Back from Bali for almost a week now and unhappy! Loads of work, cold weather and no banana pancakes! How I envy you Australians who live within a few hours' flying time - it's almost enough to make me want to move to Australia!
Traveller info - 40'ish female from Cape Town, South Africa. On two previous occasions I've traveled with friends to Bali, but this time they couldn't make it so much to their horror I just went off without them!! Left Cpt on 22 May (my flight was delayed by 3 days due to technical problems) and returned on 12 May. Just a note for you single lady travelers who are a bit hesitant to travel by yourself - don't be. I travel extensively on business (sometimes alone and sometimes with colleagues) all over the world, and I have to say that Bali is probably one of the easiest places for a single female traveler. Make no mistake if want some male company it's easily available, but you won't be harassed or hassled like you may be in a place like Egypt, for example.
I've previously visited Lovina, Ubud, Sanur and Lombok, and this time decided to return to Sanur and Ubud, and include Amed in the trip.
Left Cape Town on Malaysian Airlines, and connected through Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar. Got off the plane and that wonderful Bali smell hit me - jet lag was instantly banished! I got my VOA and was through immigration and customs in literally 5 minutes - I guess the fact that no other plane arrived at the same time helped, but it was really quick and pain-free. Bought a taxi ticket from the taxi window and headed off to the Sanur Beach Hotel.
I had booked a standard room at the hotel via asia-rooms - US$49 including breakfast. The room was fine - comfortable bed, mini bar, safe in the room. The bathroom was a bit tatty and could do with a refurb, but I found the same thing when I stayed at the Hyatt the last time. It was clean though and had plentiful hot water. There is an option to upgrade you room but I only saw the notice a few days into my stay so didn't bother. For those who like decent TV, they've got a fairly good range of channels to choose from.
The Sanur Beach is set in lovely grounds, with two really nice swimming pools and a great stretch of beach. The hotel was not very full - although they were holding a political conference there for a few days and the political leaders were walking around in hideously coloured bright green jackets! The Garuda air crew also stay there. There was never a problem finding a lounger at the pool or on the beach, where I spent most of my time, but it would be useful if they had more umbrellas available on the beach.
Breakfast was okay - a buffet with a fair variety of items. I only ate the hot food once but it was a little cold and unappealing, so I mainly stuck to the fruit, toast, muffin side of things.
Sanur was very quiet - lots of restaurants on the street side never had anybody in them all day long, and were lucky to have one or two people at night. I ate at a variety of places - Donald's on the beach and in the main street, Bobby's on the beach, at the Sanur Beach itself the one night (tried out their sea food grill which they've just started), the Gazebo, etc. Can't remember all that I ate or all the prices, but everything was extremely reasonable and I never had a bad meal anywhere. Donald's does a wicked banana split, and Bobby's makes the best tomato soup on the Sanur strip!! The Royal Thai restaurant just opposite Donald's (the street one, not the beach one) seemed to be fairly popular, and the Cat & Fiddle also had a good few customers for their Irish music nights.
I tried to distribute my shopping amongst a few shops, but it is quite difficult! I bought watches from Ricky (ranging from Rp30 000 to Rp50 000 and more if you want the ‘new model' automatic watches); CD's and DVD's from the guy next to him (sorry, can't remember his name) - they are all good copies and were going for Rp8 000 with 2 free when you buy 10. I also went to Tootsies fixed price shop when I got tired of bargaining, and got 4 great quality Roxy T's for R100,000.00. They're hidden away so you have to ask for them and hope that the right person is in the shop at the right time!
On my last visit to Sanur 2 years ago I went white water rafting, and this year decided to go quad biking. I arranged the trip with Paddy Ventures- US$69. I was collected from the hotel around 8am and we set off for Tabanan, which is in the centre of Bali and surrounded by rice paddies. It's an interesting drive - through the villages and past many places where they make those beautiful roof sconces, (or whatever they're called!) which the Balinese have on their temple roofs, etc.
Arrived at Paddy Ventures, met our guides, had a quick trial run on the bikes and off we went! It was great fun - lots of mud and water, uphills and downhills, a couple of paddy snakes and a good lunch afterwards! They say that anybody can do this, and pretty much everyone can, but be warned that you need a fair bit of strength to keep the bike on the straight and narrow and when you're careering down a nice muddy slippery slope! I had sore hands and a sore thumb (the gas is powered by your thumb!) at the end, but I'd certainly do it again!!
