The 2nd week we spent at our timeshare at Jimbaran Bay. We used Made on our trip from Sanur to Denpassar and when he heard we were going to Jimbaran Bay at the weekend he asked if he could take us. Helen Flavel had recommended him, he is a lovely chap, doing it hard like they all are. We had requested a downstairs unit at the resort and we had one off the lobby that opened out onto a large patio area with a couch and then just a hop skip n jump to the pool. It was fantastic. Amazingly the reception staff recognized us from last year, asked where our friends were. The timeshare was full (16 units) nearly all Aussies. A lot of the people you don't 't see, as they were out and about all the time. I couldn't get Eddie to walk down to the beach but we did walk down the main street and had to watch the footpaths they were terrible (par for the course in Bali). Some with great big drops, probably the sewers at the bottom. I had a couple of massages at little places there, first one cost me nearly $12 for 1 hr and then the following day I had a hot rock massage for 1 hr and a facial, cost nearly $15, the massage was fantastic but not as keen on the facial. They had a lovely shower there but I declined to use it as they offered me a towel smaller than a hand towel to dry myself with and I'm not a small lady. So they just wiped me down afterwards with a damp towelling mitt and I used the hand towel than was on the massage table to dry myself. I was so pleased with that massage I intended to go back the following day but I was so relaxed I couldn't be bothered getting up from the sun lounge by the pool. You have an ordinary massage first and then they used these hot rocks which are covered in warmish oil and they stroke your body with that and then leave them on certain points of the body. The Friday we went to Candi Dasa to have a look at another Royal Resort. It takes about 1 1/2 hours from Jimbaran and by the time we got back I felt it was too late to have a massage. Though the salon probably would have been open. We ended up buying another week of timeshare (points), lot cheaper this time, we'll certainly use some of these weeks in UK next year. We had lunch at that resort, the salesman paid for it. We weren't terribly hungry as we'd had a large breakfast before we went. Gorgeous view of the ocean from the restaurant. Very quiet place, even qieter than Jimbarran (the area) though the resort seems busier, it is a slightly bigger resort, Think about 20 or 24 units, this has studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units. The people who were there reckoned it is fantastic. A cab driver from Melbourne who was staying at Jimbaran Resort said they'd just spent 2 weeks there and they loved it. Go to Bali every other year and always spend 2 weeks at Candi Dasa. Think we might just try about 3 days or perhaps a week but couldn't see myself staying any longer. Not many Aussies there at this stage, it changes all the time. Lot of Indians as it is school holidays in India. Royal Resorts are big in Goa and a lot of the sales people come from India. Pool not very large, bit bigger than Jimbaran but they did have a spa pool as well. Need to get taxi to go to Candi Dasa which is about 4 km away. Taxis are cheap, no bemos though! There are some small restaurants in the street outside, similar to beach restaurants. The cabbie told to us go to Raja's in Candidasa owned by an Aussie, his wife is Balinese, evidently the food etc is marvellous and very cheap. We went to Kuta one day I needed to take some old jewellery to get remodelled etc and also wanted to take some of the DVDs back to H.....as they were faulty. Caught a taxi to Toko First jewellers at Tuban and the driver was happy because when he dropped us off he picked up another fare. We were lucky enough to get the shuttle from the hotel where the jewellers are to Matahari Dept Store, went in and bought some Revlon makeup and Eddie bought some software out the front. Then we walked down to H's to change DVDs and across to Discovery Mall. Went to Breadtalk and stocked up for our breakfast and lunch for a couple of days. So cheap and a big variety but some of the things weren't as nice as the ones I'd got at Sanur, others were possibly better. Had dinner at the Green Garden Hotel which was nice and quite reasonable but I'm not as reasonable as Donald's (Sanur). It certainly wasn't short of Aussies there.
We ate the first night at Novotel went for the South Pacific Buffet, very disappointed with the food this year, ate extensively there last year. only 10 diners there in this huge restaurant. Some guests came and sat on the steps when the floorshow was on. This was staff from the hotel. We didn't bother going back. One night we ate at a chinese place close to resort good food and they were pathetically glad to see us and you could see them cooking the food so you knew it was freshly cooked. Had the weirdest garlic bread there only cost 2,000 rp for 2 slices of bread. Think it was just crushed garlic on a slice of bread and wasn't even toasted properly. We were the only ones there. Had a look at a little Warung further down the street, but I couldn't see anything there that I would eat, plenty Eddie would. Didn't get to the beach restaurants. Eddie kept saying you cannot walk that far if we can't get a taxi back. Next time I am determined we will go to one of the places recommended on the forum. I know you can get a taxi. We ate a lot at the resort which really isn't a good idea, better to spread your money around.
I'd forgotten I wouldn't need my pool noodle as the pool isn't deep enough, it was at Candidasa only more people in the pool and maybe not enough room to use it. They haven't decided to heat the pool, lot of shade around it and it is never warm. Gave the staff chocolate the night before we left and they were thrilled. One said to us hope you come next year and bring us chocolate again, said in a joking way. We really took a lot of chocolate this year but it didn't go astray. Giving most of it away meant we didn't stack on quite so many kilos.
Last week installment shortly. Sorry I can't be humorous like some people, love their postings. Just hope this may be a help to someone.