We got off to a bit of a funny start, flying here the hosties brought around the forms to fill in for arrival in Bali, and tried to give us all the same green Aus departure card that one fills in before you go through customs to leave Aus - they took a bit of persuading to believe Bob that they were the wrong ones and that the correct ones were Indonesian government ones with two sides, one for arrival and one for departure, even brought us their ‘instruction' booklet that clearly said to give out the green cards, and they had been supplied with them, someone made a boo boo! We reckoned that it wouldn't be a problem as we'd have an hour or so in the Q to fill them in. But begorrah, there wasn't a Q at all! Oh well, we still got through pretty quickly as Bob located some correct forms while Ibu paid the visa on arrival, it would just have been a novelty to sail straight through. Even so, we still had to wait a whole minute for the luggage to come out!!!
Two hour drive took us to Candi Dasa, getting there around 5.30pm - after a 17 years absence (though we have been through it coming back from Amed, and spent a few days in Padang Bai). The Water Gardens is a lovely property, our bungalow overlooked a fish ‘moat' with a bridge to get to the bungalow, and as we were right up the top of the property no one walked by to spoil the tranquility.
Must say the food in C Dasa has been a pleasant surprise, we were expecting Lovina standards, but there are quite a lot of newly renovated places, mainly with European owners and local other halves, with very interesting menus (some amazing restaurants worthy of 5 stars in anyone's language and cheap as chips). The one we ate at (La 48) the first night , on the lagoon, was sort of ‘nouvelle cuisine' with things like goat cheese foam in a starter, very nice food though, and at Aus $5 for a main course a real bargain! (The dark chocolate mousse was divine)
We felt that 2 nights were enough for us, as once one had walked one way along the road and then the other way there was nowhere else to walk to (and we weren't planning to snorkel, and have seen nearby tourist attractions in the past) Last time we snorkeled there with the kids a body was pulled out of the sea, which kind of puts one off!! Poor old guy had had a heart attack they thought. One real drawback is not being able to walk along the beach for any distance. There are lots of villas being built on a time share arrangement, trying to catch the retired Europeans who don't want to spend winters in their homeland.
Onto Ubud. First night we went to the 'des Artiste' and it's as good as ever! We are staying at Honeymoon Cottages as usual, and as is usual in Bali, there is a plumbing problem. When Ibu has a bath and pulls the plug, most of it goes down the correct drain, but some of it floods the bathroom floor, making it a swim through if you want to use the toilet and some of it seeps through the wall and under the bed, making the bedroom floor a slippery death trap for the unwary. Reported it to reception and they have promised to 'have a look at it!!!!' (my solution to solve the problem is easier - just shower don't bath - problem solved - there; am I not a genius?)
Did our rice paddy walk in reverse today to see if we could figure out where we went off the track so to speak last time (and nearly ended up marooned in the middle of the rice paddies, destined to spend the rest of our lives as scarecrows), on our last walk, 12 months ago. (I was a Krod then) We did our best impressions of mountain goats climbing up and down steep Muddy River banks with steps gouged into the muddy bank that you needed legs the length of Aaron Sandilands legs to have half a chance of getting up or down. (Of course a local lady of our vintage with a heavy load balanced on her head did not seem to have any problems, but she was only showing off!) We did a few unnecessary crossings of the river, only to reverse back and try again. (Following the instructions in reverse of keeping as close as possible to the river on your left -'Tis not possible Mr Fawlty') The bottom line was we ended up out on the bitumen road after having christened my (Bob's) new right boot by submerging it in a irrigation channel, but only over the ankle. Had lunch at the same great spot as last time (Matahari Lumbaung bungalows, but the sign for the hot tub, but no clothes has been removed - the owner told me that it was only a joke) and the walk home was at a quicker pace, if that's possible, only slowing slightly as we passed the artist and silversmiths studios, due to the persistent rumbling of thunder, big black clouds getting closer, the sudden drop in temperature and the odd spot of a heavy rain drop every now and then. Having made 3400 metres of the 3500 metres to get home, the heavens opened!!!!!