A tidy, well-kept, three-km-long European (mostly Italian, French, and Scandinavian) tourist retreat and water sports center on the southeast coast where the local people are non-aggressive and the hotel owners eager to please. Attracting refugees from the frenetic southern honeypots, Candidasa is the type of place where you think you’ll stay two days but end up staying a week. Best in the off-season, when its quietude and small-village air are god-sent. One of the smallest resort areas on Bali; the rhythm is noticeably more laid-back than Kuta, Lovina or Sanur. Tenganan, a traditional village nearby, exerts its influence-many Candidasa businesses are owned by Tenganan people. The Italian influence is heavy-hotels bear Italian names, and many Italian dishes dot the town’s restaurant menus.

As recently as the mid-’70s vendors and ‘warung’ were the only businesses in Candidasa, serving meditating travelers staying at the Hindu Gandi Asrama. From these first enterprises sprang the sprawling resort of Candidasa, which now stretches toward Balina Beach to the southwest. Today three-story hotels, huge souvenir shops and full-size supermarkets occupy the town, but without watch-sellers, big tour buses and other attendant blights of mass tourism. Candidasa is only really busy in July and August and a little bit in December; other times the place is dead and its denizens depressed.

For many visitors, Candidasa is the perfect blend, everything one would want in a seaside resort-reasonable accommodations, variegated dining, interesting sea sports, warm-water bathing, tranquil nights. Most of the Balinese here aren’t after anything. It is a slow and friendly place, where you can pass the hours with locals on the streets and beaches, or find someone to take you fishing, snorkeling or gambling. Walk, read, soak up the sun, and let the crickets and crashing surf lull you to sleep each night. Candidasa isn’t going to change in a hurry. The only threat to Candidasa’s repose is the large oil depot at Labuhan Amuk on the west end of the bay, raising concerns about encroaching pollution in the surrounding waters.

Candidasa also makes an excellent base for trips to all over east Bali: Tirtagangga, Kusamba, Goa Lawah, Klungkung, Bangli, and eastern mountain towns like Putung and Iseh. For a scenic land tour, rent bicycles or simply walk the gorgeous hill country above town. Visit nearby Tenganan to shop, and for a fascinating look at the ancient rituals of a traditional society.

Sights
Coral gathering off the coast over two decades ago destroyed the reef-it no longer protects the shore, and the sea swept away much of the sand. Since Candidasa’s beach is so narrow, it accommodates few vendors. There is a tide, just like on a normal beach. At high tide predatory waves pound the seawall, chasing beachcombers to higher ground. At low tide, the beach west of the lagoon is only eight meters wide and you can walk as far as 50 meters on the shelf (wear sneakers) and observe rock pools and reef life. During all but the rainy season, the water is crystal clear. Cement walkways and sitting pavilions surround the inland lagoon at the east end of town-the beautiful lagoon, with its tepid water, is also the village bath. The community’s fresh water is handpumped from wells.

To prevent further erosion, huge horrendous T-shaped concrete breakwaters were built. Because the currents caused by these stone piers are unpredictable, swimming is not advisable. If there’s no pool where you’re staying, you can use a pool at any of the ritzier hotels for around Rp6000. Sunbathing is best on the seawall. Take in views of the rocky Batu Manggar islet offshore, the lighthouse off Padangbai’s headland, the looming island of Nusa Penida, and neighboring Lombok. Watch the wind and rain chase fishing craft across the sea. On calm days you can swim out past where the waves break, over the fringing reef about one-quarter km.

The name Candidasa is derived from “Cilidasa” meaning “Ten Children.” A shrine in the eastern part of the village, on a hillside under a cliff, looking out over a spring-fed lotus lagoon emptying into the sea, was founded in the 11th century. At street level is a statue of the giantess Hariti, a fertility goddess, surrounded by her many children. Childless couples often come to the temple seeking help from this goddess. A long flight of steps leads to the upper level of the temple, which contains an old ‘linga’. Its 10-tiered gateway is one of the few instances of an even-number employed in religious architecture.

