Day 1
Arrived at Tegalsari on 17.00 WITA. A bit worry about grandma (group member: husband, me, 16month baby, sister 1 26yrs, sister 2 11 yrs, mum and dad, last but not least 73 yrs grandma) since she like to take a stroll early in the morning, because not enough light on Tegalsari. Also she's more keen to stay at more upmarket places...more on this later!
We check in pur room, number 6 (superior room) for my husband, me and baby. Room 16 (wooden room) for mum, grandma and little sister and the famous room 14 (super duplex) is my eldest sister dan dad.
Room is splendid, all of thim although the stairs on room 14 is bit steep. Remembering on 2002 we stay at Pertiwi and the room rate is twice Tegalsari's superior and its no better either, so this is a very good deal!
Plan to have dinner at Lotus on Raya Ubud but the manager told us it's packed and have to wait 40 min fo our food. Frustrated, we headed to Ary's Warung across the street. Not know what to expect at Ary's and starving we're shocked to see the menu. It's so expensive! But our stomach cannot wait, so we order still. When our meal came, after one or two bite, we realize that actually this is Indonesian food! As Indonesians, we're not used to see local food skillfully presented. Maybe we should eat out more J...but overall food is good but as Indonesians we feel the food is not quite 'kicking'.
Day 2
Mom and grandma have an early breakfast and take a stroll down central Ubud. Rest of the group enjoy breakfast at room 14 terrace, while baby having a bath-swimming in the Jacuzzi. Breakfast is simple and sometimes a hit-and-miss. Grandma come back and raving about the nasi bungkus (one dish meal consisting of rice, shredded vegetables, spicy chicken and shrimp, jackfruit stew). And it's all just Rp.5000! That kind of nasi bungkus (the call it 'nasi jenggo' in Bali) can cost you up to Rp.10.000 in Jakarta!
After breakfast we hire Tegalsari car with Wayan as driver (he drive the car with flower in his hair. Where else in Bali a man can still have flower in his hair without looking feminine?). We ask him to give us a tour around Ubud, since we want to change grandma perception about Bali. Mind you, she's so persistent when we ask her to jon our holiday. She had bad experience stay in Bali few years earlier, our aunt drag her to Sukowati Market for hours...poor old grandma! So we drop by at several nice place like Indus and Mozaic rest and finally dad wanted to take a sip to the Four Seasons. So there we are, one big noisy Jakartans full of curiosity to Four Seasons just want to have a cup of coffee.
We spent Rp.350 ribu at Four Seasons, just for several cup of tea, coffee, one cup of ice cream and two dessert. And it's nearly lunchtime....
After Four Seasons, we go round Ubud for awhile then have lunch at Batan Waru for lunch. Food was okay, but we know now in Ubud you eat local/Indonesian food with a 'bule' as a cook, so don't expect the food will be tasty!Maybe lack of MSG lol...J. Batan Waru's Klappertaart (bread pudding with coconut slice) is so wickedly good....no other place have better Klappertaart!
Back at the hotel, everybody's resting and confuse where to have dinner since its our last night at Ubud so we want it to be a memorable one. We opt for Lotus Garden down on Raya Ubud.
Lotus Garden is usually packed and we sat at the lesehan part of the restaurant. Our waiter told us since Lotus had a new manager, an Austrian guy, they worked like a robot. And there's a different menu for day and night. He also gave us tips what to order, and what kind of Jakartans/Indonesians like to order, which is very nice for us. I asked about the fish terrine, and he told me that better not to order it because he's really sure I wouldn't like the taste since I'm Indonesian!Very nice person so we give him more tip for being very nice to us.
Day 3
Last day at Tegalsari, feeling very sad leaving the place. Everybody in Tegalsari so nice and they seem genuine to us. We Indonesians sometimes have the feeling Balinese is just nice to foreign tourists, the 'bule's, probably because they spent more money rather than us domestic tourist. But not in Tegalsari.
We spent the day at Pasar Ubud to buy gifts for relative back in Jakarta. Sometimes the seller are so crazy, they hope the can sell one blanket for Rp. 750.000. That's almost $100! Finally after persistent bargain, I got two for Rp.300.000. My grandma bought a handbag at Rp.50.000, when she first ask she got Rp.125.000. While we at the market, baby is sleeping at nearby café (Boga Buana) in husband's arms.
Checking out from Tegalsari, we're heading to Seminyak. Checking in at the Sofitel Royal Seminyak, former Bali Imperial.
Hotel seems dated, been doing some renovation at the other side of the hotel, so it's only opening it's 350 room. The Superior room costs us Rp.565 ribu, on July the price are going high up to Rp.700 ribu. And that's for local market only. For foreigner they going to charge the room for $200!
After checking in we went to Warung Made's at Kuta while on sidewalk they been doing some serious roadworks ( perhaps road been damage because of the Bali blast?) so it's kind of dusty down there. While we're having our lunch, one bule's are fell from his motorcycle to one of the hole on the road. No serious damage done, only he lost his key. As usual most people (Indonesians that is !) curiously watch but not lending a hand to help...
