This was our 3rd trip to Bali, the first was in 1980, 2nd trip January 2003 (we had booked just before October 12 but still went ahead with our trip), were definitely hooked and had to go back!!
This trip was from 13th March to 2nd April 04 and we wanted to explore Bali by staying in different areas instead of doing day trips from Kuta.
13/3/04 The 3 of us (hubby, 15 yo son and myself) departed Melbourne on a cloudy 23 degree day, flying Air Paradise 11.15 am direct Melb/Dempasar. We arrived at the airport way too early due to an eager friend who wanted to make sure we were there 3 hours beforehand … and had to wait for AP to open at 8 am. No problems checking in our luggage (about 90 kg with donations of clothing, books and toys – we had arranged this with AP beforehand).
Then having so much time on our hands we had to do a “Kath and Kim” at the airport till we boarded the airbus 300-600 seating 2-4-2, in seats 16 & 17 (window/isle/isle) being the most forward seat allocation we could get (the plane had come from Sydney).
Service was friendly, we were fed and watered well on the way, lunch was a choice of cannelloni with spinach filling or a beef dish served with noodles and vegetables, tim tam biscuits, vegetarian slice, roll and coffee/tea. Movies were Timeline/Cheaper by the Dozen. Then we got more potato chips, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream and a bottle of water before landing.
It was so exciting when we arrived at 2.15 pm, recognising the row of palm trees bordering the airport out of the window … in anticipation of the … yes, the smell of Bali as we walked off the plane. Warm, humid, the clove smell, ah wonderful!
Onto the 2nd bus and arrive to find ourselves waved onto the 2nd Visa on arrival booths, the first being already crowded with people. The 3 of us divided, each armed with passport and clutching US$25, we regrouped intact about 6 minutes later to be waved onto almost empty immigration booths.
Our baggage was already off the carousel and lined up in colour order, green bags, black bags, blue bags and … stripey bags!! Also an odds and ends group … where we found the totem tennis set we had brought as a gift for a family. Luckily I had tied on each piece of luggage some distinctive cloth pieces so retrieval was easy.
A quick check revealed no chalk marks although customs did want to know what was in the stripey bags. I made a decision about which one I was going to offer for them to open as I had read on BTF that they may look for ‘donations’ from the bags, hence I had numbered the bags 1,2 & 3 - they were satisfied with the contents of number 3: Drey Pampers (disposable nappies) and out we went into the bright glaring sun at 2.50 pm where our Balinese friend Nyoman (Alex) had brought his family to meet us … his wife Wayan, his lovely daughter Eka (11 years) and baby Kadek, 6 months, the newest member of the family … we had only seen a photo of her from our emails, she was wearing a cap in the heat – Wayan explained that she had just had her 6 month ceremony and her hair had been cut off.
We drove to the Masa Inn in Poppies I, agog at the additional traffic congestion caused by the drainage works in Kuta. Originally we had been booked to stay in a bungalow (number 70) but the management pointed out that there was building works going on near it and as we might be disturbed by the early morning work noise, we were shown to room number 126 ground level next to the 2nd pool towards the back of the property.
The pool was large and surrounded by palm trees & large grass areas with sun lounges. It didn’t have a ‘closed in’ feeling. The room had two three quarter size beds, with good airconditioning and fridge. The bathroom was roomy but a bit tired. No sign of mould. It was only later that we discovered that the lighting was less than adequate – we should have brought some screw in light bulbs to use! Oh well, only 2 nights at 210,000 rupiah per night. (That’s less than A$35 for 3 per night) The hotel wasn’t crowded and we enjoyed the quietness.
That night we went to see our favourite Balinese barman – Spike at the Bali Aget (Bali Blessing) Bar & Restaurant in Bakung Sari Street Kuta. We enjoyed catching up with Spike and his staff again and had 2 jugs of cocktails (blue lagoon & Singapore sling) on happy hour prices 24,900 rupiah each and pizza and banana pancakes and vanilla ice-cream (a standing joke with Spike about whether they had vanilla ice-cream available!)
