An end in Amed

    After the quick visit to the medical clinic in Ubud, the driver, Salit, took us on to the eastern area of Bali. We stopped for lunch along the way at the Temple Café in Candidasa. It was a nice drive with stunning sea views but I was in no shape to enjoy it. The whole coast is called Amed but we actually stayed at the Coral View Villas in the village of Lipah
    For the first time we ran into a mosquito problem and Doreen’s face took a beating (or a biting, if you prefer) the first two nights. When the manager asked how things were going, she unloaded about the mosquitos and he subsequently sprayed the room. Afterwards, while cleaning up, Doreen counted upwards of 40 dead mosquitos in our room. For the rest of our stay we saw only two or three. Doreen was convinced the room hadn’t been used in a while and they hadn’t fumigated it before our arrival. She was not happy.
    When the doctor phoned on Saturday night with the results of the blood test, it was a great relief. But it was too late to save this trip. We had started in Pulah Weh with a major setback and, despite some good/great moments since, there had been a series of minor aggravations all along the way. We finally ran out of steam in Amed and now we’re just killing days until we fly home.
    We saw the spiritual side of Bali last year and I’ll always treasure that. This year we saw the tourist side of Bali and it isn’t nearly as attractive. Australians dominated in the Legian area, Germans in Pemuteran and French in Munduk and Amed. We’ve seen very few Americans and only one Canadian (the lady from Montreal via Texas). It’s been different. And, at our age, we’ve found that we don’t do different as well as we did in the past.
    The beach in Amed is a black sand, pebbly beach again. The hotel does not have any beach property as the whole coastline is crowded with boats belonging to the local fishermen. Not a beach for walking. Besides, Doreen’s foot is still bothering her and she finds it difficult even walking on the roads. There was some good snorkeling just to the right of Coral View Villas and we did three trips out there and one in Jemuluk Bay. Better than Pulah Weh and off-the-beach in Pemuteran but a far cry from Menjangan Island.
    The resort has a lovely, little, palm-tree lined pool but the emphasis is on little. They have so many trees surrounding the pool they can fit only four lounges. And the trees effectively screen the area so there was no place to get any consistent sun. A lovely setting but it grew increasingly boring. Enough already. I wanna go home.