Bali for 7 days

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Its holiday time once again for me! I’m off to Bali for 7 days with Lisa, Jenny & Jenny’s sister Christine. We got really cheap fares to Bali with Air Asia when they first started flying from Perth to Denpasar. As this is my 3rd holiday this year, the girls agreed to go ‘budget’, so after lots of searching on the Internet I came up with the Tegal Sari in Ubud and the Kuta Townhouses in Poppies 1, Kuta.
None of us had spent any time in Ubud, but we’d all heard wonderful things about how lovely it was. So we decided to split our time between there and Kuta. Ubud for the relaxing massages and pampering, Kuta for the retail therapy.
As we only there for 7 days, but departed at 12.30am on the 8th day, I tried to get a 7 day visa. Nearly had it, but one of the other ladies was quizzed about what day departing and they changed my visa and make me pay the $25! Oh well!! Immigration took no time (3 counters open), our bags were one of the last to come out.....we were one of the first to check in though back in Perth so maybe that was why.
I had organised transport to Ubud (Tegal Sari) and LW and I were taking all of the luggage. The other two girls Christine and Jenny wanted to get leather jackets made and were unsure if there would be enough time once we arrived back in Kuta, so they organised a driver for the day and then he dropped them off to Tegal Sari later that afternoon.
Took just over an hour with the morning peak hour traffic (out in Sanur) to arrive at Tegal Sari. Arrived at Tegal Sari and had a really yummy cold lemon tea...filled in the paperwork, but as the room was not yet ready we had a few hours to kill. Lisa and I had a nice brunch at the restaurant next door to the hotel, a wander through the Tegal Sari and then a lovely long relaxing massage. (The nasi goreng had gone straight through Lisa so she wasn’t keen on going too far from a toilet!)
Back to the hotel, they were cleaning one of the new villas at the Tegal Sari so we had a look through, very very nice! US$200 a night for two people with a private pool.
Jenny and Christine had arrived, rooms ready so went over for some duty free to have on the balcony and catch up. The only rooms that we could get together were standard rooms, (1 & 2), but these were more than adequate....lovely view of the rice paddies and pond.
Went out for ‘happy hour’ and a few cocktails to a restaurant down the road. Everyone very very tired so decided to head back to Tegal Sari for tea. The food was superb. Very tasty and very reasonably priced. From memory it was 20,000rp for a nasi/mee goreng.
Lisa and I up early next morning and walked ¾ of the way up monkey forest road for a squiz before any shops open. Was very peaceful and got some great photos of the monkeys. Unfortunately we did not get as far as the markets.
Breakfast on the balcony, I had poached eggs....was a little cold so therefore not that flash, so for the rest of the visit I stayed with the banana pancakes and fresh fruit salad.
Organised transport to take us up to the tourist markets, Lisa & Christine got straight to business and ended up with some bargains! I love ‘local’ markets and was quite disappointed that we had not got to them early in the morning during our walk. They look like they would have been quite interesting. I bought some mangosteen (10,000rp/kg) and a couple of mangos (15,000rp/kg).
Slowly made our way down monkey forest road stopping off at various boutiques and silver shops. As I’m not a ‘shopper’ didn’t take long for me to say enough is enough and Jenny and I headed back to hotel. As we were walking past the monkey forest, we spied a monkey sitting on a pillar, Jenny wanted to get a photo, but as I had my hands full with the fruit and some cans of drink I chose not to. The monkey jumped off the pillar and slowly made his way past Jenny, crept past me and then pounced on my shopping bags. Ripped open the fruit bag and stole the mangosteens! Little b*****, besides giving me the fright of my life, I was not impressed! We did get some great photos of him eating our fruit though!
Dumped the mangos and drink off at the room and then went across the road for a couple of hours massage. I much prefer pampering to shopping!
The other girls finally arrived back and came into the massage salon to check up on us. They then decided to have massage and Lisa wanted a milk flower bath also. Jenny and I went back to room for a couple of drinks and then out to ‘happy hour’ at Siam Sally on our own.
Think we ate at the Ubud Art Cafe that night, as JB and I had over indulged just a little at Siam Sally’s we weren’t all that hungry. Had a couple of appetisers that we shared...they weren’t that flash, very oily.