After a long day we had a relaxing swim in the pool and went to bed at 8.20 pm.
Kuta – woke up early – son Sam and I walked down Poppies I (in the dark but felt very safe – we had left Graeme in bed, Sam’s a great travelling companion in Bali, always interested in most things – except Ubud!) to the beach road (Pantai) and caught a taxi (6,200 rp) to the early morning market, cnr. Legian and Melasti Streets at 5.30 a.m. We were going to get rides on motorbikes but only one had a spare pillion seat and I’m not one for travelling three on a bike!
It was still dark and a bit muddy underfoot. Stalls were laden with plucked headless chickens, large sides of meat, all types of fish – fresh and dried, fruit, vegetables, banten (offerings), coconut being grated and sold, helium balloons tied onto a motorbike, vendors buying their wares and Balinese women purchasing the family food for the day, satays and noodles being cooked and eaten. A few people were gathered around a large drum. On closer inspection I gathered it contained petrol; being dispensed by a man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth – decided not to wander too close in case it blew up!
Took some good photos and then we walked down Melasti to the beach and back along the beach to Poppies I. Sam was amused by the little crabs out walking too on the beach. Balinese families were out on the beach enjoying an early Sunday morning, some Balinese were even jogging, something I had not seen before.
Back at the Masa Inn had breakfast, the usual included breakfast on offer – mixed juice, choice of omelettes, jaffles & pancakes, coffee/tea. Toast was an extra order (3,000 rp). We had taken our vegemite for our fix every few days.
After breakfast Nyoman (Alex) arrived and we discussed the travel we would like to do over the next three weeks. He would come & pick us up at 9 am tomorrow to travel to Anturan (Lovina).
Wandered up Poppies I to Legian Street to find my tailor Bakungan DressMaker & Tailor had moved a few shops from her old location – now just past bemo corner on the left, heading towards Singosari street , ordered 2 pair loose comfy trousers to be ready on the 30th. Had manicure with pretty flowers in a salon in Singosari Street (50,000) and met hubby & son at the Stadium Café for nachos for lunch.
After lunch wandered over to the Kuta Art Market and found that Ni Ketut Salini (Stall no. 33 1st stall opposite small police post) was closed for a few days – he was away at a cremation. We had bought teeshirts and shorts for 20,000 our last trip, we didn’t need to bargain with him, he’d sit us down with a cool drink outside the shop in the shade and bring the stock out for our perusal – good service and a really nice person. We told the adjoining stall keeper we’d be back in a few weeks to see him. We found Kadek again at her stall (as you walk towards the beach), she was 8 months pregnant last time we saw her, she proudly told us she now had a baby son. As like last time we bought a rice farmers hat (multipurpose - ideal for the sun and tropical rain) and a colourful backpack (40,000).
On the way back to Masa Inn, we had a look at the Kuta Puri hotel, a bit classier than Masa Inn but the rooms were quite a way from the pool and had a higher price – best price they would do was 380,000 rp per night if we stayed multiple nights, so we decided to stay the one more night at Masa Inn and find somewhere else when we came back to Kuta (otherwise Graeme would be a very bushy person indeed).
At 4 pm headed down to Sammy & Suzie’s for the BTF get-together organised with David UK on the forum. It started to rain and by the time we got there it was quite ( or should I say, very) wet, Suzie was struggling with the tarpaulins. It was wet but warm and heck why should we worry – we were in Bali! Had a great time drinking bintangs with forumites … hi David of UK, it was great to meet you!, Vic (from UK), Smokey & Sally, Blackie & Carol, their mates Di & John, Inmyblood (hi Sharna & Gary – we’ll come up to your part of Victoria one day, and yes the lifesavers in their speedos were cute!), Rosella 21 (loved the beads) & their 2 billylids (from Adelaide). After confusing Suzie by moving ‘chairs’ because of the rain – you are meant to keep your ‘empties’ under your chair so Suzie can tally your drink bill – we all moved off to have dinner at the Indo National Restaurant in Jalan Sahedewa 13d, Legian.
