Day 14 Onto Kuta
I had a 12 o'clock check out today, so was up early as I always seemed to be in Bali, throwing clothes etc into my bags. That big $2 striped bag from Australia proved very handy in Bali as Id throw daily shopping into it and didn't have to worry about proper packing until the end of the trip (or maybe I should revisit that statement maybe it's the cause of the my 17 kilos of excess luggage!)
By 7 am I was walking down the street heading towards Sindhu Beach markets and the beachfront. I love the mornings when it's fairly quiet and peaceful, and Sanur is no exception. Didn't get far from the hotel before I took a tumble though on some wet concrete in a very inelegant manner and spent a few anxious moments wondering if Id done some major damage to my knee but it was mostly just my ego and a jarred knee. I stopped at the Gazebo Bakery and had a cinnamon roll and cappuccino to settle my shaking 20,000R ( well, any excuse for a good cappuccino I reckon)
Along the beach you can now see extra or extended groynes that have been built to help keep sand on the beach. The walkways are in pretty good condition (in 2002 they were falling way from erosion in sections proving quite hazardous). The beachside is looking pretty good now it was still early so there weren't too many people around. Sundays you can normally find Sanur busy with Balinese enjoying a day at the beach, with kites flying and kids kicking a ball around. I stopped at Bennies and had a fresh mixed juice (10,000R) and then headed up into Sindhu Beach markets. I went to both Jenny's and Tootsies first. Being a fixed price store makes it easy to work out decent prices for the rest of your trip I find.
Paul Frank Bag x1 - 25,000
Paul Frank T Shirt x 1 - 15,000R
Sunglasses x 5 75,000R
Black / brown weave bag 25,000R
Silver necklace ( heavy) 90,000R
Silver bracelet with silver edging 80,000R
Watches x 3 75,000R
Volcom T Shirts x 2 50,000R
I went to a couple of other stalls in the same lane in an endeavor to spread the shopping around but had problems with sizes. Something to think about if you go here- spread it around if you can (the other stall holders will meet Tootsies prices).
I called Kay and met her with the car, so off to Café Karasuma for breakfast. This time it was an excellent nasi goreng with a mixed fruit juice (15,000R). We could easily have spent all day here people watching, but I had to check out by 12 noon.
Kay had a late check out as she was flying home that night after dinner with Mades family in Denpasar. We had already arranged for Made to pick me up from Camplung Mas on the bike for dinner.
Almost opposite the hotel was a DVD store so we ducked in there and I brought about 17 DVDs (my main order had been sent by email to Sakura in Kartika Plaza before Id left) these worked out roughly 220,000R for 17. They had a DVD player there so I quickly played each one, flicking through chapter to chapter on half of them. Chose extra copy of Shrek 2 and Harry Potters latest whilst I was there. Havent had time yet to look at them so cant report on how many duds we may have! But for roughly $1.50 each one cant expect miracles.
Swastika Cottages was great, I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone else although breakfasts were only average, not anything to rave about. Back in the hotel there was a late re-pack, all the DVD covers were left behind, and then off to Kuta and Camplung Mas in a taxi. Kay was off to a spa for the afternoon.
On arrival at Camplung Mas (a 35,000R taxi trip) I was informed that the hotel was overbooked and that Id been moved literally over the road to a hotel called the Villerisi, in Jalan meslasti gang. This was my only hotel booking that had been made by my travel agent and was the only one to prove problematic.
Vilerisi looks very European to be honest- it's a 4-story hotel very square and almost tuscan in appearance. The lift to the roof top garden and rooms wont be working till September. I said Id consider it if they could get me a ground floor room (by now the knee was getting quite stiff) and I needed to look at the place first. So off we went the room was being made up but was large spacious and had a great bathroom and English TV. The only thing I picked as a problem was the pool at Vilerisi which is in shade perhaps 80% of the day because of the design of the building, blocking pool sunlight from the pool area . Camplung Mas agreed that I could use their pool at any time so I agreed to the move. ( nb: my travel agent very upset with this occurring when I reported back to her on arriving home and a letter of complaint has been sent to Garuda Orient as I type up this JBR).
