Bali 2014: Day 5 – Moving Day (Legian to Amed)
Tuesday 11 November 2014
Woke up to another glorious morning in Bali. Today we will be leaving the lovely All Seasons Hotel in Legian and heading out to Amed on the Eastern coast of Bali. Amed is a complete change of pace from Legian.
Snorkelling in Jemeluk Bay. Glorious colours, the water was so clear this afternoon.
Last minute packing done – let’s just say it is lucky we are not flying home today because our bags are a mess, but they will be good enough to get us safely to Amed. Our driver wasn’t picking us up till around 11am so we had the morning to get any last minute things.
BREAKFAST
First up of course was breakfast – can’t start a full day in Bali without a good breakfast – again we returned to Bella Vista Coffee Shop. Being creatures of habit we had the same breakfast as a couple of days ago, so rather than bore you with it just check out – Day 3 – Sunday for the full details. All up our bill came to about 250k.
SHOPPING
There was enough time left in Legian to do a quick run down to Garlic Lane to get some last minute clothes and gifts. We headed to the other great fixed price store Ketuts. Located down a small gang just across from Miss Debby’s, Ketuts has a huge reputation in Australia and as a result draws them in from far and wide. I usually avoid this place for that reason or will go really early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Bali certainly draws a wide demographic of people from all walks of life and Ketut’s store gives you a lovely cross section. Ketut is a lovely lady, always prompt to offer you a cold drink while you browse her store. Dan bought a few pairs of “bali pants” for Rp. 282k. Bali Pants are the loose fitting summer pants that are apparently quite comfortable to wear – I say apparently since they clearly don’t make a Mens variety….
TRANSFER TO AMED
Back to the hotel to check out and wait for our driver to take us to Amed. If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that I only ever use one company when I am in need of a driver in Bali – Drivers With Distinction – set up my team leader Dean, drivers with distinction are a fabulous group of drivers who we have used each time we come to Bali. They are all great but our number 1 favourite is my good friend Fredy. Unfortunately for Fredy someone hacked his website and took it down so he has to rely on his Facebook page until the new website gets designed.
We have also had the pleasure of using Mandika, and Hadi. Today Kasa will be coming to pick us up to take us up to Amed.
The drive to Amed usually takes about 3 hours (little longer if you want to stop for lunch). If you want to break up your trip to Amed I would definitely recommend a stop at Titra Gangga Water Palace it is just after the halfway mark a nice way to break up the drive. We stopped there in June when we were with Mandika.
Kasa in his office – traffic was pretty light today we made great time getting to Amed.
In my opinion the drive from Legian to Amed is one of the best in Bali. The transition of scenery from the Beach through the Mountains until finally emerging in the beachside village of Amed. The villages you travel through and also the spectacular roads through the mountain. Well worth even a day trip just to check out the area. I took a quick video on the GoPro to try and show some of the landscape along the way.
ACCOMMODATION
So we arrived in Amed, specifically Jemeluk. Amed itself represents a pretty large area of various little villages, we prefer to stay around Jemeluk as the snorkelling is pretty good and there is a great assortment of Warungs.
Our home for the next 3 nights is Blue Star Amed – Blue Star only have 3 rooms available – 1 Bungalow and 2 rooms (upper and lower level) so it can be tough to get in during peak seasons. We managed to get a booking in the Bungalow which was about Rp. 500k per night.
The bungalow room at Blue Star, closest to the beach and the restaurant. I think that will do us for the next 3 nights.
The Bungalow has a huge bed, as well as a Loft level with 2 single beds as well as a huge daybed outside with another double bed. I am sure at least 6 people could squeeze into this room.
From the front porch looking into the room. Not full of furniture but honestly has all you need.
The accommodation is rather simple, but do you really need much more – comfy bed, plenty of storage space and a nice semi-outdoor bathroom.
Perfect sized bed (in fact we may need google maps to find each other in that bed!)
Looking from the back of the room to the front door. That’s the loft upstairs with two large mattresses up there.
