Dreamland Beach

After our wet trip to Ubud we cruised back to the sunshine at our resort and decided to explore our 'local beach' which is Dreamland Beach - we had been assured by our hotel that the 'Beach House' was no charge if we told them we were guests at our hotel.
Not quite sure of what this meant exactly (given the Engrish factor) we proceeded down to the beach on foot.
When we arrived down at the beach we found this resort right on the cliff overlooking the beach, which turned out to be 'The Beach House' thinking that this would be a good hotel to check into on another holiday we made some enquiries only to be told it is an entertainment facility only (at this stage anyway) - the location is great as the photos will attest.

We spent our whole last day in Bali down at Dreamland Beach - we should have checked it out sooner.

Ubud

We organised a motor scooter to go to Ubud (in the central mountains) a couple of days ago. As is quite usual the day started off with heavy rain, which soaked us before we got to the service station for fuel. Helena was sporting a cheap poncho which we had two of from home. On unpacking it we were reminded of where it came from with GO CROWS emblazened on the back.

GO CROWS!

When I lifted the seat to add the petrol we found a more sturdy poncho which Helena quickly accepted. The weather gradually improved as we travelled and we had nearly dried out by the time we reached Ubud.









At Ubud we parked the bike and were unsure why none of the other bikes had any helmets left on the bikes (as was the usual case) however after we got seated it just bucketed down for more than an hour.

Helmets are half full

Bucketting down in Ubud

Bali-North Coast

We took a car and driver (Eddie) for the day and headed off to the North Coast of Bali, we travelled through some great scenery coming through the mountains and were shown through some local plantations where we learnt of coffee making procedures and looked at different crops that are grown in the regions. We saw  another Luwak which eats coffee beans but is not able to fully process them and the "processed" beans are collected and further treated into a highly prized bean which makes the most expensive coffee. 

Oh!  to share a bean one way or another .....

The local economy means that at every feature there are local people congregating to hawk goods or services, it is annoying when you don't want their attention - but you are also aware that this is the only way they have to make a living in many cases. 

We travelled up to Singaraja, passed the Candi Kuning Markets, the floating temple at Pura Ulun Danu Bratan with the floating temple.

The floating temple at Pura Ulun Danu 

It was warm and Helena enjoyed looking out over the lake.

We visited the Gitgit Waterfalls followed by lunch at Lovina Beach. It's a beautiful area - reasonably clean and slightly cooler than the Southern parts of Bali.

We both loved the area

The water at Gitgit falls comes from two sources - the mountain and the natural springs. 

Day 4,5,6,7,8,9

Day 4 - We hired a scooter and went to Nusa Dua as the Balinese started to prepare for Nyepi Day which was the following day. Nyepi Day is a day of silence, fasting and meditation and anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The bustling streets and roads are empty and few signs of activity are seen. Tourists are free to move around their hotels but no one is allowed onto the beaches or streets and the airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day.

A surfing gargoyle

Day 5 - Nyepi Day - We enjoyed the hotel facilities, used the pool and remained respectiveful. Of note, there was a significant increase in hotel guests as those who live in Bali booked in to enjoy the freedom it allowed.

Le Grande - Pecatu Bali

Kitchen staff were keen to impress and introduced Helena to a chef who had specially prepared a dessert which was going to take an extra hour to set and was proudly delivered to our room later that evening. 

Blueberry panacotta with passion fruit shorbet

I was really impressed and it was delicious

Lights were turned down to give the impression to the evil gods that Bali is deserted. The Balinese construct elaborate gargoyles to ward  away the bad spirits and erect them all around the island by roads etc.

A gargoyle with many faces

Day 6 - We hoped onto our motorbike and went to Pedang Pedang beach, and found many cheeky monkeys who thought nothing of taking anything that wasn't secure. One guy lost his container of snacks before a local man beat the trees with a long bamboo branch to scare them off.

Beach monkeys at Pedang Pegang - waiting and watching

Day 7 - Took our motorbike to Kuta and found a local travel agent who worked with us to prepare three different tours.  Had a massage and relaxed by the pool.

