Category: Travel

18 April 2018 – Travel Day – Bali, Indonesia to Brisbane, Australia – Day 1

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Today was a big travel day, as we were leaving SE Asia and heading to Australia. We had booked with Jetstar Airlines and had never flown with them before. We had an early afternoon flight, so didn’t have to get up at any obscene hour to get to the airport. Plus our hotel was less than 20 minutes from the airport. Everything went smoothly and we got all checked in.

You have to apply for your Australian Visa before you get there. At least we did and that was done, paid for and approved months ago online. The cost was AUS $20.00 which was less than CAN $20.00 The approval for mine took 20 seconds. Doug’s on the other hand took twenty or so minutes. Still fast compared to the countries where we had to take passport, pictures, forms and money into the embassies. At least we live in a city, where most of the embassies are located.

Boarding was supposed to be at 12:15, so we had time to look around the airport. Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport, also known as Denpasar International Airport is not a big airport, but then Ottawa International Airport is not big either.

Orchid Display

The flight from Bali, Indonesia to Brisbane, Australia takes a little over 6 hours. The flight was very uneventful and we landed in Brisbane approximately 8:15 pm. There is a 2 hour time difference between Bali and Brisbane. I was really slacking off and took no pictures of our food, or did we even get fed? Who knows now?

We were being met by my cousin Susan and her husband Joe. They had moved to Australia quite a few years ago from the UK. The last time I had seen them, I was in my very, very early twenties. Just a few years ago. Thank goodness for social media, otherwise we may never have known who to look for. Recognized them right away and it was a great reunion. We were staying with them, at their son’s Paul house in Samford Valley, just northwest of Brisbane. It was a great relaxing drive back to the house. Paul’s house is amazing and I have to share a picture of the floors. I absolutely fell in love with them.

Doug was asked if he would like a glass of wine? Of all the wines out there and available in Australia, it turned out that Joe was quite fond of Shiraz and that is what he had in stock tonight. That is also Doug’s favorite. They had a bond forever now.

The rest of the night, we spent drinking a glass or two or more of wine and catching up into the wee hours. It was absolutely wonderful, but time for bed.

17 April 2018 – Kuta, Bali, Indonesia – Round 2 – Day 3 – Our Butts May Never Forgive Us

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After breakfast we decided to borrow a couple of bikes from the hotel and to ride up to the Legion Beach area. Same direction as we always walked in, but further.

We rode for around 30 minutes but we ended up on the main roads and in traffic. It was getting hairy scary, plus we were on a slow roast. We have been traveling for 2 1/2 months now and believe me, we still have NOT adapted to the heat and humidity.

We got as far as here, which translate to Kuta Beach, so obviously did not make it up to Legion Beach.

The beach up here was much nicer than the beach that was further south, near where we were staying. If we ever get to go back, we will have to check this area out for sure.

The surfers seemed to be loving the waves today. Wonder if it is always like this here?

After touring around for a bit, we decided to head back to the hotel. Plus our butts were hurting and we still had the ride back. Back through the traffic. YIKES!

It was a very relaxing afternoon in the pool. I spent a good hour just floating around on an air mattress, while Doug guided me around the pool. We had really needed time to relax and we were getting it. Perfect weather and great bar staff. What more could a person want? We must have been really relaxed, as I don’t even have pictures of our lunch or my Chocolate Martini.

Should we ask what Doug is doing?

Pretty sure he was looking at his phone, while waiting for me, but we will never know.

Back in the room we did, yes, more laundry. This was the ideal place to get it done as it dried quickly in the heat and sun. After doing the laundry we headed back to the loungers to read, but soon discovered it was just too hot. Back to the room we went. Doug to watch Netflix and myself to work on our blog. We had pretty good internet here. Plus a nice view from our air conditioned room.

Dinner tonight was back at the pool bar as I couldn’t deal with seeing the poor cats again. It was heart breaking to me.

It had been a while since I had had any bites, but Indonesia did not disappoint me, and was sending me off with a doozie.

