Advertisement
Published: January 13th 2017
Edit Blog Post
So the upset stomach finally got to me overnight and I really wasn't in the mood for breakfast or food in general. I stayed in bed and rested while Emily and Pamela went for breakfast. The staff worked out that I wasn't there and, when they found out I was a little poorly, followed the girls back to the room with a tray of fruit, yoghurt and pastries. The gesture was nice but I really couldn't face it.
We had a call from our travel agent this morning informing us of some issues with Tiger Air and flights from Australia being cancelled. Hopefully this is sorted before we are due to head home next Thursday as I don't relish the prospect of getting stuck here indefinitely. He seemed confident that whatever the issue is it will be sorted by then.
Because people had been sick and we didn't have much Time in Ubud, we decided to book a car to take us to Nusa Dua but to stop on the way at a number of places that we hadn't seen. We packed in the morning and were picked up at noon by Wayan. He was a lovely fellow who
spoke English very well - albeit a little loudly.
We went to a couple of silver manufacturing factories to view the wares and see some of the traditional craftsmanship techniques which was quite interesting. Emily was looking for an elephant but couldn't find anything that she liked and Pamela managed to find a small necklace that she liked which she bought.
From there we went to a wood carving factory. There were some amazing carvings of a range of things. Most were made out of a single piece of wood and some were taller than a person. Knowing we couldn't take anything back to Australia we simply looked and moved on.
From there we went to get a bite to eat at a cafe that the driver knew. It was actually part of a butterfly park. While we were there it started raining, quite heavily actually, which cooled things down and made things more tolerable.
After lunch we went to a small coffee plantation that also did some teas and spices. We went for a very interesting tour through the plantation where we saw them dry, roast and grind the coffee. One of their specialities is
a coffee that has been eaten and excreted by one of the local animals prior to processing. Quite a delicacy apparently but nothing we were prepared to try. At the end of the tour they bought us tasters of a range of coffees, teas and cocoa. The tendency is to add a sugar syrup to drinks to sweeten them but we all tried a ginger tea that ripped the backs of our throats out. Normally I don't like the syrup but would have happily added some to that drink.
We had planned to go to an art market and a waterfall but the combination of the weather and our fatigue removed these visits from the agenda.
From here it was off to Nusa Dua for the remainder of the trip. The journey was slow and uneventful and we eventually arrived at a beautiful gated community with multiple hotels and resorts all next to each other. The Melia is beautiful and when we arrived to check in they sounded a gong and were ushered in by Balinese dancers. Made us feel very important indeed.
After dropping our bags off we went for a short walk and then had
dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Between our fragile stomaches we had the equivalent of about 2 meals between the four of us and then went back to our room to go to bed.
All in all one of the more interesting days in Bali and we'll see what tomorrow brings.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0474s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb