Getting ready!!

Two days before Becca left Bali Gavin started to get itchy feet and hired a moped for five days. We have been curious to check out the east coast of Bali for some time now – it is the only part of the coast we have not been too. So we started to plan where we might go and where we might stay. I met an Australian lady called Liz some time ago in Kuta and she told me about an area she had visited called Amed, it is well known for it’s beautiful fish/corals, diving and snorkeling.
After Becca’s flight had departed we went back to Hotel Lusa there we sorted through and packed up our  belongings. Leaving a substantial amount of them in the lockup room at the hotel – the rest we packed into our small black day bag (three changes of clothes each) this included the lap top, camera, snorkel gear and some snacks. Then we jumped onto the moped and headed out of Kuta on the Sanur road.
Yes!!! You read correctly….. we left on a moped!!! I think either the sunshine, the grief of Becca’s departure or the crazy mentality of the Indonesians had finally rubbed off on us (they can get a family of five plus baggage on a moped)….possibly it was a combination of all three!!! Anyway  something possessed us into believing we could make it some 150 km on a very small bike with a very small engine – in terrible traffic at the hottest part of the day. You could say we had gone just a little crazy……..the ruk-sac which moments before had felt just like any other bag…. began to take on the resemblance of a bag of very heavy rocks. The sun beat down and poor Gavin was having to deal with heavy traffic on a moped that felt as though it might pull a wheelie at any moment. We eventually reached Sanur and made it to the organic restaurant we had been planning on visiting (because of their delicious brown bread and free range scrambled eggs). Feeling dizzy we ate our lunch and decided that we were indeed very crazy and probably required time in an institution!!! Gavin called Ristaman (our car/moped hire man) and arranged to meet him an hour later to swap the bike for a car – relief!!!!
We set off again this time in the familiar comfort of our old red Suzuki Jimmy (the same one we had been given on our first ever Bali road trip).

{w:600;h:300} Candidasa, East coast of Bali, Indonesia

(Map of Sanur to Candidasa)

The drive begins!!
The road towards the east was fairly easy to navigate and once on the coast road we came across the Hindu Bat Cave Temple called Pura Goa Lawah near Semarapura (Klungkung). We decided to pull over, park up and check it out. There was a huge number of people moving back and forth across the road into and out of the temple. The dark and crazy music that is always played at  these ceremonies was blasting out loudly. We went to the main area where local people were congregating and tourist sarongs are given out. Where we were kindly loaned a sarong each (at a cost). We then joined the throng of people heading towards the entrance of the temple – only to get there and be refused entry which was disappointing and rather annoying. There was an Australian couple behind us with a local Balinese guide who were let in, so we assumed that they had paid substantially more than we had – or at least their guide had greased a few palms!!!! We went across the road onto the beach and watched the movement and prayers from a distance – we were also able to take some unobtrusive photos.

We carried on towards Candidasa – driving past famous ports like Padang Bai (where you catch the ferry to Lombok). We decided to make Candidasa our stop for the night as it was almost 5pm and there was no way we would make it on the coast road to Amed in the hour or so of daylight left. It is a strange town, spread out thinly along the coast road. It consists of restaurants, gift shops, home-stays and hotels – they sit along both sides of the road (sea and inland). Broken up occasionally by bits of beach or rocky coast and occasional woods (coconut trees) and bit’s of what look a little like waste land. On the whole most of the places look very attractive and when we looked at menus they seemed to offer a wide range of food. Unfortunately the food was often double the price of Kuta and other places we have visited like Lovina. The accommodation was all much more expensive as well, some of the more basic accommodation was all around 200,000 Rp to 350,000 Rp (with the exchange rate at the moment 200,000 is about £12). That would not have been so much of an issue as it was only for one night but they all smelt really bad (we checked out four). Tourism all over Bali has taken a hit since the two bombings that occurred here. It has slowly been improving year by year – many local people have said things are still very quiet for the time of the season. Plus many tourists never make it this far up the coast. That said there was still a significant reluctance to negotiate price’s to something more reasonable. We checked out one expensive hotel just for interest’s sake – thinking if it was great we would take it and blow the expense as we were all feeling very tired by this point. The room was 650,000 Rp taxes and service not included which adds another 15%. The room was right by the bar (noisy) and smelt of mold and mildew!!! In the end we went back along the road to a place that had a large sign saying ‘clean rooms – cheap with large free breakfast’. The thing that had put us off… a huge and very English ‘Hot Dog’ sign suddenly seemed quite appealing! Ari’s Home-stay was exactly what it advertised itself as…. clean (100,000 Rp – £6) and cheap! Gary the Australian owner was cheerful, enthusiastic and insisted on finding a mattress so Tehya could have her own bed to sleep in. We had a very good nights sleep – the garden at the back of the property where the rooms are is beautiful and very tranquil. The breakfast in the morning was huge and very delicious – and they only charged us an extra 10,000 Rp (55p) Rp for Tehya’s great breakfast too.

Onward and Eastward!!

We only made it about 5 minuets out of Candidasa when something caught our eye and we had to pull over to investigate. At the top of a winding hill there is a small collection of warungs (shops) selling soft drinks and snacks, a collection of about 20 monkeys and a small offering alter. We bought a drink each, some peanuts to feed the Monkeys (Monyet) and began chatting with the local people scattered around – no one spoke very much English and we struggled along to their amusement with our Indonesian. Tehya shared her nuts with a little girl called Kadek and we discovered there was a temple with a good view some distance further up the hill. So the three of us set off in the company of 5 year old Kadek as our guide and company for Tehya. It turned out to be quiet an experience – the journey up to the temple (carried out by most locals once a month/bulan on a full moon) was a mammoth climb up sometimes almost vertical slopes. Occasionally broken by intermittent and very poorly maintained steps. It took us well over an hour to reach the top – breathing hard and soaked through with sweat by the time we reached the top. We were a mess – red faces, soaked clothes, parched throats, panting for breath and exhausted…… that was me and Gavin. Kadek had barely broken into a sweat and Tehya who had been carried a little on the way up was just a bit hot and pink cheeked. We almost gave up several times except that the views were amazing. Every time we stopped for a rest or a moment to catch our breath there was another stunning angle on the panorama to be seen. The other thing that kept us going was that at every bloody turn in the path when you thought you had reached the top….. the path just kept going around another uphill bend!! We just could not give in and not reach the top……. when we did the temple was very basic and not much to talk about….. but the mountain behinds us, the mud terraces blown into the hills by the wind and the sea stretching out each side along the coast was so impressive – we did not need to be impressed by a temple!! That would have been greedy!!!! The climb down was a bit stressful at times because it was still such hard work. The kids were wonderful and although Tehya did moan a little about wanting to be carried…. even the little limpet girl did really well and managed to walk most of the way just holding hands…. which was just as well….. her parents could hardly stand up!! We made it back to the warungs for cold drinks and into the car to continue our journey.

We stopped briefly in Amlapura at Hardys to get extra cash from an ATM and then set off, back onto the coast road. We stopped off again briefly to find and check out a secret (ish) surf spot. It wasn’t working but we did see a large number of local kids waxing surf boards so we new we had found the right place.

{w:600;h:300} Ujung Water Palace, East coast of Bali, Indonesia

(kings water palace, Ujung)
The next site that we visited was the Kings Floating Water Palace at Ujung. We found it by accident – as we headed along the coast road, we drove around a downhill bend. Gavin pulled over to change his t-shirt as he was still feeling sweaty from our previous excursion!!! There it was………..small very neat, square and well ordered man made lakes and on them a small but very picturesque palace. The gardens surrounding the palace were neat and orderly and very Asian in their appearance. The plants were beautiful, well cared for and all covered with colourful blossom, the lakes were full of water lilies and fish – mostly carp. We ventured to the rear of the gardens which were being cared for by local Balinese people, here it was much more agricultural with rice terraces, vegetable patches and the odd cow. We met briefly with a family at their warung and bought some sugar lolly’s and a coke and tried to chat but they new no English and for some reason my skills with the Indonesian language departed!!!! They were friendly and let me take some photo’s of one of their children with Tehya. We walked back into the gardens and where met by a young man who took us through the palace and gave us a brief history of the palace and royal family. It was all a little painful and very very slow. We were eager to get away and even more so when we realized the time (4.30 p.m.) which gave us about one and a half hours to find Amed and the accommodation that had been recommended to us by Gary in Candidasa. The young man hassled Gavin for extra money after he had gifted him 10,000 Rp for the tour (which was already pretty generous as we had already paid 20,000 Rp entrance fee!!). It was a rush to get back to the car and shake him off as he was insistent on trying to show us other area’s of the garden but we left and headed off again.

The road east from the the Kings water palace became considerably more exciting and harder for Gavin to negotiate. It was single track and in many places barely covered with tarmac – with scarily built bridges over dry river beds that in a heavy downpour or in the rainy season must become almost impossible to cross. Roller coaster ride would be a good way to describe the way the road wound it’s self around the coast and up and down the hills. Tiny villages dotted along it’s side’s with more very poorly built houses scattered over the hills sides (the people that live in this area are incredibly poor). We saw goats, pigs (including tiny baby ones), chickens, ducks, geese, cows and dogs along with huge numbers of children playing in the road or wandering along it. The kids all shouting choruses of hello hello or school pen and with it an often over whelming pong of animal and human dung. It was a very enjoyable and often pretty funny experience, topped off by really beautiful scenery as we came across bay after bay of amazing clear blue sea’s, beaches covered with hundreds of small local fishing boats and a very dry and arid often mountainous landscape. It was hot so we drove with the windows down and the AC on high – Tehya almost hanging out of the windows so she could get a better view, smile, wave and shout hello back to the children we passed.

We eventually arrived at our accommodation just as the sun was setting, not a moment too soon…. as we were all totally exhausted (not surprising after such a productive and adventurous day!!). Eka Purnama was like heaven, the restaurant and gardens had so much thought and creativity in their design and construction. The four bungalows are simple but very beautiful and built with care and attention to detail. The owners George, his Balinese wife – Iluh and their four year old daughter Iona were friendly and very welcoming. We settled in to spend a comfortable and relaxing few days in their company.