Offshore Islands
Candidasa’s offshore islands, only 30-45 minutes by boat, offer incredible snorkeling. Off southwest Candidasa, the tiny outcrop of Pulau Kambing-also called Pulau Tepekong-has magnificent coral reefs frequented by a startling array of fish in every size, shape, and color, including small, harmless reef and white-tip sharks. The island, which measures only 50 by 100 meters, has very steep sides, with no beaches. The water is clear, with visibility up to 10 meters; first-class skin-diving. The northern end of the island is generally shallow, with the top of a southwest sloping wall starting at a depth of 10 meters.

The east end of the island contains many caves, submerged pinnacles, and table coral. The south side is deeper, the top of the reef beginning at about 22 meters. The best section is known as The Canyon, lined with giant boulders, plunging to a depth of more than 30 meters. Because of the strong downward pull of the current, it’s been nicknamed The Toilet. The best time to go is early in the morning when the water is clear and there’s little wind. An offering on the beach to the gods is a prerequisite before setting off. Hire a motorized ‘jukung’; once you clear the fringing reef it’s only a 15-minute ride.

Two other islands in the western side of Amuk Bay are Pulau Biaha (also called Likuan) and Gili Mimpang (also Batu Tiga or Three Rocks)-both present difficult conditions to even experienced divers. There are sharks around, the water is cold, the underwater currents are strong and unpredictable, and waves crashing into the islands create an undertow. Best to go only with professional divers who’ve been there before. Excellent snorkeling in the vicinity.

One of the best-kept secrets of eastern Bali is brilliant Pasir Putih, 500-meter-long white-sand beach to the northeast. Ask a fisherman in Sumuh village (east of Candidasa) to take you there, or take a ‘bemo’ to Perasi where a path leads past ‘sawah’ to the coast. After 2.5 kilometers, you reach a small temple where the path forks. The left takes you to several black-sand beaches, while the right takes you down through coconut groves to Pasir Putih. Great views of rocky headlands and offshore islands.

Accommodations
Ten years ago this small village had only a few thatched huts and one private homestay. Today it boasts over 60 accommodations, with more sprouting monthly. Tourist digs are everywhere. Largely a budget resort, big, expensive hotels just wouldn’t make it here. Prices and services are generally comparable to Lovina. Most places include the same simple breakfast of one hardboiled egg (or jaffles), bananas, and coffee or tea. Accommodations across the road tend to be cheaper than those close to or facing the sea. Most lie south along the main village road, though a growing number cluster along the seven-km stretch from Candidasa west to Manggis.

A number of other quiet accommodations are spread out under coconut palms east of town center on Forest Road, which ends at the sea. Remember if you stay too far out of town, you’ll probably need to rely on expensive hotel transport, as public transport stops at dusk. Prices will go up at least 25% in August. Top-of-the-line beachfront bungalows offer private ‘mandi’ and luxurious bamboo verandas. Try for a deal at one of the more uptown hotels during the off-seasons. Take note that Homestay Kelapa is now the shuttle bus station for “downtown” Candidasa. A brilliant move-now the place gets everybody. Touts hanging around the homestay do not necessarily represent the best in Candidasa.

Budget
Clean, quiet Dutha Seaside Cottages is a nice, family place at the north end of the village-run like a large commune. Dutha has its own beachfront, with cool breezes, good swimming and a beautiful view. Rooms are in a two-story building and a row of bungalows. Tariff includes breakfast, or just go in the kitchen and make your own tea or coffee. Frequent parties and Balinese feasts. Made, the owner/manager, is a real character-portly, smiling, animated. Contact him at tel. 62361-93.296 in Blahbatuh or tel. 62361-93.061 in Gianyar, or just show up. A real traveler’s place.

The people at Homestay Lilaberata, on the other hand, show almost a complete disregard for their guests. This dirty, run-down dive in the middle of the strip is tolerable only if you clean your room thoroughly, both inside and out. Staff burn trash in the yard, giving off thick toxic fumes and a horrendous stench. See the rubbish heaps and rats in the garden.

Up the road toward Balina is Homestay Ayodya, with nicely furnished rooms. The owner is the richest man in Candidasa-he holds title to most of the hills behind the village. Loves his 20 fighting cocks and employs a special boy to take care of them. This guy can lose Rp4 million in a cockfight and come home with a smile on his face. The dive operation Grace Divepro, tel. 62366-34.992, maintains an office here.