Next morning up fairly early and breakfast served once again on the balcony. We have a trekking tour booked through the Tegal Sari. We all thought it was going to a gentle stroll through the rice fields, and farms with the guide pointing out the different type of fruits/veges and herbs that are grown.
Joining us are a lovely young Malaysian couple on a kid free week. Set off in the mini bus on time. It is roughly a 20min interesting ride to the village. The guide is full of information and very happy to answer any questions during the tour.
Firstly we stop at an artists compound and are given some sketches to shade in. They are pictures of traditional dancers. It think they are called keliki pictures/style. Lots of laughs at how hopeless some of us are at our drawing ability! We are given a cup of hot ginger tea or bali coffee. Lisa was a little reluctant to drink it due to her fragile tummy, but did so and really enjoyed it. (No major side effects from the drink either!)
We spent about 90min in the compound, was no rush and the Malaysian couple were getting right into their drawings. James in particular did a very impressive drawing.
Finally we left for a ‘meander’ through the rice fields. The guide pointing out points of interest, fruits etc. Arrived at a coconut farm and the farmer shimmied up the tree and threw down 2 coconuts for us all to try. The flesh was slimy, sweet and warm and the coconut water quite palatable. I’d only ever eaten that dry rubbish that is found in the supermarkets here...this was very different!
Then the fun starts.... Our gentle stroll through the rice fields turns into a deep valley that we have to climb down into! The handmade steps are uneven, very steep and often quite slippery. We eventually reach the bottom and our legs are all shaking. The guide points to a water supply that he says is fine to drink as it comes from the ground and is not contaminated....my water bottle is just about empty so I’m the only ‘brave’ enough one to have a drink. I had no bali belly or side effects from the water, it tasted fresh and very cool.
There were lots of groans etc......we now have to climb back out again. The guide says its only 20metres....sure! By the time we got to the top all of us knackered, light headed and feeling quite ill! Goes to show how unfit we all are!!! A short rest and walk through an irrigation river and it’s a 20min walk to the village that we are to get picked up from. Have a short wait at the village (its very hot!) and back to the Tegal Sari for lunch that is included in the trek. Its a choice of Nasi Campur or Babi Guling. I chose the Babi Guling as I’d never tried before and always wanted to. Was not overly impressed very oily and quite fatty. Was quite dry with lots of green chilli. They did tell us that it was not cooked on site and was bought in by a recommended cafe. Lisa was the only one of us to have the Nasi Campur and it was absolutely beautiful. There was 7 different things to try.... pork belly, a rendang, a boiled egg with sambal, a prawn with sambal, a spicy salad, smoked fish wrapped in banana leaf and boiled chicken wrapped in banana leaf. We’ve decided to come back to the hotel restaurant for tea as the food is sensational.
Jenny & I have a rest for an hour and Lisa & Christine head once again for another shopping expedition! They finish it off with a massage. Meet up again for ‘happy hour’ and back to the Tegal Sari for tea. There are a lovely Scottish couple also having tea and we chat with them for the evening. Decide to have some more duty free on the balcony and the Scottish couple and the Malaysian couple join us.
Next morning pack and have our last breaky on the balcony. Have decided to have more massage before we head down to Kuta. I have a crème head massage, and a foot massage for two hours.....pure luxury. Pity hairdressers in Perth can’t do a massage like this! Was worth every cent of the 135,000rp.
I thought the Tegal Sari was a fantastic hotel. It is everything and above what everyone else has written about in their reviews. They are in the process of opening up a new restaurant that will be accessible from Monkey Forest Road... if they keep the same cooks that are there now, it should do very well!
The driver that Jenny & Christine used on the first day picks us up on time from the Tegal Sari. He has not had an awful lot of work so we are all happy help out. We are heading to Kuta Townhouses....

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Comments

[janine]

hey there
sounds good what happened in Kuta??