The big fish and Tirta Gangga

Tuesday 19th April
There was great excitement this morning as Rob and I were sitting at breakfast watching Judy, Sophie and Jurgen returning from their early morning fishing expedition. Sophie had hooked a huge fish on her hand line and Jurgen had managed to land it safely - an 8 kilo or so beautiful big Mahi Mahi fish - much to the surprise and enjoyment of all the locals.

 Oops, don't drop it Sophie!!

Judy did the Balinese lucky lucky blessing with her payment for the boat skipper this morning!

A section of the fish was taken up to the hotel kitchen for our dinner tonight and the boatman took home the rest - a great morning's work for him and an unforgettable fishing moment for Sophie!

We spent an hour or so in the pool this morning stretching out some of the overused muscles from our 2 hour snorkeling session yesterday. We had booked a driver to take us up to Tirta Gangga (the Royal Water Palace) about a half hour's drive from Candidasa in the mountains to the NE. Tirta Gangga was built in 1948 by the last Raja of Karangasem. The water palace is a maze of pools and fountains and statues with very strong Chinese decorative elements. It was almost entirely destroyed by the eruption of the nearby Mount Agung in 1963.

We enjoyed the cool lushness of Tirta Gangga after the salty heat of our three lovely days at the beach. Rob and I noted the huge change in the place since our last visit over a decade ago when the restoration work was still very much a work in progress. It looks like a finished beauty now!

Lunch at Tirta Ayu restaurant was a highlight and the drive to and from, through the clean and prosperous suburbs of Amlapura and the winding mountain roads in this region, was of great interest too.

We made a special effort to enjoy our late afternoon drinks today, our last evening in Bali. The gin is all gone and only a small amount of Black Label left - it really is time to go home!

The staff at this hotel do their absolute best to make everyone feel special. We admired the set up on the beach below the open air restaurant for the Dutch family's 50th wedding anniversary dinner tonight. It looked to be a rather lovely party. It made us wish we'd had a bit more warning about Judy and Jurgen's 29th wedding anniversary yesterday!

It was a thrill to eat Sophie's fish tonight - beautifully cooked by the hotel chef and teamed with our favourite papaya and pomelo salad. A perfect meal with the freshest fish you could find anywhere!

Candidasa snorkeling

Monday 18th April

We booked the boats again this morning for a few hours snorkeling in the popular spots south of Candidasa : Jepun and the Blue Lagoon. Jepun was only about 25 mins away by boat with the Blue Lagoon just a short distance from there.

On the way we checked out the beautiful and exclusive (and isolated) Amenkila and Alila Manggis resorts (from a distance) but didn't really feel too envious.

The snorkeling was just great this morning. I used a life vest for the first time and finally found my snorkeling mojo!! I felt relaxed and able to just immerse myself in the experience without feeling anxious about getting too far away from the boat. The coral was not in a good state in these two sites but the variety of fish was just amazing - and the water was very clean! We all really enjoyed our two hours in the water at both sites.

We were very ready for lunch when we got back. We made a return visit to Puri Pandan Cafe for our farewell lunch with the Fischers which turned out to be a good choice today with an ocean front, shady table available and a beautiful sea breeze. We loved our time together and the beautiful Pandan Nasi Campur and ikan (fish) dishes and their wonderful hand made ice creams and black rice pudding.

 The Fischers left at around 4.00pm with Eddy, ready for the drive to Denpasar airport and then back to Australia. It was another goodbye to dear friends who's company has made this such a special holiday - and one we'll never forget.

We took it easy for a few hours until Judy arrived at the door all excited with a very late announcement, that it was hers and Jurgen's 29th wedding anniversary (oops almost forgot!). We used the remaining 10 minutes of Happy Hour to ensure we drank their health with the hotel's 3 for the price of 2 Mojito cocktail offer.

Candidasa - trekking and boat ride

Sunday 17th April 
We had an early start today, breakfast at 6.30am and on the road by 7.30am to get to the starting point of our guided 3 hour trek from the bamboo bridge below the village of Bebandem (around 5-6 klms from Candidasa) along a mountain ridge of rice terraces and down to the traditional Bali Aga village of Tenganan.

We had wonderful views of the sacred Mt Agung this morning and of the intensively farmed areas of this very traditional part of Bali, where life continues much as it has done for hundreds of years. This early in the morning there were lots of workers in the fields working the paddies, threshing rice, cutting fodder for cows and weeding and trimming. Our guide for the trek pointed out lots of plants and fruits we might have missed otherwise through ignorance.

We all really enjoyed this experience even though the track was rough in parts and very slippery once we got off the mountain ridge. We stopped for fresh coconut drinks at a very rustic family compound on the mountainside and then a stop in Tenganan to taste the local honey and some freshly picked rambutans. The real Bali!!

Back at Ashyana we were delighted to find that Jennie and Wayne had arrived, fresh from their 5 night stay at the Novotel at Nusa Dua. We enjoyed a long lunch together sharing stories of our adventures (as well as Wayne's hospital experience) over the past week as well as the sea breezes in the hotel's ocean front restaurant.

We made arrangements with the boatman on the beach in front of the hotel to go for a sail later in the afternoon. We ended up setting off around 4.00 for a two hour sail around the little gilis about a kilometre off shore and then northwards as far as Pantai Putih (the "white sands beach") before returning to the hotel. It was a perfect time of the day to enjoy this scenic ride. We saw a lot of life along the coastline, some amazing coastal geology and the cleanest of blue water all around us. Mt Agung in the distance was a lovely familiar presence as a constant backdrop to the ride.

We enjoyed dinner together at the best table in the house tonight, overlooking the inky black night night time ocean. Le Zat does wonderful lumpia (spring rolls), samosas, papaya and pomelo salad and possibly the second best Babur Injan (black rice pudding) in the whole of Bali (with 3 Monkeys at number 1).

The hotel sets up special dinners on the beach for people requesting it.....we think this set up tonight was for a marriage proposal - a bit cheesy perhaps??