There are shower facilities which you can use at the end of the biking, and we had a good lunch of soup, a main course and beer or soft drinks, tea and coffee. I got back to the hotel around 3 and headed straight for the pool to cool off!!
As I had to stay in touch with somebody back home, I bought a Simpati sim card for sending SMS's and making some calls home - it's almost cheaper to use the mobile for calls than using the landlines - and the line was definitely better. At the time I bought the SIM Telkomsel was on a big drive to get everyone to register. Something to do with the whole terrorist/security situation. I wasn't told this at the time of purchase, but managed to work out that I needed to do something - so with the help of friendly Agung at the Kodak shop just up the road from the Sanur Beach, I finally managed to update the info on the Internet. However, I then also got email requests and sent this off as well. If registration wasn't completed by a certain date, outgoing calls were barred. Top up vouchers or electronic top ups were available everywhere, and I had good coverage even in Amed.
After a week in Sanur it was off to Amed and a keenly awaited stay at Blue Moon Villas. I had found them using this forum, and was looking forward to staying there and enjoying some good snorkeling. I had arranged with Komang John at Blue Moon to arrange for his brother, Komang Bajing, to collect me. Cost for the drive out to Amed was Rp400,000.00. Komang Bajing was bang on time and we set off on the long drive to Amed.
Again, it was a really interesting drive and Komang is a very entertaining young man. We spoke about the terrorists and bombings, religion, traditions, etc. and in what seemed like no time at all we were passing Padang Bai and Candi Dasa, around a few more curves and mountain bends and there was Blue Moon Villas, looking very inviting indeed!
My stay at Blue Moon exceeded my expectations - I stayed in the Ocean Villa, and for the first night had the run of the place to myself. The pool was great, and 20m away from the Villa you can zip down some steps and you're on the beach where 5m into the sea there's fantastic snorkeling. And about 1km up the road the other way you can snorkel off an old Japanese shipwreck. Komang John can organize trips to Amlapura, etc. but if you just want to swim and snorkel and chill out, they're more than happy for you to do that.
The food at Blue Moon is out of this world - wonderfully presented and very reasonably priced. The Mahe Mahe was fantastic, as was the prawn and avo salad, and the spaghetti and the breakfasts, and... and.. and.. the list just goes on! The staff are amazing, there's a great library to select some good reads and there's no doubt that Amed, and Blue Moon in particular, is firmly on my list of ‘have to do's' when in Bali.
Galungan started on the Wednesday that I left Blue Moon for Ubud. I felt rather bad about dragging Komang Bajing away from his celebrations, but I hadn't known when I made the booking that my departure date co-incided with Galungang. It was lovely to be there for the festival - everyone was decked out in their temple gear and there were even more motorbikes on the road, with everyone going from temple to temple and visiting family and friends.
I arrived at Tegal Sari in Ubud in quite a downpour at around 14h30. I had booked the marvelous duplex room (with the Jacuzzi!) for my first 3 nights, and had to move to the wooden room for my last night.
What can I say about Tegal Sari that hasn't been said on this Forum before? Amazing, fantastic, in a beautiful setting and with excellent staff and facilities. The duplex room is wonderful - spacious, with a lovely view over the rice paddies. The mini bar prices were downright cheap - Rp2000 for Fanta, etc. Can't remember the Bintang prices but they were just as reasonable. You have the option of having breakfast in your room, which is great - sitting out on the balcony and watching life in the rice paddies is a great way to start the day. I had a delicious tuna steak at the Tegal Sari one night - including grilled veg, etc. Very good!!
Ubud seemed a bit busier than Sanur, but was definitely not overflowing with tourists. I found it an easy walk from the Tegal Sari to Monkey Forest Road - although the missing paving stones are still evident and can cause serious bodily harm if you don't watch where you're going!
I bought some wooden items, some sarongs from the Bob Marley shop. I ate at a variety of places again. Café Wayan looked quite busy, as did the Lotus Café. But in general, it was pretty quiet with many empty restaurants. Because it was Galungan quite a few shops and some restaurants closed for the 2 days.
I went to the Kecak Dance one night - I'd missed that the last time I was in Ubud, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rp50 000 and very entertaining.
A fantastic day out is the cycling trip through the Balinese countryside - I went with Bike Baik tours, run by Wayan. He started the company up last year, and really wants to promote Balinese business and give back to the local communities. There were only two of us on the tour - myself and a lovely French lady Alexandra. Wayan also brought his sweet little daughter, Dewi, along for the ride. She's a laugh a minute - he's teaching her English and she's a real little firecracker. Full of beans and keen to show of her language skills.
