A brief intro: Myself, Jill 29, 8th trip to Bali and David 33, 1st trip to Bali. Departed Perth boxing day and returned 2 weeks later on the 9th Jan. Stayed 10 nights in Kuta, 2 nights in Amed then another night in Legian.
On the 5th Jan we checked out of the Barong Hotel and headed up to Amed. Its about a 2 ½ hour drive up on the East coast. Stopped at the Tirta Ganga Water Palace on the way. Lovely! Arrived at Anda Amed Resort. We were led straight to room and wow... what a view. Unbelievable 180 degree views of the ocean. Our room was magical too. And my favourite part was the outside day bed. I could have spent days just sitting there looking out to the ocean but it was pretty hot. One big problem with Amed is the flies. OMG I have never seen so many flies and it's not pleasant when your trying to eat. Breakfast juice is served with glad wrap over the top to prevent the flies landing in it. (I don't know if the fly problem is normal in Amed or if it was just the time we went) The resort has an infinity pool. It was awesome to look out over the edge of the pool with water running down the front and all you can see is the ocean. Heaven !!
Amed would have been easier for us if we had transport or a bike. It is quite spread out and hilly. In the evening we went for a walk to find a place for dinner and came across 'Double One'. I couldn't really find anything on the menu that I wanted so we just had a few drinks and listened to a band playing reggae music. They were pretty good. On the way out from our hotel earlier we had past a little Indonesian restaurant 'Pupuan' that I wanted to try sometime so we headed back there for dinner. However by the time we got there he had already closed. 8pm. No customers. So we went back to the hotel hungry. We laid on day bed and decided to get some nibbles from the hotel. This night ended up being a very memorable one. I ordered some pate and a few glasses of wine. We sat/laid there listening to the band playing down the road, enjoying the pate and looking out to the ocean watching a cruise ship sail by...
The coast line of Amed is lined with fishing boats. I couldn't believe how many there were. We would watch them sail out at the same time and then sail back in later in the afternoon. Amed was so hot. It felt hotter than Kuta. The next day we had lunch at Gede Restaurant. It was funny, when we walked in all the staff were asleep on the floor. After a couple of loud 'Hellos' they eventually woke up. We both had fish, served different ways and both were delicious. This place had the biggest menu I have ever seen. For example there was a selection of about 20 soups to choose from, 20 entrees, 20 chicken dishes ect ect ... !!
On our way back to hotel we stopped into Pupuan to let them know we were coming for dinner later on. And guess what... He was asleep too, but he was very pleased that he would have some customers for dinner. I had garlic prawns. There were so many and they were so big. Only cost 45K. Min (the owner) was saying they haven't had any customers for 3 days. I guess it would be harder out there because there are not as many tourists and there are a lot of western owned hotels/restaurants. I told him I would mention his restaurant on the forum and he was extremely grateful. Iluh is his wife and they have a small baby.
We left Amed the following day. I would have like to have tried snorkeling there as everybody says its fantastic, but it was better to go 4km down the road and it was so hot I really couldn't be bothered trying to organize transport. Maybe next time. Dean (our driver) picked us up about 10am and we took a different route back to Kuta. I was absolutely blown away by the amazing view all along the east coast from Amed. It took a bit longer but it was definitely worth it.
Dean is a great guy. We booked him before leaving Perth. I am a bit fussy and I wanted a nice car to travel in, so he was able to email me a photo of his car before we got to Bali. He has a nice new 4WD Toyota. He speaks great English and was very well priced. He quoted us a price but then when we paid him he would only take half the money - but I still put the rest in his pocket (he needs it more than we do). I guess one thing I really like about Dean is his enthusiasm. He loves driving and showing people around his island. We had brought some little teddy koalas, and kangaroos and picture books of Austalian animals for him as a gift, and it was perfect because he has a young son and daughter and they absolutely loved them. You can contact him on + 62 81 8344 807 or contact me for more info.
We arrived back in Legian with one night to go. This time we stayed at the Losari Hotel in garlic lane. Very new hotel and nice. The pool was lovely and cold. It's a 5 story hotel centered around the pool. I guess that is why the pool is cold because it doesn't get a lot of sun. They have great deck chairs - you can raise the section below your knees slightly and it makes it really comfy to lay in. Our room was great. Quite roomy and again because it's a reasonably new hotel the rooms are still in very good condition. We organized this hotel before we went up to Amed. We spoke to Adnya who gave us a price of 325,000 for a superior room with a late check out to 6pm and including breakfast. I don't know if this is expensive or cheap, but we thought it was ok.
Our last day was spent getting the last minute bits and pieces shopping wise. Garlic Lane is great place to shop. They have everything, especially with the markets at the end. Oh and I had to have my last massage !
Dean had offered to drive us to the airport so we took him up on the offer. We tried to pay and upgrade to business class but they said there were only 60 odd passengers so they were not doing any upgrades. Bummer ! So we went up to the Dewi Lounge and paid to get in. ( I think it was the Dewi cos there are 2 simular ones - Dewi & Dewa Lounges) We tried to get in for 50,000 each but ended up paying 100,000 each. - Straight into her pocket... The lounge was ok. It was smaller than I expected and only had Spirits, no bintang. That was fine with me because I like bourbon but David likes Beer. They had nibbles too and the usual comfortable seats and magazines - No internet though.. It was much better than sitting in the terminal !!
One other thing I forgot to mention... Red Cordial. I have always lived by this rule. I start drinking it really strong a few days before going overseas (anywhere in asia) and continue drinking it up there as well as Red Fanta. We had taken a 2 lt bottle with us and it ran out about 2 days before we left to come home. And guess what ???? David got unwell. We tried the charcoal tablets (Norit) but I don't think they really had enough time to kick in. It says on the bottle to take 6-9 tablets, 3 times a day. We thought that was way too much and only took a couple, so maybe that's another reason why they didn't work.
Finally I want to say a very special Thank you to Kim from Anda Amed Resort and Mike and Liz from the forum. We left a roll of film in our room in Amed and only realized this once we were back in Kuta. So with Amed being 3 hours away and us flying out the next day we had no way to get back. After putting a posting on the forum for help from someone in Bali, Kim was able to drop the film off to Mike's hotel and they will bring it back to Perth with them when they return home. I know it's just a roll of film, but they are great memories. I am very lucky to have people offer to help that don't even know me, so Thank you very much.