JBR - Ubud first


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Posted by Cathy on Thursday, 13. December 2007 at 12:10 Bali Time:

I've been back 2 weeks now and really wanted to let you know about a great trip I just had to Bali. I love Bali and it always feels like I've arrived home when I step out of the airport. I have never seen Bali busier than I did this time. It was great to see and I hope it continues.

We were a group of 16 girls from Canada (Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto...ages 28 - 75). This was my 16th trip to Bali (since '83) and the 4th time I've taken a group of girls with me. No one, other than myself had ever been to Bali.

We flew via HKG on Cathay Pacific...28 hours after we left Calgary we arrived in Bali. This is when I envy you Aussies with your 3-7 hours flying before you arrive in paradise. I guess we have Mexico, Hawaii and the Caribbean about 6-9 hours away but it's not the same (at all!)

We must have arrived with a few other planes as it took about 50 minutes to get through immigration and get our VOA's...never seen line ups like that before so I shouldn't have been surprised at how busy the street of Ubud and Tuban/Legian/Seminyak were. Amed was pretty quiet but we expected that.

One of the girls got pulled over at customs (taken off to the side) because she said she had 2 bottles of wine in her checked luggage. I quickly went through so they didn't know we were part of a group but I felt really bad for her as she was looking abit nervous. The customs guy said, ‘don't worry, we can help you', so she pulled out a $10 bill (USD) and he waived her through. She was abit ticked off that she admitted to 2 bottles but then laughed and said she actually had 4 bottles so it wasn't so bad. I had a hard time before we left confirming if we were allowed 1 litre or 2 litres of alcohol...we all had way more than what we were allowed so the rest of us were lucky that we didn't get stopped.

I always start the Bali part of the trip with a stop at Macro for drinks (water, juice, beer, wine) and we use the ATM machines there. It's always fun to see the smile on everyone's faces when they discover their bank balance is in rupiah and they are suddenly millionaires.

I have to say that the drive from the airport to Ubud is abit of a shock for most first timers to Bali. There seems to be lots of industrial type businesses and of course tons of traffic and people. Most of the girls were looking for the beautiful rice terraces or the beaches and of course, they are not to be found on this drive. Thankfully the rest of our time in Bali was spend seeing the amazing sights that most people dream of when they think of Bali.

Our first 5 nights were spent at the Alam Sari, about 15 minutes drive from Ubud. This is a small boutique type hotel owned by a New Zealand couple who live in Jakarta. Most of their rooms are bungalow style with the ‘open air' type bathrooms. The Alam Sari has a very Balinese feel to it with a beautiful pool off the restaurant and fronting the rooms. The reason that I use this place for the group trips is that they have a beautiful Villa at the back of their property which has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a large living room, dining room and kitchen. It's a perfect place to gather a group together in the evenings, have a few Bintangs and do a shopping ‘show and tell'. The staff are wonderful and honestly couldn't do enough for us. When we leave it's like saying goodbye to family.

The Alam Sari offer's a free village walk which we took the first morning. It's about 4 hours long and we get to walk through jungle type vegetation, across the rice fields and into the village of Keliki. Our guide, Dewa, also took us to his compound and at the end we stopped by an artists' compound and had ginger tea, rice cakes (not exactly sure what they were) and fresh mango. This is the perfect way to start a first visit to Bali because you really get a first hand look at how the Balinese live. I have to wonder how many of their traditions they will be able to keep, especially now that some of them are starting to get TV's.

While in Ubud, we also did a day trip north of Tegallalang to see the rice terraces, stopped at the Bedugal Market and then had lunch at the Saranam Eco-Resort. The view from this hotel is amazing. I think it used to be called the Pacung Hotel. Afterwards we went to Tanah Lot. I think the temple is one of the most beautiful and spiritual places in Bali. We had our token Hindu blessing done by the priests and then had dinner at one of the restaurants over looking the temple and watched the sunset. It was cloudy that day so not much of a sunset but still a great place to take a break.

Most of the group also spent a day at Bali Botanica, a wonderful spa very close to Mozaic. They are one of the few spas in Bali that do the Ayurveda massage - 2.5 hours of having a litre of warm oil poured over your body, while they cleanse your chakras. I know it sounds like a long massage and the chakra thing could turn some people off...but it is the most amazing massage that I've ever had. That was my 3rd visit to this spa and they just keep getting better. You probably need to book in advance as they are very popular with the Koreans, Taiwanese and the Japanese. Just a note for anyone that is modest. Most spas do have ‘paper' underwear that they will give you before your massage if you are not comfortable being totally naked but I can't imagine trying to peel off that paper after all that oil. My recommendation is to just get naked, close your eyes and relax. You might never see them again so who cares?

We also did the Tuesday cooking class at Honeymoon Bakery which includes a market tour first. That's my 3rd time doing the same class and I never get tired of going to the market early in the morning. At 800AM, it's so full of activity and interesting food.

Another thing we did that everyone loved was the elephant ride at the Elephant Safari Park at Taro, near Ubud. I thought it was abit expensive ($53USD) but it really was a highlight for some of the girls. They have a short information show first and then the ride was about 30 minutes. The park is very well maintained. The staff took our cameras at the end and took photos for us. I couldn't believe it as one guy had at least 10 cameras around his neck and he handed back the correct camera to each person...how did he remember which camera belonged to which person???

We also went to see the Ramayana Ballet at the Ubud Palace one night and again, it was a great experience. I love going to the Palace as it has such great energy.

We ate at Café Wayan one night and had a great meal. It was packed there with a few other groups but the service was still great. I also went to the new Bali Botanical Park...quite impressive but you can see they need a lot more support from visitors. Had lunch at their restaurant and it was excellent.

Did tons of shopping in and around Ubud. In total, between 16 of us, we bought 136 pairs of beaded sandals, mostly from Sidhi Becik on Jalan Dewa. They have lots of sizes and the prices are great. I think most of our sandals were around 50,000 rupiah. They also have great beaded jewelry, baskets and placemats etc. They have another store in Ubud (right across from the Monkey Forest so if they don't have what you want the girls get on their motorbikes and go to the other location. I didn't get there, but they've recently opened up a shop in Seminyak on Double Six.

My only disappointment was that I intended on finding Ketut Liyer from the book, Eat, Pray and Love. I talked to a friend in Ubud who said not to bother. He say (not in these words but pretty close) that Ketut had ‘gone Hollywood'. My friend (not a local) told me that he knew of quite a few ladies that had gone to see Ketut and he was more interested in selling them paintings than anything else. It might be unfair of me that I didn't go and find out for myself, but I loved the book so much that I just decided I would keep the memory of the book in my mind rather than actually meet Ketut. If anyone has gone to see Ketut and wants to comment, I'd love to hear other people's experiences. I'll be back to Bali in May so could see him then.

That's it for now but I'll soon post the next part of the trip - Amed and the Dancing Dragon Cottages. The first 5 nights were the perfect introduction to Bali - we saw amazing beauty, ate wonderful meals, shopped till we dropped and best of all - I introduced everyone to Bintang and by the time we left Ubud, most of the girls were hooked!



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