Had a great Bali Travel Forum dinner, I think there were about 22 of us altogether. Such a great feeling to get together with people from far reaching places of the world, as well as forumites we had met at Tina G’s get-togethers at Braeside Park. The Indo National is such a buzzing place, the fish platter was really yum, we had a fun waitress, had a good chat with Milton (hi Milton & Kerry) and he gave us a great contact we used for Bali Discount Golf (John Clarke – info@golf-bali.com www.golf-bali.com), as we were going to treat our son to 18 holes at Bali Handara Kosaido G.C. at Bedugal towards the end of our trip.
Back to Masa Inn after buying a Melbourne Herald Sun for 15,000 rp. and bed
Had breakfast at Masa Inn at 8 am – getting addicted to Bali Kopi! Nyoman (Alex) arrived just before 9 am (he doesn’t practice Bali time!) in his comfortable airconditioned Toyota Kijang (seats 7 passengers and driver) to drive us to Lovina. He usually sits Sam our son upfront with him and Graeme and I sit in the back. I like it that way because then I don’t have to stress about all the dogs, cats and chooks sharing the road with the traffic!
We decided to travel the scenic route, travelling west through Tabanan and Antosari, then north to Belimbing, Papuan, Mayong to Seririt on the north coast, instead of taking the usual straighter route through Bedugal. We travelled through some very scenic terraced rice paddy valleys with Gunung Batukau on our east. Every 10 metres or so election flags were tied to bamboo poles on the side of the road. At various intervals huge flags 5 m x 7 m wide were unfurling in the wind – apparently it was campaign day for the Megawati PDI Perjuangan party in the Tabanan regency we were travelling in.
When we stopped so I could take a photo of the terraces, the tranquillity of the area was broken by the roaring of motorcyclists making their way through the valley, pillion passengers waving huge red flags with a fierce looking black bull pictured in a circle on them, propaganda decorated cars and truckloads of men all wearing red bandanas and red tee shirts in full voice and much tooting of horns as they made their way through villages to where a campaign rally was being held for the Megawati PDI Perjuangan party.
This was the first of several encounters we had over the next three weeks of robust election campaigning. So we ended up in the middle of the procession to the rally and I got some more great photos, especially of the police presence (at least five different types of police were apparently in attendance) controlling the rally.
Once we had past the rally we came across another village where a 7 tiered cremation tower and large sarcophagus of a bull was positioned at the side of the road. Family members were climbing the tower and brushing their hair where the remains would be laid; apparently it is believed that this will help the spirit of the deceased along their way to reincarnation.
After a few photos we had to move along, as our vehicle would then be held up behind the procession once it had started moving off to the cremation ground. I think that at this stage the boys were thinking that we’d never reach Lovina!
Winding our way down the mountain range the coastline of Lovina was spread out scenically below us, the water glistening in the bright sunshine.
We stopped for a late lunch at Tanjung Alam Beach Restaurant & Bungalows for a nice Indonesian buffet meal with hot ginger and iced tea. I was delighted to try a small serve of black rice pudding again since our last visit to Bali. Sam as usual enjoyed the satays and noodles.
We drove past the villages of Kalibukbuk (the main village in the Lovina area where you can have photos developed, ATMs etc., several hotels and restaurants) and Banyualit to our home for the next four nights – Villa Agung at the small village of Anturan.
