6/1/10 – 6/2/10 (candi dasa)
Annie LinCandi Dasa – Sidemen – Candi Dasa – Sanur
We had one last place we wanted to check out before leaving Candi Dasa. We heard there was a really pretty drive along the town of Sidemen where there were big rice paddies. To get to Sidemen we had to get on the highway, which was pretty exciting since we had never been on one with our motorbike. There weren’t many cars on the road so it was a pleasant drive. It took us awhile to find Sidemen since there weren’t a lot of signs and we only had a vague idea of where it was. It also didn’t appear that many Westerners visited the area. We finally found the town and discovered quite a few boutique hotels tucked away alongside the rice paddies. There was a hotel called Uma Agung that was very peaceful and had a nice dining area overlooking the paddies. We wished we had found the place earlier since it would’ve been nice to stay there for a few days. It was nicely decorated and had an infinity pool, which made the place soothing and relaxing. We would highly recommend anyone looking for a quiet place to relax to stay at any of the accommodations in Sidemen. The only thing would be that the area is not touristy at all so there aren’t a lot of choices for meals except local foods though I imagine you can eat at the other hotels.
On our way back we stopped at Goa Lawah, one of the nine directional temples. It was the temple’s birthday so there was a large crowd of people dressed in traditional Balinese clothing bringing offerings to the temple. We were wearing shorts so we had to borrow a sarong and sash from the temple. There was a grassy area where everyone sat listening to drummers and then at some point everyone got up to enter the center of the temple to present their offerings. I think we were asked not to enter because we weren’t in traditional clothing or maybe because we didn’t bring any offerings. Who knows. Either way it was still pretty cool to check out the procession and see so many families in traditional attire.
The next day we got ready to head to Sanur where we were spending our last day in Bali before heading to Malaysia. We were a bit sad to leave Candi Dasa since we had a lot of fun exploring the area. We hired a driver to take us to Sanur which was only an hour or so away. The drive was like being an extended Indiana Jones adventure ride since there was major road construction all along the way. We were glad when the ride was over. We found a quiet little home stay on the outskirts of Sanur. The place was really nicely set up with only eight rooms and a pool in the middle. After we got settled in we asked our host for a lunch recommendation. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation he mentioned there was a Dunkin Donuts shop in town and we were hooked. We hadn’t eaten Dunkin Donuts in ages since they are only on the east coast. The only challenge was that we had to walk about twenty minutes to get to it and it was in the middle of the day when the humidity was at its worst. After walking for only a few minutes I wondered if we would even make it since we were both on the brink of passing out from the humidity. But luckily the thought of donuts kept us going. I can’t tell you how good it felt to walk into the donut shop not because of the smell of sweet delicious donuts but because the a/c was on full blast. The odd thing about the shop was that they had a huge portrait of people eating Dunkin Donuts in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. I guess no one told them that we couldn’t get those donuts on the west coast. We got our sugar fix and were ready to grab a real lunch.
We learned our lesson and grabbed a taxi when we were ready to head back to our home stay. We thought about checking out Sanur since it’s supposed to have nice white sandy beaches but we just wanted to relax by our pool on our last day in Bali. I was able to sit out by the pool for about ten minutes before it started to sprinkle. I was reluctant to leave the pool since I had been looking forward to it all day but then the staff started taking away the seat cushions and I felt pressured to give up my cushion. At least we were able to relax on our balcony watching the rain.
Since we had a late lunch we weren’t hungry till late in the evening and had very little options for food since many of the places nearby were already closed. We spent our last night in Bali eating instant noodles, drinking Bintang, and playing a game of Scrabble on our balcony. Could’ve been worse.
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