Day 11:
I was up early to do a few last minute things in Sanur - swim, eat breakfast at Tootsies, collect my washing etc - before checking out of the hotel. I just couldn't bring myself to use the bathroom after the mouse incident!
Kadek picked me up from the hotel and my plan was originally to go to Tulamben for the night to go snorkeling but I found out that my friend's sister was staying in Candi Dasa and as I was now travelling by myself (and it is closer to Sanur) I decided to go there instead. I couldn't get a room at their hotel so I just drove along the main street looking at hotels. Some of them were pretty dodgy.. nice views over the beach but the rooms were smelly and the pools were average.
None of the hotels that I looked at in the main street took my fancy and I ended up finding a hotel at the southern end of Candi Dasa called Bayshore Villas (part of the same complex as Bayside Bungalows). I had a look at the Bungalows and they were nice but I ended up choosing one of the 'Double Superior' Villas as they had access to the Villas infinity pool in addition to the main hotel pool. The asking price was initially RP1.1M ++ (including breakfast) and I ended up paying Rp1.1M including taxes.
I spent most of the day swimming in the pool, napping on the pool lounges and pretty much doing nothing. The infinity pool was really nice and it was fun to look at the big ships coming into the Padang Bai harbor and also the ferries going over to Lombok from the pool area. Had a swim in the beach but it was only a quick dip as the pool was much nicer. The villa was really good and I would consider staying there again in the future, although it was a little big for only one person. The villa had a living room, bedroom with TV and DVD player, two outside bathrooms and the living room and bedroom had split system air conditioning units.
I met my friends for dinner at Ayu Restaurant in the main street. The food was nice but not very memorable. Half way through dinner at approx 7.45pm a young girl did a Legong dance performance on a stage in the corner of the restaurant.
It would have been nice to have gone up to Tulamben but I was glad that I didn't as all I wanted to do was swim and hang around the Villa so it would have been a wasted trip - something to add to my list for next time!
Day 12:
Had a very lazy start to the day. Ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant - I chose eggs and a mixed juice - and then made my way back to the infinity pool where I alternated between swimming and napping before Kadek came back at checkout time at 12 to pick me up.
Before going to Annie's in Sanur we went via Legian to visit my Aunty at the Padma Hotel as she had arrived the day before with a group of friends. I wanted to introduce my Aunty to Kadek (my other Aunty has known Kadek for 17+ years so she wanted to put a face to the name) and I also wanted to store my big suitcase in her hotel room. I would be staying at Annie's for the next week either side of my trip to Lombok and I knew that it wouldn't be easy to lug my suitcase down the gang to her house - and there was no way that it would fit on her scooter!
The main pool area at the Padma was to die for. It was my first time inside the Padma, had previously only dropped something off at the lobby, and I now know why a lot of people love the hotel. Sitting around the pool area it made me think that as nice as it was if I loved my hotel too much, as I did in Candi Dasa, I would never get out and see Bali!
While everyone was chatting I used my Aunty's iPad and the Padma's WIFI to book my flights to Lombok for the next day. Ok, so big tip.. apparently you cannot book domestic flights online if it is less than 48 hours from the departure time. Worked this out the hard way after I had chosen flights and was about to finalise my booking with Lion/Wings. As I couldn't book online I asked Kadek to call the booking phone number as the office was based in Jakarta and they did not speak English. But still no luck and he said the only way to book tickets online was to confirm the booking and then pay at an ATM. I didn't understand how to do that and was worried about fees etc so I gave up booking with Lion/Wings.
Kadek knew of an airline based on Jl Sunset called TransNusa. I was able to call them and confirm my booking and then go to the office on the way back to Sanur to pay (cash or card) and collect my ticket. The flights were a bit cheaper so it wasn't really a problem but I learnt my lesson.. next time I would be more organised and wouldn't put things off until the last minute! In the end I got return flights to Mataram Lombok for A$53 (per my credit card statement) which I think was around RP240,000 each way. Very cheap!
