Gecko had the last laugh, we could not even spell his name.
Forgot to mention the Tegal also booked us to see a dance, took us there and picked us up afterwards to drop us off at the restaurant of our choice. Service!!
Without doubt Ubud is a gastronomic delight. I have never seen so many top quality restaurants in such a small place. I would be happy, if at home I had one restaurant within reasonable distance, that measured up to just one of the restaurants we visited. (in quality, service and ambience-price no contest). There were others that were recommended that we did not have time to get to.
Snacks - there is a great little bakery selling pasties (eat in or take away) and some great looking cakes just a couple of hundred yards down the road from the Tegal. Turn left and after a couple of hundred yards you come to the junction of Monkey Forest road and it is just there on the corner. Nice cup of coffee.
Lunch - a must do is the Indus for lunch. Make sure you get a seat on the balcony and the views are fantastic. The food was pretty good too. They do a nice tapas which is just enough for lunch. The Tegal will take you and pick you up, but they do charge a couple of bob because you are going outside the village boundary.
Dinner - for dinner we ate at Nomads, Arys Warung both in the centre and the Barandi which is just down the road, turn left out of Tegal and it is on the right hand side of the road. All three served food to die for in very nice surroundings. Ary's was probably the most expensive but we are talking 5 star dining hear for transport cafe prices. I would mention that it was barbecue night at the Barandi and I had a tuna steak. It was best I have ever had (including fresh tuna in Spain) marinated and absolutely delicious.
After eating at Barandi's we decided to finish the day off with a bottle of wine on the balcony and we bought a bottle of Hattons dry white at the local offy. When we decided to try the Hattons we convinced ourselves that it could not be worse than some of the cheap rot gut we have bought in Spain at 50p a bottle. Wrong, we both took our first mouthful and did not need to say anything we just both laughed. Funny enough though I don't remember there being any left the following morning. Even the monkeys across the field sounded as though they were laughing. Tough old life isn't is when the only thing you can think off to complain about in 3 days in Ubud is the wine.
Strange thing happened in Ubud. The evening after we had been out and about for the day, I developed what looked like 3 burn blisters. One on the back of my right hand and two on inside of my left arm. They were quite big. I definitely did not burn myself so I thought maybe they were some kind of insect bite, but they did not itch at all. Anyway by the time we got to Sanur the one on my hand had gone nasty I had to get the doctor out. He drew off the poison and gave me a course of anti biotic tablets and cortisone and some anti biotic cream which cleared it up. But he had never seen it before. So I have no idea what it was. If it was not a bite was it sap from a tree? I would love to hear from anyone who had suffered a similar reaction or has any idea what it could have been.
Off to Sanur tomorrow so last thoughts on Ubud:
Loved the place for a short break, would definitely stay in the Tegal preferably room 24 but 22 or 23 would be good. The best food I have had anywhere. Like Kuta and Seminyak, Ubud seems to be suffering, even the Tegal had vacancies and the restaurants only had 3 or 4 covers if they were lucky. The tourists were definitely dominated by the Japanese. Even a couple of the staff at the Tegal are studying Japanese (they were surprised it was easier to learn than English). The Tegal is full for Christmas but it is all Japanese
One of the guys at the hotel who is still single was complaining that he could not find a good looking girl to marry because all the Japanese were coming to Ubud and marrying all the pretty girls!! he was deadly serious.
Just a funny (well we thought so) funny little story. One of the guys was telling us that all the houses in his village had at least 3 dogs (to keep the Javanese robbers at bay). He asked us if we had a dog and we replied that we did not any more because they tied us down too much. It made it difficult to go on holiday at short notice if you have no one to look after the dog. He told us in no uncertain terms that we were too compassionate, lock the door, put the dog out and enjoy your holiday. Someone will feed the dog. You have to love their attitude to life don't you.
Seriously now, I could not believe what some of the clowns (calling themselves responsible adults) were doing with their children in the monkey forest. Taking pictures of their kids feeding the young monkeys. They just did not seem to have the sense that these are wild animals and whilst the young ones may look cute, big daddy is never far away and could cause the child a very nasty injury if they decided to pounce on them. One child who had had his bottle of water taken off him by a monkey was trying to get it back and Mum was snapping away thinking it was all a good laugh. Fortunately the child never managed to get hold off the bottle. Please be careful and read the notices at the entrance. Great place to visit if you are sensible.
Sorry to leave Ubud but off to Sanur tomorrow. I could even be accussed of beginning to like Bali