Candidasa

For the start of our Bali Getway tour we were told that we had to make our own way to Candidasa as transfers were not included, we later found out this was rubbish and if we'd only contacted the tour operator they would have sorted out for us (thanks STA!).

So we had to sort out the transport ourselves, which didn't seem like too much of a hardship as we were bombard with offers of transport everyday on every street corner. We thought our best bet would be the man that spent much of his day out the front of our hotel with his nice newish car. So we set about negotiations which was quite a long process as he wanted us to pay a lot and we wanted to pay a little. Anyway after some hard negotiations and us walking away a few times to test the waters we settled on a price of 12GBP (I still think we were stung even then). After that the guy then phones his mate to take us in an old 4x4 and not his nice car, at least it was quite comfortable.

Having spent all our time up to this point in the hussle and bussle of Kuta it was a real change to see some townships and rural countryside of Bali as we drove the 2hrs to Candidasa.

When we arrrived at the Puri Bagus hotel it was a really nice resort complex with the deepest swimming pool I ever seen and these really cool chillout four poster bed things on the sea front wall. We had our own little Balinese villa with an open air bathroom, it was amazing (it was about time we had some luxury after 7 months of travelling).

The only thing that was missing was a beautiful sandy beach which had apparently existed once, until greedy local developers decided to blow up the coral reef to use the coral for cement. Consequently the tide then swept the sand of the beach away, oops!

Upon check-in we were given vouchers for a welcome massage which we promptly booked for that evening. It was only fifteen minutes long as it was to entice you to pay for the longer massage but despite that, they still managed to massage our head, neck and back, we both though it was awesome.

When we ventured outside the hotel we found that the main street was littered with bar/restaurants vying for your business. The best part about this was the happy hours 5pm-8pm when you could buy a large beer for 13,500rp or about 70p.

There was only one bad thing about Candidasa, the enjoyment of our second day was interrupted by rain, how bad is that, the only day of rain they had outside the rainy season and we had to be there (still it beats the UK).