Off to Bali! Yay! We've been looking forward to this. My sister Julie and her hubby Andy fly out on the 16th for two weeks. We thought we'd get there a couple of days early to suss out some nice accommodation. The 2 1/2 hr flight left Denpasar at 18.30.
We got a cab into Kuta and got dropped by 'The Balcony' restaurant as we knew our accommodation was somewhere around there. Matt came to Bali a couple of years ago so he knows his way around a bit. After a quick drink and use of the wifi we set off to find our place.
I booked a really cheap place on booking.com for a couple of nights figuring we would be spending more when Julie and Andy arrive.
In our tired stupor it seemed to be a lovely place, little rooms set around a garden with their temple in the middle. I even said 'this is one of the nicest places we've stayed'. Bear in mind it was late and dark. Matt said 'look at it through your sisters eyes'. It soon turned into a shit hole!! We laughed as we looked around at the filthy light switch, the patched up plywood door, the tatty sheets etc. The next night the sink fell off the wall!
The next day we had a wander around Kuta and found a nice place for Julie and Andys arrival tomorrow. 'The Kondra Premiere Inn' a nice little hotel with a pool, air con, tv, breakfast, £19 a night. Spotlessly clean, great showers with rain heads.
* Sorry if this is less blog and more diary like, but thought it'd be nice for my sister to remember as we packed a lot in. :-)
Sat 16
We moved into our luxury pad :-). Had a dip in the pool and lazed around in the aircon watching tv!
Went to the airport to meet them, they arrived at 21.20, 1/2hr late. Same taxi routine, had a drink at The Balcony then back to the hotel. They loved it. Yay. :-).
Sun 17
Gave them a tour of Kuta, went to the beach, had a dip, chilled out in the surf cafe for a couple of hours and had dinner in The Balcony.
Mon 18
Taxi transfer at 9am to Ubud (the cultural town) about an hour away. Got dropped at the end of a lane near our accommodation, Alamanda Homestay. What a cute little place, ornate carved doors, nice garden with little ponds and a temple. £15 with breakfast. Lovely people.
Dumped our bags and set out for the monkey forest. It's a pretty place to walk through, temples, trails through the forest and of course Macacques everywhere.
One of the guys that worked there gave Matt and Andy some corn on the cob to feed them. He said hold it up high and they'll climb up for it.
Matt did this no problem....
Andy got bitten :-/. This is him smiling just before!
Strolled up through the town for some lunch, looking in the silver shops on the way. Matt took us to a restaurant by a temple and a huge Lilly pond.
Obviously Matt didn't see this sign!...
There is a walk from the town around the rice paddies so we did that, it was lovely and quiet and we found a little warung in the midst so had an early dinner.
Strolled back just as it was getting dark and got tickets for the Balinese dance at Pura Da Lem Temple, we saw the fire dance. We sat in the front row and when the dancer kicked the hot coals they nearly hit us! Went for a beer before meandering home. Our little stroll had turned into a 12 hour outing!!
Tues 19
Lazy breakfast of banana pancakes with coconut and Palm sugar on the terrace. Julie and Andy sleeping in. I think we over did it yesterday! Jet lag is kicking in.
Sorted out a couple of mopeds, Matt and I whizzed into town so I could get a belated birthday pressie for Julie. I was watching what she liked in the shops yesterday. Found a lovely silver bangle :-).
Mopeded to Tegenungan Waterfall, about 45 mins away.
Rrrrrrrrrrrmmmm rrrrmmmmmm
People were jumping off the ledge...
Climbed back up and had a drink taking in the view.
We then went to Elephant Cave...no Elephant though
Let me tell you a story....and then you can give me some money
We were all a bit knackered but as we're moving on tomorrow we decided to go and see another dance, this time it was the Lion dance (Barong and Keris).
Weds 20
After breakfast we got a taxi to Padang Bai and found some great rooms at 'Kerti Bungalows' overlooking the harbour. Only £12.50 (250,000 IDR), inc aircon, breakfast, pool.
We walked left and up over the hill to 'the blue lagoon' beach, did a bit of snorkelling but the waves got a bit big.
Matt took us to 'Martinis', a little scruffy warung in the car park with plastic chairs, he said the food was amazing. He was right, Julie and I had beef rendang. It was fabulous, one of the nicest meals so far :-). Andy and Matt had giant prawns with garlic and ginger. A hit all round.
Bintang boy with Prawns
Thurs 21
Walked to white sands beach, a lovely little beach with hardly anyone on it. Most people pass through Padang Bai, using it as a transit hub to the Gili Islands, not realising its a nice place to hang around for a few days or that there are beaches you can walk to.
Bonus for us, a quiet beach with little warungs along the back where you sit and stare at the sea.