Homestay Agung with very kind people, but each night the disco in the restaurant nearby cranks up really loud music. Quieter is Homestay Segara Wangi, with attractive, well-kept gardens facing the sea. A friendly place with good breakfast, the bungalows are new and clean. You may end up staying for days.

Homestay Kelapa Mas, tel. 62366-41.947, next door to Homestay Ida, is cheaper and less touristy than most places. It’s clean, quiet, well-serviced and almost always full. Stunning seaside location in a banana and coconut grove. The indoor ‘mandi’, almost the same size as the room itself (tiny), consists of a spigot shower high on the wall and a squat toilet. All rooms are linked by tidy concrete paths bordered by neatly clipped hedges. The thatch and brick cottages facing the sea are best.

Agung Bungalows is a great place to stay, with nice clean bungalows with fan, private bathrooms, and breakfast-very good value, good people. Contact Mr. Supadnya, manager, at tel. 62361-355.535 in Denpasar. The Dewa Berata, east of Agung’s, has comfortable bungalows for three people. The seaside is right next to the pool. Quiet and friendly Nani Beach Inn, near the Ramayana, has bungalows with ‘mandi’. Very close to the beach. Losmen Geringsing is one of the more comfortable low-priced ‘losmen’, with ornate brick-and-bamboo bungalows facing the beach.

Luxury
Candidasa’s first-class hotels tend to be on the wings of the central downtown strip. Located on oceanfront property amid palms, most of these accommodations feature European toilets and showers, hot water, lush gardens, air conditioning, full-size swimming pools, garden bathrooms, refrigerators, minibars, gift shops, and restaurants with magnificent views over the Lombok Strait and offshore islands. All offer sea sports, airport transfers, big dish TVs, extravagant buffet dinners, and continental, Indonesian, and American breakfasts. All accept credit cards and offer laundry, postal, massage, tour, and moneychanging services. The “best” are several kilometers from Candidasa, with nothing else in the vicinity. Like German prison camps with German food. This may be exactly what some people want; others will feel like trapped animals.

Nirwana Cottages, Sengkidu, Amlapura 80871, tel. 62366-41.136, fax 41.543, has a superb location, nice rooms (traditional, well-appointed, one-story cottages), pool, and wholesome home-cooked food. Close to the water, Nirwana is clean, private, and low-key, with Japanese baths, spring mattresses, and very personalized service. Eat bratwurst in the pleasant seaside restaurant; ask about the “Easy Rider” facilities whereby you can do Indonesia by camper van. Also in Sengkidu is Ida Beach Village, tel. 62366-41.118/119, fax 41.041, consisting of 17 thatched ‘lumbung’-style air-conditioned bungalows set in their own compound, surrounded by a garden and courtyard. All mod cons-hot water, bath, telephone, air conditioning, and fan. Facilities include restaurant, bar, swimming pool.

Centrally located Candidasa Beach Bungalows II, tel. 62366-51.205, is a big two-story hotel with an open-air bar and pool. Despite its packed-in feeling, real Balinese breezes blow here, and the rooms are attractive and spacious. Breakfast, especially the banana pancakes, is excellent. All rooms have fans, air conditioning, hot water, Western-style bath, fridge and TV.

The elegant Watergarden, tel. 62366-41.540, fax 41.164, offers 12 luxurious Balinese-style, fan-cooled cottages with thatched roofs and marble floors overlooking lily ponds stocked with koi fish. A virtual aquatic park laid out on gradually rising terraces. The well-designed bungalows have adjustable ceiling fans, comfortable beds, and large wooden-decked verandas. Enjoy the natural gardens of coconut palms and lush frangipani and bougainvillea surrounding a large free-form swimming pool with waterfall-a lovely setting for evening barbecues and ‘gamelan’ performances. Room service, IDD, laundry, ironing, safety deposit, library, flight reconfirmation, mountain bikes, tour and transport service. Dine on European and Indonesian cuisine, guzzle exotic cocktails at attached TJs. Peter Warren, the Australian manager, is hypnotic.

