I had read that Rising Sun B&B was a bit hard for some taxi drivers to find so I booked through the B&B to be picked up. Unfortunately they just hired a driver via phone who also didn't know where it was located so we wasted about 20 minutes driving all over the place.
Even though I had done my research about this B&B almost from the start I realized I had made a mistake. Don't get me wrong it was lovely clean and peaceful with a charming housekeeper but many of the things I like in a hotel just weren't available... my fault I now know hotels are best for me so I won't make that mistake in the future.
The big issue was location ... although I had been assured by the B&B management and past TA guests I had PM that it was ok to walk through Swastika Hotel to Jl. Danau Tamblingan just near Hardies. Rising Sun even gave you a mud-map showing you how to go through Swastika Hotel. So if that was going to be the case then the location suited me very well. Well first off the way through started at the very grotty staff back entrance (not pleasant) then through a minefield of OH&S potential accidents laneway followed by winding your way through the hotel grounds and down the driveway to the street. Ok so I could do this if I was careful not to have an accident but never at night that was for sure. Still this was where I was staying so I would have to suck it up.
But trouble started the second day when I asked the housekeeper if she could organize my laundry washing ... she said she couldn't (although I learnt later from the owner she should have) but not to worry I would find a local laundry out on the main street. So I grabbed my 4 days bag of dirty laundry and headed off through Swastika but as I came to the start of the driveway a security guard with the typical huge smile came up to me for a chat. He asked me what I had in my bag I said my dirty laundry and could he direct me to a good place to have it laundered. He immediately grabbed the bag off me and started heading back into the hotel saying good laundry in hotel. So after a bit of a wrestle to get my bag back I said no I wanted another laundry. He still kept trying to convince me so eventually I had to say I wasn't staying at Swastika ... instant change in his attitude. He said you can't come through here ‘back ... back ...back'. By this time I was getting a bit over it so I skirted around him and hot footed it down the drive way to the street with him yelling behind me ‘big boss no let'.
Now the next thing was with all the problems finding Rising Sun and the ‘round the world for sixpence' style method the taxi driver had taken me I didn't know how to get back to the hotel the long way around only through Swastika. So I spent a couple of hours eating and shopping after dropping off my laundry in the hope the security guard would have left his post. But no he was still there. And I'm not going to go through what happened but suffice to say it wasn't pleasant with him following me all the way to the back staff entrance and off the property. I'm not by any stretch a ‘wilting violet' but I have to say I felt a bit unnerved by the experience.
At this point I realized I would be isolated and not able to enjoy my Sanur stay if I had to put us with this nonsense. I told the housekeeper and she insisted that they had an arrangement and I could go through to the street that way and not to be concerned. Overnight I churned it over and after a disturbed nights' sleep decided that one way or the other I was moving regardless of the cost. I went online and through booking.com I found the new Taksu Sanur Hotel (which I had seen being built last year) and booked for the remaining 8 nights ... best decision ever ... great hotel.
The next morning I said I wanted to speak with the owner so he was called and was very nice and apologised but his take on the situation was if I had slipped the guard a few rp all would be ok. Sorry no way ... I wasn't prepared to be intimidated on my holiday. Or he offered to have a car made available to take me where I wanted to go but that would take away my ‘come and go' type freedom as I'm an early riser and love an early morning walk. So after much discussion he eventually decided to give me a refund for the balance of my booking. I was grateful for this and immediately packed to move to Taksu.
But before I left I had an appointment with Wendy the Tailor. Wendy was a lovely lady and I'm sure I would have been very satisfied with her work unfortunately a couple of days later she called me to tell me the amount of fabric Spotlight had told me to purchase was in fact a metre short ... so long story short I didn't end up getting anything made and I felt so bad for Wendy as she had made up the pattern and driven to see me plus dropped the fabric back. I did offer her some cash for her trouble but she wouldn't take it but did ask me to recommend her on TA and as far as service I can totally recommend her and will try again another time.
