These holidays we’re away for less than a week! At least it’s close – Bali is only a 3 1/2 hour flight away, and so far it’s lovely. I can understand why so many people come here!
K and I arrived at Denpasar airport after being pleasantly surprised with the amount of room for feet and legs on the Virgin flight from Perth. Everyone seemed to be in a jovial mood, with jokes and laughter from many of the queue. Everything went smoothly: we found our bags, went through immigration and customs, changed some money, found our friendly Green Fields driver and hit the (muggy, humid) road.
The 45-minute drive up to Ubud was equally uneventful, although there were near misses with oblivious scooter drivers and obligatory gawking at huge statues of Hindu gods and some interestingly speedy turns around the blind corners. Nevertheless, we arrived at our destination by 1am, checked in and were whisked off to our new abode for the next five days.
We’d chosen the hotel because it looked like it had charm and some traditional features. When we arrived at our room we could see it definitely did! We stepped in through an ornate carved doorway into a marble-floored room with low carved beds and even more marble in the bathroom. The windows are huge, which prompted a few worried thoughts about privacy, but the curtains give adequate coverage. The little windows looking out to the rice paddies are matching carved wooden shutters, which look gorgeous, but unfortunately don’t keep all of the mozzies out. The aircon is a relief though!
We woke up to the most amazing sight. What we’d missed by arriving in the middle of the night was the vast expanse of emerald green rice paddies out to the west. Just look at the view through our little windows!
After breakfast we decided to walk to the Ubud markets. We didn’t see many pedestrians at all, and we were constantly asked whether we wanted a taxi. There were some gorgeous shops along the way (although a lot of repetition of goods) and we passed through the Monkey Forest, too. I even had the obligatory tourist experience of having one of the monkeys try to steal my bag! He was too fast for a picture though.
The markets were higgledy piggledy and squashed together, with four or five different types of shops repeated. I ended up with some lovely batik design sarongs and some (really bloody heavy – why do I keep doing this?) mosaic bowls. Ended up paying way too much for these, but they’re very pretty, and as long as I get them home in one piece I’ll be happy!
After the markets, we wandered past the Royal Palace and were drawn in to look at the gorgeous lotus pond. Starting to flag in the unaccustomed humidity by this stage, we paused for lunch (Nasi Goreng and delicious Ginger Fizz drinks) before begging the hotel for a lift back.
Exhausted by the morning’s wanderings, we decided that a bit of a pampering session for the afternoon was necessary. I had a combination massage (Traditional Balinese, Thai, reflexology and deep tissue) for an hour and a half. I think I had liquefied by the end, although there were some sections which were more challenging than relaxing! K had a deluxe manicure/pedicure treatment and was feeling delightfully at ease!
After an hour or two spent recuperating from our very strenuous pamper, N’s contact, Deny, arrived to talk to us about getting leather jackets made. When he gave us an amazing price for jackets and boots, we ended up making multiple orders… definitely a decadence, but considering I was able to order two custom jackets and two pairs of boots for what I’d paid for one jacket in Florence, I think it’s definitely worthwhile.
A swim in the gorgeous saltwater pool overlooking the rice fields finished the day pretty perfectly, as bats started to swoop overhead! It’s amazing how quiet it is here; the very busy road is only 100m away but since we face the fields, that’s all we really notice. There’s some building work going on right behind our villa, but it doesn’t really bother us and they finish by 4.30 in the arvo anyway, leaving the night sounds merely assorted wildlife! I thought it was just geckos and bats, but a frog just hopped past me, too.
Two Weeks Away 