Tinarella Beach Hotel, in Samuh, tel. 62366-33.971, provides real comfort rooms. All rooms Balinese-style with private bathrooms, spacious gardens, large swimming pool, poolside bar, restaurant, water sports, taxi service, IDD, fax. Lovely view of the beach.

Relaxing, clean, and comfortable Puri Bagus Beach Hotel is tucked away amid the palms in Samuh at the end of Forest Road with 50 well-designed, spacious bungalows. Higher rates for nine units and two suites facing the ocean. Terrace verandas, but beware of slippery tiles after it rains. Good 24-hour security, an unobtrusive, friendly staff. The floating pavilion is perfect for meditation, the pool good for diving. Buffet-style dinner, Indonesian or American-style breakfast in breezy second-story restaurant. Coral reef out front. For diving, Baruna has a desk here. Reservations: Jl. Bypass I Gusti Ngurah Rai 300 B, Box 419, Denpasar 80001, tel. 62361-51.223, fax 52.779, or call direct to the hotel at 62366-35.238/291, fax 35.666.

Candidasa Bungalows II, Box 10, Amlapura, tel. 62366-35.536, fax 35.537, in the center of town offers spacious bungalows with swimming pool and a restaurant right on the beach. The property has an air of abandon in the off-season, when it’s overstaffed and underpatronized.

Out of Town
To get away from the crowds, head a few kilometers off the main drag to Kubu Bali Bungalows, tel. 62366-35.531/532, high above the restaurant of the same name. Built in dramatic amphitheater-style, this hotel sits on a ridge overlooking the entire area. Beautiful, small, retro-rococo villas with brass coach lamps, smoked glass, antique carvings, and tame monkeys.

Sengkidu, five minutes southwest of Candidasa, is a tidy little tourist village consisting of cafes, souvenir shops, and bike rental joints-like a sane Kuta. Anom Beach Bungalows has eight bungalows with fan, double bed, shower, and bountiful breakfast. Excellent restaurant overlooking a white-sand beach. Rent snorkeling equipment for brilliant views of coral gardens just 20 meters offshore inhabited by triggerfish and rays.

Also check out Homestay Dwi Utama with four rooms facing the ocean. High-class Candi Beach Cottages on the white sands of Mendira Beach provides amenities which include two bars, two restaurants, water sports, pool, tennis courts, fitness room, game room, spa, occasional ‘barong’ dances, tour service, and free shuttle into town.

Flamboyant, on the other side of the bridge toward Balina, is a decent walk from town. They charge a fair price, owners willing to bargain. A strip of bungalows leading to the beach with clean rooms, attentive staff, and okay breakfast. Bayu Peeneda Bungalows has nice bungalows with very good breakfast and wonderful ocean panorama. The meals are very good and the sea spray provides a natural aerosol.

Uncrowded, six-room Ida Cottages is in the eastern part of town just before the lagoon. One of the first accommodations in Candidasa, Ida’s has beautiful bamboo-and-thatch traditional bungalows in a spacious coconut grove; also some rooms in two-story unit. No hot water. The only place in Candidasa proper you can rent a little home with lots of privacy.

A great spot. Rama Ocean View Bungalows and Resort Hotel, Box 120, Amlapura 80801, tel. 62361-233.974/975, fax 233/975, lies 1.5 km southwest of town. A Holiday Inn-style resort hotel offering serenity, security, and the personal touch of a small hotel with the services of a larger one. They have large air-conditioned rooms with beautiful garden bathrooms and second-story rooms with stunning views. Facilities include video and TV, oceanfront swimming pool, tennis courts, fitness and massage center, sauna, conference room, large and pleasant dining area. Outstanding restaurant with ‘padi bali’ and homemade yogurt, croissants, and bread; the honey/pineapple/banana pancakes can’t be beat. Buffets by request. Great place for families. Easy 15-minute walk into the village.

Food
Dinner is the big social event around here. Candidasa’s imposing eateries, many set back from the road in big pavilions among the palms, offer the usual Kuta formula menus-generally speaking poor food-but with a Mediterranean twist. Pasta or German dishes always included. There are even several authentic Italian restaurants.

