Off to the seaside

22.2.16

Mixed emotions this morning, really excited about our beach bungalow by the sea and to see the coast, but will be sad to leave Villa Mandi and the gorgeous Ubud.
The only downside to staying here was the proximity to anywhere to eat in the evenings.
It’s easy enough to pay for transfers after 4pm but it would be nice to have somewhere to take a stroll to.
The staff are so lovely, they’ve always got a smile and are often singing and laughing while they work.
It’s very tranquil and I love the garden areas.
Our holiday dog was happy to see us at breakfast, I even got a kiss on the back of my knees!

Will miss his face in the mornings.

John saved a bit of pancake for the ginger cat here. She’s expecting babies any day now, they seem to love her, she’s always chilling out down in the area where staff watch tv when they’re not busy. She didn’t want pancake.

We got the hotel shuttle with Puto to Ubud.
He was dressed in white with a turban, looking very smart as were the reception girls in their pretty clothes, he explained its full moon, which involves visiting the temple twice that day.

We left our cases with the tour company and had 45 minutes to wander before our transfer.
Bought a couple little gifts in the market and John bought a t shirt.
I had a kind of sinking feeling in my tummy, really, really sad to say goodbye to Ubud.

The little transfer minibus wasn’t as cramped as we’d feared. 11 people and a huge pile of bags.
As always we were the oldest, 4 young girls, a guy travelling alone and the rest were couples.
It took 2 hours to get to Candidasa through lovely countryside, One of the guys played Candy Crush the whole way and the mother in me wanted to tell him to put his phone down and enjoy the view.

We weren’t sure how far it was to our accommodation so we got one of the many ‘taxi’ drivers to take us to Puri Oka bungalows.
When we pulled up it didn’t look anything special, the reception guy said he would give us the best room.

We both gasped when we saw the view, just amazing.

There doesn’t seem to be many people booked in, I guess this is the advantage to being out of season.
We were hungry so wandered off to see the town.
Its a low key resort, not known for its nightlife which suits us perfectly.
Party animals head to Kuta, definitely not for us, even a 19 year old on the shuttle said it was awful and she only stayed a few hours.

Candidasa spreads along one main road with restaurants, cafes, gift shops and some little supermarkets.
We stopped for lunch at a little place that said it was a bakery.
I opted for a tuna mayo baguette, John had pork curry.
I was so looking forward to the baguette, but what I got was 2 bits of rock hard toasted old bread with fresh tuna, lettuce, tomato,onion and a small drop of sea food sauce.
Where the fish was it had made a soggy surface, it was just vile, I couldn’t do it.

We were given 2 pieces of complimentary cake when we arrived, which was excellent.
My ice coffee milkshake was grim, basically undissolved coffee in water.
She didn’t charge for the baguette.

We wandered for a while, replenished our vodka supply, looked at the restaurant menus for later and chatted to the people at the Wayan cafe where they have traditional dancers later and are offering a free taxi one way, so i think that’s where we will go.
Quite a few places are advertising live music, set menus, and happy hours. Quite different to Ubud.
Got accosted by several drivers offering trips and airport transfers, they’re all very nice though and just trying to make a living.
There were a couple of laundries but we weren’t able to ascertain when we would get our stuff back, so we will do it ourselves.

Strolled back and had a swim, soaked up the beautiful view and read until it was getting dark.
It really was like being in paradise.

Our room is a bit tatty, not enough sockets, a bit mouldy round the bath with very corroded taps, but with that view it just doesn’t matter, for £21 a night it’s incredible.

We did a little bit of laundry, Johns borrowed another airer from next door, and unpacked a bit, we have cupboards and shelves again!

Set off to town, very quiet in most places, and no one at the Wayan Cafe either, but we got talked into going in.
They showed John a Red Snapper fish, caught that day.
No sign of any dancers and it’s now 9pm, but the meal and the owners were nice and we’ve had happy hour beer, spring roll, calamari and the Red Snapper, tasty although fiddly to eat, so all is good.
John played Monopoly while sorting the bill, we need to get rid of some of the notes as having trouble closing my purse!!
Most of them are worth less than 50p each.

On the way back we noticed none of the places had their advertised entertainment, so we won’t be swayed by that tomorrow night.

The taxi driver from earlier has given us his number and a price for a day trip, but we’re going to have a lazy day making the most of where we are  and maybe go exploring the day after.

Fabulous internet here, downloaded some BBC, watched Call the Midwife, although I slept through most of it.
I would blame the sound of the sea in the background, but I always fall asleep watching Call the Midwife, and Downton Abbey, although I love both.

Nite nite from our little slice of paradise x