In Reply to: Thanks posted by shalsa on Tuesday, 2. March 2010 at 17:15 Bali Time:
We hired a driver for the day and visited the Tirtagangga Water Palace, Tenganan - a Bali Aga Village(beware the prices for their ikat and other pashminas, but do buy the sweet cucumbers from old Wayan Terpi's produce stall (2000rp for 5 of the yummiest cucs I have ever eaten-chill them first), Amed, Ampulura and White Sandy Beach.However, in hindsight, I think I would go to White Sandy beach by water taxi and spend a day there chilling out.
I loved the countryside scenery, and with a small shower of rain, everything was glistening clean, and the freshest of green. We also went to a small village specialising in silverware, where one of my friends bought some earrings, but due to an oversight, did not visit the Ujung Water Palace.
The entire Karangasem area is very scenic, and if you are into snorkelling etc, then there's plenty of water-based activities to do.
It's also an ideal area to relax in with the pace being much slower than Kuta, almost village-like in atmosphere , and with no nightclubs. However, there are plenty of drivers for hire along the main thoroughfare, although we pre-arranged ours through a local contact - 300,000rp from 9.30-5pm. Of course, we added a tip as well at that price.
On the second day, we hired an outrigger boat with a skipper and life jackets, and spent several hours looking around the nearby islands. We left at 7am, and had glorious views back over the water to the hill country, with Mt Agung standing majestically behind them. The day before, we had noticed dolphins in the Bay, but the sea was a bit choppy on the day we went, and we weren't in luck. I am told that there are many sharks in this area, but they are small??
There isn't a lot of shops, but we did spend up "big" at a newly opened one called Happy Shop, run by Jero, as her prices were very fair right from the start of the bargaining process. We bought many pashminas from her for 50,000rp and she even managed to get in a couple of the colours I wanted before we left for Kuta the following day.
There are a few beach sellers with wares such as sunglasses (20,000Rp), and a local market, with mainly food products for sale.
There are many other restaurants there as well as the ones that I have mentioned, and an expat friend recommended Warung MM, but after a rather warm beer there, we did not venture into the food side of things. I am told that the owner of the Watergardens Cafe and his wife regularly eat there - so I guess it must be better than it looks!
You can also dine at the Pondok Bambu, and you will have wonderful seaviews if you do.