Seafood is fresh, cheap, and abundant. The fish dinners are the best buy, particularly the bream caught everyday by local fishermen and sold to the town’s ‘warung’ and restaurants. Find dozens of small, quaint, friendly ‘warung’, some with spectacular settings on the seawall. Most of Candidasa’s restaurants will organize traditional dances if you have enough people, but even during the low season you can catch the occasional show once or twice a week.

Authentic and cheap is Kelapa Mas, with very good veggie soup (Rp1000) and grilled salmon with chips and veggies. Family-run Arie’s Restaurant, in the west end of town, is a good bet for budget Western, Balinese, and Chinese food. The fish dinners are good value; also try the ‘gado-gado’ and the fish curry with vegetables. Besides the food, Arie’s offers a free bulletin board, provides daily English newspapers, rents life jackets and binoculars, sells children’s furniture, and organizes fishing trips.

Cafe Lily used to be Candidasa’s premier gourmet restaurant but the British owner has gone back to Australia, and the place has really fallen down-the food is terrible. The first and still one of the best restaurants in Candidasa is the candle-lit Pandan Restaurant on the beach-try the fantastic grilled fish with vegetable salad in a very romantic setting. Every second night an amazing smorgasbord. Highly recommended. Fan-cooled and well-posted Raja’s Restaurant & Bar boasts such international cuisine as tuna cakes, kebab, sausages, apple pie, and margaritas. Nightly videos at 1930.

Baliku is an artistically designed restaurant right on the ocean, next to Cafe Toke. A great spot to sit and take in the scenery, enjoy excellent Singapore crab, seafood, and continental European food. Cafe Toko next door is a small seafront restaurant with an extensive menu offering seafood, pasta, and pizzas. Friendly staff, high prices.

Probably the best place for Western food is TJs, tel./fax 62366-35.540, by The Watergarden. Homemade bread, stuffed baked potatoes, lots of salads, delectable grilled fish, and, authentic Balinese-style ‘nasi campur’ with ‘urap’ and not much oil. This is the place to be on Friday and Saturday nights for the barbecue buffet-salad bar, great spare ribs, chicken, beef and dessert. Super deal. Order French wines, Irish coffee, and almost anything long or short from the very extensive drink menu. TJs is also a popular place for cakes and “Ekspresso.” Definitely try the coconut pie.

Nice atmosphere. Kubu Bali, tel. 62363-41.532, fax 41.531, in the center of Candidasa, is an elegant, open-air restaurant featuring seafood: sweet shrimp and sauce, ‘sate campur’ and plain green vegetables with sauce. Good desserts, especially the ice cream. Watch all the action in the open kitchen where flames shoot up around the wok. East of the village is Mandara Giri Pizzeria, the best Italian restaurant in Candidasa. Extremely good and inexpensive crab with cognac, pizza with seafood, outstanding spaghetti and lasagna.

Services
Candidasa has at least 10 moneychangers (similar rates as Kuta), two Wartels (telecommunication services), lending libraries, bookstores, several doctors, a pharmacy, laundry and massage services, a postal agent, several big convenience markets, and a number of travel agencies, tour operators, and dive shops. The cost of basic provisions in shops and supermarkets is usually much cheaper than elsewhere on the island. The telephone code for Candidasa is 0366.

A reliable bike rental shop is Kubu Bali Rental, tel. 62366-35.532 with mountain bikes, ordinary bikes and motorbikes (200 cc). You can also rent motorcycles unofficially from the locals, avoiding all the red tape. Saputra Rental, tel. 62366-41.083, near the Tenganan turnoff, is also recommended. The nearest gas stations are just before the Tirtagangga turnoff and right after the turnoff to Padangbai.

At least 15 tour operators maintain offices in Candidasa, and all the hotels staff tour desks. Your hotel can arrange an English-, Japanese-, or German-speaking guide. The fancy hotels charge astronomical prices for fax service; Ayodya Homestay is cheaper. Of the two Wartel, the best known is at the Kubu Bali. If the wait is too long at Kubu’s, go down to Asri Market. No public telephone in Candidasa accepts cards. The postal agent at Asri (open 0800 to 2000) sells stamps and provides poste restante (letters should be addressed to Asri Shop, Box 135, Candidasa, Karangasem, Bali). Asri also offers package parcels in a big 10-kg box. If staff can break off looking at the TV long enough, they may serve you.

