Hi, This is a late Just Back as we were in Bali last school holidays, (September 24-October 9th) and I'm just getting the time to write it up now. Got busy at work and busy planning a long holiday for April, May and June. I think we had such a great time we decided we needed a longer holiday but will venture much further a field this time: Canadian Rockies and Alaska and hopefully a few weeks in Bali after that.
Our family is myself, husband, daughter 11 and son 9. We have all been to Bali many times before as its close and we love going. We flew out of Port Hedland, straight across. It's just a 2hr flight and you are there.
We usually stay in Legian. This trip we decided to do things differently. We stayed 4 nights in Legian, and then 8 nights travelling around the Island then back to Bali for the last 3 nights.
We stayed in 2 rooms at Rama Garden in Padma Street both times we were in Legian. Fantastic small hotel with great staff and a brilliant location. We have stayed here many times previously. There were quite a few of the other guests at the hotel who were there in October 04 when I went across for a week with just the kids.
Our first trip was to Amed, as we love this laid back relaxed area. We had Nyoman Pasek who works at Rama Garden drive us. The other staff that knew he was from the area arranged it so he could go home and see his family. He is from a village near Amed so knows the roads well. He has started a 'tour business' with his own car bought in partnership with an Aussie couple. He has the esky in the back and really does look after you. 'Makan Angin Tours' (eat the breeze). Email me for details. We stopped on the way and took in the sights: Bat Cave, Candi Dasa. We actually had to stop at the bat cave as the oldest daughter decided there was a good spot to be carsick! Last time she made it all the way to Amed and made a very grand entrance.
We stayed at Santai, top location right on the beach with great views of the ocean and local fishing boats, from your bungalow, snorkelling straight out the front of the hotel and good quality food. (Santai bungalow for 4 including breakfast was $105 US a night). They have 3 bungalows that overlook the water, these are definatly the ones to get as you can laze on your day bed and takes in the oceans sights. But, next time we plan to stay at Anda Amed. Komang, who used to be the manager at Santai and his partner Kim have set up this new hotel, which is really special. It has a Mediterranean feel with lots of white walls and clean lines. It's above the road that winds itself along Amed and has sensational views across the bay. We could just picture ourselves sitting outside our room looking over the ocean and doing very little for quite a few days. A really relaxing spot to go. Food and the infinity pool were good as was the spectacular water feature Komang designed. They have a website that's worth looking at and very reasonable rates. ($ US75 for the family villa with breakfast). Amed is a great spot to go with your family; you can have some great times together. We walked along the road, through the villages, visited the school with supplies(lots of renovations being done by Rotary) and snorkelled. Sunrises in Amed are just beautiful; the sun rises over the ocean with Lombok in view.
From Amed we went to Sambirenteng, located between Singaraja and Amed and stayed 2 nights in a luxury villa right on the beach, xxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx Resort. Husband named it the Marble Mansion. Very luxurious for a few days, but probably not as enjoyable as it usually is as that's where we were when we heard about the bombs in Kuta/Jimbaran. We had all the staff in our room watching the TV to see/hear what had happened. I think we paid about $200 Aus a night for the luxury of this villa..
From here we had Made Menak, a really entertaining and enterprising local guy from Lovinia come and whisk us away to Bali Taman for an overnight stay, (500,000 rp for a room with breakfast for 4 and overlooking the water). Made is a great driver, very careful and knows where to go to buy everything, totally helpful. Email me for his contact email if you need a driver up north. As I hadn't shopped for at least 5 days I bought a heap of stuff from the locals on the beach. I think I had withdrawal symptoms. The locals were pleased as it was the day before Galgulan and they said it would help them buy pig to eat. We got up early, (we were always up early anyway) and did the dolphin trip. Saw heaps of dolphins and had a good time. Made our driver organized this trip with others from his village. They sat my 9-year-old son right up the front of the boat so he was impressed. We did the quick run around Lovina the next morning and saw the sights before heading off to Pacung. Made knew our daughter was easily carsick so planned the trip to go on a really scenic and less windy road. We went through the spectacular mountain region past the lakes and on to Pacung in time for lunch.
We stayed 2 nights a Pacung Indah over Galgulan. We walked down and up to the villages and checked out all the decorations and what was happening. This is another wonderful spot that we will return to. The spectacular green mountain views appealed to us as we usually look out over dry red dirt here were we live. The restaurant has amazing views, as did the garden outside our rooms. The buffet lunch had to be the best buffet around. Tasted very good. The kids loved eating the unlimited sate sticks. David was a great host, and showed us around. We went up and checked out Crackers bar, which at that stage was yet to be completed. The toilets were practically finished and need to be seen. We had a look around this great little market and bought quite a few of the usual bits and prices at very reasonable process. We also got some of those delicious strawberries. They have the plant nurseries here that sell a range of plants that I wished I could have bought back for my garden. David has orchids everywhere at the restaurant and I think they are becoming an attraction in their own right by the number of tourists you see taking photos of them each day at lunch.
After a few days we ventured back down to Legian, it was only a short 1 ½ car trip. Back in Legian it was quiet but there were still lots of people out enjoying themselves. It had been very quiet earlier that week with tourists staying at heir hotels. We met up with friends and had a great time doing the usual Legian activities; lunches at Uncle Norms, Sitting at Sammi and Suzies, watching my son have surfing lessons with the life guards, being massaged by No1, buying way to many beaded necklaces from Lisa, Nails painted by Karen, foot massages etc. I really miss sitting at the beach doing these things with the same sellers every year. The other highlight was a foot massage and back rub at the new salon that opened up in garlic lane outside of Rama Garden, only managed to fit one in but it's a priority next visit.
Did Christmas shopping and got some great buys: Pearls. Bought a beautiful set of pink beads from Safrudin at S & S. Then bought heaps from Almas Enterprises in Jalan Padma Utara. They have thousands of strands ready for you to pick from and they then make them up. Strands for standard size pearl were 30,000. So 3 strands together to make a really long necklace to go around your neck twice was 105,000rp. 2 different shades of blue pearls twisted together for a short choker necklace was 150,000rp. Ended up spending about 1.5 million. They also had little seed pearls in a variety of colours that were about 25,000 made up. 16 yr old niece loves them.
In Lovina we got little white pearl necklaces on the beach for 2 pairs for 50,000rp. Bought beautiful big sarongs from the last shop in Jalan 66. Cahaya Shop. Ayu owns the shop and her designs are usually not available in other shops. I have bought my sarongs from here for the past few trips.
We all had a terrific holiday. The trip around was a real highlight. We told the kids they were practising backpacking for when we travel to Canada and Alaska. The cost was very reasonable as we stayed in beautiful accommodation, ate well, used drivers between locations and it cost around $1500 for the 8 days. We will probably do the west coast next holiday or spend a week or so on Lembongan, maybe we will do both! At this stage all my time is spent planning what to do and where to stay in Alaska. Thanks for reading.