Day 8 -  Early breakfast with driver and car ready to go at 8am. On our way North we stopped at a local spice/coffee/cinamon/and ginger farm where we roasted some coffee beans, sampled local products and came away with some ginsing coffee, lemon grass tea and some handmade soap.

Part of the process - coffee is rather strong but nice

Luwak

 


The Luwak monkey digests the raw coffee bean and secrets the bean, stripped of outside cover. Beans are then cleaned, roasted and dried before being ground for use in a strong flavoured coffee 








We arrived in Kintamani, and got on our mountain bikes for a ride through the rice fields, rivers and local towns and rode some 45km to Ubud. Mostly downhill with some tricky spots but it was fantastic. Returned to the hotel for another massage while Grant organised his golf day for Day 9

Overlooking the Kintamani Volcano where Lucas proposed to Karyn earlier this year

Ready for our 45km bike ride

Whenever I looked her way she waved a tea towel at me!

Overlooking the countryside

Day 9 - Great day. Early start for Grant who finished his round of golf as Helena enjoyed a Balinese Lulur massage. Had a swim and lunch and then rode our pushbikes down to local surfing beach. Wow! amazing place - true Balinese style with accomodation and board hire right on the beach. Mostly young group of people relaxed as they watched the waves and action out in the surf. I joined them - clearly different (I mean older !!) but just as happy as they were. Lots of wild dogs on the beach - very wary of approaching them.Grant had a great surf and then we had to ride uphill back to the Hotel !! Will do it again and do it better.

Can you see Grant?

We're both feeling good and very happy with the announcement of the engagement between our daughter Traci and partner Tim. Tim proposed while on holiday in South Africa. Unsure of any further details but both are really happy. Congratulations and lots of love to you both.

Arrival Bali

18 kilos each for six months of travel

We are finally here.

Good flight - and despite Helena's huge cache of prescription medication, we were waved through Customs. We bustled through customs and through the throng of people waiting outside holding up signs for hotel guest transfers. This took longer than expected and a porter guided us to the appropriate person who had a placard for Mr Grant Smith, and then we found another porter holding up Mrs Helena Smith ? As it turned out the sign for Grant was for someone he had picked up 2 days previously. (That was his story anyway!)
We then hopped into a Suzuki APV (heaps of these about over here) and were wisked away. Unfortunately the driver had no idea where he was going and the trip turned into an entertaining curcuit of Bali before he finally found the hotel. Le Grande Suites is one in a group of developments at Pecatu. It is situated on the New Kuta Golf Course (which is nowhere near Kuta) with a golf theme. It is OK but somewhat remote from the bustle of Kuta or Legian. At this time of year it is nearly empty so on day one we weren't convinced that there were any other guests apart from us becausew everyone seemed to know what Mr & Mrs Smith were doing! Quite strange to have the massage girl calling out to us in the pool to see if we wanted towels or a drink followed closely by a waiter asking us if we had a good massage! Since we've been here we think that we have identified a couple of Chinese groups - but I think we are the only Westerners at present. Helena lost her bag key (big mistake) and needed hotel staff to cut her gear free. We both had a divine massage followed by dinner which included a 'Banana Chunky' dessert which was basically fried banana, with caramel sauce covered in mozzeralla cheese. We didn't eat it. The other dessert mentioned was a 'Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream' which had caramel coating and lemongrass. ??? Nice for some but not for us !! 

We started our second day with a much improved breakfast followed by swim in the pool - water was great and very warm. We then hired some motor scooters and did some riding around Uluwatu, Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. In the busy sections it is full on with loads of scooters jostling for position and road lines are only  used as a guide. We got pulled over by police with a huge group of scooter riders, for a licence check ( fortunately Grant had packed his International Licence). On our travels we got accosted by 'Fast Eddy' who tried his best to talk us into a time share proposition followed by a bike ride to Seminyak and on the way back to Uluwatu saw a street festival as Bali starts to prepare for their special day of prayer which is Saturday - a day of complete silence. Finished the day with a cold beer and long soak in the pool.