NUSA DUA BALI OCT 27, 2012
What a great day - there was a huge cloud on the horizon at sunrise - but false alarm - it disappeared quickly with the heat of the sun and we had a very hot 33 degrees celcius clear blue sky day! After a slow start with tea and coffee on our deck watching the beach boys get all the cushions set out on the sun cots (lovely white thickly padded cushions on teak sun cots) and a quick breakfast on the outside deck of the restaurant overlooking the mornings activities getting going, we headed out for a walk.
Since we were here in Bali at the Aston Bali hotel some 13 years ago, there has been a long boardwalk, built of interlocking stones, all along the beach next to the hotels - this makes for a really pleasant walk from the top of the Tanjung Peninsula at the harbour south to the south east point at Nusa Dua. They have also built breakwaters with a small pagoda at the ocean end - so they provide a useful function as well as a picturesque spot to sit and enjoy the sunrise, and views, while getting protection from the sun. We left the Aston Bali which is towards the very north end of Tanjung Peninsula around 10 am and arrived back around 12:45pm, unbelievably wet and hot!
We headed South taking photos as we went, and stopping at a couple of beach markets along the way for just a few minutes to browse. We found a lovely beach club next door at a facility that is a wedding location Taman Bhagawan, for locals and international visitors alike. The Beach Club is very spa like, very serene and as long as you spend 1250 rhupiah each day on food and beverages (about $14) then you can use the pool and facilities for free - there was not a single person there.
The 5 star and international hotel chains are on this Southern end including such hotels as Hyatt, Sheraton Four Points. We loved the look of the Royal Santrian, and the Villas at the Laguna Resort and Spa (this is Four Points and the rest of the hotel beach areas looked pretty busy). The Club Med property had a great location and looked quite appealing. At the tip there was this amazing monument that could be seen from a long way off - it was massive, maybe 100 feet tall, two characters ??. This is a large public area with a grassy field and building busily going on - maybe for food stalls or market stalls - we saw an advertisement for a festival Nov 2-4 so this must be in preparation for that.
If you walk around and behind the monument you come to the blow hole on the rocky coral cliffs - the ocean is a glorious azure colour and the swell meant that some water was coming into the blow hole in the coral but not crashing in. There were lots of locals arriving, especially younger folk in their teens and 20's - obviously a place for socializing on the weekends - today was Saturday.
Very close to here is the Nusa Dua upscale shopping centre where we managed to get a taxi back to the Aston Bali 3000 rhupiah, around $4 - we were so hot and so wet and decided walking back was not the thing to do!
The afternoon was lazy - we had lunch sitting under the palapa with lovely cool breezes, we swam (or at least cooled off) in the huge free form swimming pool complete with a waterfall and also a pool bar where we enjoyed several umbrella drinks during the course of the afternoon. We started with a pina colada which was green! The barman was mortified when we questioned the colour and he realised that he had mixed us a blue hawaii by mistake! At 430pm we were treated to a beautiful small wedding ceremony (or renewal of vows) right on the beach - lovely decorations - beautiful white flags blowing in the breezes against the backdrop of the azure Indian ocean. Flags are used a lot in Bali for decorations - they are set on very tall bamboo poles, maybe 15 feet tall and the flags are triangular - very narrow at the top and about 18 inches wide at the bottom.
We were still relaxing on the sun cots just before 6pm - still very warm although the sun had disappeared behind the hotel which faces East across the Lombok Strait to the island of Nusa Penida (still in Bali). After a quick shower and change we shared a cocktail on the lounge balcony next to the main lobby which overlooks the gardens and pool, before dinner in the Bella Luna. We celebrated Rob's birthday (we surprised him) and Michelle had ordered him a black forest Birthday cake from the kitchen. A nice bonus was that there were 3 excellent musicians in the Bella Luna restaurant so they sang Happy Birthday to Rob in both Indonesian and English.
So we went to bed tired and satisfied after a very full and enjoyable day in Bali.
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