Later we packed up all our clean laundry, as we are off to Australia tomorrow!

16 April 2018 – Kuta, Bali, Indonesia – Round 2 – Day 2 – Our Happy Place

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Today, we decided we really needed to buy a few gifts/souvenirs for people back home. We had been gone 2 1/2 months and bought nothing other than a few t-shirts for ouselves. So we headed back to the Discovery Mall in downtown Kuta. We spied this beautiful butterfly/moth on the ground. Not sure if it was dead or resting, but guessing dead, since it seems to be belly up.

The ocean was a little rough today, with waves coming way up and over the rocks and path. Tide was definitely in.

We purchased a few items from the market inside the mall and from the outdoor market that we found. Of course had to stop and have our ‘usual’ from Starbucks. Vanilla Ice Lattés. Saw a march or parade of some sort going on.

Took a gander at Bubba Gump again, but once again we weren’t hungry and it was still morning. Not even sure if it was open yet. Really, really need to come back here.

School was just being let out and kids were flowing out. All the schools seem to have school uniforms. At least the ones we saw did. Lots being picked up by their parents on scooters. Lots of hydro lines here also.

Strolled back to our hotel and saw lots of surfers out today. Guess it must have been a good surf day. All the rough waters we saw earlier today seemed to have calmed down some.

Tide was out now. What a difference.

After all our exercise, we noticed it was Happy Hour time. Guess where we headed? Yup to the pool bar. Had to snap a few more flower pictures today. Seems like I am always finding new ones. The ones on the right are Bouganvillea and they are everywhere here. Back home they are so expensive to buy.

Laundry day AGAIN! Always seems to be laundry day, but we had a great spot to hang it to dry.

We headed back to the restaurant tonight and had a table by the edge again. Tonight’s menu looked like it had been retrieved from the garbage as it was so crinkled up.

Eating in the restaurant gives a great view, but the poor little cat came back and makes me so sad. Tonight there were 2 cats. The little guy once again got most of my meat from the cheese steak sandwich. Doug had green curry and therefore could not share with the cat.

The mean man sitting at the table next to us, just kept kicking the cats away. It broke my heart sitting here. This is partially why we had so many of our meals at the pool bar.

15 April 2018 – Travel Day – Gili Trawangan to Kuta, Bali, Indonesia – Round 2

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Today was another travel day and we were heading back to Kuta for a few more nights. We enjoyed our last breakfast here with our new buddy, the cat. I don’t think he was supposed to be on the table, but what the heck!

We gave him a little bit of our scrambled eggs, which he just looked at. What was he expecting, caviar?

We packed up and checked out of the hotel. We weren’t supposed to check out until tomorrow, but we had changed our plans. We did not ask for a refund, so they still got their money for the extra night. After all, it wasn’t their fault we left early.

We headed downtown to the Blue Water office.

Lots of horse and buggies here this morning awaiting the arrival of new tourists.

We had just been saying the other day, that these places should have a day when everyone, including the tourists, go out and clean up the beaches and road sides. To our surprise, we saw this sign this morning.

Our boat arrived at 1150 hrs and we loaded on, headed for Kuta. The price we paid also included our transportation from the port on Bali to our hotel in Kuta.

At the other end, we had to walk a short distance to get to their office where all the shuttle vans were waiting to take us to our hotels.

We arrived at 1545 hrs and got all checked in. We knew the routine, as we booked the Holiday Inn again. We knew it and we liked it. This room was not a large as the last one, but was still really nice. We had a little outdoor patio this time as we were on the ground floor.

If we hurried we would make it to the pool bar happy hour. Off we went. Mojitos for Doug and Cham 69s for me. Delicious!

Headed back to the room shortly after 1700 hrs and Doug did some hand laundry. Had the perfect place outside to hang it to dry.

The plants sure grow big here. Another one, a Croton, that I use to have as an indoor plant. Mine was only tiny compared to these though.

Dinner tonight was take out from the pool bar and dessert, which we brought back to the room. Enjoyed our dinner in the room while we watched some TV.

Another beautiful sunset.