I luckily had packed swimmers / sarong separately in my backpack so was able to head straight over to Camplung Mas pool and leave my bags at Vilerisi to be moved into my room once they had it ready. I grabbed lunch (chicken burger and bintang 35,000R) and relaxed around the pool for a few hours. Turns out I wasn't the only guest bumped met another trio that had been moved. This seemed to be a problem at a few hotels- met a group of 28 a few nights later that had had the same happen to them at Hotel Jayakarta. Camplung Mas had a really nice atmosphere with its pool bar, mostly Aussies guests and well-kept grounds. I took a quick look around some of the two storey bungalows and was impressed with the way the front courtyard could be closed off to give occupants privacy. I will consider staying there again, if I can be assured that overbooking will not recur.
I had rung Kay and told her of hotel change and she let Made know of the change of hotel as she was picking me up at 6pm. A pillion ride in Kuta traffic to Denpasar this was going to be interesting.
Kay had met Mades sister back in Australia several years ago (she is married to an Australian with a 2 year old son), and now whenever in Bali she and David always catch up with them all and bring over clothes and goods for them all. Their mother still lives back in Singaraja (?sp) in north Bali, whilst the two girls along with husband and nieces live in Denpasar.
I think I did well on the back of the bike, well until we almost hit a cow down the lane from their home!!!! We laughed about it at the time but it was a close call. Made speaks English quite well, but the rest of the family speaks mostly Balinese, so conversation was a bit difficult but Made helped me out. I felt very honoured to be there, in their home when the older sister had spent all day cooking for us. Dinner was superb, served on the porch or verandah seated on a mat. I'm looking at my photo and trying to recall what each was- a pork mince rolled up in banana leaf; urab (snake beans, coconut, shallots, lime leaves, shrimp paste) tempe (made from soy cake with seasonings) corn fritters, and roast chicken with a balinese chilli sauce. The chilli was pretty good ( a three tissue rating I recall! And I like chilli) I wish I hadn't worn jeans, coz then I could have eaten more!! After dinner, I brought out some thank you gifts for the family (a doll for Lucy aged 4, a t shirt for Ekka aged 13, and assorted toiletries Id collected for such an occasion)
By 8 pm we all piled into Ketuts car,( a nieghbour) and dropped Kay off at the airport, then the family dropped me back at my hotel. I knew where to find Made at work at Betty Bu and told her Id call in and see her before I left later in the week (with intentions of leaving more goodies with the family). Went to sleep thinking of how lucky we are- Mades sister was working at creating and tying the strings on sarongs up until a month ago (for 750 R per sarong) yet she doesn't complain about her lot in life. Puts a different perspective on your own situation when you travel and see how others live.
Day 15 Kuta
Got a call from Kay at 730 am, Garuda had cancelled the 10.30pm flight at 12.30 am as one of the pilots was sick. At 3 am they had been dropped off at a hotel in Sanur without their bags for the day until rescheduled flight at 4pm . Not happy ! Only saving grace was that she didn't need to be home that day ( pity for anyone who did have inflexible plans) and that insurance should cover it. I commiserated and Kay said she was heading out to buy a toothbrush and sarong then she was planning to veg at the spa again for the day. This is the same lady who'd had a ten hour delay at Brisbane airport on the way over as Garuda plane not available.
Breakfast at the Vilerisi was fine today but to be honest the standard each day varied- along with what was on offer. Some days they were really organised and ready by 7 am, other days they were struggling to have anything ready at 7.30am They made the worst nasi goreng Id tasted in Bali (almost orange in colour and always gluggy) whereas the noodles were great, and banana fritters also quite good. If you asked for an egg, sometimes you got it , other times you didn't unless you asked a few times. By the end of the week I was walking back up to Meslasti Street to the ?sports bar and paying for breakfast.
Today was Election Day in Bali with many of the shops closed. After an aborted trip to Geneva (it too was closed) I ended up in Double Six lane in Seminyak where some of the sarong stores were open. They have a lot of really unusual sarongs here, eg. With design cut out and embroidered detail; others with gold paint outlining the detail. I really recommend that you go for a walk along here and see for yourself.