After organising my flights we then headed back to Sanur where I was dropped off at Annie's Warung. After a day of driving around I was ready for a swim or shower to cool off (didn't actually swim at the Padma just sat around the pool area). It quickly dawned on me that my week with Annie would be a bit different and I was getting hotter by the minute just thinking about the lack of air conditioning. Of course I always knew that would be the case but it wasn't until that moment that it really hit me. Annie was busy in the Warung and so it wouldn't be for an hour or so until we could go to her house and I could drop of my things and have a shower so I decided to walk down the street to Carla Spa for a massage. Well the massage was a bonus.. I really wanted to go there for the air conditioning!
After a quick 30 minute massage I went back to the warung and talked to Annie, her family and a few other locals. It was about time I really started to practice my Bahasa Indonesia as I had been a bit slack and then after awhile Annie took me to her house.
I had been to Annie's a few times before so I knew where I would be staying but I wasn't sure in what room. I got shown to my room which is the spare room upstairs next to the family temple. I couldn't believe my luck.. I had been wasting my time worrying about no air conditioning. The upstairs bedroom is not usually used because Annie and her family find it to be too cold up there!! Downstairs the house is fenced in by high walls and so upstairs where there is a REALLY NICE BREEZE they think that it is too cold!
Had a quick shower and then headed back to the warung with Annie to spend the night talking to Annie, her family and her customers. Was great to finally spend quality time with Annie.
Later that night I had a quick cold shower, covered myself in mosquito spray, wrapped myself in a sarong, opened the two bedroom doors and slept ontop of the bedcovers enjoying the breeze. It was my best sleep yet.. uninterrupted by noisy air conditioning units.. well until the cock fighting roosters woke me up at the crack of dawn.
Day 13:
Annie and I were up early to go to the Sanur Market. Annie didn't need to do her normal shopping for the warung as it would be closed for the next three days due to a full moon ceremony and also a ceremony at her family temple. We bought a few things for the house and some breakfast. We purchased a brown paper parcels of Nasi Campur from one of the stallholders for Rp5,000 each- a mixture of rice, chicken, beans and satays. Annie of course asked for extra chili and I asked for mine to be 'kurang pedas' or less spicy. We also bought a bag of the small cakes/pancakes that are freshly cooked at the market. I am not sure what they are called but they remind me of Dutch Poffertjes - yum!
I spent the morning with Annie at her house before going to pick her son and nephew up from school. I always love visiting her son's school and this was the first time that I would be going to his new primary as he had changed mid-year from kindergarten to elementary school. As it was the day of the full moon the Hindu students were in traditional clothing instead of their uniforms.
From the school we went back to Annies house and I then walked down the gang to the Bypass where Kadek to picked me up. Annie was busy that afternoon as she had to go to her Banyar to make offerings for the full moon ceremony.
I didn't have any plans for the afternoon so I looked at Kadek's Bali map and decided to go to Nusa Dua. I hadn't been to Nusa Dua before and as my flight to Lombok was at 5pm I wanted to stay in the southern part of the island.
When we arrived in Nusa Dua we drove in and out of a few of the big hotels to look at their grounds. The hotels were all really impressive. One hotel in particular, Ayodya Resort, was breathtaking and had a huge water feature at the entrance which wouldn't have looked out of place at the Water Palace. If you are in the area it is worthwhile driving in and having a look it is also a good photo opportunity.
After driving around for a bit we drove to the southern end of Nusa Dua to one of the beaches where we rented beach chairs and towels from the beach café/restaurant (chairs Rp40,000 for the day and towels Rp20,000 each). Spent most of the day there swimming and eating. There were a few sellers on the beach selling necklaces and DVDs, had a chat to a few of them, decided not to buy anything but found them to be pleasant and not aggressive unlike the beach sellers that I have come across in Kuta/Legian..
After spending a few hours at Nusa Dua Kadek dropped me off at the domestic terminal at the airport, an hour before my 5pm flight to Lombok. The check-in and flight was very straightforward. The only weird thing was that after my suitcase was weighed I had to stand on the luggage scales so they could record my weight - I'm still not sure if that is standard procedure or if they had a bet on about how much the Aussie tourist weighed!!?? Paid the departure tax and then went through to the gate area.
