Firstly a thank you to DonRon for your ‘Shopping Guide' which helped heaps and also thanks for you're for your suggestion in contacting Dewa. We hadn't been expecting Major to be available this holidays as he had a prior booking but there had been a change in plans and we again had the pleasure of his company & advice.
So with Major, we headed for Ubud. What an absolute treat it was to stay at Tegal Sari and with booking months ahead we were lucky enough to have four wonderful days in Mr Hools favourite room. Those views ahead as far as we could see and off to the right was sublime & in less than 20 mins after our arrival the boy was stretched out on the outside bed fast asleep...
A few days later when getting photos developed at the little Kodak shop out front we realised we had stacks of doubles of the views not realising each had been madly snapping away at every angle, and for breakfast each morning we followed some good forum advice and watched the mist rising over the green lush rice fields while devouring the yummy banana pancakes with a fresh juice, a perfect way to start the day.
Massages - Jboy said the best massages of the trip were ones he had in Ubud. His favs were at NUR Salon with his first ever male masseuse, Sutar, and another with Made at Nuriani just next to the Kodak shop, he said both had really strong firm hands. My favs were with Oca at Nur, a facial from Made at Nuriani & other great ones I enjoyed were at ZEN & Verona. The tranquillity at Zen was not as blissful as one would hope as another client had left her two children to run riot outside while she enjoyed her massage which was a bit naughty!
Food - First night after a twinkle at Ary's Warung to see if the fish were still there we headed to Café Lotus. It was busy, busy but we managed to get a table looking up to the Palace/temple? What a romantic view this place has as well as attentive service and good food. We happened to strike up a conversation with the manager Hans who came & joined after our meal was finished and he kept us well & truly entertained with lots of local goss & his international coming & goings before his move to Bali.
Another memorable meal was at Warung Enak for the Rijsttafel, absolutely delicious, every single course! I really don't know how men do it but they seem to be able to keep on eating when surely those tummies must be bursting. But somehow Jb managed to struggle on & clean up every plate! It was very quiet that night, hardly anyone else was there and the service was impeccable and what a hoot those monkeys are! We took some great photos of them and the staff said it had been an Aussie architect who came up with designs & placements. Even though we loved them I think he must have a very strange & warped sense of humour, just our type of person!
The next afternoon proved to be a great boys one for Jb. He'd arranged to meet up with a friend who is a chef for one of the more upmarket Ubud Resorts and the plan was to meet at Naughty Nuri's. I'm pleased I fobbed off and continued doing my thing as Jb's table/bench? was joined by several ex-pats & a jolly boys afternoon ensured!
The next night the boy was ready to back up for another Rijsttafel this time at Café Wayan on Monkey Forest road. They were trading a lot better than Warung Enak though the location would be a lot more convenient for most I guess. We struck it lucky & got table 25, which was a great people watching spot for those that enjoy this pastime though we did think the food at Enak was better.
Our final evening's meal had been long planned. This dinner was to be the big lash out this trip and having the 25th to celebrate seemed a good enough reason. After passing through heavy security at Mosaic we entered the receiving area and ordered Caprioskas, yum, yum better have another one! Our table was set up amongst the twinkling lights cascading everywhere in the garden and there wasn't a vacant table to be seen. Luckily with some forum pre warning I had made the booking over the internet some time ago. They even insist on confirmation 24 hours ahead or your booking goes to first on the waiting list. The prices by Bali standards are horrendous but comparing it to a top Oz restaurant puts it in perspective. We both opted to have the 6 course Degustation ‘chefs surprise' menu with wines to match. Yeah, ok we did sort off roll out of there later but let me tell you it was worth it!
Each course was tiny but every mouthful absolutely delicious. There was not one morsel that we were willing to share with the other as we'd asked for different ‘surprises' with the intention of trying each others. Well that didn't happen! The wines were varied Californian, French, Spanish, Italian and between our 12 wines!!! 3 were Australian, Yeh! Interestingly one of Jb's wines on I think his 3rd or maybe 4th course was what we'd call a sticky, I did have a sip of that one and it was so very good. That's if you're into wines that is, as we are. I mean we'd even gone to the trouble of shoving a cask into our bags to bring over much to the disgust of some on the forum when I raised it, but hey, it worked we didn't get taken to the naughty room and being the wine swilling connoisseurs that we are, we enjoyed every cask drop!
Shopping - Not a huge shop up. I did load up on spices at the markets for that spice rack though my bags of cloves were confiscated on arrival back into Sydney but all the others passed inspection. Some sets of bamboo wind chimes which are in the cargo coming home later. Some cute kids clothes from a shop on the bottom U bit end of Monkey Forest Rd. Should have bought some of those doggie outfits from Dog Ear 2 Dog Fashion in Jl Hanoman for Pippa ‘the poofy white puppy dog' but next time. Really would have liked the Bintang doggie coat but it had a hood & ears and really - that's just too poofy. Before anyone flames me, that's just an expression. In our family anyone of any choice in sexuality is welcome.
I was on the look out for sarongs to match the new cossies and found a couple of gorgeous silk ones but later at Jl 66 found many more. Lordy lord how many sarongs can a girl have............
One thing we did do which was entertaining/amusing & enlightening was a visit to the Antonio Blanco Museum. Gorgeous, gorgeous paintings and the frame works on each left us speechless. Jb spent a long time pondering those paintings though goodness knows why... Luckily with advice from the lovely ladies on the door we climbed the spiral staircase to the rooftop & rickety though the stairs are, it was well worth it & we got some great photos.
Have a great weekend, more soon, Cheers Di