Managed to find a bat sarong for my work mate and a dragonfly sarong for my daughter (20,000R each). Caught a taxi back to Padma Street and found Tommy's Leather, and had been quoted $160 for a hip length jacket. This was a bit more than I was prepared to pay. I then wandered back into old garlic lane, (Jalan Sahadewa) and Indonational Resturuant for lunch (bintang and spring rolls 28,000R.) I ended up quizzing Milton about leather jackets. He pointed me towards 234 just down the street from his Resturuant, and off I went. Half an hour later and I walked out of there having placed an order with Made for $105 jacket zipper front, hidden slit pockets, no lapels, in burgundy.
I also stopped a store nearby and ordered 6 wooden ginger flowers (they had three in yellow and 1 in a deeper orange tones, but I needed three of each colour) we agreed on 120,000R for all six or about $3 AUS each. I would call back and pick them up later in the week. It was not pretty carrying them back on the plane I can tell you but every day when I look at them I'm so glad I made the effort.
My afternoon routine now kicked in- off to the pool at Camplung Mas, a bintang or two, and usually a chat with some of the others around the pool. By 5.30 pm I was off back down to Sammie and Susie's on the beach, where I brought a couple of shell necklaces off Susie (10,000R each) and had my nails done (25,000R). None of the BTF guys from sat night were there but meet a some other friendly Aussies.
Later on, walked back up to Meslasti Street markets and picked up a wrap around skirt (25,000R) and a blue embroidered top (25,000R) before walking down Legian street to Kopi Pot Resturuant for dinner. Had read about this place and wasn't disappointed in my veal cordon bleu (41,000R) and mixed fruit juice (8,000R). Lovely grounds and setting here, and really nice staff.
I then headed off down Poppies Lane intending to catch a taxi back, when I literally bumped into Nicno from BTF and a group of her friends and family. This was to happen about three more times in this week, amongst the entire holiday crowd we could manage to find each other! As Id already eaten I sat with them and chatted whilst they had dinner (the name of the place escapes me- down from TJs and secret garden in poppies- Nicno said that they'd been eating there regularly).
Day 16 Kerkoban Denpasar
After another very average breakfast at Vilerisi, I walked up to Meslasti Street and grabbed a taxi up to Geneva Handicrafts, on main street in Kerkoban This place is a must, preferably in the beginning of ones time so you can check out the fixed prices and variety. This place was fantastic and I made sure I told every lady I chatted to, to go to this place.
Mother of pearl 12 inch square flat shell plates 25,000R each
Wooden Buddha Head Gold 12 inches 25,000R
Pink cane bag 25,000R
Shell necklaces 5,000R
Leaf photo album 25,000R ( for mades family : please note these are not allowed back into Australia and customs will seize them)
Nb: The plates I have just seen down the street in a gift store here in Noosa with $45 price tag on them!
From here I grabbed another taxi, dropped into hotel and dropped off the shopping before heading out to Ramayana Department Store in Denpasar (taxi about 30,000R from memory). I had a list of T-shirts here for nieces and nephews who'd been hoping for astro boy or phantom or Betty bu but to no avail. The T Shirts that I end up with here I usually find are better quality than those in street although a little pricier (on average 30,000 to 40,000) and different surf or street print. Managed to get 4 here that met hopefully the kids will like Also found the Bali equivalent of the Australian $2 store on one level this place was fun and well priced! Brought 2 towels and 4 pairs school socks for Mades family for 30,000R; 2 make up purses (4 inside each other) for 10,000R each, and a supply of batteries for 10,000R.
On reflection probably should have gone to Mataharis and Robinsons around the corner from Ramayana as well but by now I was starting to tire. If you go to Denpasar do all three dept stores.
