Bali Holiday (March 2015) – Pandawan Beach

A little misplanning due to the fact that it was the day after Nyepi and many shops/ restaurants were not opened before 1pm, threw a spanner in our plans for the morning. So we decided to head over to a local beach and left it to our Villa Manager to recommend and decide. (Honestly huge step for Mummy but about time that I got started and kept to my 15 things to differently in 2015 list – read it here.

Our Villa Manager/ driver suggest Pandawan Beach which is a 10 minutes drive from our villa. We were told that they recently ‘discovered’ and constructed roads to access the beach a few years ago therefore we had to pay a entry fee to go in. ($5 for foreigners and $1 for locals). I expected less crowds given that it was a pay to access beach but well no such luck.

We were dropped off at the ‘end’ which was supposedly safer for play and ‘swimming’ whereas the waters further down were apparently better suited for surfing.

We walked along the beach (to our left) and shops (to our right), trying to find a good spot to settle down. There were beach chairs lined up all the way and you could rent 2 chairs + an umbrella shade for $5. After settling down in a pretty squeezy spot, one of JahBella’s Aunty did some exploring and suggested that we forgo our rented seat and head further down where it was more spacious. (So a tip for everyone, keep walking! The spots towards the end are definitely more spacious and relaxing and rental is the same price. First timer mistake!)

The waves were pretty huge/ majestic/ frightening. The kids did not dare to venture close to the shore which was fine by me. They played with their sand toys close by to our rented chairs. While the adults took a dip in sea and well were crashed by the waves a lot. I was eventually ordered by Jah to get out and not go into the waters because it was too dangerous.

But Jah! It’s so fun! (Yes I told him that and he was not impressed.) 😦

The waves can get pretty big and can really wash up quite far towards our chairs and even towards the road and shopfront so do watch out for your bags and slippers. Bella was absolutely terrified of any water touching her at all. So unlike her but pretty amusing to watch!

There are also taps/shower points situated along the beach so no worries trying to rinse off or wash off the sand.

We settled for lunch at one of the local Warungs located just behind our rented beach chairs. Just be aware of which table you occupy and which warung you ordered from as they can get quite territorial. We had some simple nasi goreng with fried chicken and Mee (abit like bak chor mee), fed all 9 of us and paid $20 in all!

Honestly a simple morning out in Bali which we would probably never have done on our own without the extra pairs of hands from JahBella’s uncles and aunties. And I’m quite glad that we did it and got to expose the kids to something totally different from what they know in Singapore.