More Sanur

Twenty four hours and no rain - and even some more sunshine here in Sanur - yay!

We set off on a longer walk yesterday morning - southwards as far as Mertasari Beach eventually, pretty much the furthest south we've ever walked along this beach front.

We found a great new coffee spot along the way - Costa by Monsta - on Cemara Beach between the ginormous Prama and the elegant Puri Santrian Hotels. Our table had a nice outlook to the water under a canopy of shady trees.

The coffee was excellent and Rob's croissant filled with sashimi grade salmon, pesto and roasted tomato was a taste sensation.

The beach at this end of Sanur has been seriously eroded this wet season. It's quite shocking really to see so many tree roots uncovered and previous attempts at "stabilising" hardware exposed in all their uselessness against the forces of nature (and past unsustainable development too no doubt).

Although there was plenty of sand further on at this end of the beach.

Being so hot and sunny yesterday we spent a lot of time in and out of our villa's lovely plunge pool.... 

And, meanwhile, the young ones have been continuing to enjoy their time in Ubud. Joshy sent us this great shot of them all enjoying the Ubud live music scene the night before  ....

This morning we set out walking a bit earlier, hoping to avoid the heat and humidity a day of sunny weather brings. We walked north today along the beach path, past Icon Bali, as far as our old fave Soul on Beach (about 2 and a half klms from Parigata) where we sat at a table on the sand and enjoyed morning coffees and a great breakfast. We love our morning coffees, especially when they're made this well, but omg they make us sweat in this weather!!

There were some lovely post card views of the Sanur beaches (Karang and Sindhu) along this walk, and even a misty view of Mt Agung in the distance!

Morning yoga outside one of the hotels .......

Classic Sanur!

Josh, Jody and the girls joined us in Sanur on New Year's Eve after braving the heavy, slow traffic on the road from Ubud. We enjoyed a walk south along the Sanur board walk ... the girls looking like celebrities with their holiday tans and new Ubud purchased outfits ....

We settled in for dinner at Lilla Pantai - at a table on the sand initially - but then as heavy (torrential) rain started falling we moved inside ....

Abi took over my phone for these shots ........

It was such a happy night to end this holiday we've been able to share so much of in Bali. 

Later, to the sound of fireworks shooting in the sky we heard some bad family news (about our dear Rod) from Claire as the new year turned over. We were glad our flight home was scheduled for the next day so we could be back in Canberra to help as much as possible.

Josh, Jody and the girls had one more day before their flight back and the weather (finally) allowed them a clear day at Bali Waterbom Park ... something they've been looking forward to since their last visit 5 years ago. It was another happy day for them.....

No doubt, we'll all be back in Bali again sometime .........

Sun in Sanur

We woke to patches of blue sky today and no rain - great excitement! It felt great to set out walking, along Sanur's 5 klm long beach path, in the morning before the heat started to build. We headed south this morning, past the InterContinental Resort, down towards Sanur Port and Cemara Beach beyond that.

It was great to see the beach and all the fishing boats along the way without the rain falling.........

We made great use of our villa's private pool today in the muggy conditions. The pool is a good size plunge pool about 6 metres long and about 1.2 - 1.3 metres deep - plenty big enough for us to splash about in for a few hours over a couple of sessions today.

The entrance to our Villa Cempaka ............

We walked to an old fave Warung Blanjong on Jalan Danau Poso today for a late lunch (a bit over a kilometre walk from Parigata). I took this pic of Rob to send to Abi who is trying every club sandwich on the menu during her stay in Bali. She's also writing a critique of every sandwich she tries! She's a hard marker but Rob feels this one should have got a good rating if he has any say in the matter.

I had barramundi in banana leaves with Balinese urab salad - beautiful! Warung Blanjong has been around since 1998 so when we first came here in 2001 (on our way back to the airport after our first stay in Bali) it would have been quite early days. The food is always very good here - but now there are a lot more Western dishes on the menu.

And after walking back from lunch - more late afternoon pool time at our villa - a lovely way to spend the day in Sanur!

Ubud to Sanur

Thursday was our last night in Ubud with the young ones. After a laid back day of walking, eating pizza, dodging rain storms and enjoying more pool time we decided to end off the day with a meal together at our old fave Cafe Wayan.

Dressed for the occasion .........

Ella doing the full Cafe Wayan experience ..........

Friday was Ubud departure day for us but we left enough time for a last, slap up lunch together at Gedong Sisi (on Jalan Raya Ubud) before we left.

