My hubby and I have just returned from our third wonderful trip to Bali. We hear that we escaped a cold snap in Melbourne while we were away and are feeling the winter chill now after 3 and a half weeks of warmth and sunshine (we only had two overcast days in the last week). We spent three weeks in Candidasa and three days in Sanur.
We took Garuda Airlines this time and had no problems with the flights or service. We found the staff to be friendly and helpful and we arrived at our destinations early. As we arrived on a Tuesday, we got though customs and VOA quickly (I think Saturday is a worst time to arrive). Having our VOA in US dollars and our paperwork from the plane all filled out made the process seamless.
Our friend and driver Ketut (Tonny) from the last two trips was waiting for us as planned at the airport. We recommend him highly as a driver for anyone traveling through Candidasa. We made our usual first stop to the money changers near Bemo corner were we a great rate of 8875. I then recalled that I left our adaptor and calculator at home so we made a brief detour into Matahari Kuta for these items and some snacks. I don't recommend purchasing adaptors or calculators from the vendors outside Mataharis - they were both really dodgy.
On the road to Candidasa we saw a lot more businesses and signs of development since our 2006 trip. I got butterflies in my stomach as we approached Candidasa as I feel a real connection to the place. We miss the place terribly when we are away and after a crazy two years with work, studies, some health issues and not enough ‘us' time, we knew this would be a wonderful opportunity to de-stress and consolidate.
We have timeshare with the Bali Shangrila and absolutely love the place. We have firm friendships with the owners and staff and were excited to see them again. We arrived to hugs and smiles from everyone there and were thrilled to know that for the next three weeks we would awake to sunny days with our Shangrila friends in front of the glorious beach view with no phones, deadlines, commitments or housework! Returning to the Shangrila is like a family reunion and personality of the resort is just perfect for us.
Elaine, our good friend and reservations person at the Shangrila organized for us to have room 21 which is up a steep flight of stairs but has one of the best views in the place. It was really quiet and relaxing upstairs and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. The place has undergone some renovations and the bar is now separate to the restaurant which works really well. The Shangrila has hired an entertainment manager who organizes great events and activities including boat rides, dinner feasts with Balinese dancing and trivia and pool competitions. These are lots of fun and a great way to get to know the other guests.
We spent the next three weeks catching up with our friends and making new ones including Ken's (one of the owners) daughter from England. Karen who was there for the summer with her three kids aged 13, 11 and 6. We bonded with them early in our stay and enjoyed hanging out with the kids as we swam, snorkeled and wandered around town.
Candidasa has some new shops and restaurants since our last stay. We frequented Vincents (our favourite restaurant in the world) many times and, as always, found the service and food to be excellent. The owners of Vincents have opened a new restaurant called Toke. We hear it's very good but we didn't get a chance to visit it. Otherwise we mainly ate at the Shangrila (great new menu and quite reasonable) but also visited Rajas, the restaurant on the left side of the lagoon (if you are looking towards he sea), the Watergarden and a new place on the left hand side of the street you take to get to the Shangrila. We had good meals at all places and no Bali belly problems the whole trip.
We organized very few outings for this trip as we mostly wanted to relax, read, write and tan. We went to the new Safari Park with Elaine, Graham, Karen and the kids and enjoyed the experience. The animals look well cared for and the shows they put on were excellent. We had photos with Effie the orangutan but were a little troubled by the baby tiger who appeared quite dopey. We may have been wrong but decided against getting photos with the inebriated looking mammal. We arrived at the Fun Zone amusement park area late in the day and had the place to ourselves - it was like we had a private party. The rides were excellent and we look forward to returning when it's completed. The Waterzone was fun too - a good day out and great value (especially if you get a discount via Bali Discovery Tours). Our other day out was to White Sands Beach. We attempted to recreate my 30th b'day there with an afternoon of snorkeling but the tides were very strong and the waves resembled a surf beach. We played in the surf awhile and amazed at how different the place was to four years ago, as the once deserted beach now has Warungs, hawkers and deck chairs.
I also took a day out for a Kuta shopping trip which was fun but was anxious to return to Candidasa as Kuta isn't really my scene. I managed to find great beads in Double Six St, Legion and at Toko Central, and got some good bargains like a tie for hubby, wind-chimes and other souvenirs at Matahari. We checked out the Animale factory outlet for some clothing but I wasn't excited by the range, however during our trip to Sanur I found another Animale outlet with lovely clothes and bought two great tops for about $20 AUS all up. I had trouble finding much else for me (a 34 years old size 14) but my hubby got plenty of t-shirts, shirts and had a suit and shirt made by Ketut at ‘Suits You Sir' in Candidasa. The suit is excellent quality and was made in no time at an excellent price. The shopping in Candidasa is very good with reasonable prices. They don't try to rip you off as they do in other places (for example in Sanur I was first quoted 150,000 for a Bintang t-shirt - I was quite amused and told her that the prices were much more reasonable in Candi where we paid no more than 29,000).
The rest of our days were spent tanning, reading, walking, swimming and snorkeling. It was wonderful to take it easy and appreciate the finer things in life as it gave us good perspective on our life back here. Having quality time together was also of great benefit as life can get hectic back in Melbourne when you rush around trying to get things done with a view to making life easier but all you end up doing is running yourself into the ground. We can learn a lot from the Balinese about what's important in life and appreciating the things you have.
We found Bali to be quite busy and the Balinese were very pleased with the rise in tourist numbers. We had planned the trip after Aussie school holidays hoping the place would be chilled out but forgot it was the European summer which even made Candidasa quite busy. We are glad of this for our Balinese friends' sake. We met some wonderful people from Melbourne and all around the world and will keep in touch with them.
Our last few days in Sanur were pleasant but we found it quite busy and were not too impressed by the beach we were told was great for swimming and sunbaking. We stayed at the Peneeda View which had lovely rooms and nice pools but could have done with some ceiling fans as we aren't big on air-conditioning and when the windows were open we got bitten alive. We booked the hotel via AsiaBeds and got a great rate with no hassles on arrival. The staff at the Peneeda were very friendly and it's a great location in terms of shops. We ate most meals at the Star café where the food was tasty and the prices very reasonable. We also ate at the Street café and KFC which also had good food at great prices. The dollar dropped significantly during our stay to under 8000 but we had done most of our spending by then. One word of caution - best not to buy PC games as they don't appear to load or work.
Well, for now it's back to reality and saving up for our next visit. In the meantime we plan to bring some of calm and tranquility of our time in Bali back to our lives here so that we can be as sane and relaxed here as we are there. I know it will do us the world of good.
Hope you enjoyed my JBR and feel free to post any questions.