Ok so I arrived at Taksu Sanur in the southern end of Sanur just around the corner from Kamuela Suites & Villas where I stayed last year ... and I do love this area too so I was happy. Beautiful greeting from the reception staff and told that I was getting a managers upgraded to a junior suite ... thank you very much. So for 504,000 rp per night I was now being upgraded from a large 33 sq standard suite to 45 sq. Loved this hotel and have written a review but I have to say it is so nice to stay in a super clean modern hotel with excellent Air con good plumbing and huge balcony. And the best room staff ... I found the most amazing towel puppy on my bed after the first room clean and the sweetest note. Over the course of the stay my towel puppy morphed to include attached eyes, whiskers, and he was redone so he sat up and lay down in a variety of positions. The 10,000 rp I always place under my pillow each day works wonders but I think it is also a show of thanks and respect for the care and easy room staff can make your holiday.
The next night I caught up with Travelkat88 from TA and her dear hubby (Traveltom) for a meal at Donalds a few minutes' walk from my hotel. You know what it's like when you meet someone you have an immediate connection with well we had that. In fact Travelkat88 and I look so alike you would think we were from the same family and so many similarities in our lives. We had a great night and it was a shame they were leaving the next day ... by the way all three meals were yummy.
Over the next couple of days my spa journey continued between walking, eating, and shopping. I did go to the Sanur Sunday Market at the Sands Hotel but it wasn't very large and except for buying some cookies I didn't spend anything. As mentioned in my earlier JRB I am a spa-alcoholic so if you want to read more about my sometimes several treatments per day you might like to check out my 3 Part blog http://www.salonspabusiness.com/index.php?page=blog
Monday morning at 8.30am I was picked up by Sharon (former Melbournite) married to Made who operate villa accommodation in Ubud but also do the 'Shopping & Gossip' tour. This was a great day ... OMG is Sharon entertaining a laugh a minute and I thought I could talk she would win the Olympics on that score. We travelled up to Ubud and our first stop was a visit to Villa Kitty to not only visit with all the beautiful kitty's but to see the amazing Elizabeth the brains behind this organization.
This is my second visit to Villa Kitty and I was astounded with the new builds that are popping up to accommodate the ever growing number of cats. I dropped off some kitten food and also bought these beautiful shopping bags they are having made out of the cat food packets ... sounds unusual but these sturdy and stylish shopping bags 50,000 rp and it goes to help keep the doors open at this very worthwhile centre. If you are an animal lover please visit while you are there but you can make donations online and also visit their Facebook page to see the great work they are doing.
At lunch time we meet up with two other guests one an Aussie who has worked in the spa industry and a Singaporean lady. Can't remember the name of the café but it was very popular with local expats and the menu was mostly fresh organic type food ... totally delicious.
We then went right up to the top of Tegallalang checking out the homeware type shops along the way. And right at the very top was what I was after the crochet shops. I was looking for the old-fashion crochet throw rugs and what an array they had ... the colours were to die for. I ended up getting 3 one very large one for 350,000 rp and 2 slightly smaller for 320,000 rp each one for my 18 year old granddaughter and the other two for my two grandsons girlfriends. I might mention I saw similar ones in the fashionable shops in Seminyak ranging from 1 million to 1.4 million rp.
The Aussie lady was flying home that night so as we got on very well we both got dropped back at my hotel in Sanur stored her luggage there (so nice of the hotel to place it in their luggage cage). We then went to the Gardenia Café for an early dinner and then went to the new Leha Leha Spa ... me for a massage and her for a pedi and 30 minute reflexology. She was also able to have a shower there and then it was back to the hotel for her to collect her gear and race to the airport.
Tuesday I went to meet a Brissy friend who was over for a pals 50th. She and her group of girl pals were staying at Royal Seminyak Hotel in a beachfront villa ... OMG how amazing was it absolutely huge. We were then collected by the Think Pink Nail Spa driver and taken for our treatments pedi for me and massage for her. Dropped back to Café Seminyak at the front of the Bintang Supermart ... browsed around there for a bit then caught a taxi to Beachwalk where we had a late lunch at Kitchenette Restaurant & Crêperie how yummy is that place. Window shopped for a bit then walked down Poppies 1 then we caught a taxi to Garlic Lane called into Kutets to pick up sons ordered cargo pants and buy some of those cute colourful shorts with the bobbles around the hems 40,000 rp each ... no not for me. Then onto Tommy's Handbags in Jl. Padma to pick up daughters ordered navy bag ... great job very pleased once again with Tommy's workmanship. Friend caught a taxi back to Seminyak and I caught one back to Sanur ... big day and totally pooped so I had room service that night.