Caught a taxi back from Denpasar to Kartika Plaza, as I had to go to Sakura and pick up my DVDs ordered. The roadworks around this area are pretty bad; seem to be causing many delays. Have to agree with another forumites- you'd think that they would do works in stages instead of doing as many as possible, to gain maximum disruption! After 15 minute delay as no one knew where the order was (it had been sent over from Denpasar) I had them and checked a few and dropped a few out of order as Jenni said the quality wasn't good. All up I paid 500,000R for about 30 DVDs including Shrek 2 and Harry Potters latest, plus a copy of Office XP Pro, Adobe Acrobat, Jasc Photoshop 5 and MS Office Pro (the computer software was 20,000R each disk, the latter being a 3 disk set) Also picked up another couple of watches (50,000R) around here as the daughter asked specifically for the bangle styled ones.
Now was dinnertime and I knew where I was headed straight to TJs Mexican in Poppies Lane 1. I had a real craving for Mexican by now and this fitted the bill perfectly. First time in three trips to Bali that I have been here but Ill be back! Here I had an enchilada and a tostada, plus bintang for 60,000R. The place was full and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves (good vibes). Loved the pool / waterfall setting in the middle of the Resturuant.
Day 17 Kuta.
Got up early as usual and wandered down the road to Meslasti street where I had a great brekkie for all of 13,000R (buffet style nasi goreng, noodles, eggs any which way, fruit juice, coffee, toast, pancakes) Wish I could recall the name of the place (sports bar? Legian Café?) All the table shave glass tops and you can put your own touches photos or business cards or coasters with your messages under the glass for the next traveler! Great staff here too.
Had some decisions to make today first one: cooking class in Sanur with Heinz from Bali Bambu ($75 AUS for half day) or back top Nusa Lembongan for the day tomorrow Thursday 8th July? Decided on the latter and booked with travel agent next to Vilerisi (Island Explorer group for 490,000R on the relaxing cruise which is on a sail boat). Have been to NL before with Bali Hai Cruises who are a very good company but I wanted to see other parts of the island. In hindsight, I probably should have done more research, as the sailboat was slowest option to get to the island and instead of having 5 hours on NL I ended up with only 3 ½ hours. Don't discount cooking lessons as an option for yourself though I have been to two with Janet De Neefe on previous trips up at the Honeymoon Guesthouse in Ubud but thought it would have been interesting to undertake one with another cook.
Second decision: which company to go white water rafting with? I have an old ankle injury so decided that too many stairs up or down to the river wasn't going to be good for me. Id narrowed it down to the Telega Wajar River, on the basis of not too many stairs, which is east near Klung Klung, and ended up getting a price of 270,000R off a stall off Legian Beach to go with Bali International on Friday 9th July. (Nb: it's worth shopping around here for the best price- there were others on the day that had paid as little as 210,000R so do barter!!!)
That out of the way I wandered back up into Meslasti Street markets and spread some more money around- picked up my wooden flowers; brought a silver roll bracelet from same store for 50,000R; 3 Paul frank T shirts 60,000R; beaded shoes/ thongs 120,000R. I also called into Legian Cyber Café in Jalan Sahadewa and paid 25,000R to get my digital pics downloaded onto a CD. This was a very good Internet café; recommend it to anyone needing to download DVD or digital cameras. The young guy really knew what he was doing and was busy with several happy customers.
Caught a taxi back down to Kuta square as Nicno a night or two earlier had told me where to go (nicely) for decent perfume. When you stand outside the matahari and look left to bemo corner and Kartika plaza end of the road, you will see a small shoe store. Inside the front door there is a cabinet of perfumes, which you can test out both tester and the bottle you wish to buy. Jocelyn House of shoes I think its called from his business card. 30,000R a bottle I brought a copy of Kenzo FLOWERS and Estee Lauders PLEASURES
I stopped off at Mades Warung for light lunch (this place is always packed at night people everywhere!) and had a banana pancake and bintang (25,000R) whilst I was waiting for photos to be developed at Kodak shop opposite Mataharis. 3 rolls 35 mm film and 45 digital shots cost me 216,800R to be developed. (I was to drop back again before stay over and have a further 35 developed). I must say that I never find the colour in pictures to be great whenever I get film developed in Bali but the digital pics came up really well ? different processing involved? I will only use digital camera in future will keep other camera as a back up only.
