Photos from Day 9 in Sanur & Day Trip to Candi Dasa

Here's some photos from my Day 9 blog....

Looking across the pond to Le48 Restaurant at Candi Dasa - thanks for recommending Whinnie!














Le48 Zen & Happy Rezort










10 mins north of Candi Dasa is a little place called Jasri, down a lane way past some rice paddies..... the view is amazing. Thanks for recommending Sue C.





















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Day 10 in Sanur then onto Bingin

This is our last morning at Hotel La Taverna, we start the day with some breakfast beside the pool. Then it's back to the room & try to fit all our gear into our bags - I seem to accumulate more items with each move!

My daughter hasn't had her hair washed for at least a week (slack parenting hey?) so we head to Salon Rudy on the main street. Its a proper hair dressing salon & my daughter gets to lay on one of those comfy reclining chairs and has her hair washed with a lovely conditioning massage. I had a wonderful hair creme bath & Hubby had a shave. My hair creme bath was much better than the one I had in a beauty salon a few days ago & quite reasonably priced too.

We still had an hour before the driver was picking us up, so I relaxed on the sun beds on the beach while the kids played with their Dad in the water.


Time for check out & our driver is right on time, very sad to leave La Taverna but excited to be on our way for the next part of our trip.

It's lunch time & we don't want to wait around in a cafe for food, so we go to McDonalds for a quick bite to eat. Our driver had never had it before & we invite him to try some. He has a cheeseburger, not quite sure if he liked it or not, think he was quite overwhelmed by the experience! It's my first crappy junk food meal & I feel horrible in the stomach after....

After lunch we head for our next destination, the Temple Lodge at Bingin. We arrive and are welcomed like old friends - we stayed here in June last year for 3 nights & this time we have 4 nights.

This place is just amazing. Bingin is located on the Bukit Peninsular & the Temple Lodge is right on the cliff top. It is a small lodge, owned by an Italian couple with only about 8 rooms, 2 of which are perched on the edge of the cliff - the Gecko Suite & the Coral Cove Suite. We stay in the Gecko Suite, it has a king size antique 4 poster bed with netting & the kids are up in a loft which they call their tree house.

A massive day bed sits near the cliff edge, a perfect place to watch the surf breaks of Impossibles & Bingin or just read a book. Resident cat 'Mow' likes to curl up for catnap here.


A lovely open bathroom and the shower has a view of the ocean as well! Just make sure you lock away anything of value, including your toiletries as the monkeys live in the cliffs. They can climb into your room and they steal things. One lady had her makeup bag stolen. She watched him climb on the roof, open the bag and he proceeded the hand out pieces of makeup to his twelve friends! She later found her face powder floating in the pool! Everything else was gone.
The grounds are full of beautiful flowers. White, fuchsia, apricot & orange bougainvillea run along the white coral walls.

There is a small communal dining room overlooking the water & a black volcanic rock infinity pool.

A wedding is scheduled for this afternoon & they scatter frangipani over the stone pavers. The setting is just beautiful!

The food is just amazing, so healthy & fresh. People come from surrounding villas just to eat here. One of the owners Cristiana makes her own breads, jams & museli. She also does daily yoga classes. Her husband Mario takes people surfing, snorkeling and fishing.

The communal dinner is a fantastic way to meet people from all over the globe. Dinner is a set menu at 7.30pm every night & is a 3 course meal that changes daily. Our first night was prawn risotto, followed by red thai chicken curry & an asian salad. Dessert was chai ice cream with biscotti. We washed it down with a jug of gin & tonic with ginger and lime.
Time for an early night.... lots of discovering to do tomorrow.

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Day 9 in Sanur

Woke up this morning to light rain. Went to breakfast & by the time we'd finished the rain was getting heavier, it looked pretty set in for the day. Was a little disappointed as we were going on a day trip up the east coast towards Candi Dasa.

This was the first time we had traveled up the east coast. The boys are mad keen surfers, so they were eager to find some new surf breaks. I wanted to check out a villa in an area called Jasri about 10 mins north of Candi Dasa.

The scenery along the way was interesting, with rice paddies (not as good as the ones near Ubud) but beyond them were huge coconut palms & the ocean.

Lots of places selling huge stone carvings of buddahs, wish I could take some home!

