In Reply to: oh come on! posted by bali_baby_yeah on Friday, 13. April 2012 at 16:13 Bali Time:
The Ubud Off Course Walk - I saw reference to it in quite an old post on this forum...not sure what I was searching for in the first place but it really was quite by accident that I saw it. Checked out the website and thought it might be great to give it a go. Because we were taking the kids (an unknown factor was how they would cope) and I was keen to stop and take photos as much as possible, I wanted to pick a day where there were no other bookings in place just in case things went pear shaped and we had to bail. No problems there...Wayan just gave us the next available day and wasn't worried about filling a quota of walkers or anything like that. We were collected by car at 7am from the hotel, and driven to Ubud where we picked up Wayan and then he guided us through a family compound in a small village. Nothing commercial in it, just an opportunity to hear more about the family structure, the way their lives work in a village, and a tour of their family temple and plot. We then drove on further to another village where we began our walk down through the streets to the start of the forest and then wound our way over hill and dale, through mud, along rice paddies, down through trees, winding tracks, through caverns and past waterfalls. We were treated to a snack break - cold towels, water, bananas...then continued on until eventually we reached the ancient temple. Magic!! Words can't even describe how beautiful it was....you'll just have to go :)
When the walk was over, we were taken to lunch (included), and again, this wasn't like some touristy buffet stop on a Kintimani tour (hello gastro). We had a set menu Indo lunch with quite honestly the best fresh watermelon juice on the planet. Then a stop at the coffee plantation for a well needed caffiene boost (again, no pressure to buy but more the chance to sit and chat more with Wayan)...and then back to our hotel around 4pm. A huge day, but SO worth it. Cost 250,000rp each plus the transport was 350,000rp extra.
Didn't try the mojitos at Lanai....but love my Mojitos! The bright bean bags on the beach near the bottom of Dyana Pura - can't remember what the place is called but their mojitos rock!
Biku does a high tea and you have an option of tarot readings or tea leaf readings there too...haven't done that (yet lol!) The menu for the high tea looks lovely though (even a special one for the kids).
Thanks for reading :)