Bali and Gilis: Part 2 - Candi Dasa

Day Five

Our last day in Ubud began early with the wonderful breakfast - no croissants this time! We'd ordered a car to take us to Candi Dasa - this is the way it's done on Bali. There are few proper taxis in the smaller towns and you hire drivers and cars for the day. When walking along the street you get asked 'taxi!?' every 5 metres or so. We didn't fancy taking any of those men up on their offer so phoned ahead to our hotel and booked a car with them (I should think, when not working for the hotel, our driver stands on the street shouting 'taxi?!' at passing tourists, but hey). 

The drive wasn't to long and there was some pretty scenery to look at. We crossed a river with a huge water dam and saw some more rice paddies. When we arrived we spent the rest of the day doing what we did for most of our time here - sitting my the pool reading kindles. 

You can see why - beautiful! If it got to hot,
we'd mix things up a bit and sit IN the pool
with our kindles. Crazy.

The hotel was quite small. Only a few rooms in maisonette style. Ours was really pretty and had an outdoor bathroom that was below ground level and faced a sheer rock face with ground level at about head height. It was really nice to shower/brush your teeth in the fresh air. Although not so good in the evenings with the mosquitoes. 

Pretty front of our room

Best photo I could get - I should win a prize...

Out hotel was right next to a lagoon, and near the beach. The lagoon was beautiful and with the hills in the distance, the view leaving our hotel was pretty impressive.

After such a stressful morning, we had lunch at the hotel. Rach had a pretty good looking club sandwich and I had a tuna salad - with proper tuna, not the tinned stuff!

Yum!

After lunc we walked down to the little beach that was a 2 minute stroll from the hotel. There was a tiny patch of sand and a huge expanse of blue sea, but it wasn't a sunbathing or tourist beach. Candi Dasa used to be surrounded by a coral reef which protected the beaches, but as the coral was damaged and taken away, the sea eroded the beaches and so there are none left on that part of the island.

We finished our afternoon off by the pool again before going out for dinner at Vincent's. Pippa and Paul had recommended it and it looked like the nicest restaurant out of a very small selection. It was delicious. I had chicken pie (oh pastry, how I miss you!) and mash, washed down with another storm beer and finished off with a creme brulee (good, but not as good as the one in Ubud). Not a bad day!

Day Six

The breakfast here was, again, very good. Fruit, tea, juice and eggs made especially or you. We sat and read and dipped in the pool and read and had lunch at the hotel: lumpia pod (spring rolls) and bruchetta. Then we read some more before going out to Rendezvous. This restaurant was quite quiet but had really good food. It was right on the sea front but had covers pulled down across the open windows as there was a storm on its way it was getting a little windy. I tried the local fish, mahi mahi in a cream sauce which was just delicious! One of the nicest meals I think I had while I was away. The fish was so tasty and tender and the sauce really complimented it. Would have liked to eat this all over again! 

Day Seven

More scrambled eggs for breakfast and more sunbathing and reading all day. I read quite a bit here. I'll post a blog with all my holiday reading after my Bali/Gili posts. Lunch was again at the hotel - the 5 metre walk from the poolside to the restaurant was a daily strain, but some how we managed it. Chicken satay for lunch. Then, as we had enjoyed it so much, we went back to Vincent's for dinner. We booked a table outside in the maze-like garden area that was decorated with fairy lights and candles. Very pretty! 

Our stay in Candi Dasa was definitely relaxing. I enjoyed it; the hotel was lovely, the pool was one of the nicest we had during the holiday and the food was good. However, I don't think I'd go back again as there wasn't very much to do. Perfect for two tired teachers who needed a break but Ubud was much more lively.