Along the way there was a police roadblock, reminded me of a RBT, pulling over almost every vehicle. Our driver Wayan almost made it through without being pulled over, almost.... He handed the officer a piece of paper, I presume it was his license along with 10,000rp note. The officer didn't so much as look at his licence, pocketed the rupiah then waved us on our way.

When we arrived in Candi Dasa, we stopped for a cold drink at Le48, Zen & Happy Rezort - thanks for recommending Whinne! Its restaurant is decked out with funky white leather lounge chairs and a black & red colour scheme. Very modern & reasonable prices. Our tables were overlooking a huge pond with lilly pads.

Next stop was Villa Matanai on Jasri beach, Karangasem. Thanks to TA member Sue C for recommending. Leaving Candi Dasa we followed winding roads uphill, the valley views back to the coastline were just amazing. We followed the sign from the main road, down a bumpy lane, passing rice paddies until we came to the beachfront with it's massive collection of coconut trees.

The owner, a fellow from Adelaide called Vinny, came to greet us with his cute little son. We told him we'd driven from Sanur especially to see his villa & he welcomed us in for some lunch and a look around his villas.

We invited our driver to have lunch upstairs in the bale and the view was amazing. There were some locals surfing a good right hand break less than 400m away. The boys hadn't brought their boards & Vinny offered them some to use, but they decided to just walk down and watch the locals.
The kids had fun playing with the resident dogs & swimming in one of the pools.

After Vinny showed us around the villas. Villa 1 is on 3 levels and can sleep 9, each room can be let out separately - one room with pool view for 2 persons, another with room for 3 and the other sleeps 4.
Villa 2 has 3 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms with it's own pool & gardens.
The owner is currently building more accommodation out the back of the villas.

This place has such an amazing outlook with so many of the tallest coconut trees I've ever seen. The grounds are just beautiful with frangipani trees & bougainvillea. There are many different areas to chill out in Villa 1, daybeds on the 2nd & 3rd floors with that spectacular view.
We hope to return next year for a few nights so Hubby can surf & I can relax.

On the way back to Sanur we stopped in at Keramus for the boys to look at the surf. The beach had black sand with little particles sparkling in the sun & ladies searching for perfectly shaped pebbles near the shoreline.
The Oakley Junior Pro was on & the boys bumped into some crew they knew from back home.

Leaving Keramus we were stuck in traffic so along come some sellers. One has bobbing head dogs & another is wearing a furry monkey face mask with another one on each hand. The kids beg us for a monkey mask, so we make a split minute decision to buy one just as the traffic starts moving - the guy grabs my rupiah & throws the monkey mask thru the window. The kids have fun putting on the mask & waving to the passers by.

We arrive back at La Taverna & Hubby heads off for a massage at Mandurah Spa. When he returns, I walk down to Hardy's & pick up my canvas prints & some extra snacks and supplies from the supermarket.

We meet back at the hotel for evening drinks on the daybeds near the beachfront. There is a jazz band playing & my daughter gets up to dance with them complete with her monkey mask! She looked very funny.



Not bothering to go back to our room for a shower, we stayed & ate pizzas listening to the band until it was time for bed.

Tomorrow we are leaving Sanur, we have loved every minute of it.... and hope to stay longer next year.

Next leg of our trip is to Bingin .

Here are some photos of our hotel in Sanur - Hotel La Taverna


























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Day 8 in Sanur

Day 8 in Sanur

The boys went for an early morning surf while I took the kids to breakfast.

This morning the kids wanted to go for a visit to Hardy's & have a turn putting their feet in the fish spa. I had a look around & purchased my daughter a couple of cute pieces of clothing on the ground floor. The brands were Next (from the UK) & Carters (USA) and quite cheap too.

Then it was upstairs to the top floor where the kids had fun buying some wooden duck whistles (I think they drove the staff crazy blowing them) while I had some photos from my camera & phone organized to be printed on canvas.

Don't know what it is about Hardy's, but yet again found myself running to the toilet, tummy rumbling..... & you guessed it - no toilet paper, just like yesterdays fiasco. Lucky I remembered not to lock the door this time!

When we got back to the hotel, hubby had come back from surfing, so we decided to rent some bikes & ride along the paved beachfront path. 20,000rp hire for the day per bike. We started up near the Sindhu markets & rode north to where the scoot boats head over to Nusa Lembongan then headed back & stopped for lunch at Mangoes Beach Cafe.



