shopping one day. Far out, 3 coffees and a milkshake rp 135 000. Wasn't as cosy as I had imagined.
I didn't go but the gang wandered down to Oranje Bar and wouldn't stop going on about the schnitzels. Seems they were done to absolute perfection and even the gray we perfect. How good is that.
Hubbys best feed of the trip was the Sunday Roast at Spirit Café on the beach. Roast chicken (breast), baked spuds, pumpkin, tomato concasse, cauliflower in white sauce, beans and carrots, gravy - all done like mum. He ate every last scrap and had to be wheeled out. The plate was stacked up when he got it, if you starve to death at this place then its your own fault. 4 feeds, 4 drinks, rp 319 000.
Donalds for brekky one morning. Fabulous as usual. 3 brekkys with the lot, porridge with banana and honey for moi, coffees & juices rp 250 000.
To be continued as this is getting to novel length.