After a brief detour back to the Patra Bali to pick up a bag of things we had brought across for distribution in Candi Dasa we were heading off. We used what we thought was going to be an official hotel car for the transfer as it was only a little more than the official taxi rate – but it turned out to be a private driver based just outside The Patra. Not a problem for us, but as he explained, the hotel takes 20% commission and then he has to wait for payment. For anyone staying at the hotel – his name is -. I Made Ka Astawa (Mardy Kay – to pronounce his name) mobile 081 338 679272 He is just starting out in the driving game but was very pleasant and had good English
We took the new coastal road as far as it went and this was a great improvement on the slow busy road we remembered from 14 years ago – but as it still has to be finished, we then headed inland to join the original road through Klung Klung (now officially Semarapura)
Following a suggestion from Rex on the forum we headed straight through CD to the Resor Prima on the eastern outskirts of town. Unfortunately we were not as lucky as Rex and found it almost impossible to negotiate a reasonable rate – and although it was virtually empty the only room they seemed to want to let us have, had no outlook other than the brick wall of the next room's courtyard.
We then started the trek back through town and progressively checked out The Grand Natia, Pondok Bambu (for old times sake – it was where we stayed in 1990 – more about this later) Candi Dasa Beach Hotel, Shirleys (Temple Café and Seaside Cottages – lovely but no a/c at the moment again more later) and finally Fajar Candi Dasa.(AKA CD Sunrise)
We wanted to stay on the water and were hopeful of getting a room that looked directly out to sea (so I guess we were a bit fussy) and it was so hot we really thought we needed the a/c. They were able to offer us one of 2 'semi detached' brick built rooms that had exactly what we were looking for – down 3 steps and you were just about straight into the pool, another few steps down onto the beach and a wonderful outlook with the sound of waves breaking most of the time. The terrace had a lounger and a couple of comfy chairs and a low table. Heaven ended up costing us 250,000 a night incl b'fast and tax and service - but came with only an average bathroom (western loo and shower only) with the hand basin and mirror just outside in the room, and not the most comfy bed I've ever slept in (mattress on a solid board) but they were only very minor negatives. A/c worked extremely well, the lighting level was fantastic (best of anywhere we stayed), we had a mini bar/fridge and boiling water was provided every day for tea and coffee making. Gardens were very well kept, staff were pleasant, pool was clean, there was a small area of beach outside at all stages of the tide – and all in all we were very happy there.
Two things of particular interest – we had laundry done at the hotel – (2 shirts, 7 t shirts, 15 pairs of undies, a bra and a badly stained white sarong – for the princely sum of 28600 (under $5) They were back same day – beautifully ironed (even creases in the undies) smelled gorgeous and the stains on the sarong – from the dye of a straw hat that had got wet – were gone completely. This cost goes directly to the hotel, but I was so pleased I wanted to give the laundryman (also our room boy) a little bit extra for himself. Having nothing smaller at the time I gave him 50000 – and you would have thought he'd had a small win on lotto. He'd worked at the hotel for 15 years and what I'd given him was the equivalent of 4 days wages!!! I felt very humble
Second thing – completely different – despite the guide books telling us that the water inshore at CD is only a graveyard of long dead coral – we were very happy to discover an impressive area of regrowth coral – mostly staghorn but other varieties too in the 'bay' formed by the groins offshore just off the beach in the area between Shirley's and Fajar. There was a lot of small fish activity and it is to be hoped that the area is nurtured (the tops are just about out of the water at low tide so it would be very easy to damage) and that this regrowth may be occurring in other stretches too
Candi Dasa is certainly suffering from an oversupply of accommodation and an undersupply of visitors and the busy main road that runs through the town does it no favours either, but we thoroughly enjoyed our realxing time there. Food is generally nowhere near as adventurous as in the Kuta area or Gili Trawangan either but is well priced. Being at the western end of town we tended to eat there, but had several walks right through town as far as the Puri Bagus Hotel at the far end of Forest Road to check out other places. Between them the Lenia and Asri Supermarkets along with quite a number of small shops satisfied our needs. There really is no serious nightlife, but between them 2 places at either end of town (Iguana Café and Legends) had a small band most nights and several restaurants offered dancing displays (even though the one we saw was a single young girl whose age was I'm sure still in single figures). Another restaurant had a 2 man gamelan orchestra one night too.
We had a 64 Meg memory card of digital photos transferred onto a CD for 15000 – the quality looks fine
Enough for this time – but still more about CD and around to come