Island of the Gods still supreme

BY WARWICK STANLEY

After the horrors of 2002 and 2005, the Island of the Gods didn't take long to regain its standing as our preferred South-East Asian getaway.

And despite the constant travel warnings, the Aussie drawl is again a second language on the streets and beaches of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Sanur.

At Raja's Restaurant in central Kuta, where patrons were killed and injured in the October 1, 2005 bombings, every table is taken by midday and the crowd spills onto the street.

On the narrow thoroughfares that pass for roads, many tourists negotiate motorbikes and mopeds through the painfully slow-moving traffic along Kuta Beach promenade and Legian's Melasti Street.

To cater for those who enjoy this crowded, colourful mayhem, any number of resorts and hostels have emerged to cope with the upswing in demand that has barely faltered since the October 12, 2002 Sari Club attacks that killed 202 people.

While not increasing at the same rate, holiday accommodation in the island's central, east and northern areas has also surged to meet demand.

The mountain areas around Ubud and Kintamani have always drawn the tourist trade, while the east and northern coastal areas are now increasingly popular with visitors looking for Bali's famous balance of pristine natural beauty and traditional village life.

To experience the different shades of Bali, one hotel operator is offering a variety of attractive stays.

Peter Arya, a native of Bali, whose father established The Legian Beach Hotel in 1974, graduated in science and engineering in Sydney and worked with the CSIRO up to 1986 before answering his father's call to help him run the resort.

Peter was appointed to the Bali Tourism Board, is now the director of the four-star Legian Beach, and has the five-star Maya Ubud Resort and Spa and four-star Candi Beach Cottage in his Maya Resorts stable.

"I met the right people at the right time," he said during afternoon tea at The Legian Beach Hotel, which has grown from 135 rooms to 218 rooms on a four-hectare property of tropical landscaped gardens.

A couple of Peter's helping hands were old friends; others were people in the trade he met through the ITB Berlin, and the culmination of their planning and work is the very zen Maya Ubud resort, completed in 2002.

Set in 10 hectares of hillside a couple of kilometres from Ubud township, the 108-room resort is built about 30 metres above the Petanu river, which winds beside it along its 800 metre length.

The views from the two infinity pools, the bar and the capacious hillside spa, in particular, are reminiscent of scenes from one of the James Bond originals. (Goldfinger and Dr No spring to mind but I haven't pinned it down.)

Guests have their choice of indoor and outdoor dining in stunning settings, and the range of international cuisine, both al la carte and buffet, is worthy of the resort's five-star ranking.

Bali's culture is on your doorstep, as the resort's outdoor theatre presents traditional dancers and musicians on selected evenings.

We stayed in a high-ceiling Balinese style bungalow with its own plunge pool, spacious and luxuriously appointed bathroom, and an unimpeded view of the jungle to the rice fields beyond.

When not pampering ourselves in the self-indulgent delights of the resort, we took a hotel car into Ubud, the rice-fields town in the middle of Bali that is famed as a centre for the arts, and which has become the home of the annual Bali Writers Festival.

For the kids and young at heart, a whole day can fly by in laughter amid the inhabitants of the Ubud Monkey Forest.

Visits to temples like Gunung Kawi, the highest and one of the oldest in the Bali mountains, and to vantage points like Kintamani, with its views of Mt Agung, Mt Batur and other mighty volcanos, are among the highlights of sightseeing excursions beyond the township.

Coffee lovers should seek out the local growers who specialise in cultivation of the coffee luak, or fox-dung bean.

In orchards growing tropical fruits such as mangoes and mangosteens (an enormous passionfruit), the foxes curl up in cages while the fruits of their digestion are roasted in large woks and served up on the premises as arguably the world's best coffee.

After all the activity at Legian and Ubud, Peter offers the complete chill-out at Candi Beach Cottage on Mendira Bay, Candi Dasa, on Bali's north-east coast.

Pronounced shandy, as in the drink, the 64-room resort is on the eastern coast just a short drive from the Candi Dasa township, about 55km north east of Denpasar.

It is not entirely without activities, as it lies within the area considered to be one of the island's best for diving, with plenty of colourful coral and fish.

Its beachfront is a naturally formed lagoon that's ideal for snorkelling.

A honeymooners paradise, and a haven for those who are just looking for peace and relaxation, it offers different types of accommodation, including hotel rooms and cottages and a deluxe bungalow.

The terrace restaurant has panoramic views over Mendira Bay to Lombok beyond, and one of the two magnificent swimming pools has a swim-up pool bar.

Apart from the great swimming facilities and the laid-back ambience, the most attractive aspect of Candi Beach is its beautiful, expansive gardens and lawns, which provide for a feeling of space between the resort and the jungle and villages beyond.

After giving ourselves two days at Candi Beach, my wife and I were wishing it had been more.

But those days would have had to be subtracted from our time at Legian Beach, where we began and ended our Bali sojourn.

One of the Legian resort's pool villas was five-star accommodation in a four-star resort - our very special oasis in the middle of Bali's tourist hub.

It was a treat fondly remembered, more so because of the wonderful surf and the spoilt-for-choice smorgasbord of restaurants that were on our doorstep.

And then came the shopping ...

No wonder Bali is still Australia's home away from home.

IF YOU GO

Jetstar Asia and Asia Air offer the cheapest rates on flights between Denpasar and Australia's major airports.

Ten per cent reductions available for stays in all three Maya resorts (minimum stay two nights in each resort), if booking is made online at www.legianbeachbali.com (and by showing this article upon check-in).

Free transport between hotels is available for those making bookings at all three Maya resorts (for stays of two days or longer).

Wifi is available at all three resorts.

- AAP