Posted by LarryInAUS on Monday, 15. February 1999 at 03:44 Bali Time:
In Reply to: homestay experience posted by steph on Sunday, 14. February 1999 at 11:14 Bali Time:
I can recommend where we stay when we go to Ubud - Andong Inn. It's fairly basic, <$20 including breakfast, has a pool that is used as the local public swimming pool - so used by lots of Balinese. Great for meeting locals. The rooms within the family compound would give you more personal insight into, and involvement in, daily rituals and living conditions, while the rooms in the hotel section are a bit more private, like any other budget hotel. I've put some pages on my web site about it. I DON'T HANDLE BOOKINGS FOR IT AND NOT ASSOCIATED WITH IT IN ANY WAY OTHER THAN AS A FREQUENT GUEST! Nymoman, the owner is a very talented woman - cooking, gamelan musician, traditional medicine enthusiast, beautician, etc. and speaks English well. She offers traditional Balinese cooking lessons, as does Ida Bagus Talem at Gunung Merta Bungalows (across the road) - be prepared for seeing kitchens which are far more rudimentary and less hygenic than one would expect, but we haven't been sick from any of the vast quantity of food that we've consumed from them. The staff are mainly local girls, untrained in western hotel cleaning and maintenance, and speak little English, but they try hard and are very friendly.
MY WEB PAGE URLS:
Andong Inn & Gunung Merta Bungalows in Peliatan, Ubud
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/_intro.htm
For intro to Andong Inn and Gunung Merta (link below)
Specifically Andong Inn:
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/page1.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/page2.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/page3.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/page4.htm
Map of Ubud with location of Andong Inn & Gunung Merta Bungalows
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/_cook/map.gif
Gunung Merta Bungalows Cooking Lessons, bungalows, setting:
http://members.tripod.com/~LarryInAUS/_cook/gunung.htm