Hubby had the Gado Gado which was really nice, I had mie goreng & the kids shared a hamburger which wasnt the best. After lunch we headed south along the beach path, stopping & taking photos along the way at some of the lovely hotels. The Griya & Puri Santrian the most memorable. We rode as far as we could stand then turned around & headed back. Everyone had sore bums!


Hot & sweaty, it was time for a dip in the pool. We almost passed out blowing up li-los then the kids had fun trying to push Dad off.

Time for some market shopping, so I rode the bike up the beach path looking for Tootsie's. Bought a copy D&G cabin bag on wheels, a pale purple copy Jimmy Choo bag for my Mum, copy Ray-bans for a friend & a few singlets & tees. Was quite interesting peddling back with the cabin luggage.

For dinner we walked across the road to Ratatouille. I ordered their famous ribs which were flavorsome however a little dry. Hubby had a fantastic mixed curry served in a coconut shell, with a few satay sticks & sambals. A few cocktails, fried ice-cream & banana fritters for dessert had us complaining of sore bellies on the way home.

What a great day we had, now it's time for bed......


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Location:Hotel La Taverna

Day 7 in Sanur

This morning the kids wake up to find Dad has finally arrived, they are so excited & can't wait to show him around the grounds of our hotel & play with him in the pool.

Those of you who have read my previous blogs would of read about my Husband's scary flight dilemma last night & as he arrived so late, the kids were well & truly asleep.

Well seeing Hubby was here, I was dumping the kids, so to speak, & catching up on some retail therapy! I headed out of Hotel La Taverna and along the main drag, making my way to Hardy's, looking in some little shops on the way. I purchased some beautiful silver jewelry - earrings, pendant & a ring.

Had a look around Hardy's and purchased some gifts of soaps, incense etc on the top floor. Loved the supermarket on the first floor & stocked up on cleansers, moisturizer, face masks, laundry spray, snacks & some apples - my daughter was craving them!

Had a sudden urge for the rest room & after asking a staff member on each floor & scaling the stairs I finally found one on the top floor right in the back corner.... Hurry hurry hurry, I'm not going to make it in time, oh crap, there's no toilet paper! Run back out with all my bags of shopping, looking for a staff member, trying to explain what toilet paper is. I end up running back to the toilet, grabbing the empty toilet roll to show them what I mean. Finally some relief. Uh-oh I'm locked in the toilet, bloody dodgy lock! I bang on the door & call out. No one can hear me! I think about sending my husband a txt - can you imagine - "hey I'm stuck in a toilet at Hardy's, can you come rescue me?" I ended up calming myself down & slowly giggling the lock & thankfully got myself out. Needless to say, I was sweating profusely!

Caught a taxi back to the hotel & met Hubby, his mate & our kids by the pool. We walked down to Bonsai Cafe for lunch. The boys had pizza, the kids ate nachos & I have a stir-fry chicken & cashew dish.

After lunch I went for a walk, stopping in the many day spa/beauty salons and getting their brochures to check prices & reading what treatments were on offer. One place looked huge, from memory it was called Natural Spa - avoid it like the plague! The fellow out the front ushered me in, very pushy, sat me down with the spa menu. All the prices were very inflated compared to elsewhere, probably 4 times as much! Oh but you get 40% off he tells me.... Still too expensive. Next minute a bus load of Japanese tourists arrives, all herded in like cattle.... I'm getting out of here. **
Settled on another place and had a hair creme bath plus a facial. Was a bit disappointing and not as good as other treatments I'd had in the past... Must check out another one tomorrow!
** The next day Hubby wants to have a massage, I direct him to Mandurah Spa (where I should have gone) and he doesnt listen to my directions properly and ends up in Natural Spa! Silly bugger pays 250,000rp for a massage, then on the way out the pushy guy on reception hits him up for a tip! Dodgy place hey!

For dinner tonight we visit Rasa Senang, the setting is nice and there is a soloist who is pretty good. I order a roasted duck dish & although it's tasty, it's quite dry. Hubby ordered Beef Rendang, our friend had mixed satays & the kids shared a pasta. It was ok, but nothing special.

Off back to the hotel for a good nights rest....


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Location:Hotel La Taverna