For the last four nights of our Bali trip we stayed in Sanur, as we had not stayed there before. We found it too quiet! Now, in saying that, we realise that for some people the quieter pace of life there (especially at night) is just what they are looking for. Sanur has its own charm. The hotel we stayed in was wonderful....it just wasn't in Seminyak or Legian. I guess we were influenced a little by the fact that Bruce was not well right from the trip to Sanur. He was even off his beer (shock! horror!), and when the Imodium did not seem to be doing the trick I went out and bought some Enterostop (thinking a local solution might sort out the local germies better) and some Norrit (charcoal tablets).
Our hotel - Respati Bali
Jl. Danau Tamblingan 33
Sanur, Bali
INDONESIA
Phone: 62 361 286832
Fax: 62 361 288046
I chose this based on a recommendation on the forum, from someone who had peeked into some of the newer rooms. (They are now in the process of building even more there, right by the pool). Location...about halfway along the beach this hotel, like many others, runs from the beach back to the main road of shops that runs parallel to the beach, Jalan Danau Tamblingan. The section is quite narrow and the access from the street (office end) to the restaurant and smallish pool (by beach walkway) has a path down one side of the property as the main accessway.
This hotel was the cleanest and tidiest inside the rooms, and in the gardens, that I think we have ever stayed in. The standard of the fittings and furnishings and condition of bathroom etc was more like a good hotel at home than what we 'tilt our heads and smile' at in Bali. We had a Superior room..Room 15...closer to the office than the pool end, but no great walk either way as it is a small hotel complex. The bed was comfy, the airconditioner was efficient and so silent you did not know it was on except for the temperature! Toilet was brand new and very clean. One of the lights in the bathroom also activated a fan...hooray! The shower box had a low tap as well (I presume for washing feet) and the towels were good. Sheets were changed every day and the room staff put fresh flowers in the bowl on the dresser table each day. I asked for two extra pillows quite late one night and they obligingly got a key and fetched some from the supply room for me. Large vanity mirror with good light in bedroom. Jug of water supplied every day. Good fridge. Little porch with two little chairs and a table, and a decent sturdy wooden rack for clothing, though they also had loungers and umbrellas on the beach if you wanted to relax there. (Came back one afternoon to find the staff had folded my dry laundry from the rack and placed it neatly on the outside table).
Massage hut near the restaurant and beach was beautifully clean and artistically presented..excellent massage tables with face-holes and bowls of water below with flowers in. Prices a bit steep compared to what I am used to paying so did not use this service.
You can get TV put in your room (local channels only) for 25,000 a night but as we had good books we did not bother.
Breakfast was part of the price and I asked to swap my egg option for a banana pancake, not on their menu...absolutely no problem, and it was yummy. Kopi came in a pot with 2-3 cups worth of coffee in it, no trouble getting milk as well. The restaurant was a bit dearer for meals than we usually eat at (Bruce thought the beer a bit dearer too) and the mixed satay I got had half a cup of peanut sauce (at least) drenching it and the rice came first so was cold by the time I ate, but Bruce thought his sandwich was okay for lunch. Their Bali coffee was excellent.
Foyer staff were charming and helpful. I think a lot of Dutch/German people stay here as the bookcase in the upstairs part of the restaurant had only one magazine in English, the rest all in other languages. One night it rained a little after dinner and Bruce and I discovered this as we set off for an evening walk. I was delighted as I love frogs and the frogs loved the rain. Little fawn-coloured frogs scattered off the path ahead of us as we walked through the hotel grounds and out to the beach walkway. I have never seen so many!
Honestly, if you are not a spring chicken, or just wanting a quieter place with an excellent standard of rooms and service with shops and beach walks on either side, right in the middle of Sanur, then this is a brilliant hotel! We paid $46 US a night for a Superior room for three nights, but that was through Indo.com booking online. (You may be able to negotiate cheaper by contacting the hotel directly).
We found that directly-across-the-road-and-a-hop-or-two-along-to-the-right there was a little internet shop (quite fast) and just beyond it entering into a small collective of stalls, a clothing stall with a very reasonable laundry service.
There is an excellent 24-hrs Circle K if you go out of the hotel and turn left and go along the beach walkway a little distance. I was buying stuff there one night (even found Gatorade for poor sick Bruce!) and one of the young guys behind the counter cut his finger and was trying to serve me while sucking on it and wincing. We both grinned when I handed over a sticking plaster from my purse without a word being spoken between us. (You can get away from your kids but you can't get away from being a 'mum').
