JBR
Up to Ubud to relax.
9th August 7 am flight from Perth left right on time (i think) - i was already in holiday mode so had no watch and did not care about the time. Flights was nice and short and uneventful.
Caught a fixed price taxi from the airport up to Ubud and was dropped off at Alam Indah by 12.30pm. The hotel was gorgeous and we had the upstairs Jepun room overlooking the valley. The balcony day bed was utilised for about 4-5 hours everyday where we sat and read books and soaked up the warmth and view - so relaxing. Headed straight off to lunch at Lamak - which was lovely. Saturday night we had dinner at the Laka Leke just down the road and watched the Frog Dance which was great. Lots of young children in frog costumes and the music and frog sounds the musicians created were great.
August in Bali is may favourite time of the year - weather is cool - around 27-29 degrees and there is a breeze blowing most of the day thus keeping the humidity significantly lower than the rest of the year.
Spent only two nights at the Alam Indah before moving to the Alam Shanti for 6 nights. The Shanti was also beautiful and our room was almost as big as our two bedroom house back in Perth ! The staff were great here and very accommodating and the place was so quiet and relaxing. Again we spent many hours chilling out on the day bed on the balcony and watched the birds, bees, squirrels, bats and kites and the local people tending the rice paddies.
Whilst in Ubud we had great meals at Lamak, Terazo, Indus, Cafe Wayan, Warung Enak (had the 19 dish rijstaffel here which was superb), Casa Luna and the Green House. Not one bad meal.
We did two half day trips from Ubud - one to the Bird & Reptile Parks which were great. The gardens and set up here were very good and neither place was too busy and the animals and birds were fairly well kept so most enjoyable.
The second day trip was to the Bali Safari and Marine Park which, based on reports on the forum sounded like it would be great. But once again this proves how different we all are - we thought the safari park was pretty crap !!! I imagine kids would love it and as such it would be great for families but we thought it was contrived and tacky. No matter what anyone says the lion cub and tiger cubs are definitely drugged - no doubt !!! They were like zombies. The new big performance arena had its first performances the day after we were there so perhaps with that and the eventual completion of the marine part of the park it would be a more enjoyable experience but it is not one we will bother with again.
Our 8 nights in Ubud went nice and slow and i finished two books and had plenty of naps and swims in the pool so it was a great part of the holiday.
Down to Legian for the Wedding
We moved down to the Padma in Legian for the last 4 nights of our holiday. It was here we met up with our friends and family who had come over for our wedding. First night all the younguns (us mid-30's types minus the parents aka oldies !!!) went for some mexican at TJ's - what a feast. Cocktails and food was still good and we all had a good laugh here.
Next day we met Kelly from Romantic Bali Weddings for our pre-wedding briefing. Now we cannot say enough about Kelly and her husband Gus who were two of the nicest people you are likely to meet - so sweet. Leading up to us leaving for Bali Kelly was great and we organised everything with her by email - she always made it feel like nothing was a problem or a stress and we felt completely assured that it would all go smoothly. We had a great laugh and chat with Kelly about many things including the wedding !!! Wedding was set for the following day.
That night all the wedding guests met at Un's Paradise restaurant in Kuta. Great night here and great food - this place does fantastic steaks, which i had, but no one was disappointed with what they had. Brilliant.
The Wedding Day
We booked a three-bedroom villa at the Bali Villas next door to the Prana Spa for the wedding ceremony and for us to stay the night of the wedding. Kelly recommended this place and we were not disappointed - it was stunning !!!
My bride-to-be and her mum checked-in there around 2pm while i had lunch with the boys. I then went down around 4pm - i had a swim and a relax in the separate room while the bride and her mum got ready. Kelly and Gus arrived soon after and started organising everything - i did not have to do anything but get changed and welcome the guests. We had a three piece rindik group playing music while i chatted to all the guests. I was totally relaxed knowing Kelly had everything in hand.
The priest arrived and we had a nice short 15 minute ceremony at about 5.30pm. My bride was led into the garden by two gorgeous little Balinese flower girls to the sound of traditional rindik music. We then had lots of obligatory pictures with the priests and the flower girls and all the guests as the sun set. The many bottles of champagne were popped and canapés were served. The canapés were delish and the champagne went down a treat.
The villa garden was beautiful for all the photos and comfortably provided many seats and comfortable areas for the 14 guests. I think you could have upto about 30 guests here and still be comfortable.
Once all the photos were done and champagne supply was heavily dented Kelly got us all in taxis for the short trip to Kafe Warisan for the dinner. This is probably my favourite restaurant in the Legian/Seminyak area. Everyone decided to have main course only as the canapés had been quite filling. We drank quite a few lovely bottles of New Zealand pinot and a couple of bottles of Aussie Sav Blanc with dinner and we all relaxed and chatted the evening away. The food was absolutely superb and the service was silver service !!! These guys run an amazing kitchen - the meals all came at once and the quality control out of their kitchen is second to none.
We decided that rather than have dessert at Warisan's we would all go back to the villa to eat the wedding cake Kelly had organised - it was a beauty - two tiered with one vanilla tier and one orange and poppy seed tier - again delish. We all had coffees and teas and cake and a few people waded in the pool and drank a few nightcaps and last guests headed off around midnight.
Brilliant afternoon and evening and was just the wedding we both wanted - so relaxed and chilled and Kelly organised everything leaving us to enjoy ourselves and look after our guests.
Spent the next two days relaxing and dining out with our friends (and a trip to Waterbom for the boys while the girls shopped) before flying home Thursday lunchtime - flight delayed by one hour but got message before we left hotel so we relaxed in the club lounge and had a few juices.
All in all another brilliant trip to Bali - my 13th or 14th i think and my wife's 2nd trip. Was great to take her to Ubud to all my favourite places and she absolutely adored the accommodation and the relaxed atmosphere and wants me to book for next august already !!!
Thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions.
Cheers.