The Villa Agung was just how we had seen it over the internet, a real gem and at breakfast you are only three steps from the black sand beach! Thank you Vonda & Lynne D for your recommendations. We were warmly welcomed by the one of the two managers, Gede Tantra and being the only guests for the 5 rooms and 1 bungalow, we chose rooms 5 & 4 where we could get a lovely sea breeze that came in through the front balcony door and out the back balcony door. Both rooms were tastefully decorated with Balinese carvings on the walls, huge beds with white croquet bedspreads and white mosquito nets. The bathrooms were excellent and in very good condition.
The front balcony was spread along the three rooms over the top of the two rooms below (I think one of the rooms below was a family apartment) and the view over the small swimming pool, open style restaurant and the beach was very relaxing.
The balcony at the back of the rooms also had seating and looked out over a rice paddy and to the mountains fringed at the back of the Lovina area.
Sam enjoyed having his own room and discovered that his had air-conditioning whereas ours didn’t. Like a good sport he decided not to incur the extra charge (most likely A$2 a night!) and kept it turned off and used the ceiling fan instead … what a good kid.
He kept his room so neat (unlike at home) that I don’t think the room staff had much to do other than make his bed. He nearly did a leap off the balcony though when he spied the laundry staff through a window below just about to iron his expensive pair of Quicksilver board shorts. He had to tactfully insist that they do not need to iron them!
When out at sea on a boat you found that you could position Villa Agung easily as the property at the back on one side has a huge telecommunications tower – unfortunately they don’t paint these green, most likely for aero safety reasons. The tower is also very handy for locating the access road to Villa Agung.
After settling in we were quickly discovered by the beach sellers of sarongs, shells, beads and of course dolphin carvings and the usual wooden boxes and coconut jewellery (discovered no hair braiding or manicures offered). The Villa Agung had a strict policy that they were not allowed onto the premises so we’d go down the three steps to the beach to see them and have a chat.
They were all really nice people, not nasty or insistent for us to buy things, and I think by the end of our visit we had bought something off each of them and they were all happy. They would come by to say hello and sit and chat about their way of life, our way of life and all sorts of things. Sam especially enjoyed talking to the young beach sellers, I think they found him interesting too.
We had a lovely meal of crumbed snapper, tiramisu truffle balls with ice-cream (just had to try them!) at the Villa Agung. Their meals are very reasonably priced and very good. We had given Gede Sam’s old etch-a-sketch toy for his 7 year old son, and were thrilled when Gede came back to the hotel while we were having dinner, with his wife and son, who had the etch-a-sketch tucked under his arm, and he shyly extended his hand and words of thanks for the toy.
We met Benny, a lovely 22 year old who I’m sure wanted us to adopt him. He arranged to take us on a dolphin trip in a traditional boat, promising early morning kopi (that sealed the deal for me). On our last day we exchanged Nescafe Expresso coffee for some Bali Kofi (I think I got the better deal).
Around 5 pm fishermen were just out from the shore in their boats squidding and later on that night out to sea the lights of the fishing boats twinkled; they would be out all night fishing, and we went to sleep hearing the waves crashing and the occasional shell horn signals from the fishing fleet to call in the nets and it was bliss …
Don’t know why I wake up early in Bali – 4.30 a.m. this time, maybe it’s because we tend to go to bed early most nights in Bali and as you get older you wake when you’ve had your quota of sleep.
Went out onto the back balcony, it was dark but the road at the back of the rice paddy was busy with traffic, mostly motorbikes and trucks, mostly likely making their way to the Singaraja market. Surprisingly we found we did not hear much traffic noise at Villa Agung considering it is the main road from Gilimanuk to Singaraja which was 5 kms to the east.
Went back to bed till 6 am and then went for a walk east along the beach where I found Gede, who sells shells and bead jewellery cleaning the beach.
We discussed the need for Bali to do something about its litter problem, especially plastic litter near the seaside and marine environment areas. He was interested to hear about the Clean Up Australia program held each year.
Met Nyoman Suartana, the other Villa Agung manager, and he remembered LynneD from the BTF and her husband.