Hardy's at Sanur. (Department store, kind of)www.hardysretail.com
Wow...this was different for sure to the one at Singaraja. This one is a tourist's dream if they need to shop for little things for family and friends. It is on Jalan Danau Tamblingan, 136. A tip: 5,000rupiah should be enough to pay any driver for the reasonably short distance from your hotel to the store. There is a bank of ATM machines in the carpark as you enter. I found the ATM of my dreams - a Pertama Bank one - at the far end of the row of them-nearest the store. It was cool inside and the machine was easy to understand, gave me a big amount of rupiah, and a slip with remaining balance, and swiftly returned my card. I have to tell you about their shuttle bus! In the store I noticed an flyer offering free transport -Shuttle bus that leaves Hardy's in the morning at 8.30 and stops at hotels along the road collecting people, and later drops them back again. If you stay at Respati it arrives approx 9.15am. Leaves Hardys again at 11.20 and back at Respati at 11.45, then arrives at Hardy's 12.30. Half an hour later it leaves again at 1pm, getting you back at Respati at 1.45, then back to Hardy's at 2.30. Now, this is Bali time, so it may not be quite so accurate. Bus is bigger than a van and smaller than a bus, and is in bright colours. You may need to stand on the street and watch for it, and it may pay to get your hotel to ring and ask when to expect it. Anyway, I decided to stand out and wait at the entrance for the 1pm bus to get back to the hotel as Bruce was back there not feeling so well. These guys hanging around the entrance told me it was not a store bus, but a hotel bus and was not free, and they could take me back for 10,000. Not falling for that! When it did not come I went to the Information desk and asked if there was a delay. Woman smiled apologetically and grabbed the phone. Kept smiling at me reassuringly for the next ten minutes as she hung onto the store phone and a cellphone. Eventually told me it would be out there in a few minutes and was on it's way. Waited outside and ten minutes later it appeared. Now here is the marvellous Bali thing! The two guys driving it apologised profusely. I got in, the only passenger, and off we went to the hotel. On the way they apologised again and said the driver was having a holiday that day and that was why the bus had not appeared. They had obviously been rustled up to get the keys and drive it around and into the carpark to take me back to my hotel. Wow!
Ground floor has bakery, make-up, clothing, supermarket etc, and first floor is all Bali souvenirs, an incredible range. Including some little sandstone panels, carvings of flowers etc, small enough to fit into a bag and I wished I had got some now. Next floor up is an amusement arcade for children and a series of clothing/sarong/bags stalls, and a paintings section. All the stall staff were prepared to offer a discount of 10-20% but I would say if you buy enough from one stall you could negotiate better than that. I got a great set of about 5 or 6 make-up bags fitted into each other for 40,000. This was a great place to visit in the heat of the day as it is air conditioned and I could shop at leisure i.e. without Bruce wanting to know what or who I was buying 'that' for, and did I really want it, and didn't we already have some of those at home but never use them (or waiting with the patience of a saint - but 'waiting' all the same - at a distance).
Paintings! Most painting shops were the same old mass-produced stuff but I found one shop that stood out from all the rest. It is on Jalan Danau Tamblingan and is called Art 10. (Probably because it is a gallery that 10 different artists have contributed to). I was drawn in by huge picture as big as one wall...a picture that all 10 artists had painted on. The art in this place was amazing. I felt emotions inside me as I responded to each piece of art. Pictures I saw there are still in my head. They used colour dramatically but also with restraint. We fell in love with one picture. It was a metre square and the background was all reds and blues and darker shades..the colours of Bali at night. The figure in it was a boy of about 10, from the waist up, his arms raised at the elbows, hands splayed, caught in a moment of dance. The firelight revealed his face and chest and arms..big bold brushstrokes conveying the movement of his dance. The owner said the artist would want 4 million for it. We had talked as we walked there and decided 600,000 would be a good offer and maybe pay a million, but when the owner said four million we offered a million straight up. I said I acknowledged the skill, but the time spent painting it would not have been as much as that for someone painting a traditional painting that would take a month, and I had been offerd one of those for 2 million starting price. .He said he would not bother even ringing the artist for less than 1.5 million. We said 'too steep' and left. Next day was our leaving day, so we went back in and he said he had spoken to the artist and the artist would consider 1.8 million even though he could get more in a larger gallery exhibition. We said no, 1.5 would be our limit and anyway, (and here I smiled at him) we would not want to deprive the artist of a chance to get a higher price. (We were going to Ubud that afternoon and could look for another painting there, anyway). So we walked away. That 1.8 would have been $272 in NZ dollars, but at 1.5 million rupiah it would have been $227. The extra $45 put it just beyond what we were prepared to pay, considering it would further cost me about $130-$150 at home to get it re-stretched on a frame or framed. Maybe a month from now I will regret not paying the price. They can read our body language so well we are lost the moment our eyes find the painting that we want to take home! If you go in here, take the time to look at the pictures stacked in piles against the walls too. Because this work is all original, you may just find a gem among them that captures you too.
One place we ate at that we quite enjoyed was Mango Beach Restaurant..on the beach. My Nasi Goreng was good here. Had some beers watching the sun go down while the waitresses giggled over a little book I had earlier bought from the bar at the Captain Cook bar in Rum Jungle Road and was reading to pass the time while our food was being prepared. It was only 20,000rupiah and is written in Indonesian for young Indonesian people to communicate with young English-speaking people, i.e. the dating scene, and translates key phrases such as 'My parents would not be pleased to know I am doing this' and 'I think it would be best if we were just friends' -plus a page that had them really blushing. It would be useful too for young kiwis and australians, used in reverse.
Next JBR - Sammy and Suzie's..August 6 (and a couple of other nights) and my final thoughts and tips.