Lunch at Bali Asli

Today is "Purnama" the day of the full moon in Bali - a special day in Bali's Hindu culture that is celebrated twelve times a year. Temple ceremonies for Purnama are "believed to harness increased spiritual energy from the full moon, allowing participants to connect with the divine and seek blessings for themselves and their loved ones". We knew it was a special day when we came down for breakfast and saw all the staff in their beautiful traditional ceremony outfits.They were very happy to explain to us what the day was all about.

Later, on our morning walk we saw lots of locals dressed in their best too and all the preparations underway at the local temple.

We chose to photograph these scenes along the way instead (neither of which had anything to do with Purnama)........

Rob has a thing about ladders in Bali!

Today we had a lunch date at beautiful Bali Asli, a restaurant located about 30 minutes north of Candidasa on the road to Amlapura. Australian Chef Penny Williams (formerly Ex. Chef at Alila Manggis) conceived of Bali Asli over a decade ago - a special place that "celebrates authentic Balinese culture and cuisine", using local food grown organically and prepared in the traditional way. The restaurant was constructed in a commanding position overlooking the foothills of Bali's sacred mountain - Mt Agung. Unfortunately, today, in the midst of the rainy season, the view of Mt Agung was completely obscured by heavy cloud.

Rob took this pic (minus the view of the mountain) as we climbed the stairs to a warm welcome at Bali Asli.

Despite the cloud cover the view was breathtaking - not a building in sight, just extensive gardens, plants and rice fields, and those mountains in the distance and endless sky (clouds today!).

Our welcome drink was a Spicy Salek (based on snake fruit, soda and lots of spices) - non alcoholic but a drink with a lot of punch! 

Crackers and delicious sambals to start the meal .......

The menu was presented like this, as a bamboo scroll..... We chose the Bali Asli Megibung option - a tasting platter of dishes unique to Karangasem - 8 dishes to try, based on what is in season, organically grown and available in the area around the restaurant.

There was soup to start the meal: sweet corn, young coconut and leaves of the kelor tree - all picked from the restaurant's own garden - and delicious.

Then our main dish - mackeral satays, tuna and coconut cooked in leaves, smoky chicken, spicy tempe, and 3 delicious vegetable dishes - divine! we stayed non alcoholic and drank chilled Wedang Jahe (tamarind, ginger and a hint of chile) with our mains, another punchy combination!

We ended up having a front row table at a most dramatic storm event this afternoon: crashing thunder, lightning bolts and then driving rain. It was an amazing show of force to accompany a wonderful meal!

Dessert was fresh and perfectly light - a beautiful balance to all that had come before it. Together with coffee and drinks this meal cost about $35 a head!!

I loved the stunning architecture and decor of the restaurant too ........

And the toilets are something else!

Productive gardens surround the building .....

And another ladder pic from Rob .......

We loved our Bali Asli experience!

Our driver had us back to the hotel safely by around 2.45 - quite an achievement given the state of the narrow winding roads up to Amlapura - in heavy rain. Our plans for spending the afternoon around the pool came to nothing as the heavy rain continued - all afternoon into .... evening.

A distraction came when the hotel's cat found Rob. They both appeared to enjoy some bonding time on the balcony watching the rain fall as dusk came - and no sign of that magic full moon the day was meant to celebrate.  Not that the cat seemed to care!

Candidasa East Bali

We flew into Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport on Thursday night, having prepared ourselves well for all the QR code requirements on entry to Bali these days. We prepared so well we got through all the entry processes in record time and were on our way up the coast to Candidasa Beach barely an hour after landing.

Rob captured this fabulous sunset over Western Australia on the flight over.

 

It was nice to wake up on our first morning to see this lovely view of our hotel's pool and dining area. It's the rainy season in this part of the world so grey cloudy skies and frequent rain storms will be highly likely throughout our stay. We're prepared for that!

Everywhere you stay in Bali the gardens are always beautiful. The Sagara Candidasa is a small boutique hotel with just 20 rooms. We are on the upper floor and our room is spacious and beautifully decorated. It's on a narrow block facing out to the sea but its tiny garden spaces are a delight!

Breakfasts by the pool with bottomless cups of Bali Kopi are nice to wake up to too.

We've been to Candidasa many times before so we don't intend to do much sightseeing. We're just going to relax and enjoy hotel life by the sea for a few days. 

Floating in the pool view .............

The hotel staff mix lovely cocktails for guests - and the prices are very generous over happy hour. Rob was pleased to get a whiskey lemongrass mix. I like my G & Ts Sagara Mule style (with lots of lime).

And no matter how modern the hotel - we can never forget we are in Bali and the significance of the daily offerings. We love the constant smell of smoke and incense in the air that goes along with it.