14 April 2018 – Gili Trawangan, Indonesia – Day 3 – Bike Butts

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Guess what woke us up AGAIN! Yup, the call to prayer. It seemed to happen a lot through out the day today. Not just the once that I remember from yesterday. But, who knows, maybe we just noticed it more today.

Today we thought we would head back to the little café that we had discovered yesterday for our breakfast. YUM….fruit smoothies and fresh croissants. We got the last 2 croissants. They sure do a booming business in this place. And, YES! we got a table inside, in the air conditioning this morning. Have I mentioned today, just how HOT it is here? After a great breakfast we headed back to the hotel, as we decided we would borrow a couple of bikes from them and ride around the island. Island can’t be that big, if you can walk around it. We haven’t been on bikes for years, but you never forget how to ride one, right?

We remember how, but OMG, did we forget about how sore your butt gets! Two hours on a bike…ouch

There were some nice looking bars, beaches and resorts on the other side of the island, but I guess you would have to take the horse and buggies to get to them, especially at night. Just to note, this island has no cars and supposedly no motorcycles, but we did see one motorcycle/scooter on the island.

Some places were nicer than others. It could be quite far in between places, not like the other side of the island, where the main street is.

Most of the over the water swings were occupied, but we finally found one that wasn’t. Had to take our shoes off to go into the water and oh my, that was not fun. Lots of rocks and most likely broken coral covering the ocean floor. Not a good experience at all, but I finally made it out to the swing.

The ‘road’ was getting narrower and narrower, and rougher, as we continued around the island. At one point it ended up being just a narrow sand path, almost impossible to ride on, and we had to get off our bikes, and walk them for a short distance.

We came upon a herd of cows. Looks like they may be tied to the trees. At least they have lots of trees for shade.

It took us around 2 hours to ride around the island and our butts were angry. It was time for a cold Bintang while we sat on the edge of the pool with our feet dangling in the water. It was so relaxing after our long bike ride.

Later we headed back to the downtown area for dinner. Picked out a nice beach side restaurant, IKAM and was given a table on the sand near the water. Moved from our first table as there were a lot of ants near that one. Didn’t want any ant bites. Everything else seems to bite me.

Mai Thai & Frozen Mojito

Dinner was pretty good and with beverages came to IDR Rp 559,00 = Cdn $48.39 Again, not cheap for SE Asia, but about on par for what we have found in Indonesia.

We stopped off at an ATM and successfully got money! Grabbed a couple of ice cream bars from the local convenience store and headed back to the hotel around 5:30 pm. We had to pack up for our speedboat trip back to Kuta tomorrow. Our port was Sanur and then they would take us in a van to our hotel in Kuta.

This is a good picture to show how nice this place was once you got over the entrance way. That is our room. The place was really quiet as I don’t think they were too busy. Only saw a couple of other people.

While we were packing up Doug had a run in with the bed frame. Thank goodness for our first aid kit, yet once again.

13 April 2018 – Gili Trawangan, Indonesia – Day 2 – Lazy Day – Boring Island

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Today was Friday the 13th and we were awoken with the Call to Prayer at 0500 hrs!!!!!

We had been warned about this by Paden. It sure wakes a person up quickly. Broadcast across the whole island and turned out our hotel was not far from where it was broadcast from. Extra loud for us.

Breakfast was included and so we ordered breakfast. Not a lot of choice, but it was okay.

The resident cat made her appearance. What a softie. She quickly became our breakfast buddy.

We headed back to the beach area, once again in search of the Blue Water Express office. We had decided we didn’t want to stay on this island for the full 4 nights that we had booked. We just weren’t feeling this island. Thought we would head back to Kuta a day early and spend that extra day there.

One of the streets we had to walk down. Once off the main road, most seemed to be like this.

We passed the school on our way back onto the main road.

Back on the main road, we found a little café and ordered smoothies and banana bread. This place was busy and all the tables inside were full, so outside in the heat is where we sat.

Found the medical center. Sure hope we don’t need them, but good to know that there is at least one on the island.