After having our lunch, we walk down the road and ending in Natura shop, buying beautiful handbag, massage oils etc. I bought a bag for my sister in law for Rp.120.000, back in Jakarta store the price could be like Rp.175.000. More walking down the road next to Kuta Square, more people and dust on the road, poor policemen trying to control the traffic amongst those dust and busy crowd. Stop by at Kentucky Fried Chicken (have to break my oath not buying fastfood for daughter since she look hungry) and rejoin group at Animale across the road. Stopping by again at Hardrock Hotel Shop, nothing interested all shirt seem overpriced and have coffee at Starbucks (request of mum who's exhausted in desperate need of an airconditioner)
Sipping coffee at Starbucks left me kind of sad. Looks like most of the staff are from Jakarta, what good is Starbucks doing in Bali? A good cup Bali Coffee is much better than a cup of Café Americano but this is not the place to argue isnt' it L
After recharged at Starbucks, we're heading down to hotel since Grandma too tired to join us she prefer to stay at the hotel. Buy some McDonalds for grandma, me, husband, sister and baby back to the hotel. Mum, Dad and sister 1 prefer to have a mini-tour around hotel and club around Seminyak
Day 4
Breakfast at the coffe shop. Chicken congee, miso soup, egg station, all kinds of bread and all of the surprisingly tasty. Baby like the chicken congee but prefer to eat by herself so it was a lot mess at our table!One bule next to me when she look at all the food mums to herself she don't know where to start! There's a big lizard in the hotel pond (unfortunately I haven't got the chance to see it) people are feeding it with bread.
After breakfast we're heading to the pool while mum and grandma is walking down to Seminyak to look around the area. Baby, husband and me stay at the Jacuzzi pool since the wind is quite chilly, dad and both sister heading to the beach. At that time, sea current apparently strong, the beach guard advise us not to swim more at the sea.
Little sister is having her braid, me and mum have a massage and pedicure at the beach. Having talks to massage ladies makes us real sad, since the told us they need more money for the ceremonies and condition is not yet back again to 'normal' after the bombing.They didn't charge us much so we gave them extra money after they finished with their service. I have a bit of a guilty feeling since as a Muslim, the bombing is caused a by a fellow Muslim, who doing it with his own free interpretation of the religion. The bombers really make us all Muslims look bad...
After enough swimming, everybody's hungry. Rent a car a L300 van for Rp.200 ribu for 6 hour to have lunch at Ulam Restaurant in Nusa Dua. Lunch is splendid, husband who catch a cold asking for more rice and grill shrimp, baby like the grill snapper so everybody's happy. Mum want to see the Nikko Hotel so we're heading to Nikko at the other part of Nusa Dua.
Nikko seem secluded but it is a very large property, consisting of two large separate main building on cliff. Hotel pool has it's own artificial beach, long slide and water canal. Dad doesn't like Nikko, he said if we wind up staying there he'll be frowning to all the hotel staff since he's stuck in the hotel and going to downtown Kuta is far away. We laughed at the idea. Room is quite expensive, domestic rate is Rp.700 ribu plus tax and service charge.
After Nikko we're back to Legian, sat at Haagen Dazs and headed to Surfer Girl for little sister. Me, husband, baby and Grandma back to hotel to catch some nap.
Dinner at Warung Made Seminyak. Place is packed and for awhile it looked so international. Japanese, Chinese, Indonesians, Aussies, Arabs are melted in Made's. After dinner we walk down to our hotel, spying some tranvestite along the way in a trendy bar along the way.
Day 5
Last day in Bali! Feeling sad leaving the island and not knowing when we could come back here. Have our final shopping for relatives at the HardRock Shop, Uluwatu and an extra bag to stuff them all in. On our last day in Bali, we have lunch at Gado-gado across our hotel. Place is very nice, the ocean view and all. More guilt coming in, since we ordering food that costs us Rp 40.000 per meal while the hawker people are struggling to make ends meet watching us eat our expensive food L .
The sajen (Balinese offering) in Gado-gado looks a bit different. In other places, usually beside flowers and fragrant leaves, they put rice, candies or crackers in their sajen. But in Gado-gado, they have coconut, wild chicken's egg, and corn. And also there's a lumbung (a traditional place to stock rice) in the restaurant property which inhibit other people to enter. Later I knew that most of Seminyak area (Gado-gado, Royal Seminyak, Oberoi etc) is considered haunted for the Balinese....
Food is good at Gado-gado, better than the rest of the place we eat in. Dad is disappointed when food came, he didn't understand what linguini is so he trade his pasta with mum's Austrian schnitzel.
Coffee is kicking and while we enjoy our lunch gazing at the beach I remember a poem by an Indonesian poet Goenawan Mohamad
...."and the sea still sends it's wave to the beach