Walking back to Cendana afterwards....... I love watching these girls "owning" the streets of Ubud the way they do!

After sadly farewelling all the lovely people at Cendana Nyoman drove us down to Sanur around 2pm - a slow trip with all the holiday traffic. Our Parigata Villa in Jalan Duyung (means Mermaid) is a nice place to stay especially with its own private pool and proximity to the Sanur Beach walkway.

We enjoyed our first walk northwards up past the Maya Sanur (where we stayed in the lap of luxury last year) and a drink afterwards in the sweaty conditions at La Playa which is on the beach, just at the end of our Jalan Duyung.

Yesterday it rained (heavily) for most of the day, although we found a clear few hours in the afternoon to make our way up Jalan Danau Tamblingan to check out the new mega glitzy Icon Bali (upmarket western style shopping mall).

Many tourists were upset at this development going ahead saying it would change the laid back vibe of Sanur and not be popular, but at this stage I would say Icon Bali is doing ok - especially in this wet weather. Apparently there is a (cheap) cinema there too which would be a popular option for visitors in this weather.

We just did a stroll through today - but I would rate Icon Bali as a fun place to visit if you are into wild, glitzy shopping malls with amazing architecture .........

We stopped for a coffee or two at our old fave Soul on the Beach afterwards and then on the way back to Parigata we also had a stroll through the grounds of the Respati Beach Hotel. It's a possible future beach side option for our next stay in Sanur??

The young ones had a visit to Bali Zoo yesterday which seemed to go down well. Abi also managed to squeeze in a spa visit and now has her French Tips done - one of her Bali trip goals (that tongue is her signature photo look this holiday!).

Christmas in Ubud

The young ones arrived here in Ubud, on schedule, at 4.00pm on Christmas Eve - to great excitement. It was a perfect day in Bali to greet them - blue skies and no rain. Our lovely, family run hotel was looking its best and Nyoman and all the staff were very welcoming, as they do......

Abi, avoiding a smile for the camera .....

Pool time is the best way to adjust to a new timezone in this part of the world.

The girls were into the spirit of the holiday right from the get go.

We woke on Christmas morning to grey skies but an oh so happy vibe. We enjoyed a long leisurely breakfast together at Cendana and a coffee afterwards at old fave Cinta Grill where one of the staff members remembered Josh, Jody and the girls from previous visits.

Christmas is not a thing for Balinese people - apart from those working in hospitality who understand the needs of their visitors. so as we were planning our lazy fun filled day it was a day of hard muddy work for these farmers working the rice fields next to our hotel.

We had a Christmas lunch booking at The Indus to look forward to..........

The girls have experienced a few Christmas lunches at The Indus although Abi was probably too young to remember their first one there. It was a busy day for the restaurant but the staff always handle everything in their usual calm and good good humoured way, even though there were a few tiny glitches today with the set menu on offer. 

Ella and Abi got right into the Indus experience right from the start........

......... and a few minutes later ..............

The twice cooked duck, salmon pepes, roast chicken, and babi gulung were our main course picks but it was probably the starters that were the stars of the show for us: gyoza, mushroom pate and udon noodles - beautiful food!

Pavlova and creme brulee were our dessert choices, accompanied by some very Christmassy after dinner cocktails (Christmas Alexander and Mint Snow - wow!)

It was such a lovely, long, relaxed lunch together in this stunning setting. it was getting towards 4.00pm by the time we were done and no one was in a hurry to leave.

Nyoman drove us back to Cendana through Ubud's afternoon heavy traffic (it took over 40 minutes to travel the 2.8klm distance).

We finished the day with more pool time ........

We exchanged presents last night in a hilarious get together in our room at Cendana. We did a Secret Santa (organised by Abi) process, just like we usually do at home with extended family ..... but with a limit of $10 (100,00 IDR), to be purchased at the local convenience store. It's quite a revelation how much snackfood, skincare and even footwear you can buy for $10 in Bali, especially when you are as creative shoppers as the girls are. Such a fun thing to do!!

Rob and I broke the Secret Santa rules for our giftees. We got the opportunity to order some Christmas goodies from Janet de Neefe's Honeymoon Bakery, the perfect gift (IMO) for Josh (who always enjoys a Christmas fruit cake) and Jody (who deserves a delicious Christmas mince tart after all those years when she couldn't tolerate much gluten). 

We ended a perfect Christmas Day together in our big old Cendana room with the rain pouring outside eating Christmas goodies, Balinese convenience store snack food and laughing over funny school and friend stories - Owen the third was definitely the catch phrase of the day!