The beaches that we had seen so far, that looked nice to sunbath on and go into the water, were full of boats. Really ruined it.

There were a few nice areas of beach, but not sure how you scored a lounger on them.

This place, restaurant/bar, whatever it was, was definitely NOT for us.

Back at our hotel we sat around the pool in a couple of the loungers and enjoyed a cold Bintang. This had now become our favourite beer. Pool had been cleaned up and looked so much better now. We managed an hour out there and just had to go inside. Couldn’t take the heat anymore.

EDIT: OMG Just had a good laugh. Looked at the picture and realized that I was drinking a Smirnoff Ice and not Bintang. Doug had the Bintang I guess.

Later on we headed out to get pizza. This place had been recommended to us by Paden. At least we think this was the place. We had checked it out this morning, but I have to say that it looked much better later on in the dim light.

Pizza was decent. Photographer, a little blurry!

Our walk back to our hotel. I did not enjoy this in the dark.

12 April 2018 – Travel Day – Ubud to Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

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Today was a very early morning, as we had to be up at 0500 hrs. The van was picking us up at 0615 hrs to get us to the port to catch the high-speed boat over to Gili Trawangan which departs at 0800 hrs. I was stressed as the van showed up late. Thank goodness it did show up and did get us to the port in time. No time to spare though.

This was a nice boat we had booked. With lots of BIG motors!

Nice interior with comfy seats. Wonder what the bargin shoppers got?

We departed shortly after 0800 hrs and I decided I would go up top to take some pictures and relax a little. I had to sit down as this boat was flying! It was really hard to even get a picture that was in focus, let along a selfie.

We stopped at some island and some people disembarked.

Next stop was ours, Gili Trawangan, or as many call it, Gili T. I think that there are three Gili islands and we were originally going to go to two, but cut Gili Air out. We arrived at 1020 hrs and disembarked. Called on maps.me once again to find our hotel for us. We were staying in the hotel that Paden and Christine had stayed in back in 2017. We weren’t too sure about this maps.me again as we seemed to be heading into a not so great area.

White Bamboo Resort

It looked pretty new and was quite nice. After chatting with Paden, it turns out we have the exact same room that they had. Top of the stairs and turn left. First room. They had a nice breakfast and relaxing area, but their pool really needed a cleaning. Dead stuff floating.

After checking in and dropping our bags off, we headed back into town and the beach area. It was hotter than hot here. It was scorching hot here! It is small island and they say that it would take approximately 2 hours to walk around the whole island. I will take their word for it, as I am not about to do that.

Since we had been up so early we were getting hungry and decided to search out some food. We stopped in at the Blue Marlin and ordered a couple of Bintangs and shared orders of mozzarella sticks and french fries, or as they call them ‘homemade potato chips’. No food photos. We must have been hungry and tired.

IDR Rp 180,000 = Cdn $15.50

We walked a little more and then headed back to the hotel for a 2 1/2 hr nap.

After our nap, we headed back to ‘the strip’ and looked for the Blue Water Express boat company kiosk. We would have to check in here the day before our return trip to confirm it, so thought we would find where it was now. No luck in finding it. We did find a restaurant with a nice view to have our dinner at though, Tir Na Nog Bar & Restaurant.

Doug ordered Mahi Mahi and I had the Chicken Parmigiana. Of course along with a beverage or two. It was Happy Hour, so my Cosmopolitan was 2 for 1. They brought both at the same time.

IDR Rp 485,864 = Cdn $ 42.00

By now it was 1930 hrs and dark, so we decided to head back to our room.

Had read terrible stories about these horses and how they are treated and under fed. So sad.

Wasn’t too sure about walking those back streets in the dark. We made it back!

11 April 2018 – Ubud, Bali, Indonesia – Day 3 – Monkey wins!

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Today is our last day in Ubud which is a shame as it has been a nice relaxing couple of days and we really like this hotel with it’s quiet pool.  We didn’t rush as we were going to go to the Monkey Forest today which was just up the road from our hotel a mile or so.  Once again we had a nice breakfast at the resort. I went with the English breakfast and Doug opted for pancakes this morning.  Smallest pancakes I have ever seen but Doug said they were good and that is what counts.  Since we still got fruit and a bread basket there was definitely enough food.

