And so to Ubud.
We tore ourselves away from Villa Blubambu, both secretly thinking that Ubud wouldn't match up to this last week.
Gede organised a transfer up there for us for 250,000 which seems about the standard price. We checked into the Ibah - again I've put up a Trip Advisor review which you can read for details but it is the most beautiful place and well located too. They have a free shuttle in the Ubud area and given the sharply steeper price of taxis (about twice that on the coast), plus the fact that you have to bargain for them (imagine that!), meant that the shuttle was a god-send especially if it was raining. As long as you can find a shop that has a phone, they'll come and pick you up. The only niggles about the Ibah were that they didn't have Wifi in the rooms, the pool was at the other end of the property (this little princess got used to having it at the front door!) and there was less opportunity to meet other guests. However it would be a great place for a honeymoon if you're in the market.
Still adjusting to our new home, we went to dinner with M and D - remember them from Villa Blubambu and the surfing lessons? This was their last night in Ubud so we decided to catch up with them before they went off to the far more exciting Flores and Komodo islands. We went to Casa Luna which wasn't as good as I thought it might be - I got the impression that it would be really gourmet and while it wasn't bad, it was only just out of the cafe range. Still it was nice to see M&D again, you always meet lovely people on holidays.
Tuesday 16/10
Well, they say that Ubud is cooler than the coast - I can say that, at least in my opinion, they're either repeating what someone else has said or trying to sell you a fan cooled room. However on our first morning, we did actually get a cool breeze out on our large verandah. I think this was as much the fact that the hotel is down in a steep valley and doesn't get blasted by the morning sun as anything. We enjoyed the benefits of a hotel buffet again - basically the same as at VB but you can go back and have more! Resist anything except temptation, me!
Today we spent scoping out Ubud. We wandered down Monkey Forest Road (immediately dubbed MoFoRo by H, the comedian!) and eventually found the BAWA (Bali Animal Welfare Association) down near the entrance to the Monkey Forest. We patted the puppies and got some gifts to help with their fund raising - for the first time, here were some dogs who responded to my ‘hellos', the strays just ignore you.
We dropped into the Venezia spa which is next door - although I know it's been recommended, we didn't find it anything too special, nice setting but pretty warm without aircon and the girls seemed inexperienced and not overly professional. Still not too bad and you get fruit and ginger tea at the end.
We finally took the plunge and got a taxi home with Agung (like the volcano) - remember him, he'll be back later. H buried himself in the PC and I dropped off the laundry at the Ganesha laundry up the hill from the hotel and managed to slot a little shopping in. I found a shop called PitheCanThropus (which strangely is the name for Java man, one of the first examples of Homo erectus, fossils of whom have been found in Indonesia, which as far as I can work out has nothing whatsoever to do with clothes but I suppose you've got to call a shop something) - anyway where was I? Right - the shop has some very nice clothes (read: not too much gathering or smocking) in cotton in some really pretty batik prints (but not the dark old fashioned batik). There's one on Raya Ubud near Casa Luna and one halfway down MoFoRo, about 350,000 for a shirt.
We went to dinner at Bridges, just down the road from us and it was downright fabulous. After the painful episode at Kudeta, I was reluctant to try out highly rated restaurants again but we had a look at the menu and I was convinced. Really really good food, really really good service - and not too expensive, about half the price of Kudeta (and that was for three courses not two). So there. Nice place too, open and whitewashed wood look over about three levels. Do yourself a favour and go.
Wednesday 17/10
After being entertained by the squirrels in the trees outside our room, we attempted to eat a light early breakfast and went off to yoga at Honeymoon guesthouse on Jalan Bisma - we'd seen the flyers for it in Casa Luna and figured that we'd make this week a ‘temple' week - as in treat your body as one. My temple might be expanding a bit with all the food but the yoga certainly helped me wind down and relax - it was great (80,000 pp, daily except Sunday 8.00am to 9.30am, mats provided).
The class was in a lovely airy second floor room (ground is reception, first where the restaurant is then up again) with a great view over Ubud rooftops to the volcanos. We did this each morning except one until we left and both teachers were very good - they were pretty advanced classes, with a mix of hatha and ashtanga but there were a range of participants not all of whom were super experienced. I took my own small towel as it wasn't airconditioned and while it wasn't anything like the Prana Spa sauna class, it was still a humid.
We floated back home and changed to go on our tour that Agung had suggested (300,000 which we thought was good - his number is 081 236 471 884). Despite his slight resemblance to Keith Richards, his van was clean and he was a good driver. He took us to Celuk, a waterfall near Tegenungan village, the Goa Gaja Elephant cave and his local Moon temple. We started at 11.00am and finished around 3pm - if it hadn't been for yoga, I think an earlier start would have been better because it was really hot. He took us to very nice places although they were at the more expensive end of the range (the silver place Sari Dewi in Celuk had marked prices that a were lot more than even Australia, but finally our shadowing lady hinted that we could bargain - I got a simple silver ring with a bit of gold embellishment which I really like for about $40 which while not cheap, was 75% less than the label said).
Agung took us to a restaurant obviously aimed at tourists as it had a couple of groups already there - in stark contrast with the touristy places in Australia, the food was great (black sticky rice pudding my favourite!) and it was a lovely setting overlooking over the rice fields - unfortunately at this time of year, a large portion of the rice crop had been harvested so we were looking out over grey stems rather than lush green so not quite as picturesque as it might have been. The bill was pretty exciting but still cheap by Australian standards. Sorry, didn't get its name but if you get in touch with Agung, he'll probably take you there!
As we were going along, Agung kept suggesting - not pushily - other places we could visit - a sarong shop, painting place, wood carving - we declined but it was good that he took the initiative and I can only guess that they would have been good quality but by this time we were pretty tired and wanted to retire to our demesne for a swim.
For dinner we'd picked out the Cafe Havana during our scoping yesterday - the menu looked good and they also have salsa dancing, which H and I have been practising at home for a little while. Yet another great night - the food was excellent and we got free spontaneous salsa lessons with Karma (I think that was his name) and the rest of the staff. It's owned by an Aussie and her Balinese husband and they taught the staff how to before they started working there. It's a really good night, I was really shy at first but Karma had even my two left feet looking somewhat graceful. And lest you think H and I are drifting apart, apparently it's good to dance with other partners for salsa! Jeninne and Giselle, also from the Ibah were there and were rather good hoofers too so the dance floor was pretty crowded.
Thursday 18/10
Bit of a quiet one, this. Usual morning routine of yoga then shopping for me while H programmed on the PC. Then we had lunch at a really cheap place on Raya Ubud overlooking a gorge (with no safety railings, just a 30 foot drop - love the Balinese OH&S regulations!). Once again good Indo food and it cost peanuts (handy really, as they could reuse them in the satay sauce - boom boom).
A lazy afternoon in the pool and then had dinner at Indus - this is another in the Casa Luna/Honeymoon guesthouse stable, and the food is a step up from Casa Luna. Not as good as Bridges but somewhere in between and priced accordingly. It was quite a long way from the Ibah and we were even gladder we took the free shuttle when the first tropical downpour we had seen pissed down (the overnight ones don't count as I had only heard those).