Tag: Ubud

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.