Tuesday 5th June:
Today we are going to Ubud. We awoke at 7.30 this morning and all had a refreshing shower and walked to the Green Garden Restaurant for breakfast this morning. I love sitting in the Green Garden for breakfast viewing the swimming pool waterfall, koi fish and green thick vines that created a wall. It is a nice atmosphere to start the day and the mynor bird in the cage that says to the occassional passer by 'what you doing?' brings a smile to my face. Breakfast is so cheap and adequate for choices (as is Daddy's Cafe) and I so enjoy my little fruit platter to finish off breakfast.
We had arranged for our friend to pick us up after breakfast at the Green Garden Restaurant as he is taking us to Ubud for the day. He arrived on time as he punctually always does and he bought his son with him today which was great as my son and him get on very well together and it kept my son amused. So the boys sat in the back of the kijang and played gameboys while us girls had the back seat to chat in and the men in the front.
As we travelled towards Ubud and admired all the scenery and many carvings, paintings and statues my husband asked our friend if he could organise a motorbike for us to hire. We decided a motorbike would be ideal to have at the villa and would be quick access for us to get to the main roads when popping out to the shops etc. Our friend said he will lend us his bike, so that was settled and we would organise this later in the day. On the way we stoppped at one of my favourite scenic places to take photos of the green rice fields and white streamer cloths on poles in the fields blowing in the gentle warm breezes.
We reached Ubud town and my first stop was Genesha Bookshop to stock up on some good reading material which I hope will keep me good company in the months of winter here in Australia, as I can curl up in bed on a winters night and dream of Bali and spend my nights reading all these wonderful books that I purchased.
I spent quite some time browsing the shelfs of books at Ganesha Bookshop; the books I purchased are:
1. Take Me to paradise -By Jan Cornall (I have just started reading this one).
2. Bali A Paradise Created -By Adrian Vickers.
3. A Little Bit One O'Clock - By William Ingram.
4. To Hold The Mountain - By Fabia Claridge.
5. Revolt In Paradise - By K'tut Tantri.
6. The Other Side of Morning - By Ron Tassell.
7. In a Jakarta Prison (life stories of women inmates).
8. The Art of Learning by Doing (written & illustrated by Balinese children)
9. Go to sleep Ghecko (A Balinese folktale) Children's story.
10. A Disney Language book to translate English to Indonesian with pictures (for the children to learn some indo language).
Plus I purchased 2 childrens books for our friends children.
I spent $150.00. in the Ganesha Bookshop and it was money well spent. I could have easily bought more books as I'm an avid reader, but I will definately return there on my next visit.
After the book purchases we then went to the Lotus Cafe Restaurant which is a favourite restaurant of mine. I love the setting here with the beautiful large ponds completely filled with succulent lotus plants brimming the surfaces of the water and the fish peering out from beneath waiting to be fed. The setting is very tranquil and beautiful. Hubby our friend and myself had the nasi goreng which is beautifully presented in half of a carved out pineapple cask and is the best nasi goreng I had in Bali...just scrumptious is all I can say. Mum had a chilli prawn dish which she enjoyed and the 3 kids had fish and chips. Us adults washed our meals down with some chilled bintangs and the kids washed there's down with fantas. The boys had 3 scoops of icecream each and my daughter had flourless chocolate cake drizzled with chocolate syrup and vanilla icecream. After a couple of hours spent here just chilling, eating and drinking we made our way to the markets across the road.
At the markets I purchased a unique large metal statue of an ant playing a guitar. I got myself a harmony ball pendant. The kids got some little turtle ornaments with heads that bop up and down and came in a range of colours. I also got a set of four wooden black painted native people figures that range in sizes from tallest to shortest and have intricate painted details on them. My daughter got some roxy board shorts. Hubby got a couple of shirts. My son got a couple of musical instruments to add to his collection at home, everytime he goes to Bali he looks for a different musical instrument to add to his collection. Mum came out with about 3 bag loads of goodies. Then our friend collected our goodies and took them to the car and told us to meet him at the royal palace residence. We entered the palace and admired the young men learning to play the well known Bali instruments that we all love to here the 'ding ding ding' sounds that remind us all the time that we are in Bali.
Next we got back in the car and drove around some remote village areas and admired the scenerary. On the way back we went to our friends house where his wife and daughter greeted us hello with huge warm smiles. We sat outside on the woven mats on their green lawn and accepted large cold bottles of Bintangs and fantas and sprites for the kids. Their house which they are building is in a beautiful location on a hill and there was a pleasant cool breeze. While the adults chatted and a neighbour of theirs joined us and was helping me with learning some more balinese lingo the girls coloured in with the crayons and textas and books I had purchased for my friends children, whilst the boys ran around through the rice fields and played games.
After a couple of hours there we all left together and our friends wife follwed us all in the car on the motorbike which we were borrowing from them for the rest of the week. We stopped at Indograph in Legian and hubby ordered some more business cards for a couple of our workers and this time got some stickers made up. As we already had our business template there from a previous order it did not take long to organise. Although they were quite busy and we gave them some short notice, so we had the option of paying a little bit more for our order so we could get them in time.
Then back to the villa we all went and our motorbike was delivered. We all sat down and enjoyed some snacks and drinks. Our friends left then we all went and showered and got ready to go out for dinner.
Tonight we went to Indonational for dinner. Kerry and Milton are lovely hosts and are good to have a chat with. The meals were delicious. Mum and I had the lobster mornay, they were the biggest lobsters I have had and we made sure we took a photo of them before we devoured them all up. Usually I have lobster and Im still hungry afterwards but after finishing this I couldnt fit anymore in. The mornay sauce was delicious and garlicy and it was served with a lovely salad on the side and chips. Hubby had a seafood platter which he really enjoyed. Son had spaghetti bolognaise and daughter had a chicken burger with chips. We also ordered garlic bread and of course the famous Bintang Beer then a couple of scotches and coke washed it down nicely. The kids had icecream for desert. We purchased a few Dvd's from a guy when we were sitting here enjoying a drink and listening to the band, some of the Dvd's we purchased from this guy were not that good of quality. He did say that we could take any back to him if they were no good, but we didnt get around to it and as far as we know it was only a couple that were not good.
We then made our way out of the Indonational feeling very full and content and caught a taxi back to the villa, had a night cap then went to bed.
Next installment JBR 4 'Our Bali Holiday Continued'