This is my first JBR as I wanted to share our great holiday with other Bali lovers. Having had many holidays there in the past this is the first time my husband and I have travelled there alone, 22 yr old daughter travelling elsewhere, since 1978, also it's 6 yrs since our last visit.
The internet is a fabulous tool for independent travellers and after organising tickets on Jetstar I spend many, many hrs planning our stay of 3 weeks, trip adviser is always a useful tool. As we find the crowds around the beaches a bit much our itinerary went something like this,
Legian: Courtyard Hotel 3(US75), Ubud: Honeymoon Guesthouse 3, Amed: Life at Amed 5(US60), Ubud: Tegal Sari 5, Seminyak Bali Pearl Hotel(US78) 3. These are all small Hotels with different characteristics as I especially like Balinese gardens, traditional buildings etc, also various level of room is available....check the websites. All of them lived up to our expectations and provided great value for money, staff were very helpful when needed. Importantly they were all air conditioned and had a safe. To complete the journey we hired a small car for 2 weeks, he is happy to drive but I don't. His international driver's license (available from the NRMA) was checked once on the rd to Singaraja. Some of the roads were spectacular in many ways, steep grades through the centre, spectacular views of terraced paddies, lakes and volcanos, processions of festival goers.
It was 10 yrs since we had been to Amed on the East coast, much has changed with more accommodation, dive shops and restaurants. The landscape is dry unlike the rest of tropical Bali, but it looked greener than 10 yrs ago as climate change is bringing more rain, well that's what the locals said. The water is beautiful and you can snorkel onto coral close to the beach, esp the Coral Garden in front of Coral Villas and a small Japanese wreck off the beach a few coves around from us. Lots of people go for the Scuba diving off the wreck of the Liberty, but we didn't. Good snorkelling gear is available there and although the coral is not as colourful as we have seen elsewhere (Lord Howe Is) the fish are plentiful and varied.
Life at Amed is a beautifully presented property with 6 double storey bungalows which could accommodate 2 children upstairs and 2 larger villas, set in a colourful garden with a pool. The beaches here have dark sand and pebbles and are lined with the distinctive local fishing boats. This is like the Bali of old where you are staying within the local village, plenty of rooster action, pigs in pens nearby and local men celebrating the catch. Food was really good in the hotel as well as the local warungs, particularly Wayang Warung and the spectacular Sails Restaurant.
As you all know the Govt raised the tax on wine by 18% in April, hence we ordered very little wine in nice rests. We did take some Duty free Champagne and small bottles of Gin and Scotch which we regularly took to dinner in the hotel and ordered ice and Tonic/ dry ginger to accompany.....no prob.
I have always enjoyed the Honeymoon guest house as the detail in the buildings is beautiful and the pool is a good one. Managed to see the top of Mt Agung from our room one morning which was a buzz. The Casa Luna group now has a Bar in Jalan Gootama called Bar Luna where we enjoyed 2 for 1 cocktails pre dinner one night. We also enjoyed the Salsa night at Indus which I had to drag my reluctant other half to, however on seeing the beautiful Balinese locals in Salsa style and an interesting mix of expats he has since bought some music!!! Did I mention the coffee.....we like Bali Coffee and a few more machines are appearing in cafes, however none came near the beautiful flat whites we had at Casaluna made by Komang. Fabulous decoration and he had come up with an orchid whilst we were there. As good as you'll get in Sydney, Melbourne, maybe even Roma! Apparently he came to Australia for Barista training.
Tegal Sari was very relaxing after our long drive around the Island, lovely view of the Rice Paddies being cleaned up by the ducks after the harvest. We particularly enjoyed an afternoon drink on our verandah watching the duck man and his flag pole round the birds up for the night and pen them for safety.
So many good Restaurants are now available that 3 weeks wasn't enough to try them all so we will need another trip. However the Pearl Restaurant (French) in our last Hotel was certainly a change to the rest. Beautiful food in a lovely setting, the presentation is astounding and the Dessert tasting plate a knockout (75,000). Warung Asia has great thai food and is off 66. Gado Gado was beautiful in setting, food and service. Lunch and dinner at the Courtyard Restaurant was enjoyable and the staff there are fabulous.
In Ubud we ate at many of our old favourites but tried Siam Sally's which has great décor although a little expensive. Kafe is always good and Lada Warung at the top of Hanomen was a lunch standout. Indian delites near the Tegal sari and Warung Enak were both great. The Lotus Café is a must for a day time drink to enjoy the beautiful Lotus garden and temple. Casaluna and Indus are highly recommended.
My husband enjoys Padang food so he often took himself up to Legian st for a dose of excellent Padang food at Yani's Warung (east side between J. Padma and J. Arjuna).
He has had a revelation about menswear in Bali, after much travel in Asia he decided to take 1 Tshirt with him and all the rest light cotton, buttoned shirts. He says it's too hot in Bali for T shirts, therefore maybe we could lose the homogenous look of Australian men over there in Bintang T shirts. Hope that doesn't offend anyone but they really stood out like sore thumbs to me, and they are probably all Polyester anyway.
Regarding money, we took a mix of US$ and AU$ as we had to pay for some hotels in US$ and I didn't want to be caught in dramatic exchange swings. I also used the CBA auto tellers when the shopping took off, they are beautifully airconed and you seem to be able to take out more than last time. My advise would be to take as much cash(big notes) as you can providing you can secure it. We even took some out in the departure lounge in Sydney when leaving. Forget getting Rp here, the rate is shocking, get it at the airport after picking up your bags, they were open at 11pm when we got thru. We also got 2 porters to take our bags thru on arrival and out to the foot path to our driver......gave them a couple of US$, saves the back.
I haven't touched on shopping yet but may keep that for another time. My message is to get out there and see the real Bali, there is a lot of it. Good, safe drivers are available and I used 1 for a day when I had to do a few things (shopping related) from Ubud. Till next time, have a great holiday.