After breakfast I thought I would just confirm our travel arrangements for tomorrow for the Fast Ferry to Gili Trawangan.  It is a good thing that I did as it turned out we no longer had our reservation with the company that we thought we were booked with.  There are many companies that run ferries and lots do not have good reviews and have sketchy safety records.  Turned out we were now booked with one of these companies that had really poor reviews.  Some reviewers commented that they would have given the company a minus number if they could as the service was that bad.  After a lot of back and forth discussing it with Doug (he was still in the hotel room) and the lady at the desk calling companies we managed to get a reservation with Blue Water Express.  She was hesitant to suggest Blue Water Express as it is really expensive.  I told her we weren’t concerned about the price, we were concerned about safety and our lives.  I think it is the most expensive company there, IDR Rp 3,160,000 = Cdn $280.00 for the two of us return, but has a fabulous safety record and reviews.  They only had space available on the early morning ferry which meant pickup would be approximately 6:00 a.m.  We were fine with that. Booked our return trip at the same time as they seem to book up quickly. I have to say this was a very stressful 45 minutes. While she was on the phone trying to book our ferry another man came down to the desk who also wanted to book a ferry.  Bet he was happy when I was done.  Hope his booking went faster.
It was now time to head out to go to the Mandala Suci Wenara Wana (Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary).  The road was not the best we have seen, but we definitely saw lots of beautiful flowers on the way.  Lots of construction going on here, with what appears to be many more accommodations being built.

We knew we must be getting close when we saw this big guy in the road.  Have to say he made me a little nervous as he started to follow us down the road.We arrived at the entrance with no more big guys following us.  Thank goodness! As soon as you entered there were signs with guidelines on to follow.  It always amazes me as to how many people can NOT follow rules. Saw so many people touching the monkeys.  Even saw a few teasing them with water and food. If you get a serious bite it could mean a series of rabie shots for you.

Just after we entered this little guy came over to us and the battle was on. The monkey won and stole Doug’s bottle of water.  It only took a few seconds and he had it.  We got one of the Monkey Rangers to get it back for us, as it had not been opened yet, and we were going to need water on this yet another hot and humid day. Doug ended up with a small bite from the monkey but we had our first aid kit with us so cleaned it up and put some Polysporin on it. Just as we finished we saw another guy with quite a scratch on his arm so we gave him an antiseptic wipe for him to clean up with.
There were so many monkeys that I could have spent a lot more time there just watching them and their antics. They can be so funny and they are so smart.This guy really wanted a drink of water but couldn’t quite get a grip on the tap. He certainly tried though. We do have video of some monkeys playing with water spouts spraying water up. It was hilarious to watch them blocking the water.

I have a feeling that whoever left this bag of cement out was going to be in trouble. Mr Monkey was having a great time trying to empty it.

As we got closer to the exit we came across the Monkey Cemetery.

Our time at the Monkey Forest had come to an end. Before we left we came across this guy. I could have gone around again but……

Nope Doug didn’t want to, so we headed back to hotel where we spent a couple of hours in and around pool relaxing and soaking up this beautiful tranquil place.
After resting a bit we headed out for dinner thinking we would choose one of the restaurants that we had seen during the past two days that looked good.   But nope, we didn’t and found UNO Ristorante Italiano.  Menu looked good and prices were reasonable for Indonesia. We ordered a Calabrese pizza as it was the closest that they had to a pepperoni pizza. Calabrese:  tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, spicy salami, onion, roasted red paprika, black olives, fresh chilli and basil.  It sounded delicious but didn’t quite live up to my expectations.  For some reason I thought it would be spicy but it definitely needed more heat to fall into the spicy category.

I ordered a Cosmopolitan and boy was it strong.  Doug had one of his favorite drinks…..Bintang!
You would think that it was Doug who had the strong drink, or just too much monkeying around today! LOL

Back to the hotel we headed to pack up for tomorrow as we were on the move again.  Tomorrow was going to be a VERY early morning for us.  As the sun went down we headed outside to take some pictures of our hotel at night.  The pictures do not do the place justice and it is all lit up and just beautiful at night.  I think I was too impatient as many of my pictures turned out blurry. Guess I will just have to come back some day to take more night time pictures.  We would definitely recommend this place, Bucu View Bungalows, to stay.

10 April 2018 – Ubud, Bali, Indonesia – Day 2 – YES!!!

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We had a working bank card again!!! Paden and our bank branch had pulled through for us. What a relief. I am sure it was the guy at the Flower Dome in Singapore that swiped my card instead of tapping it, that caused the issue and triggered fraud!

We had a great breakfast this morning at the resort, overlooking the pool. The breads and pastries came in a woven basket. Really nice.

It was just so relaxing sitting here enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

Paden had told us about a path they had taken through some rice fields and how beautiful it was. We decided this is what we would do today and headed out.

We came across a temple and decided we would tour that first.

Doug posing with his new girlfriend/girlfriends.

Temple done, we headed off in search of this path Paden told us about. Part of the movie Eat, Love, Pray was filmed in Ubud, Indonesia. It is absolutely breathtaking almost everywhere you look.

Tried my hand at another ‘trick’ photo as they had these mirrors on the sharp corners of the narrow road. It may or may not have taken me a few shots to get us.

We found a path, but had no idea if this was the correct one or not, since this Private Property No Tresspassing sign was there. We went ahead anyways.

If it wasn’t the correct path, it sure was an amazing substitute for our day.

There were little cafes and shops scattered around. Seems like yoga is very popular here.

Even though we did see some rice fields, I am pretty sure now that we didn’t go far enough to see the terraces of rice fields that people talk about. We thought we had gone so far and decided to turn back. The return trip seemed so short and we were wishing we had gone a lot further.

As we were headed back we heard some quacking going on in the rice field. We thought Ted and Susan had followed us over here. Ted and Susan are a pair of ducks that have been coming to our pool for the last 8 – 10 summers. They don’t have their nest in our backyard, but come for their spa days and hang out. Swim, sleep and eat the bird seed and cracked corn. They even get their own food and water bowls placed in the shade for them. LARGE ones. We use large plant saucers for them.

At first we saw one duck, then two ducks.

Then three ducks and four ducks.

Then five, six and seven ducks. Stopped counting and moved along at seven. We found it hilarious.

We explored the town a little a grabbed a couple of smoothies. That walk took a lot out of us. Did I mention it was HOT & HUMID?

We turned up a side street and came across a little Mexican restaurant. That was it. I wasn’t going any further. Margarita time! After all it was 2:30 pm by now. It was hard to get a good picture of the place as the sun was coming right at me. The place was small and getting busy.

Food and drinks were good and really hit the spot!

So my tostados were really good, but I am still not sure how you are supposed to eat them, since they are on a crunchy shell and can’t be folded. I managed somehow though.

Total was IDR Rp 395,000 = Cdn $34.00 Not cheap by SE Asia standards, but not expensive by Canadian standards. Indonesia is definitely more expensive than Thailand and Cambodia are.

Time to head back to our room. Those margaritas were GOOD! Saw some new construction on our way back. They use bamboo for supports. Actually they use bamboo for everything. It is really strong. Saw a lot of bamboo being used in Vietnam also, when we were there in 2016/17.

Not sure if you can tell from the picture or not, but these leaves were humungous.

We were back at the resort and in our pjs by 6:30 pm. We are just worn out. Often when we get back to our rooms early, the evening would be spent researching and booking our next leg or two of our trip. It was unbelievable how stressful this could be. Finding someplace that met our requirements, as in NO BAMBOO walls, yet was in a good location and affordable, since we did have a sort of budget for our 3 month vacation.