The breakfast was the best one we had during our travels in Bali as an included- in- tariff breakfast – yummy banana cake (warm, moist and tasty), plates of papaya, pineapple, banana, watermelon, toast (with our vegemite) and a pot of Bali Kopi each. Sam had corn flakes (extra cost). Graeme still had a woozy tummy (most likely the change of food more than anything else – or was it the start of withdrawal symptoms as all the places we stayed had no TV except the last few nights in Kuta).
I left the boys to their own devices at V.A. and decided to do an outing of my own to see Kalibukbuk so Gede dropped me off in the hotel car.
I put in a roll of film at a Fuji place and wandered down the main street to find the dolphin statue, a tall but uninspiring statue at the beachfront, the beach sellers here were far more forward than at Anturan, bought a nicely carved box and several bracelets from a little boy who would have been no more than 5 years of age. He was thrilled when I gave him a bottle of bubbles to blow.
I was surprised at the number of hotels in Kalibukbuk. Dropped in at the Rambutan Cottages hoping to say hello to Richard (BTF) but he was unfortunately out so I didn’t get a chance to go back later on, maybe next time as I’m sure we’ll come back to this beautiful part of Bali again. Found an internet café, 200 rp a minute, fairly speedy connection, caught up with mail from home (our older son was back in Australia working and looking after our aviary of zebra finches, cat and 2 dogs), went to the ATM and got a ride back to V.A on the back of a motorbike. He drove very carefully and slow and boy it was lovely to have the wind in your hair on a bike! (10,000 rp).
Nyoman had arranged to take us out snorkelling in a traditional boat so Sam spent the rest of the morning in the pool teaching me how to snorkel in preparation for the afternoon excursion. Had really nice nasi goreng for lunch at V.A. Sam had a chocolate brownie too which he declared was the best he has ever had.
At 3 pm we headed off in a prahu with Nyoman and a skipper, past Kalibukbuk to an area for snorkling and armed with my swim ring (yes, I get nervous being in seawater over my knees!) enjoyed swimming around the coral and colourful reef fish for a few hours.
Getting back in the prahu was another matter! The sides of the prahu are fairly steep for a rather unfit 5ft 2 lady to clamber into. Also it didn’t help that I was laughing so much at my predicament; I thought I’d have to hang on to one of the stabilizers that come out from each side of the boat the 6 km back to Villa Agung!
Eventually it took the four men to take me in hand to get me back in the boat (you should see the bruises I got!) Poor old Nyoman didn’t know where to put his hands to get me in, I thought he’d have a heart attack and that’s when I think he started saying ‘Oh, Jesus’ which is quite funny to hear from a Balinese hindu.
After all the jokes about catching a big one we slowly headed back to Anturan, admiring the view of the Lovina area with the greenery and palm trees along the shoreline and the mountains coloured blue behind. I have the most wonderful photo of Nyoman doing a ‘titanic’ at the front of the prahu on the way back.
Well, the trip on the prahu wetted my appetite for more nautical adventures, so later on that afternoon around 6 pm when Sam and I were chatting and having a Bintang & coke with Nyoman (different one this time - Nyoman from Warung Nyoman, a warung right on the beach with just two tables covered with red and white check tablecloths and cats, dogs and kids running around – page 362 Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok), suggested we join him for a fishing excursion, we leapt at the invitation.
His boat was on the beach straight out the front of the warung so off we went (after much yelps from a dog that managed to get itself squashed under the boat as we were pulling it out into the water – the dog was OK but boy did he make his indignity known!)
We were using hand lines and our bait was being taken all the time so we were having a good time; we were just lousy fishermen! Sam caught a few small coral fish that were returned to grow up a bit and around 8 pm after watching an interesting sunset we said to Nyoman enough … let’s go back.
His wife had two good-sized mackerels cooking with spices already on the beach bbq, and with full tummys after a great feed (the cat and dog had a fight for scraps under the table – I have a bad habit of feeding pets from the dinner table) we wandered back to V.A. to tell Graeme of our adventures. He was feeling a lot better and had had a good steak dinner at V.A.