Sat having lunch watching turtles come in for air :-). We all had a massage on the beach. Julie bought me a lovely sarong :-). The boys fished off the rocks but didn't catch anything.
Had dinner at Martinis again, we all had beef rendang :-). Yum yum. Unfortunately we witnessed a rat tightrope walking across a wire from the kitchen. Put Julie off, we won't be eating there again.
Fri 22
Off on mopeds today. We rented some really cool 'scoopy's' off this cool guy who looked like the local Mafia. We rode on winding mountain roads to Tirtanagga Water Palace.
Dress code for the temple. The boys wearing them just gay enough for the ladies.
Had a wander around the rice paddies, saw the locals bathing in the stream. If fact we saw more than we wanted, naked old ladies taking their bath at the road side and a whole group of men's bums!
We rode back on the scenic Sideman road through villages and watched as the local life went by. Fantastic scenery, got back just as it got dark.
Sat 23
Off to Gili Air today. We were told its take an hour on the fast boat. It took 2. Not sooo fast.
These lot don't look too fast either! Hehe
After Julie and I traipsed around in the midday heat we ended up at the 1st place we checked out, 'Sister Bungalows'. Little bungalows around a pool, air con, breakfast. £15. Clean and quiet, set behind a family compound.
Horse power. No cars or mopeds.
We found the best coffee we've had so far at the cafe in the Harbour. Worth the extra money :-).
We spent our days here wandering around in sarongs, swimming, snorkelling, eating, generally lazing about. It had a lovely slow pace here. You could end up stuck here for ages.
Matt, Andy and I did a dive here at a spot called Sunset. Andy did a refresher as he hadn't dived in a while. We went out on an outrigger. We saw some great stuff including a massive Bat Fish and a huge Puffer fish as well as a Green Turtle and a Hawksbill Turtle which made Andys day :-).
Local kids on an outrigger
Breakfast at 'Sister Bungalows'. Look at that bloke lounging around in the background.
Ennie, one of the many sales people that walk the beach every day trying to scrape a living
Albino Python
Two of the waitresses practising their English with us.
Ocean 5 dive boat that we dived from
Weds 27
Happy days, but time to leave and head back to Bali...
Waiting for the boat back to Bali
Supplies coming in. It is amazing how they can carry really heavy stuff on thier heads!
Local fishermen
The 'fast boat' took about 3 hours to get back to Padang Bai as we had to drop off/pick up at Gili Trawangen and Lombok.
Included in our ticket was onward travel (we had no idea when we bought it, so this was a real bonus!) so we jumped into a mini van for the 2 hours to the Bukit Peninsular, home to the best surf breaks on Bali like Ullawatu, Padang Padang, Dreamlands.
We stayed t a place called U tube Hotel, which had lovely rooms and a pool but was near the main road. We hired a couple of mopeds and rode off to Padang Padang to watch the sunset :-).
Thurs 28
Went to Ullawatu and had lunch overlooking the beach with great views of the waves, then had a look around the temple, where there were some evil macaques, one of which stole a flip flop off my foot whilst I was standing in it! I screamed (really loudly and shrilly apparently).
Luckily just as it was about to disappear with it an old lady selling bracelets managed to get it back with a combination of a food and a large stick!
After that excitement we headed back to Padang Padang for a swim.
We're ladies
Fri 29
We had to move accommodation today as our place was fully booked. We found a place called 'Istana Hypso' run by a French guy, Frederick and his Malaysian partner. It was a fab place with little bungalows with lovely outside bathrooms. Beautiful gardens and a great pool.
Also there was a little dog called Hypso and a couple of tiny kittens that had been abandoned. Yep, this guy named the place after his dog! Istana means 'Palace' in Balinese. So...Hypsos Palace.
Great attention to detail here and the best (and biggest!) breakfast of the whole trip!
There is great little cafe just across the road called 'Kaffein', run by some lovely young smiley guys from Bali, Java and Sulawesi. And the dog, Mocha..
Mocha
Checked out Balangan beach and Dreamlands today...
I see no ships...
Saw a tree frog! 1st one ever! Really cute..
Sat 30
Julie and Andy's last day :-(. After an amazing lazy breakfast we headed to Padang Padang for the afternoon returning in time for their taxi at 18.30. They fly at 20.45... 2 1/2 hrs to Singapore, then 13 1/2 to London.
Sunset, Padang Padang
Sun 31
Missing Julie and Andy.
After another fantastic breakfast we packed our stuff ready for later and headed to Ullawatu and watched a bit of the surf competition that was happening.
We're off to Lombok later. Managed to find some really cheap flights (£14) each, which actually worked out cheaper than doing the land/boat crossing :-).
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