I only had a couple of days left after that so I spent them relaxing, more spa treatments, a bit of shopping in Hardies, bought a new leather bag for 700,000 rp and a straw clutch bag for 125,000 rp, few sarongs, sunnies, ¾ pants 50,000 rp for XXXL (normally wear size 14 back home) from Tooties and a couple of other lady's close by. Two Diesel backpacks from a stall on Jl. Cemara about 100 mts north of Kamuela Suites & Villas 250,000 rp each. Glass straws boxed sets of 5 including straw washer (like a thin bottle washer) 125,000 rp per box (from Café Smorgus). And also regular visits to Ganesha Bookshop (across the street from The Glass House) for both new and second-hand books. And finally a house warming gift for daughter and hubby from the Jenggala Pottery shop. It was a pair of 40 cm high wooden ducks but here's the twist they had cute pottery feet OMG they are stunning 500,000 rp the pair and worth every rp.
Other cafes I enjoyed and each one I visited repeatedly ( I'm of the opinion if you like a place keep going back) Luhtus's Coffee Shop - love their brown toast and Lamingtons (just like Mum use to make with loads of Chocolate seeping through the sponge), Café Smorgus love everything from there but particularly their health juices and chicken penne, The Glass House always visit here for excellent fresh food but since my last visit (lovely Aussie owner Liz) has renovated plus designed a new up-dated menu ... try their iced lemon drink it may give you ‘brain-freeze' but is so worth it. And then had several breakfasts at the Beach Club at Puri Santrian ... best place on the beach in Sanur to relax with an excellent coffee and banana pancake ... yum.
I organized the Taksu Hotel airport drop-off and was totally entertained all the way with an in-depth discussion on the differences in governments between OZ and Indo with my very educated driver. Went on the quick overpass ... shame about the road surface being as bumpy as going over cattle bridges out west.
And then the departures at the airport. Now I know many have written that they don't like it but from my experience it was great. Dropped off right out the front then paid a porter to take me right through to checkin. I did have a little wait there in line but that's more my fault as I like to be very early. Lightening quick through departure tax and customs and then on through the duty free. Now while I wasn't interested to buy anything it was an enjoyable stroll and really no more or less than other international airports I have been through. I didn't have any trouble find signage or my way. Found the loo just around the corner from Black Canyon ... very modern and sooooooo clean.
Bought a very nice sandwich and drink from Black Canyon at normal airport prices then went for a walk down the causeway to locate Gate 7 which was a bit of a hike but when you have a 6 hour flight coming up a good walk doesn't hurt. All along the way to Gate 7 were numerous loos. I then walked back a bit found a seat (plenty available) and sat down and had a good read ... over the course of the next hour or so I checked out another loo or two and they were all clean ... for that reason alone I love the new airport. Eventually went through final security check and had a short wait in Gate 7 lounge (once again plenty of seating) then onto Virgin and a quick pain-free flight home. By the way I had bought an extra 23 kls luggage and was a few kls short so bugger I could have bought more ... oh well there's always next time.
So I guess that was about it ... except to say I was home only one day before my son (a Bali virgin) and I decided to go in early November for a quick 6 day trip so we jumped online and found cheap tickets on the new Jet* Dreamliner direct flight so now once again counting the days. Will be staying the first 5 nights at the new AQ-VA Hotel & Villas on Werkudara in Legian and then last night at the Mara River Safari Lodge.
I hope you enjoyed the read and if you want to know more about my spa visits you are welcome to read my ‘Epic Spa Journey' it is on my blog in 3 parts http://www.salonspabusiness.com/index.php?page=blog
Cheers,
Caro