I make no apologies for harping on about my trip to bali.....it truely was the best trip i have ever done....I have been to Hawaii as someone on the forum has previously mentioned and it pales in comparison to Bali!! I just wanted to add a little more about our stay in Ubud....I would have loved to have spent more time there as the three days just wasnt long enough. Our first day we went to the dirty duck for lunch....wow what a wicked place! You can either sit in the main restaurant part sitting at tables and chairs which is an open area or you can sit like the japanese do on cushions with a low table and these overlook small rice paddies which is really beautiful. Sitting here you get a cool breeze which goes well with the really cool bintang! I musnt forget to mention the menu was fantastic too and so were the staff who had a couple of photos with u s. In ubud we spent the mornings shopping at the market. People were great hear and very good to barter with, not quite as pushy as in kuta. They sold these really neat beaded jewellery boxes which came in a great range of colours, hence i bought a few of these. Afternoons were spent blobbing out in Tjampuhan pool talking to others staying there and sharing our experiences and also having a few rice wines by the bar! Have i mentioned previously how potent rice wine is! hehehe good stuff!! Evenings we took the shuttle which is free to restaurant for dinner. First night we went to Indus. This was a very busy popular place not a spare table in the joint! For two mains and two side dishes, two desserts and two drinks the whole bill was 120.000 rupiah! The next night we ate at pesto bali which was a bit cheaper but food still just as good and they made the best banana milkshakes! On our last afternoon in ubud we had drinks at the Lotus Cafe....wow i would go here just to sit and gaze at the lotus ponds.....lovely atmosphere here and so so peaceful. On our second day in ubud we hired our waiter to be our driver for the day. Cost us 250.ooo rupi! He took us first to an art gallery where we purchased a painting and then to manis wood carving gallery where we bought a small mask. From there we went to the sukawati markets which i didnt think was as good as the market in ubud. From there we had a choice of two temples to see. We chose the one which didnt have 200 steps to climb! We went to the holy water temple and our driver Narda asked me if i had my period! If you have it you are not allowed to enter the temple! Lucky for me i didnt ah! Nice temple, took a few pics and on the way out we thought we would go back out the way we entered but this guy blew his whistle and told us we had to leave via going past the small market waiting outside the exit! Well Ive never seen little ladies be so aggressive in trying to sell me something! Some things we did buy but even so these ladies would hold onto ur arm and try and pull u into their stalls. At one point my partner and I had a lady each hanging off our arms as we tried to exit the market....phew we were lucky to have made it out alive! From there we went up to the top of the volcano...Kintemani i think its called. Here our driver stopped at a restaurant over looking the volcano. We insisted to our driver to come and have lunch with us and that we would pay. He thought this was great. Was nice to sit and talk to him over lunch about his life and share our many experiences with him. After lunch we stopped off at the terraced rice paddies and took some photos. Well my partner took photos while i was mobbed by hawkers! Terraced rice paddies are truely a work of art. From there we stopped off at the monkey forest where the driver and I pushed my partner out the door to take photos of the monkeys. There was no way i was getting that close. I would have screamed if they had jumped on me. It was a great day out taking in all the beautiful country side. On our last nite in ubud narda drove us out to Putulu to see the herons fly in. Normally there are heaps of these birds that fly into the trees there to settle in for the night. You sit in a rice paddy and can have a drink if u like and watch them all come in. My partner wasnt that impressed but i thought it was ok. I will definitely go back to ubud one day soon hopefully...theres so much to see and do, and the people are lovely.
When u get the bali blues....u get it bad!