Blogs from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, Asia

It was an earlier start for me today, as I have booked a private tour. I felt it was the best option to see more of Ubud as I only have 3 days here. It would be a shame to miss out! I set the alarm for 6:45. It wasn’t difficult to get up early, as I purposely went to bed early in preparation! I’m seriously not a morning person these days! I had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Then was ready for the driver to arrive at 8am. I walked up the street to the ATM to get extra cash for the day, and also water, I’m making a concerted effort to drink lots! I will need cash to buy tickets for the entrance costs. I’m not sure if they all take card payments! ... read more

Had our eggs and mangosteens for breakfast and finished packing before meeting our driver Alit who I met on the path leading to the entry car park. I left Daisy and our luggage at the side car park as it was close to our villa and would save us carrying it down. I hopped into Alit's car and we drove around to the side car park, packed our luggage in and set off on our day tour. First stop was the Ceking Rice Terraces, Tegallalang. We did one of the big swings together which was fun and then set off on a trek through the rice Terraces which was great. You did have to be careful as parts were a bit muddy and slippery, but it was a great little hike. We stopped for a drink ... read more

Woke up late and decided to eat our eggs and corn flakes. By then it was 11am so we decided to just hang around until it was time to visit our friends, Rosie and Gary who moved to Ballu a few years ago. We ordered a Grab car at noon and it artived fairly quickly but then I noticed he was going in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go, so I got him to stop and it took a while to sort out the correct destination. Rosie told us to go to Warung Ting Ting and I found it on Google Maps. For some reason the Grab app was taking the driver to a different Warung Ting Ting, so there must be two in the Ubud area. So it ended up taking an ... read more

Had a lighter breakfast at the resort restaurant because it is Day 3 of wedding celebration with a farewell lunch at another residence designed by Hadiprana. By the time we had finished breakfast and chatted to people about the previous day’s wedding , it was time to get ready for the transfers to the lunch venue. Today was pouring down with rain and we all agreed how lucky we were that the wedding day was yesterday and the rain had held off at the right time. We were amongst the first to arrive and the grounds were again magnificent. Chef Dean Nor was again in charge of the farewell lunch and this time we feasted on suckling pig with spicy blood sausage, fantastic chicken legs, corn and salads. We had a most enjoyable time chatting with ... read more

Today was very relaxed. Woke up around 8am and had our self catered breakfast of corn flakes & banana and some of the fruit that we were given on arrival, a nice gesture. Still can’t get over how cheap we got this accommodation but I think the reason is that it is older and less well appointed than the other 20 official villas in this resort. Ours is probably the original residence of the complex which was formerly called the Chedi Club but then redesigned by architect, Hendra Hadiprana. The cheapest 1 bedroom villa is around $650 but our 2 bedroom villa is less than $100 per night, quite a big difference. Sure the included facilities are not really up to scratch even by AirBnb standards but the fact we are able to make use of ... read more