We've enjoyed our morning walks around the village....... the Lotus Lagoon is just as we remembered it ......

It's been a long time since guests would have paid 5k IDR (about 50c) to use these toilets.

We were out walking this morning as all the village kids were heading to school, so things were lively all along the main street.

This family looked so photogenic as they walked around the lagoon towards us (on the way to morning temple offerings), but it would have been so rude to infringe on their privacy. I did sneak this back view though as they crossed the street on their way to the temple........

Both days now we've had lunch at our old fave Puri Pandan. We love the way the same people have been running it as long as (if not longer than) we've been coming here. They didn't remember us (of course) but still gave us a lovely welcome ....... A Bintang and Nasi Campur (by the sea) for our first lunch back in Bali was pretty special.

We've slowed down enough already to enjoy watching the local lads fishing off the groyne in front of Puri Pandan while eating lunch..... exciting enough.

We could see the beach area in front of the Ashyana Hotel from here (about a 5 minute walk up the road) where we stayed last time we were in Candidasa in 2016.

Lunch today was delayed by a heavy rainstorm which we sat out, on our balcony (with a post swim Bintang).

It was drenching rain - great to watch from our protected balcony. There is a cow that grazes under the palm trees of the property next door but he(?) was taken under cover when the heavy rain started.

Christmas ready

Christmas Day in Ubud, Bali is going to be wonderful - but low key in the present department. So we had an early family present giving event here on Sunday evening, and a celebratory meal together afterwards.

We went shopping with the girls for their presents earlier in the month so they knew what they were getting - but they were still excited to see them in their festive wrapping - all ready for opening!! 
 

Rob collects wine for Joshy throughout the year as his present - a task he hugely enjoys!

Prawns, ham and lamb were in the menu - paper crowns and bonbons - lots of family ribbing - yeah - it's starting to feel like Christmas isn't it?

December already

It feels like the pace is really picking up now we're into December and only a few days to go until we leave for Bali. We've had all our vaccines, finished off our Christmas shopping, got the girls sorted with their Advent boxes, had another trip to Coogee, signed off on final meetings for the year and carried on the usual level of end of year socialising. Its been busy!!

We took Abi and Ella shopping for their Christmas gifts (on different days). It's the best fun for us keeping them company on shopping trips - and lunch is always included.   

We took ourselves to the 50th anniversary Cold Chisel Concert at the end of November. It was a beautiful (warm) summer evening and we were able to walk to the venue in Commonwealth Park.

You could see that the audience fitted a certain age demographic ......

The best part was sharing the night with Josh & Jody (who were among the youngest members in the audience). ......

We all agreed the band was in fine form - a fabulous concert with lead guitarist Ian Moss the stand out star of the night!

We headed for Coogee again at the weekend, meeting up with young Aine for lunch at Barzura on Sunday and Conor and Lesley (from Belfast) for a day of walking on Monday.

But first of all an early morning walk to "the honeycomb", to get the day started right on Sunday.

By Sunday lunch we were in a prime position to watch a severe rain storm roll in and experience the torrents of rain and wind squalls that buffeted this part of Sydney quite severely for just under an hour.

Afterwards, the sun came out from behind the rain clouds, giving off a very surreal lighting vibe.....

Monday dawned bright and clear and HOT. We met up with Lesley and Conor at Bondi -nearly 7 months since we last saw them in Belfast in Northern Ireland. They had only arrived in Sydney a few days before, from freezing wintry Belfast!

Together, we walked all the way to Coogee along the 7klm coastal path - all looking absolutely stunning on this perfect summer cloudless day - but I did worry how our guests would cope with the heat, the sun, the glare, the UV factor!!!

They made it to the end - still amazingly positive about everything (they make 'em tough in Belfast) and we rewarded them with lunch at the Coogee Bay Hotel, looking very friendly, very breezy and quite uncrowded on this fine Monday. Uluru is the next stop for Conor and Lesley - so our walk today in 30oC heat would be good preparation for what they'll be facing there.

Tuesday was a quieter day for us. We enjoyed a walk around the picturesque streets of Paddington and lunch on the balcony of the old Royal Hotel on Paddington Fiveways.

I loved this take on a "decorated" Christmas Tree at the Ampersand Cafe and Bookstore on Oxford Street.

We had new shutters installed in our living room on Tuesday morning. After waiting ELEVEN weeks for this to happen we were really congratulating ourselves that we'd finally got a Sydney supplier to deliver as promised. The living room gets more comfortable every visit now. Rob connected our new (Smart) TV this weekend too, with full connectivity to all our streaming services - Yay!

And back in Canberra now - we're back to old (lovely) routines. Abi and Sam were in fine form in the arena at Freshford on Thursday. They're looking like a great jumping team......