Haven't done a JBR for years, tried it short (which doesn't seem to have worked, so I will do it in 2 parts.
Set off to Tullamarine airport on 19th May and when we were nearly there Eddie realised he'd forgotten to put his his partial top denture in. Our son said tough luck Dad I haven't got time to take you home and back again I have to go to work. So that was a good start, had to look at him minus those teeth and instead see the fangs for 30 days. We did our usual thing and had a breakfast at McDonalds in airport, helps kill time. Garuda took off on time, we haven't flown to Bali with them for a couple of years, we have been overseas and came back via Bali. We were impressed with the food seemed a lot better and even the wine wasn't bad. Got through our VOA quickly quite a short line which was marvellous. We were at the carousel before our baggage, that's a first. Through customs without any problems and then got a taksi to the Ida Hotel.
It was our first time staying at the Ida and we were quite impressed. The rooms were comfortable, air-conditioning good, the staff helpful and the complimentary breakfast adequate. We were only there 4 days and quite an ebb and flow of guests. The first night we went to Matahari's for supplies and then just had a toasted sandwich and drinks at Gloria Jean's. We weren't feeling hungry. There are no tea and coffee making facilities at hotel as it is only 2 star. We took an infuser and our own mugs etc. We enjoyed the pool, spent quite a bit of time there and meeting fellow guests. Had good Balinese massages 3 of the 4 days, another guest recommended the masseur. Had hair done at Romy's, now that was an experience! Used the laundry next door to Romy, very cheap and apart from 1 item I was very pleased. I put in some white panties and they came back an indeterminate colour, but a white t shirt was fine, so there you go!
We ate at Dayu 1 which was good but hardly anyone there. We also ate in Poppies 1 (after we managed to find it) 1 night at Bamboo Corner and the other at Bali Agung, plenty of people at both those. We preferred Bali Agung. Tried to use the internet nearby and had problems my Yahoo a/c wasn't opening and then when I tried webmail, couldn't get into that either.
We did some shopping in Legian, watches and necklaces at Dirty Harry's in Garlic Lane, his necklaces are fixed price. Then also at Olivia's. Meant to go to some other places but I wasn't feeling well enough. We took our list of DVDs with us, was told some weren't available or poor copies. Bought some watches at the Kuta market.
The following day we went to Candidasa to stay at Royal timeshare,our first time there. We usually stay at Jimbaran. We had a lovely apartment with seaview. the sound of the waves lulled me to sleep of a night. We ate occasionally at the restaurant at the resort but mostly either at the small warungs just outside the resort, or in Candidasa. The resort will phone them and they will pick you up and drop you back. They are very good andcheaper than the resort. There is a free shuttle service from the resort at 9 and 11 am into Candidasa, coming back 2 hours later. Sometimes we'd go in for breakfast or an early lunch. We ate at the Ayu Bakery and Restaurant twice for breakfast and once for an early lunch. We also ate dinner twice at Legong, same owners as Ayu Bakery,first night at Legong we splashed out and had lobster, enjoyable. Vincents was very good but more expensive than others, also quite dark, lit by candles , Eddie didn't see a step and fell into the garden, and he hadn't had too many Bintangs (at that stage). Quite large portions, plus complimentary garlic bread. we had a prawn cocktail. plus the 250gm steak (which melted in our mouths) and didn't have room for dessert which sounded very nice, next time we will have main and dessert. We'd eaten at Toke their other restaurant the previous week, that was very good and cheaper. Also ate at the Candidasa Cafe, enjoyed that. Guests at Royal recommended Balibassa and we ate there once but we preferred the others. There is a German Bakery on the outskirts of Candidasa and our driver took us there, we bought very nice buns etc, also another bakery on L hand side near the bend and sign to Amlaplura. We bought iced donuts there.
Previously bought a XL sim card at Mataharis and only used it for local calls and SMS to Aust. While I was in Candidasa I tried to ring Australia and kept getting message that it was banned. We went on a day trip to Amlapura and the water palaces etc. Our driver took us to the District Office of XL in Amlapura in an attempt to get the problems with making calls to Aust fixed up, we also visited the small Hardy's there. We spent a lot of time at the office and they weren't able to work out the problem. So I just had to continue text messages and our son would ring us. We enjoyed our visit to the water palaces etc.
When we went to Sanur (nearly 2 weeks later) made another trip to Hardy's and bought a different simcard this time Simpati and that was ok, able to ring Australia and UK no problems. Son also said it was easier to call us, previously it took up to 4 times to get through properly. So I'll never buy XL again. I've used Simpati before, but was told XL had a really good deal going. Next time I'll call before I leave where I buy simcard, as I did at Sanur.
That's all for now, will do a JBR about what happened during our second week in Candidasa and our 10 days in Sanur