We had just arrived and spotted this at Kupu Kupu Hotel Jimbaran. Little did we know there was another one around the corner... Luckily, most of the day we had the pool to ourselves. The hotel seemed rather quiet, in low season. The little pool in our room... Certainly kept the airco struggling. Moved on to Seminyak where we stayed in Bali Dream Villa's nr. 1. Due to airco failure we only stayed in this particular villa for one night. New day, new pool; at Bali Dream Villa's nr. 2, just up the road from the other one, and turned out to be a lot quieter. Bali Dream Villa's are nice in themselves, but are slightly distant from the hustle and bustle of Seminyak. Next stop: Ubud. After a chance meeting in Café Wayan with the owner of Lily Lane Villas our decision of where to stay in Ubud was quickly made. Another private pool... Bye bye Lily Lane Villa's. Sanur, here we come! Arrived at our favourite hotel on Bali, the Tandjung Sari, one of the first hotels on the Sanur coast and has been successfully running since the sixties. Visited by famous guests such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, to name a few (and us, of course...). Then and now. One last look as we left the Tandjung Sari, but not for the last time!
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We started the day with the most important meal: breakfast. Time for tea before heading off to Uluwatu. Arrived in Uluwatu but not really sure what to make of it. Walked around, met some monkeys and watched the Kecak & Fire dancing at six, before we made ourselves scarce. Had dinner in vintage restaurant Balique.
On the second day we spent the morning swimming and reading (well, my partner did anyway). Early afternoon we decided to explore the rest of the resort. There was a large pool close to the beach with quite a few sun beds and it looked busy; well, it would to us with our posh private pool, wouldn't it. Next we found the restaurant and we penciled in a visit in the next few days. We headed down onto the beach and the sea was very rough not a chance of a swim in there. We walked to the right as far as we could before we came to a river that meets the sea, well that's what I hoped it was. We could see a large bar just on the other side so we decided to check it out that evening. The bar was called Ku De Ta. Back to paradise for a swim and a bit of sun and soon enough the sun began to set. Time for a walk around to Ku De Ta. It was a very trendy place full of people wanting to be seen, hiding behind large sunglasses. I guess a poser’s paradise but not ours, so after a drink we left. Time to choose tonight's restaurant, so Lonely Planet in one hand (this was a few years ago) and a nice cold glass of wine in the other we headed to the pavilion. I can't remember the name of this place but we chose it more for how it looked more than anything. Again we arrived by taxi and it looked like Christmas had come early with all the twinkling lights everywhere, the only thing missing was the Christmas tree. We both chose to have saté and it was a great choice. The saté sauce had an almost citrus taste mixed with the peanut sauce: very tasty.There wasn't much of a view here as it was just off the main road but it certainly made up for it in the quality of the food. Time to head back to paradise and guess what we had forgotten the breakfast menu again, so the same as last time. I decided to fill the sunken bath and use the complimentary bubble bath and have a good soak. To be honest, I always find the idea of this better than the reality because once filled, after about ten minutes I've had enough and I always get out thinking what a waste of water, but I never learn. The next morning after breakfast we decided to go into Kuta. Well, what a shock. It seemed to me like Blackpool in Bali; bar after bar with pounding music at eleven in the morning but not only that, people in there already tucking into pints of beer. I must say, I do like a glass or two myself, but the sun most definitely has to be over the yardarm before I indulge. It became very apparent that Kuta was not for us, after seeing a bat chained to a perch in full sunlight. That was it, after a quick visit to the 2002 bomb monument, we left to go back to Seminyak. You could see immediately where Kuta ends and Seminyak begins: the shops selling more upmarket goods and the atmosphere was completely different, we much preferred this. We looked around the shops for a while as it was beginning to get very warm, we went into a Birkenstock shoe shop and was shocked at the prices of them but as the sales man said, they have to be imported from Germany… we had forgotten that bit. Time for a swim. We made the easy choice for dinner that evening to eat at the resort’s restaurant, so a major relaxed afternoon in and around the pool, a few glasses of grape juice, slowly getting ready to go and eat. I must say we were pleasantly surprised; the restaurant was open sided under a Balinese thatched roof, crisp linen on the table and a good menu and views of the Indian Ocean, magical.
We ordered an Indonesian rice table (‘rijsttafel’) for two and what a delight. Never quite tastes the same at home, and with this our three days in heaven at the Oberoi in Bali came to a close. |
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GaryBorn in Chiswick West London, grew up in Royal Berkshire, currently living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Archives
March 2016
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