At a small shack southwest of town, on the same road as Rama Seaview Beach Bungalows, is a laundry service, Monalisa, about one-third cheaper than the hotels. Another ‘tukang cuci’ (Wayang Resiyani) works near the temple; ask for her in one of the nearby ‘warung’. At the hotels, steel-fingered masseurs come around asking Rp6000 for one-hour massages.

Shopping
Candidasa shopkeepers display plenty of authentic Balinese crafts and textiles; they don’t hassle you as they do in other places on Bali. Ata baskets and offering trays of ata vines from Candidasa’s hillsides are an important home industry in the area. They’re sturdy enough to last 100 years.

Across the street from the Candidasa Beach Bungalows II is Chinese-run Asri, a combination film developing/grocery/crafts store with fixed prices and computerized check out. Some readers report engaging in 90% of their Bali souvenir/gift shopping here. No pressure and reasonable prices. Buy cosmetics, medicine, stamps, tapes, film, snacks, and simple clothes here. Eddy’s Market makes the best photocopies in town, offers complete photo service, changes money, and stocks an outstanding collection of photo supplies. Plus groceries, books on Indonesian art and culture, and Candidasa’s most complete postcard selection.

Tanteri’s Ceramic is a showroom for remarkable Pejaten pottery, a unique variety of glazed stoneware, produced exclusively in Pejaten village. Purchase vases, soap dishes, cups, bowls, and plates with either a mat or shiny finish. The seaside village of Jasi, north of Bugbug, provides earthenware bowls and water jars. Attached to Chez Lily is a high-quality gift shop selling fine art and ceramics: ‘rebab’, masks, antiques, clothes, handmade knives. A small bookstore without a name sits opposite Wiratha’s Homestay. The owner, Aliep, sells used and new books in six languages, an Irving Stone. Open 0900 to 2000. Also check out the selection of books at Homestay Kelapa Mas.

Entertainment
See ‘barong’, ‘topeng’ and ‘legong’ dances at Pandan Harum Tuesday and Saturday. During the tourist season performances are also staged at the Candidasa Beach Hotel and other upscale accommodations. If you like a lot of noise and high-priced drinks head to the Tirta Nadi where local bands play most nights of the week. The best bar scene, though, is TJ’s; try their famous jumbo margaritas. Happy hour 1800-2000. You can also stay up late drinking and listening to high-volume music at the Beer Garden (no cover); all the gigolos hang out here. For recent movies, Raja’s has a huge monitor for videos, or see them on laser disc at Molly’s Garden Restaurant (around 1930). Molly’s also serves bar-quality food; since the British owner returned home the place has fallen on hard times. Try to focus on your snack while the screams from horror videos split the evening air.

Water Sports
Although there isn’t much to the beach, there are still plenty of sheltered places to swim, especially on the eastern side of the village around the lagoon area. Or use the pools at any of Candidasa’s ritzy hotels, which includes towel and lounge chair all day.

Organized trips are best in Candidasa’s often-dangerous waters. For instance, a fisherman will take you out just 30 minutes to see dolphins leaping and swimming-surrounding you. Good swordfish (lumba-lumba) fishing, too. Out at sea, it’s an impressive view of the hills and Gunung Agung behind Candidasa. Nearly all the hotels offer half-day snorkeling, diving, fishing, and sailing outings and several shops rent masks and flippers. Underwater sports provide beautiful views of coral and psychedelic fish. Beware of currents and don’t depend on Candidasa fishermen as lifeguards-they can’t swim!

There are three dive shops in Candidasa where you can rent dive tanks, snorkels, and wetsuits. Stingray Dive Center, tel./fax 62366-41.063, is the cheapest; the equipment is okay but not too new. Stingray also offers two dives and a boat trip to Nusa Penida. Paris Diving, east of Stingray, and Baruna Diving, Puri Bagus Beach Hotel, tel. 62366-753.820, offer the same trip. Baruna seems most professional. Inquire at the Friendship Shop about Dive Paradise dive tours to Tulamben, Pulau Tepekong and Nusa Penida.

