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Posted by gillian on December 28, 2004 at 9:33 pm:
Itinerary: 4 nights Villas Agung Bali Nirwana, 4 nights Novotel Tanjung Benoa, 4 nights Kumala Pantai, 4 nights Pondok Ayu Sanur.
We arrived from a 2 week stay in the USA (conference plus short visit to friends) and spent the first 4 days at Villas Agung- I reiterate my previous comments having stayed there last year too- it is simply the most beautiful place that I have stayed in. We had these 4 days as a couple- then a lot of late wheeling and dealing meant we could fly our kids up to Bali to meet us so we then had an additional unplanned 12 nights in Bali. The Villas have a really comprehensive website with true to life photos that describe it better than I could. We were fortunate to once again meet Chandra the manager there who played tennis with Geoff (a highlight for Geoff as Chandra is a famous Balinese tennis player!!, Chandras tennis students ran Geoff all over the court too).
Our trip down to Tanjung Benoa was made bearable by the fact we were seeing the kids again after 2 1/2 weeks. The Novotel is a really nice 4 star property. I like Tanjung, it has apretty good beach and is fairly quiet, the pool and hotel facilities are good and theer are some really nice restaurants outside to eat at. We just hung out here- no shopping, just time relaxing and reconnecting with the kids. There is a nice looking hotel under construction next to the Novotel. It is yet to be named but we had a look through- it is very boutique- looks like a great place to stay when completed.
Kumala Pantai was good, we took an Ambassador Suite, and enjoyed the additional space. It is very centrally located, the staff are friendly and it was nice to see the Legian sunsets each night. My parents joined us there and we enjoyed sitting at Cafe The Sand - the hotel restaurant, most nights. It is exceptional value and really good food- lots of veges/pasta/seafood/indo food. Did a fair bit of shopping in Legian and Denpasar. The exchange rate was high and so many new clothes/shoes were bought.
We then moved to Sanur to the Pondok Ayu, we stayed there last Xmas for 5 nights and really like it. It is small- 4 rooms but the staff are fantastic and the complex and rooms are really clean (cleanest accomodation in Bali I think) and comfortable. This property is also listed on this site and is fantastic value. We had z couple of good fun eating experiences here- Gede the manager took us to a Chinese warung one night to get takeaway and another night we went to The Garage- truly a garage by day and warung at night- great indo food and atmosphere. Our other meals were at Maharanis and Lumut. We all stayed well for the whole time.
The weather was noticably hotter this year, in the last 6 days we started to get rain each afternoon which was refreshing- I love that purple rain cloud thundery Bali sky.
Waterbom was fun- lots of exercise for the kids and a good day out.
All in all another great trip, practiced as much of my Bahasa Indonesia as anyone who would listen could tolerate. We enjoyed meeting the many staff and local people that we did. th eonly really sad part was hearing of the renewed travel warnings and seeing the fallout- it was very quiet on the streets/restaurants and shops.