Well a week has gone by since we left the beautiful island of Bali and I miss it. The mid-afternoon tiredness I used to get whilst working seemed to disappear whilst on holidays but unfortunately has made an appearance again. Just goes to show things are definitely much more different on holidays than back in reality.
We stayed at the Peninsula Beach Resort (PBR) in Tanjung Benoa. Absolutely fantastic resort! We had a great apartment on the 4th floor, which is the top floor, second from the corner, the one on the corner being a much bigger apartment I think. Every day we spent much time out on our balcony sipping Bintangs or our own-made cocktails and just watching the waves crash in over the reef. There was also a sandbank that would appear, just like a little island, and it would show at different times each day. We never could work out the timetable to that. From our balcony we could also see Lembongan, providing there wasn't too much cloud around. One day we will make the trip across.
We arrived about 11:20pm Friday night, through immigration, et cetera, relatively fast and then got a taxi to PBR. Shown to our first apartment (we moved the next day for the rest of our stay due to their book-in period being Sat-Sat, and must say much preferred our second apartment) and of course had to go out to the Circle K to get some supplies and our traditional first night Bintangs. After settling in and reacquainting ourselves with the taste of Bintang we didn't end up going to be until about 3am - no matter, we're on holiday!
The next day first wake up at 6:40, we think this was because we are so used to our one-year-old Labrador waking us up at this time, although it has now altered to 5am, and must admit we did miss her jumping on our heads. Back to sleep and started the day about 8:30. Checked out of one apartment and into another. Went to Bali Collection, had a walk around, changed some money and had lunch, which was just so-so for me, risotto which is always hard to make so can't really complain but I don't think it's meant to resemble porridge! Found prices to be a little pricey so off we went to Hardy's. Ah, Hardy's, great little complex here. Supermarket downstairs with all you could possibly need, DVD store, handicrafts, sunnies for 20,000 (which I bought a few) and upstairs clothes and shoes - clothes not so cheap but shoes were a bargain. Bought up big, gathered our supplies and headed back to the resort. Went to the mini mart just down the road (not the one straight across from us, although that would be our main supply station for the rest of our stay) sussed out their supplies and clothes, bought some shirts and dresses, organised a SIM card then back to the room for some much needed Vodkas on the balcony. Dinner was at Laguna which is across the road, beef rendang for me and a margarita. Hm, margaritas with just Tequila do not do it for me. My partner had a cocktail called Fantasi Sex, asked for with a smile and accepted with a little chuckle. I had a taste and next time the waiter came round said, 'I'll have what he's having.' They had live music, as they do in most restaurants, very relaxing and every time someone left the restaurant, even if the singer was halfway through a line he said thank you - I thought that was nice. Staff fantastic.
Sunday discovered they had Guinness so my partner ordered one of those with lunch, very nice and tasted slightly different but I preferred it to the Aussie ones, however, stuck with my Bintangs. That night dinner was great, stayed at the resort, met some really lovely people, nice chats around the beach bar, just found it much easier to relax and socialise. Beef rendang for me and I thought it was better than Laguna's. Had a great band playing, made some requests and somehow they ended up enticing me to sing with them. I'm on holiday, it's on my bucket list, I did it and had a great time! A bit of dancing, few cocktails, more chatting and a lovely evening was had. At this stage work seemed like a distant memory and I was caught up in the fantastic concept of rubber time.
Monday decided to go for a walk, thought we'd walk to Bali Collection, ended up walking for about 2 hours and somehow arriving at a golf course. Oh boy was I exhausted. Along the way stopped at The Westin for some juice non-alcoholic cocktails, 110,000 for two! I didn't care though, I really needed something to drink and I realised any future walks would need to be accompanied with a bottle of water. So ended up getting a taxi back from Nusa Dua, there's no way I was walking back! Had a great lunch at the beach bar, the coldest Bintangs and yummy fish and chips. Went to The Tree for dinner, pretty much just across the road, beef rendang again for me (hey, I had to compare it) and it was good, a bit more spice than the others. Back to the resort and up to the front bar, Beachcomber Bar, and it was Monday Madness night, karaoke night! Sung up a storm and my partner and I ended by singing 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' by Meatloaf, this was met with a round of hearty applause and calls for more but we had ended on a high so decided to leave it at that.
The rest of our stay was pretty much going across the road to the mini mart and getting supplies, soaking up the sun by the pool, reading by the pool, lunch at the beach bar, Bintangs of course, cocktails on our balcony, dinner mainly at the resort and generally just relaxing. I got my nails done and we discovered Joy Spa (across the road to the right) and spent much time there getting massages and facials. We mostly ate at the resort figuring we'll be back and have plenty of time in the future to suss out the rest of the local restaurants.
Thursday afternoon we headed to Tuban, first stop Dianne's fixed price shop then off to get some DVDs. Last year we stayed in Tuban, I picked it because it was quieter than Kuta, we stayed at Bali Garden Beach Resort. Well we went to one of our favourite places to eat dinner, Batan Waru, right next to BGBR, and the food was still fantastic, chicken panini there is the best! Realised though that Tuban is not quiet at all, not compared to Tanjung Benoa, and now I don't think I could stay anywhere else.
We had shaking pepper beef one night at the resort and this meal is great, a real nice bite to it. Another meal to recommend would be the chicken souvlaki, mm, yum! Must admit toward the end of our stay we did get sick of eating out so we would have nibbles for lunch on our balcony, set up our own music in the evening to listen to whilst sipping cocktails and we ordered room service the last two nights which was great, just to take it easy, sit back and enjoy some DVDs. We were there to relax and relax we did.
Can't believe I'm going to say this but we thought we stayed perhaps two days too long - we were there for two weeks. Mind you, we only wanted to relax this trip so we didn't really fill up our days with activities and perhaps that was the reason we were ready to go home. Went to the Dewa Lounge at the airport, much prefer this than waiting out in the general waiting area. Flight home was non-eventful and as we touched down we looked forward to getting back to our clean house and picking up our beautiful baby girls (read Labradors).
A great trip all in all, so nice to just relax. Had been a really hectic year and it was a much needed holiday. We're back in February and this time only for a week, already excited about planning the activities, we're hoping to do a dinner cruise and a cooking school at least. Although we were happy to have come home we are now missing it, the carefree way of life over there, the relaxed shoulders that don't hold the everyday stress they do here. Bring on February we say!
Thanks for reading, it was a bit long-winded but I hope you get something from it. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.