Bali was very hot and humid. We stayed in a very comfortable hotel, the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel. The breakfast had a mixture of eastern and western dishes, and the gardens were beautiful. The hotel also had a free shuttle to the beach (the beach was not as stunning as in Hoi An) and to Hardys, as well as the night market. There was a beach down the road which we used to frequent in the evenings, when it was much cooler.
Our tours were booked with Panorama Tours. They were very efficient and well organised. They will pick you up from your hotel, and take you to their offices, and then pair you off with other English-speaking tourists, who are on the same tour as you. You may end up with some snooty, or not so snooty individuals. You will be transported in a luxury bus or minibus, with an English-speaking guide. We were told by the guy that picked us up from the airport that our first tour will begin the next day at 8 o'clock in the morning. The next day we got up early and waited till 9 o'clock, only to be told that our tour starts at 1pm.
The first tour was called the Oleh Oleh tour or shopping tour. We went with a snooty Canadian pair and a South African couple. We got to visit the stone-carvings at Batu Bulan, and silver and gold crafts at Celuk, and galleries at Ubud. We were given about two hours to shop in Ubud. We spent it at a very nice restaurant called Gedong Sisi. I had a delicious nasi goreng with chicken and prawns.
For the Kintamani (full day) tour we visited the centre for wood carving, we tasted delicious tea and coffee on the way to see Mount Batu. We went with a Canadian, some South African women, a pair from Holland and three people from Bali.We had lunch, which is a bit of a rip off, as you are forced to eat at the only restaurant in the area, and you pay a ridiculously high price for the food. You have to pay cash, otherwise if you pay by credit card, they add an extra three percent to the bill. On the way back we visited the Holy Spring water Temple.
The Bali mystical tour (full day) included the watching of a play, visiting a weaving centre, and the visiting of the Besakhi Temple, as well as a museum, and a village. We travelled with Canadians, who were a tad friendlier than the last group we travelled with. Lunch overlooked beautiful paddy fields, situated in a deep valley.
The last Saturday of our trip was spent at Hardys. We had lunch at a trendy restaurant called Cafe Batu Jimbar. A flea market is held here on a Sunday.
On the last Sunday of our stay in Bali, we decided to take a half-day tour to Tana Lot Temple to watch the sunset. This was the highlight of our trip. There were hordes of people at this site, and even though we did not get to see the sunset, the views were spectacular. This place has atmosphere like no other. I had a grilled corn on the cob. We also visited the monkey forest and saw some enormous bats. We got back to the hotel around 8pm, and drove through Seminyak, which is quite spectacular at night, with all its well-lit and trendy restaurants.
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