What a terrific day, two prahu rides in one day.
We were up early at 5 am and Nyoman had made bali kopi for us so we were fortified for the 6am trip to seek out the dolphins of Lovina. Benny had promised to get me back to Villa Agung in time for breakfast before being picked up for my cooking lesson with the North Bali Cooking School.
There were 2 other travellers from Western Australia in the prahu on the dolphin trip. There was a beautiful sunrise from behind the mountains in the east but unfortunately no dolphins – they had gone on holiday! but we still enjoyed ourselves.
Out with us were about 12 other boats with tourists; Benny was so apologetic about the non appearance of the dolphins – but we said not a worry, the sunrise trip was great and maybe next visit to Lovina the dolphins will come around.
We stopped for a while over coral and Sam and the Western Australians went snorkelling – not me! I’d wait till I had a prahu that had a ladder! Benny dived down and brought back up a beautiful vibrant blue starfish for us to look at. On the way back he gave me a gift – a silver bracelet he wore on his arm – I really think he wanted us to adopt him! Sam steered the prahu back to the Villa Agung.
Promptly after breakfast (no bali time here either) Nyoman Tirtawan arrived (husband of Beate Dotterweich), from the North Bali Cooking Classes (email: karma@singaraja.wasantara.net.id - phone/fax (0362) 27080) at the Warung Bambu at Pemaron, two villages away going towards Singaraja).
On the way to the Singaraja market we picked up Lum Suriadi (Adi) who was to be my market guide and interpreter for the morning. Adi spoke excellent English and was a bright and happy woman with a 5-year-old daughter and another due in August.
The market was large and bustling, and we bought some of the ingredients required for my cooking lesson – black rice and spices. I bought some avocados and other fruit, and Adi amazed at the large lemons she saw at the market, the Balinese lemons usually being small like walnut size, I told her they looked like Australian lemons. Took some great photos of all types of fish ranging from a huge piece of tuna to tiny dried fish and live chickens in bunches of six tied together at their feet, and huge baskets of different types of rice.
Nyoman picked us up from the market with his son in the front “the boss” according to Adi - (Nyoman and Beate have two children, a girl 5 and a boy 2) and we drove to Warung Bambu to start our cooking. I had booked to attend on a Wednesday – a ‘cook what you want day’ and had emailed beforehand that I would like to cook Pesan – Fish mixed with Balinese Spices, wrapped in Banana Leaf, Mie Goreng Sayur (fried noodles with vegetables) and Babur Ketan Hitam(Black Rice Pudding).
After donning a Bali Cooking School apron and chefs hat (very smart!) I met Ketut Niki who was to be my instructing chef with Adi as interpreter. I was presented with nicely printed computer sheets listing the ingredients of each dish and as I cooked with Ketut I would write my own interpretation of the ‘method’. Also handy was a list of common cooking ingredients and it’s substitute or common name in Indonesian, English and Deutsch.
We had a great morning cooking and at lunch-time Graeme & Sam were picked up from V.A. to join me for lunch to eat the dishes I had prepared. The lunch and all transport was included in the 250,000 rp cooking class fee. I must have passed because I was presented with a certificate before we were taken back to V.A. for a much needed rest after our very early morning start and writing up of the travel diary before it got too many days behind.
That night Graeme & I arranged a courtesy pick up by Warung Bambu (page 362 Rough Guide to Bali & Lombok) for dinner as they had Balinese dance performances on Wednesday and Sunday nights. During dinner we met the vivacious Beate who had just taken a new position at a fairly upmarket hotel at Air Sanih, hence wasn’t around earlier in the day.
Sam enjoyed a bit of freedom at Villa Agung (but he didn’t know I’d briefed the staff … no girls, no drugs, no grog!) When we returned from an enjoyable night out we found him fast asleep, the little angel!
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