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!).