After almost a week in KL we began the next part of our trip – a month in Bali. Coming straight from a very western, clean KL with shopping centres, aircon, movie cinemas, amusement parks and relatively little hawking, Sanur was a rude shock. Bali is a lot cleaner and more commercial than we remember. The touts are more relaxed and less prevalent than they were ten years ago but its still feels sweaty and unwashed after the glitz of downtown KL.
The first few days in Sanur were a bit miserable. The kids were tired and Hayley just wanted to go home to Australia. Colin has a lot of work on at the moment so I’m taking the kids out each morning in search of things to do so he can work in our room. We kept arriving at the beach at low tide. Sanur beach at low tide is not that appealing – coral sand, rubbish and seaweed.
Not to mention we lost Hannah Bubba, Hayley’s favourite doll, somewhere between Denpasar Airport and Little Pond.
After three days of grumpy kids we were ready to pack up and either rent a house somewhere or head to America to buy an RV so the kids could have a permanent (although moveable) home.
Our guesthouse, Little Pond was great though. We had two rooms with AC and hot water around a small pool in a little complex of about 8 rooms. We paid $50 a night for the two rooms which made it hard to stick to our $100 a day budget but we’ve found that its better to spend a little more to get a cleaner place with AC that keeps the mosquitoes out when you have a young child that is allergic to mosquitoes. The staff are friendly and helpful, the rooms clean and once we worked out a shortcut through a nearby hotel, it was only a 3 minute walk to the beach.
Our happiest find in Sanur was the breakfast special on offer at the nearby Street Café for Little Pond guests and a great Mexican/Indonesian/Italian restaurant with cold beer at $1.10 a glass, as well as a jungle garden to explore and birds in cages. We went back to them again and again to give the kids some stability. At Street Café we had yogurt, fruit and freshly baked bread, rolls and croissants with ham, cheese and jam, juice/tea for 25000 Rupiah (about $3). And unlike Malaysia, the tea in Bali is quite drinkable!
We also out at Picaddily, very expensive by Sanur standards but great spaghetti and german food. The kids loved the freezing cold towels they were given when entering to cool down with.
Did I mention the spaghetti there was really really good?
We eventually saw Sanur beach at high tide. What a difference that makes! There are restaurants right on the sand. They are very expensive by Bali standards but they do give the kids the chance to explore and play while you sit down for a beer. The kids and I had a lovely day exploring several kilometers of beach collecting shells, walking under trees along the sand while it rained, climbing on pylons (which resulted in large scratches all over Hayley’s legs), swimming and sharing French fries in deserted beach front hotels. We’re yet to meet any other English speaking children. Almost all the foreigners in Sanur at the moment are French or French-Canadian.
Noah, Hayley and I got talked into a glass bottom boat ride and snorkeling at the reef in Sanur. Or should I say what is left of the reef – most of the coral is dead and we really only saw a couple of species of fish. The boat ride was fun and the kids really enjoyed feeding the fish. Noah was even keen to try snorkeling but Hayley freaked after the boat driver dared to help her back onto the boat and screamed for the next 15 minutes until we headed back to shore. I got 5 minutes of snorkeling in. Next time I know to wait until Col is with us.
