We’re away at last. The first picture is at Townsville Airport awaiting the flight to Bali. It wasn’t a bad flight except that as always Jetstar squeezes too many people into their planes and you have less room that most planes. Fortunately, it’s only a 4 and a bit hour trip.
Driving up the bamboo lined laneway to the Kana Hotel where we stayed last time we felt like we were coming home. This feeling was magnified as several of the staff recognised us and greeted us like long lost family members. We love the Kana.
First day back in Bali was very quiet. As we didn’t get here until 2am we slept till 8am, had breakfast them went back to bed. Apart from a brief trip to the supermarket down the road we basically spent the whole day in our room or in the hotel dining area.
That night before retiring back to our room we asked the reception about going on a tour the next day. Nothing, it seems, is a problem to these people. “Be in the lobby at 8am and your driver will be here.” So after a Bundy or two in our room we caught up on some sleep and dreamt of tomorrow.
Next morning after a nice breakfast we were ready for our tour. Didn’t we get a shock to find our guide is the same guide we had for our two trips back in July. Once he saw us he got a big smile and said “welcome back” which only improves the day knowing you are remembered.
First stop for the day was the Taman Ayun Temple. By accident we had booked a tour which took us back to the same temple we tried to visit in July but we got washed out due to heavy rain. One quick glimpse now in the stark sunlight of Bali told us we had missed a wonderful sight first trip but we’d at least get a good look now.
From there we headed to a coffee plantation to “try some coffees”. Guess what we bought…… 3 different teas! Ginger, Mangosteen and Saffron tea. Very nice. What was interesting was to see 4 or 5 wild civets in cages there. These are the cats that eat the raw coffee seeds which are gathered after passing through the cat’s system then processed into Kopi Luwak. You can get Kopi Luwak in Australia but it is hugely expensive.
On the road again and our next stop was the highlight for us in all of our Bali excursions. The Bedugul Botanical Gardens. If you have the slightest interest in gardens and plants this place is marvellous. We could have stayed all day. In fact, we said the next time we’re in Bali with time to spare we’re grabbing some sandwiches, a blanket and some drinks and spending the whole day here and we doubt that will be enough time to cover it all. Most of the pics below are of the Orchid area alone. Sadly the ‘cactus’ garden greenhouse was closed for maintenance but we at least got a pic through the glass door. Looks fascinating. Then we drove around to other parts which had various vistas from huge banyan trees with their hanging roots to wide views over the nearby lake.
Despite wanting to have more time at the gardens we knew we had to move on to the Ulun Danu Temple. The grounds and the Temple were very pretty but over run with people. (Check out the rules particularly the rule for ladies only.)
Next stop was Candi Kuning Markets. These were nothing to write home about… so I won’t.
By then we were famished and looking forward to lunch. Our driver took us to a local restaurant in a spectacular locale. Labhagga Pacung is on a slope overlooking a magnificent valley with what looked like an exclusive resort below it. Me, with my crook knees had to descend several levels of stairs to get to eat (the dunny was another level down so I didn’t go). The buffet lunch was very nice and reasonably varied however we did get a surprise to find the spring rolls (and some other normally hot goodies) were cold. Not tepid but cold. Apparently that’s the done thing here.
Finally we were on the home run. 2 hours back to the Kana in peak hour traffic. About as much fun as a tooth extraction! When we hit the Kana as always the staff was attentive and wanted to know what we’d done all day and how we liked it. We crashed in our room thinking that was it for the day but we hadn’t counted on a dining experience for tea.
Across the road from the Kana, about 3 shops towards Kuta is a terrific place for an all you can eat buffet. It’s called Uang Uang Shabu Shabu. (www.uanguang.com) We had no idea what we were getting into but once we stepped inside the door we were swamped by helpful staff that couldn’t speak much English. Eventually a couple of English speaking staff helped us out explaining this was an “all you can eat” buffet. They showed us the ‘hot buffet’ the ‘delicatessen’ buffet, the drinks fridge and then to our table. On the table was a large pot of water sitting on a gas burner into which they tossed two mud crabs and a bucket of live prawns (one of which protested profusely by jumping from the boiling pot and trying to escape.) On to the table was thrust 2 x lemonade, 2 x cokes and two 620ml Prost Beers all gratis. For the next hour we had more live prawns, fresh vegies, Honeyed sweet potato, beer and other tucker stacked on our table to the point that Shane and I had to keep saying “No more”. All the time they stationed an “english speaking angel” to guide us and satisfy our every need. By the end we were stuffed. Thankfully our hotel is just across the road.
I’m back in our room now typing up this blog and sucking on a bundy that I got in Townsville Duty Free. Hopefully I’ll get this posted tonight before I crash. It’s going to be a battle but I will prevail.
Till next post, Cheers all. Keep an eye on my blog and feel free to add comments.
Garry & Shane.
We’re now back in Georgetown, Penang so I’ll update the blog later today (if we can get ourselves sorted and settled back in).