There is free WIFI in the domestic terminal but I found that the mini mart had better signal (bought an aqua to get the WIFI code). While I waited for my flight to be called I caught up on emails and facebook. Couldn't help but smile and think that it was a lot easier than sitting on a boat for 3 ½ hours.
Although it was a short (and cheap) flight we were given a box as we boarded the plane which had a small aqua and a sweet bread roll. If only Pacific Blue had complimentary water... The plane was small with maybe only 20 rows with two seats either side of the aisle - with no row 13 as it is bad luck!
Had a moment on the plane where I just couldn't believe my luck - by flying to Lombok not only did I avoid sitting on a boat for 3 ½ hours I also had a beautiful scenic view of Mt Agung. The fight only went for 20 minutes and so it literally consisted of taking off, flying past Mt Agung for 10 or so minutes and then descending. As we were ascending and just hitting the clouds.. I had views of the ocean, coastline, the land, a layer of cloud cover and the top of Mt Agung. I took a few photos but they don't do it justice. Not many places that you could buy a 'scenic flight' of a mountain for $25!
Landed in Lombok (at the now old Mataram airport) and had a chuckle at the luggage collection area - there wasn't a rotating conveyer belt so all of the luggage just went in a straight line and if it wasn't collected fell in a heap at the end. Lots of porters similar to Bali but I just collected my small suitcase and went to meet my airport transfer.
I found the Jeeva Klui hotel driver at the airport (as per my welcome email they were holding a Jeeva Klui sign without my name 'to respect my privacy' not sure who was going to know me in Lombok but it was a nice touch!). I booked two nights at Jeeva Klui in Senggigi using Asia Rooms (saw a recommendation for Asia Rooms on the forum and I couldn't fault it - no problems at all - booked online and paid on checkout). In one of the 'Ananda Segarra Suites' which is a top floor room in the two story bungalows overlooking the beach.
Took approximately 20 minutes to drive from the airport to the hotel (I think it is now nearly 2 hours from the new hotel? Not 100% sure..) Drove past ovals with kids playing soccer and lots and lots of palm trees. I had never seen so many palm trees in my life! I can see why people say that Lombok is the Bali of 20 years ago, although I was staying in one of the main tourist areas I could see that it was a lot more laid back and underdeveloped - a lot more open space and did I mention a lot of palm trees??
Arrived at the hotel and I had to pinch myself. Standing in the lobby I felt like I had stepped into the hotel's website. I had been drooling over the website for months working out whether or not to go to Lombok and was starting to convince myself that the photos looked too good to be true and that they must have been photoshopped. Well it wasn't the case and the staff member in the lobby was keen to point out that we were standing exactly where the website photo was taken!
I got shown to my room which was stunning - big canopy bed, nice bathroom and a huge balcony and day bed. As it was now just after 6pm I caught the end of the sunset which was can only be described as 'purple'.. many different shades of purple framed by the palm trees on the shoreline. Was starting to think that maybe I would give Bali a miss in the future and head straight to Lombok (of course I never would.. but I think I will now always try and go to Lombok for at least a few nights).
After the sun had finished setting I had a swim in the pool and then got ready for dinner. I ate dinner at the hotel and sat on a lounge chair just outside of the restaurant overlooking the pool. Was a bit dark outside of the restaurant but I had dinner by 'candlelight' (actually my iPhone screen light) as I used the hotels WIFI to send photos of the sunset to just about everyone I had ever met lol
After dinner I went back to the lobby to check out their day tour options. I had two full days in Lombok so I wanted to spend a day on Lombok and then the second day snorkeling at the Gili Islands. The tours were easy enough to book so I decided to sleep on it and work something out in the morning. The spa menu also caught my eye and I made a mental note to also check it out the next day..
I took a couple of movies with me that I had bought in Bali and so I went to bed early but I think I only saw about 20 minutes of one of the movies before I fell asleep on top of the big white comfortable marshmallow that was my bed...