We had already cut out a few places that we had planned to visit and were now cutting out more. We we were just too tired of moving around every few days. This time around we cut out Nusa Lembongan, Lombok and unfortunately Komodo Island. Komodo Island was just going to be too expensive last minute. Most places were booked up and it would have ended up costing us between $1500.00 – $2000.00 for one or two nights for airfare and hotel. Next time!

9 April 2018 – Travel Day – Kuta to Ubud, Bali, Indonesia – Day 1

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We were moving on today. We had booked a private van to take us from Kuta to Ubud and he was to arrive around noon. It was a great deal for IDR Rp 150,000 = Cdn $13.25

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then wandered around the grounds taking pictures for a while. This was our balcony where we hung laundry and actually did relax a couple of times.

Our view

If you look really hard you can see the ocean.

We checked out, paid our bill and waited for our ride. Still owed quite a bit, even though we had purchased their upsell offer. Pay IDR Rp 1,000,000 (Cdn $88.50) and get IDR Rp 1,250,000 (Cdn $110.50) credit. We should have bought a few of those upsell offers! Mind you, we had been here for 5 nights and had eaten all our dinners here.

Couldn’t leave without checking out the public washrooms, now could we?

It was a nice drive and I tried to take a few pictures along the way. The closer we got to Ubud, the hillier and curvier the roads got. Some of the sculptures that we saw in stores along with road looked to be amazing. Can only imagine what they would cost to ship home.

We turned off the main road and proceeded along a very hilly, rough ‘road’. We came to where we thought the road to our hotel was, but the driver was not going to risk driving up it. It was narrow, steep and curvy. We couldn’t tell for sure if our accommodations were even on it. We unloaded and proceeded to walk up the ‘road’. For every down hill there seemed to be an up hill also. 100 M sure can be far at times. We had made good time and had arrived in Ubud by 1:30. We have to laugh now as it is approximately 26 km (16 miles), but seemed much further when driving over here. Can you imagine taking 1 1/2 hours to go 26 km back home? And thinking you had made good time!!

We were welcomed with drinks and got all checked in. They sure make the room keys large enough. Don’t want you loosing them. The room was quite large and really nice. There was a welcome letter and flowers laying around that instantly kicked my allergies into high gear. Thankfully the flowers were gone the next day.

We decided to explore a little and found the restaurant. What they serve Bintang? We figured we deserved a rest and an adult beverage. After all it was really HOT here.

Couldn’t go wrong with the price of a large Bintang here. With tax and tip it was IDR Rp 35,200 = Cdn $3.10

We were rested and hydrated now, so decided it was time to head into town. Yup, that meant we had to walk down and up the hills again. At least this time, we knew our hotel was actually here. We walked by rice fields that lined our little road.

We got to town and stumbled upon a barber shop. Doug had been wanting to get a haircut for a while now. He was going to chance it. Really, how can you mess up a man’s haircut? There was an Aussie guy in the seat next to Doug that had the most beautiful long blond curly locks. I really wanted to take a picture of him, but that probably would have been a little weird, even for me. He wanted ALL the curls cut off. He wanted his hair short. His poor barber was terrified of cutting his hair. The client kept telling him to cut more and more off. Doug’s barber just took the shears to Doug’s hair and sheared away! The sign on the window was amusing. GOOD Haircuts ARE NOT Cheap, cheap HaiRcuts ARE NOT GOOD

They are everywhere! We didn’t stop in, but I am sure we probably will at some time.

We were now in search of food. We found this place and decided to give it a try. When I saw Ginger Ale on the menu, I had to have one. We don’t drink pop often, but a good Ginger Ale now and then is great. We ordered shrimp of some sort and I also ordered the Tian Avocado Shrimp Cocktail. Wasn’t fond of all that stuff on the top. Meal wasn’t bad, but I won’t hurry back. A bit too fancy for my tastes.

Here are a few pictures of our walk to and from town. There are a LOT of hills here.

Another part of the road we had to walk everyday.

We stopped at the local Mini Mart to pick up a few snacks and headed back to our accommodations. Saw a good sized gecko in the gardens, but didn’t get a picture of it.