Back to the pool for the afternoon! a few more bintangs!
It was Wednesday night and the final state of origin football match between QLD and NSW back home in Australia. I don't normally watch footie but after getting news about my brother being in hospital from my daughter via Internet I didn't feel like a quiet night (too worrying) so I headed back to the Sports bar about 5.30pm to watch the footie. The place was full of mostly NSW Blues supporters (I'm from QLD and am 'spose to be a maroon supporter) It was noisy and lots of fun- the colourful work bemos were scurrying past and from time to time would stop in the traffic and all the Balinese would be hanging out the windows going ' ossie ossie ossie' to the bar crowd who'd be cheering and replying in kind. Met a large family group (three generations) all staying at Hotel Jayakarta that turned out to be from area on central coast where I grew up. Not only that, the young lad with them surfs regularly with my surfie cousin. Small world. QLD got thrashed by NSW, so it off to dinner. I headed off walking to Poco Loco- this turned out to be quite a walk but it was interesting netherless as I had stayed on my first trip to Bali at Hotel Jayakarta near Poco Loco. Walked past numerous restaurants, pubs, and hotels that I recalled from this trip, others I thought I have read about this one on forum sites! Even saw 'Posers'- should have taken a photo!
Dinner was great very big helpings which I couldn't finish. I had the Chicken burrito 40,000R and sangria 40,000R. Grabbed a driver from outside Poco Loco and negotiated 15,000R to get back to hotel as it was getting late and too dark to walk back.
Day 18 Nusa Lembongan
After another quick and delicious breakfast up the road at the Sports Bar, I was back at the hotel by 7.30am for my pick up to Nusa Lembongan. I was first one on board so grabbed the front seat and was soon chatting to the driver, called Skippy. By the time we had been dropped off in Benoa Harbour, I had negotiated with him for a 2-3 hour trip - 80,000R to Garuda Wasana Karcuna Cultural Park on Sunday morning. GWK is where the Bali Memorial Service was held for the victims of the Bali bombing.
Once at the Coconuts Resort boat terminal I did check to see if there had been any cancellations on any of the other boats going out but to no avail. It was going to be a long ride out, unfortunately. The sailing boat left on time at 8.30 am and we arrived at Lambung Beach on Nusa Lembongan about 11.20am. The ride over was mostly smooth sailing, with about 12 of us on board with 4 crew members. I must admit I ended up having a snooze in the sun on the way over, as it was very relaxing! The usual routine is for guests to stay around boat to snorkel or go banana boat riding before lunch at 12.30 then they take you onto the beach where you can wander around or go up to Coconuts Resort and use their pool. This was my second trip to Nusa Lembongan, the first in 2002 with Bali Hai, which is based at Mushroom Bay and the Bail Hai Tide Huts. I had missed the island tour at that time as I had the wrong time noted. This time I was eager to see more of the island than just the drop off point from the boats.
As soon as we were moored, I asked to go ashore straight away which was easily arranged with one of the shuttle boats that are based on the beach for transporting guests between beach and the larger day trip boats. Once on Lambung beach, I was right in the midst of one of the seaweed villages (no mistaking that smell!). The beach itself covered with seaweed strands and not really suitable for swimming. One of the local lads Kumong Monkey came up and we ended up agreeing on 60,000R for an hour 'guided' tour around the island on the back of his bike. The island itself is about 4.5 km long and 2.5 km wide.
We then set off, first stop the underground house (gala-gala) in Lembongan Village On the way there on top of the hill you can look back over the coastline and see across the straits to Mt Agung and Bali.