Getting There and Away
From Klungkung or Padangbai take a ‘bemo’ headed for Amlapura. If traveling from Denpasar, first take a minibus to Batubulan Station, then catch another minibus to Candidasa (many stops along the way). Both long-distance and local minibuses and ‘bemo’ travel constantly up and down the coastal road between Amlapura and Klungkung from 0500 to 1900.

Shuttle buses to Ubud leave five times daily; to Sanur, Kuta, and the airport, 0930 and 1000; to Kintamani, only at 0800; and for Lovina, 0800 and 1200.

Candidasa is about 2.5 hours from Bali’s airport. Virtually all the better hotels in Candidasa offer private transfers to and from the airport, Kuta, Nusa Dua, Tanjung Benoa or Ubud. MG International Ticketing, midtown, sells air and shuttle bus tickets, rents bikes and cars, and changes money. Buy long-distance bus tickets to Java here, too. MG is useful as an agent for such international airlines as SIA, MAS, UTA, KLM, Pan Am, JAL, Thai and Qantas. Perama Tours near Arie’s Restaurant has very good prices for tickets and offers tours around east Bali, car rentals, and other tourist services. On the western corner of the lagoon, across the road, is No Problem Transport, tel. 62366-29.110, for changing money, postal service, tours, shuttles, and international bookings. The only problem with No Problem is you must call Denpasar to confirm your international ticket purchases.

Vicinity of Candidasa
Candidasa is an ideal point of departure for day excursions. Consult the guestbook at Arie’s for the best hikes. Climb the rolling hills behind Candidasa for hidden valleys with wild monkeys, snakes, kingfishers, and superb panoramas. There are villages up there with no roads to them; wear a hat, as there’s little shade. Some of the paths are confusing, so it’s best to take a guide. Take the path opposite Homestay Kelapa Mas for the two-and-a-half-hour, five-km walk to Tenganan; once you reach the top of the hill, follow the ridge trail before dropping down into Tenganan. Go in the back way via stone steps. Another trail starts at Warung Srijati near the lagoon; at the top of the mountain take the trail to the left over some smaller hills to reach Tenganan.

See the sunset from the fishing village east of Candidasa, reached by walking around the headland when the tide is out. The beaches to the east are wider and offer perfect swimming for children. You can also reach a nice stretch of beach by taking the track from the Puri Bagus Hotel at the end of Forest Road, passing the Bung Putri, then ascending 200 meters to the top of cliffs where you descend to a deserted black-sand beach.

There’s another superb beach to the northeast at Jasi. Drive to Besakih via Iseh and Sidemen; go all the way to Ubud on back roads only. In the other direction, toward Amlapura, the road climbs to Pura Gamang Pass, which affords beautiful views before dropping down to a rift valley with luscious landscapes just before the village of Bugbug. The people here collect coral for processing in beach and lime-burners in the making of cement. The entire area is covered with a layer of fine lime power, as if dusted with powdered sugar. Don’t miss the ‘abuang taruna’ dance of unmarried boys dressed in white and gold with ‘kris’ and headdress. Takes place during the full moon of the first month in the Balinese calendar.

Ashram Candi Dasa
A religious community-the only Gandian ashram in Indonesia-was founded in the mid-1970s by Ibu Gedong Bagoes Oka, the widow of a Balinese Hindu leader and former deputy governor of Bali. In daily ‘pujas’ and lectures, Ibu teaches the Vedic scriptures, the Balinese religion, faith-healing, and the pacifist philosophy of Gandhi. The first arrivals were travelers seeking a quieter alternative than the pell-mell and frenetic development gripping southern Bali in the ’70s. Today, Vedic chants still emanate from this beachfront ashram, heard above the pounding waves and music blaring from ghetto boxes and restaurants.

Simple cottages facing the sea are rented out (charges include three vegetarian meals per day), providing the main source of revenue for the ashram and an elementary school that Ibu Oka runs for the village children. Guests are free to worship, meditate, work and study as little or as much as they want with the several dozen young Balinese and Westerners who make up the permanent Ashram community. It’s recommended that you book at least three months in advance, tel. 62366-41.108.