You can’t complain that the bungalow is too far from the beach, conservatively I would say 20 meters from the water, and only 5 meters from the Blue Star Warung for lunch.
LUNCH
After we were settled we may the epic trek across the complex to the restaurant (yes all 5 meters!) boy that took it out for us. The restaurant at Blue Star is really good – I noticed when looking at various reviews from Amed was many people who stayed nearby would actually come eat here, that’s a good vote for the restaurant.
You don’t have far to walk for lunch. Restaurant is strategically located between the water and the bungalow.
I had the Nasi Goreng and Dan the Grilled Prawns, all up with a couple of drinks each came to Rp. 88k.
Udang Panggang Mentega – Grilled Prawns served with Balinese or Garlic Sauce and rice (Rp. 40k).
Nasi Goreng Ayam – Well flavoured rice and just the thing I needed before tackling that stunning water.
The fantastic thing with Blue Star you can just put all your meals on the bill – so you won’t really need to open your wallet the whole time your there. But let’s be honest at only Rp. 88k for 2 lunch it is not going to break the bank.
The view from Lunch. Try to resist the urge to jump straight in the water. Set amongst the trees the Blue Star is a nice cool refuge when it gets a bit too hot out there.
SNORKELLING
We arrived at Blue Star at 1:41pm and by 3:21pm I was in the water snorkelling. Amed is famous as a great place to snorkel and dive, with many great Dive and Snorkel spots right off the beach. The beach area around Jemeluk offers a great snorkelling area, and the small cove that it is located in means it is protected most of the day from the sea breezes.
Snorkelling in Jemeluk Bay. Glorious colours, the water was so clear this afternoon.
Not a huge number of fish around this afternoon. But was nice to have a refreshing swim
The coral at Amed is quite impressive, if you go out a bit deeper you will see a variation in the type of coral and also the sealife.
DINNER
After a couple of hours snorkelling we came in to get ready for dinner. Of an afternoon Amed really quietens down, most of the day trippers are gone by about 5-6pm. So you will virtually have the beach to yourself. We had dinner on the beach this evening, was a peaceful end to the day.
Started with some pre-dinner drinks of freshly squeezed Orange Juice and Lemon Juice. For an Entrée we had Lumpia (Spring Rolls), this time Danielle had the Nasi Goreng and I opted for the Bi Siap Mesanten (Grilled Chicken in coconut milk served with rice). Sorry we didn’t take any pictures of dinner – left the camera in our room and it was just way to far to walk back and get it. All up for dinner and drinks Rp. 140k.
While having dinner I managed to arrange through Wayan for me to go out on a fishing trip with one of the Local fishermen tomorrow morning (5am departure is going to be a dream!).
Finished up dinner and went back to our room – I wanted to backup all our photos taken thus far and clear my camera memory cards.
Just to give you a quick inside look at the wonderful mess of cables and devices.
Just to give you a bit of a look at how I travel and backup my images when away. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, which allows you to plug in a USB Hub; from there I plug in a USB Card Reader which reads the cards from all our cameras; I then have a small 500GB hard drive to backup the images onto. By using the Samsung Galaxy Note I am able to transfer directly from the card reader to the hard drive. This saves me having to travel with a laptop anymore.
Handy Tip: If you travel with a little bit of technology it can be hard finding enough spare sockets to plug them into – if you pack a powerboard (powerstrip) you can then just plug all your devices into one socket and charge them all easily.
That’s it for today, time to get to bed early – I am supposed to be awake and ready before 5am tomorrow for my fishing trip. Goodness knows how that is going to work…. unsurprisingly my darling wife is letting me take that trip alone.
Thanks for stopping by again – please as always feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what you think of the blog and feel free to ask any questions you might have.
You seem very fond of meat and traveling. Your equipment is very complete once. I really like how you took the photo. Photos that you get a very nice and seemed to be have its own value. It is true, Bali provide experience and incredible adventure. The place also offers a lot of spots for diving or surfing. Like surfing. You should try it.