Sanur, Bali

We spent a total of 4 nights in Sanur, shopping, eating, watching movies, swimming and laying low. We checked into Kirana Homestay, just off the main strip, nights one and two. The room was simple, but amazing since it came with air con, a TV, and mini fridge for only $200,000idr/ $17usd. That day we noticed the woman who lived at the homestay was working hard all day preparing various fruits and offerings to be displayed around the hotel. The elderly woman explained to me that every six months they do a ritual where they set out tons of fruits at their temples for their ancestors and then feast on the fruit afterwards.

Later that afternoon we watched American Hustle, a black market DVD we bought in Sengiggi, and cooled off in the amazing air conditioned room. For lunch we wandered on over to The Porch for an incredible meal. I ordered the caesar salad, among the best I have ever had, and Aidan ordered a massive burger with onion rings, coleslaw, bacon, tomato, onion and cheese, exceptional. 

Afterwards we found ourselves in awe at the massive supermarket, Hardy's, that had everything from groceries to underwear to utensils to alcohol to fake perfume. We walked out a few hours later wondering what the hell just happened to us. 

Random statue in town: 

That night we ate CHINESE FOOD. It was actually pretty amazing. We ordered broccoli with garlic, which was the first time we have had broccoli on the trip, chicken with mushroom and potato, and fried rice. 

Day 2 we woke up late and meandered to Bali Deli for some average chicken, feta, pesto, etcz., sandwiches. Following lunch, we headed back to the home stay and observed the various temples that had offerings displayed on them. Afterwards one of the women handed us three different fruits that they had used for the offerings earlier that day, including mangosteen, snake fruit, and an orange. The mangosteen was particularly interesting and tasted like an extremely sweet combination of banana, orange and fruit punch! After sampling the new fruits we went back to the room to chill out and ended up watching the whole Titanic film. 

Offerings at one of the temples: 

Snake fruit, mangosteen and orange: 

Later that afternoon we decided it was time to check out Sanur Beach, but as always, we got to the beach at extreme low tide. The beach was beautiful however, and there were great rock island formations to sit at or swim to, we think to prevent waves from crashing on shore and make it better for swimming. 

That night we went to Retro Restaurant and I ordered an amazing filet of Mahi Mahi with garlic butter, mashed potatoes and vegetables. Aidan ordered something equivelent to chicken cordon blue, which was delicious as well! 

After spending two nights in Sanur, we headed to Lembongan Island for three nights and then returned to Sanur for the remaining two nights of our trip. 

Day 3 we took the fast boat from

Lembongan, back to Sanur and checked into a lovely hotel Sari Villas. Sari was by far the nicest hotel we have stayed in this entire trip for only $40usd per night, including an amazing breakfast, swimming pool, beautiful bathroom, private court yard, back patio, mini fridge, tv and air con. What more can a girl ask for? 

That day we headed to Hardy's and bought a block of feta cheese (Aidan was stoked), a loaf of bread and some peppered salami, then sat in our private courtyard and feasted. For the rest of the day we sat by the pool and soaked up some rays then went back to The Porch for a caesar salad and burger. 

The next day we ate an amazing breakfast at the hotel then headed to the beach and swam to the island rock barrier formation. 

After swimming we found ourselves at Hardy's AGAIN and spent a few hours wondering around every square inch of the store, buying last minute gifts and slightly panicking about the fact that we were never going to leave the gigantic supermarket. 

That night Aidan brought me on one last date at a very nice and DELICIOUS  restaurant called Three Monkeys. I ordered a tuna steak with spinach and mushrooms and Aidan ordered a steak with caramelized onions and a soya sauce glaze. Oh how we will miss Indonesia! 

Tuna:

Steak:

Cheers! 

Lembogan Island

We spent three nights on Lembongan Island at hotel Pondok Jenggala on the Jungut Batu side of the island. The island is known for it's pretty beaches, surfing and snorkeling, but we found that the beaches were mediocre and the place was better for lounging at the pool and doing nothing all day. 

Volcano view on our way to Lembongan:

Mushroom Bay- boat port and beach where we arrived: 

Day 1 we checked into our hotel room ($350,000idr/ $30usd- air con), drank our welcome drinks, ate lunch and wandered on over to beach nearby. 

Our welcome drinks:

Our patio: 

The beach had very corse sand, nothing like we were used to, and there were many boats floating in the water when we arrived. We were surprised to learn about the seaweed farming that takes place on Lembongan; the locals collect mounds of seaweed and ship it to Japan to be used for cosmetics. 

Seaweed farming:

Low tide- seaweed farming boats:

We spent the rest of the day swimming in the hotel's amazing pool and talking to other hotel guests (lots of Canadians). That night we went to a nearby Warang for dinner and ordered chicken satay, nasi goreng and spring rolls. 

The next day we ate the breakfast that was included with the price of the room, surprisingly good and somewhat filling- eggs, toast, tea, and fruit.

Afterwards we jetted off on a motorbike to explore the town and found ourselves in a panic because of the fact that the island has ONE ATM and doesn't take visa. We were forced to either leave Lembongan island or pay a money changer 7% to get cash, so we opted for the more expensive and sketchy option and lost a couple bucks in the trading process. 

After the ATM scandal we headed back into town to find a place to eat and stopped at a beautiful viewpoint on the way. 

Panorama Viewpoint:

Naturally we ended up at Gomez Kinda Mexican Restaurant for lunch and ordered pretty good tacos, quesadilla, guac, and bean dip. We sat around for a while and played pool, finally I can shoot a ball, and then headed to the spa for a massage. 

Gomez Restaurant: 

I got an extremely necessary cream hair bath for my severely sun damaged hair, along with a shoulder, head and hand massage. Aidan got a full body Balinese massage. We met a super cute furry friend while we were in the spa and realized how much we miss our furry friends back home! 

Day three we decided that we needed to find a nice beach to swim and snorkel at and sought off on our motorbike to do so. Without a map or any idea of where we were going, we ended up doing a complete loop of the island and stopped at some pretty incredible, but unswimable beaches on the way. 

Looking out at the neighboring island:

Dream Beach:

Devil's Tear Beach:

Umbrella grave yard:

One of the many temples on the island:

 

After finding our way back to our side of the island, we stopped at Jibaku Restaurant, which is right on the beach and ordered beers and a bruschetta snack. We meandered back to the hotel and walked the stretch of sand in front of our hotel.  Later we banked an hour or so at our luxurious hotel pool. 

Once we were waterlogged enough from the pool, we went to explore the range of beachfront resturants.  We landed at a small hotel and dive center where we watched a beautiful Balinese sunset over the seaweed farms and munched cheese stuffed jalapeños and sipped cold white wine! (Can you tell we miss some of the tastes of home??) 

The hard life continued... We discovered a small beachfront warang that served fresh fish, freshly baked bread and dinner with our feet in the sand. Katie got the fresh tuna steak mmm! I of course opted out of the seafood and had a chicken burger on fresh bread. The kitchen was outdoor, as is typical in Indonesia, and consisted of what we may consider as two propane burning camps stoves; it was a delicious meal on island time!