The sign at the house, which Ill summarise says' built by Made Byasa- area of about 500 square metres under the ground. In his daily life he was a farmer, a puppet show performer and a priest as well-some of the Hindu epics that gave him inspiration was wana parua. It tells of the pandawas family who felt their lives were in danger and so the man of the family built a cave called gaga- gala, in order to protect his family. This tale interested Made Byasa, who started building in 1961 and finished it in 1976. The cave consists of 7 entrances where you can exit, three ventilation (shafts) and is completed with a well, 2 kitchens, a sitting room 2 bedroom and bathroom.' You have to pay and entrance fee (I paid 30,000R as asked without thinking about it, only to see another forumites posting from the same time saying they were asked to pay 5,000R a week later!). Getting into the underground house is a little awkward, and not for anyone with any knee or leg problems and not if you are claustrophobic. It's interesting just how large the place is, and I certainly didn't look at all of it. Well worth a visit though, and the village around it is also quite picturesque look for the enormous banyan tree in the midst of the temple nearby. I didn't think to ask Kumong to stop so I could take a picture but it was really something to see.
We were then off further south to the bridge over to Ceningan island, the middle island. We didn't have time to go over and have a really good look around there (you'd have needed 2 hours minimum) but were looking at the seaweed farms along the coast and the many pradhus and boats moored in the safety of the blue waters between the two islands. There were many villagers of all ages sitting there 'untying' the seaweed off the blue plastic ropes (white plastic strands used to attach the offshoots from the parent plant onto the bleu ropes) According to the info brochure we were given, it takes about 6 weeks to regroup on the blue ropes once they are placed back in the water. Everywhere you looked there were tarps put in the sun with gold and brown seaweed drying. If you looked at the seaweed closely, it was fine thread type seaweed unlike the thick kelp that I have seen washed up on Australian shores after a storm.
Kumong kept getting phone calls on his mobile here (I was hanging on for grim death at one stage as he's driving over the rickety one metre wide bridge between NL and Ceningan Island and talking on his mobile as well as driving the bike!) It turned out he had borrowed someone's bike and they wanted it back! We had to make a detour back to Lambung Beach to pick up another bike, with Kumong apologizing profusely all the way. Then we were off again, this time to the mangrove villages on the north eastern side of the island Here you could see more seaweed farming on the beach side with villagers sorting and shredding seaweed in their huts as well as mangroves on the river side. Apparently if you visit and have time to do so, you can hire one of the locals and their boat and venture out to explore.
By now it was getting onto 1pm and the sailing boat was leaving at 2.30pm. Id decided to grab lunch and have a quick swim at Coconuts Resort so we headed back to there, missing the main beach area, the lighthouse and most of the accommodation available. I still managed to see most of the southern and eastern island sections. As we made our way back we passed a little cemetery reminding me of western ones (no cremations over here according to Kumong) and numerous cockerels in their woven baskets beside the road. The island has very few vehicles other than bikes, so this adds to the peacefulness of the place. Next visit I'm going to stay over for a few nights and finish my explorations.
Back at Coconuts I just had time to order a nasi campur ( 30,000R) and have a swim before it was time to reboard the boat. Most on board hadn't realized despite the information brochure handed out at first boarding- that there was so much to do on the island, so my digital camera with its LCD screen came in handy. I think there will more island hoppers next time they visit . The trip back went very quickly and smoothly , and we were back at Benoa Harbour by 430pm. Back at the hotel I had time for a shower and change, then a quick session on the internet, before heading off to grab a few more of the T Shirts on my list ( 3 x T shirts plus another paul frank bag 100,000R) and dinner in a little spot in Poppies 2 .
Poppies 2 is a bit of a disaster area at the moment with roadworks everywhere. Still Poppies 1 and Poppies 2 are two of my favourite places to visit in Kuta because of the cafes/ shops/ accommodation to see. I sat with a gelati cone and did some people watching. Sorry ladies but I don't get the braided hair thing but that's me. Look for the McWilliams burger store ( complete with red and yellow W , a cheeky swipe at the McDonalds sign!) . I had planned to stop in at Adopta (just off Poppies 2) on Sunday and drop off my tarpaulins I had brought over for the Rubbish Dump People, as well as about 25 kilos of rice. Now that I was here, and was seeing how normal cars couldn't travel up most of the lane, I realized that the rice would have to wait to another time (I've since made contact with others going over in September so Ill arrange something with then).
Back home to bed, as tomorrow its white water rafting on the Telega Wajar River.
Only one more JBR to go I promise!