On the shuttle heading towards Candidasa we passed a banner near the Dunkin Donuts displaying a special offer to stay at a particular hotel: stay 5 nights one night free & welcome basket of Dunkin Donuts - yum! Now there's an incentive!
Went out for a wee snack & a drink at 4:30. Gotta love it: arak & juice (mostly banana) 8,500? 9,000? Less than $1.50. Milkshakes for grownups.
We go out for dinner about 2 doors down from the Gran Natia as I'm drawn in by the "seaview" restaurant. Mostly wanted to avoid dining by the road. The young man can't wait to show us a room - obviously very new. A huge hotel - fabulous new bathroom, but I have to admit the decor feels "cold" & not all that inviting. All that oversized big bamboo furniture in a smallish room.
If only one could move the noisy road 2 blocks over - even one block! & have this a quiet lane or road where the hotels front the water. Ah, but then where would the transport boys hang out?
A few other people in the restaurant - beautiful with candles & lights. Tiny girls dressed in long outfits to wait on us & 3 chefs with a separate guy to give us the menu. The breeze off the ocean feels very soft - wonderful stuff.
I should have ordered the fish - was tempted by the prawns in yellow curry but got myself sidetracked into ordering steak. Should have known better. Would have made my in-laws happy: 1,000 island salad dressing & skinny french fries (actually the best part) & my poor steak so tough you could barely cut it. That's what I get for being a cheapskate - prawns were 71,000 & steak only 30,000. Ah, well.
Feels so good to be cool & feel smooth & not sticky. I read somewhere afterwards that on places like Nusa Lembongan the shower water is partly salt & you just don't ever feel clean after a shower. (still enjoyed my stay there & don't regret it).
Kitchen not open till 7 so no tea (can't boil water...) And let's not forget the magnificently mouldy shower curtain in the bathroom.
Lunch at the Watergarden more than made up for everything. Fairly upscale & I wondered with awe what the rooms would be like? Menu not badly overpriced except the wine: 195,00 for a bottle -ouch! Jenn got it anyway! Special was mahi mahi with papaya salad. Beautifully presented tower of fish on a pile of shredded papaya and ?? red shallots, very fine slivered red chilies, a drizzle of balsamic. Oh, it was so good!
this called for dessert: green crepes filled with candied coconut & a small drizzle of turmeric caramel sauce. To die for. So this of course called for cappuccino to follow. It was our most expensive meal all trip - we saved the bill: 379,000 ( yeah, but wine was nearly 200,000 of that) worth every rupiah & bite.
they advertized a bbq night but when I went back to inquire business was far too slow & it was cancelled. Sigh.
The rash on my hand is starting to look nasty & I'm wondering if I'm being foolish to ignore it. Get the front desk to call me in a doctor. I get loaded up with creams & antibiotics (and misdiagnosed, but that's another story.)
A massage by the pool sounds like just the ticket & we've decided to hire a driver for the next day to take us up to the water palace & beyond.
Tried the italian place for dinner which was surprisingly good. They said it was started by 2 girls from Italy.
I knew by the 1st 15 minutes or so in the car I wasn't going to be able to continue. The antibiotics are making me queasy & I'm prone to motion sickness at the best of times. The rash has spread to my other hand & I'm feeling pretty fragile - will I look like a leper by lunch?? Of course it's not till after the fact I realize I didn't even mention I'm allergic to penecillin & is penecillin an antibiotic? Go back to the hotel & let Jenn continue with the driver while I lay down for a few hours. Of course the desk calls the clinic to ask & they're closed for the day. have to hope for the best!
(as an aside: dermatologist at home said it was probably a reaction to lime juice in combination with too much sun - sunscreen absolutely necessary!! My hand will carry a scar but no wheres near what it looked like it was going to do.)
Read for a bit, slept for a bit. Got hungry. Went back to Watergarden for the nasi campur. Very good. Looked like a tiny smorgasbord of food. Beef rendang esp. yummy. The chocolate cake was no wheres near as good as the crepes from the day before. Lots more sleep. Jenn said the driver experience was fine but would have been more fun with me along.
We try a place on the edge of the lagoon for dinner to watch the lightning storm ove Pedang Bai. A plainish dinner of prawns but it hit the spot. A legong dancer strutted her stuff during dinner, but the best part was the little child behind her in the audience trying to imitate her. Took glasses of wine to the pool area & caught a couple of good bolts of lightning.
It's hard to take a reflexologist seriously when he's overweight & his shirt is held together with safety pins, to say nothing of the mis-matched flip flops! No thank you. Slept in till 7 & already by 10:30 we've been offered sailing, taxi, transport, driver, foot massage, balinese calendar, bracelets...anything else?
I feel alot better but my hand hurts when it's resting downward. After breakfast I suggest a walk. We basically went around the lagoon & off a side road (Monkey Forest?) into a very quiet area with some (very) fancy hotels. Hotel Sassoon Villa - you just know it will be expensive! Pass a man walking his pig. Big sucker!! Looks pretty funny when you think about it. We get told later this is being taken out for rental: stud fee on a pig: 25,000. I guess he was between girlfriends.
Ice cream time. It's taken me a while but I'm starting to have fun with the fact they sometimes give out candies rather than change when the bill is 9,800 etc.
My new approach to the "you so old, how come not married" is to tell them I'm looking for a Balinese husband, can they help me? I get lots of smiles & laughter at that one! I ask how come you're laughing? I'm old but very strong - would make a good wife. The best part comes when someone actually counter offers.
We decide to head back to the Sarinande in Seminyak for the rest of our trip. Candidasa has kind of taken all the adventure out of me for the time being & it would be nice to hole up somewhere familiar & quiet esp. when I'm worried about my hand/health etc. Luckily they have room to take us for some extra nights & we feel good about the idea.
Ok, folks gotta run. Still more to come in the next few days.
Michelle