First stop was at a coffee/cocoa plantation. Tasted some more Bali kopi, and some really good hot chocolate and ginger tea. Didn't buy anything though, as I have bought loads of this on previous visits.
Then it was off for breakfast overlooking Mount Agung, and then a short drive to pick up the bikes.
The ride through the beautiful countryside was definitely the highlight of my trip - you get to see life in the villages, which were looking splendid with their Galungan penjors in place. And the kids were out doing their Barong dance and waving madly at us - we had to do high fives and I'm sure I said hello to 500 people that day!
The ride is flat for most of the way, but there are a couple of interesting uphills! We also stopped to admire a temple which is built in the lee of a 300 year old Banyan tree. It's a remarkable sight, and at that point you can opt to do the 35min trip or the 1 hour trip to complete the ride. We opted for the 1 hour ride, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wayan provides icey cold water at regular intervals, and you can stop whenever and wherever you like. Wayan is very well informed, and is more than happy to discuss almost anything. He's a wonderful, gentle man with a delightful daughter and a band of enthusiastic helpers.
At the end of the ride we were provided with ice cold towels (very welcome as by now it was the middle of the day!) and hopped into the van for the trip to his house for lunch. What a wonderful experience! Wayan's wife Made puts on a fantastic Balinese feast - and caters for vegetarians as well as meat eaters. Dewi had fun with us at lunchtime and to me, it was very special to be introduced to Wayan's family, including his young daughter Kadek, who's only 4 months old. We had a wonderful stay with them - we were privileged to see their house and temple, and share a little bit of Balinese life.
I really hope that forumites will support Bike Baik and Wayan - it's a huge risk for him to go out on his own, and he's really doing his very best to help the community and keep the money in Balinese hands. If you need contact details, let me know, but you will see his ads in many places in Ubud. Cost for the day is Rp350,000.00 - I will definitely go on this trip again when I return to Bali, and there's no doubt that the money is more than well spent.
So, from shopping and biking in the countryside to lazing about around the pool , I had a thoroughly good stay at the Tegal Sari. It's a very relaxing place!! I must say that I also enjoyed my night in the wooden room - very different to the duplex, but wonderful in its own way. It's a little less roomy, but I liked the whole wooden concept.
Too soon my time at Tegal Sari came to an end, and it was off back to Sanur, this time to try out a more Balinese hotel in the Gazebo. I booked this via directrooms - mainly because when I asked at the Sanur Beach what their best rate would be for me to return later in my trip, but they quoted US$75 for a standard room, and said that I could only get a cheaper rate through the room agents. Anyway, I decided to try out the Gazebo rather - got a room with the bathroom and lounge part downstairs and the bedroom upstairs (think they also call them duplexes) for US$50, excluding breakfast.
I know that the Gazebo has had mixed reviews on the forum, but I must say I enjoyed it. The staff were very nice, the room was fine, TV was pretty poor - only CNN and HBO worth watching but I spent very little time in my room anyway. Apparently some of the other rooms have better satellite TV options.
It was fairly quiet at the hotel. Not many people around the pool, and the garden pool never had anyone in it which is great if you just want to swim some laps or have some solitude. I enjoy the Gazebo fish grill so had that a few times. I also tried out Spirit - a rather trendy café down the strip near the beach markets. More expensive than is the norm for Bali I think, but they have a good selection on the menu. Also ate at the Stiff Chillie and Donald's again. Bennos, Tootsies and the Sanur Beach Market restaurants were also good options.
It's interesting for me that there are so many Western style types of cafes and restaurants now. When I first went to Bali you couldn't find a cappuccino or latte anywhere - it was Bali kopi all the way! Of course it's logical that the various holiday destinations want to cater to the holidaymakers' tastes, but I do hope that Bali still manages to keep its own identity and that the uber-trendy and very western type places don't proliferate.
I was chatting to some people at the Gazebo and they mentioned that they'd been on a day trip to Lovina, and that only two hotels were still open. That's shocking - I really like Lovina and I can't help wondering what has happened to all those wonderful people we met when we were on holiday there.
Well, as all good things do, my holiday came to an end way too soon and it was back to the airport for the journey home. I got caught up in a Full Moon Temple procession on the way which was great! But where's that damn camera when you need it?!
Denpasar Airport was quiet - I had my bag shrink-wrapped, checked in, paid the departure tax and started the long journey back.
Please, please encourage your friends to go to Bali. It's safe, it's wonderful and the people there really need all of our support.
Hope this wasn't too boring - any questions just shout!