JBR
Ready to board the Garuda flight from Sydney, I heard 'hello Jann', It was our very good friend Jeff from That Bali Shop at Warriewood who was on the same flight as ours travelling to Bali to purchase a container of goods for his shop.
On arrival at Green Field hotel in Ubud we were tired after the trip so had an early dinner at our favorite restaurant, Café Wayan in Monkey Forest Road. After the always lovely meal, a few bottles of Bintang for me and several Margaritias for Jann back to the hotel and the ducks in the rice paddies below.
We had arranged previously by email for our driver Made, Made Umariawan <made.travel@gmail.com> Phone Tel: +62 81 2 3611213, to meet up with us and we had a wonderful time thanks to him and can recommend him as his English is quite good. His driving is safe and he is very friendly and helpful. Made picked us up bright and early the next day. First stop was to order some stone plinths at the Bali Frog stature maker at Singapadu. We have bought statues from him before but the owner doesn't speak English, luckily for us our driver interpreted for us and we paid $90 Aud. for the two. Next up to our good friend, another Made, at PDS Stone sculpture to buy two lime stone statures. This guy is a real artist, he has been on Jamie Durie's TV show and has even been flown to America to create stone carved walls at a famous Hollywood director's home and was just back from a big exhibition in Tokyo.
Made greated Jann with a big hug as it has been two years since we last saw him. Jann wanted 2 lime stone statures of Balinese princesses holding bowls on their heads to float frangipani flowers in. Unfortunately Made didn't have any that suited so he set up his lap top and designed the statures to Jann's specifications. We have many Balinese statures in our garden and of these there are 9 or 10 from PDS. .Next up to see our other friends who arrange for our goods to be freighted back to Sydney. They have a shop selling beautiful bedspreads and cushion covers amongst other items. Jann bought a beautiful silk queen bed doona , some cushion covers and several Indian silk covered notebooks.
As the day was still young off to the Bali Zoo once again, we go every time we are in Bali, they need patronage and are being helped by the Perth Zoo. It is always enjoyable and the gardens are quite lovely.
Next day when walking down Monkey Forest Road we came across a fantastic garden behind the Ubud Inn, one of the workers there told us it was designed by the owner and was so beautiful Jann took heaps of photos to show members of the Tropical Plants Society back in Syney.
On Sunday Made was waiting to take us up to the Tirta Gangga Water Palace. This was a great trip well worth the over two hours travelling time to get there. This is the real Bali, you travel up the east coast past Candi Dasa into the mountains. Jann was so impressed she wants to see it again next time we are in Bali. On the way back we visited the floating temple at Klungkung, the Court of Justice and Museum adjacent which is worth a look.
Monday was a quiet day pouring with rain. As is typical of Bali after about 2 hours the rain disappeared and the sun came out for the rest of the day.We walked up Hanoman street over to the palace ,then the markets buying a few items of silver jewelry and presents for the family, then down Monkey Forest Road and of course lunch and drinks at Café Wayan. Called in at Bawa, the Bali Street Dog fund office which is just up from the Monkey Forest and bought a couple of their coffee mugs and gave a donation. We sponsored that Fund in one of our Open Garden weekends and they do tremendous work in caring for the street dogs. They have some nice items for sale, all reasonably priced. We were greeted by a blind dog and her puppy both very friendly, the puppy was gorgeous and I had to restrain Jann from adopting it and smuggling it home.
Tuesday was our last day at Ubud and we bought another stone stature of an elephant from the hotel which is their mascot . After arranging for the paperwork to get it shipped back we transferred down to the Puri Raja at Legian. We have stayed five times at the Kumala Pantai and loved it but unfortunely we couldn't get the room we wanted this time so we booked into the Puri Raja just down the road from the KP. The rooms were a bit smaller but very modern and clean and the hotel was certainly quiet and the grounds had very nice, well kept gardens and two large swimming pools. The breakfast was great, table service, plenty of food well cooked and a small but good menu. We liked it better than the KP. It had a great location looking out to the surf watching the board riders and no motor bikes as the road was blocked off to traffic. We would certainly stay there again, cost was $90 AUD. The only complaint was there was no separate shower but a combined shower/bath, and we couldn't get a late check out ie. Had to check out at 12 noon and our flight back to Sydney was at 12 midnight!!!
Went down to Jl.Padma to a store near the corner of Legian Street, Padma Bali, to get a carved timber sign made for our garden, they have carved several signs for us over the years and do a good Job.
Wednesday Made took us over to Nusa Dua for a small day trip .Then later walked down Legian Street Jann bartering all the way , after 6 visits we weren't really into buying cheap tee shirts and sun glasses and watches. Visited the markets next to Marta Haris and bought a few presents. Jann went to our friend at Brisbane Tailors near the All Seasons hotel to get a pair of slacks and two tops made, he is a great tailor as she has had him make clothes for her every trip. Then to the cushion maker right next door to Merrys Corner and ordered a hot pink cover for her Balinese day bed with 2 bolsters and 3 cushion covers. They made them in two days and they are perfect.
Thursday caught a cab over to Gold Street in Denpassar, the traffic was horrendous and the jewellery too yellow and ornate for our taste then got dropped back at Bintang Super store in Legian Street and walked along there back via Jl. Padma where we searched for a leather hand bag for our daughter and bought a jumper for our Golden Retriever, Honey at the Dogs Tail.
Had our driver take us over to Sunar to the Orchid Garden and spent several hours there, well worth visiting as the orchids are truly beautiful. We took heaps of photos and had a coffee made from the Civit cat, beautiful, and also bought a flask of orchids with a certificate to get through Customs. We actually bought a couple of small packets of the coffee at Marta Haris store at Kuta which was cheaper than at the Orchid Garden.
We did a lot of walking, eating and relaxing again on this trip and actually lost weight so forget the 'Biggest Loser' go over to Bali. Jann has already arranging for our next trip in May 2012.