Hi all,
Third trip during schools holidays(Perth)in Three years and still
loving it.....
Firstly a brief rundown on who, what,when and where on this trip:
Wife, Myself and 2 boys aged 5 and 6 away for 20 nights staying:
6 nights at Alam Shanti, Ubud
4 nights Puri Wirata, Amed
1 night Mara Safari lodge, Gianyar
9 nights Puri Damai, Legian.
Flights with Air Asia 0450 wednesday ex Perth and return on the 1310 flight ex Bali. Well we decided not to go with the VIP service as it's the only flight "in" at that time, well, so we thought !, as i
disembarked from the flight, we walked past a Jumbo with something like, Trans Cargo or the like blazoned across it, so what, i thought
and proceeded to Imigrasi etc, turned the corner and bam!, four lines of 70-80 people waiting to be processed, f@#$ , where did they come from!, 1hr and 20min later, we were through, grab bags and off to our transfer with the driver from Alam Shanti. Now after grumbling
to the driver about the wait, he fills me in on the delay, apparently
the Jumbo was a charter flight from Russia that arrives four times a
month, now if that means every wedneday, i don't know as i never questioned him further as it explained the delay suffice enough....so
be warned !.....
Anyway, we arrived in Ubud at Alam Shanti, in the small village of
Nyuh Kunning, at around 11am. Wow, what can i say about the place, we
were stoked at the accomodation. we booked the Narmada room, one huge
bedroom with 2 extra beds for the kids for $115usd +15% tax per night, Breaky and arvo tea included. The place was stunning, massive
veranda, huge private garden and the staff could not be more helpful,
nothing was too much trouble and we were attended to immediately. The
pool, shared between just 6 rooms, was fantastic. They also drop
you off/pick up from anywhere in Ubud, so being a little(albeit just 10 minutes from the bottom of Monkey Forrest road), out of town was no probs what so ever.
We did the market thing, brough a few items of clothing plus we bought a bunch of about 80 vanilla beans for 150,000rp, no probs with
customs in Oz ( but don't try bringing in Saffron, it's a no-no).
We shopped along both Monkey Forrest rd and Jl. Hanoman and for me,
i preferred Jl. Hanoman, the feel of the street was so much nicer than MR road. The street verge trees might have had a lot to do with that. I though MR road could have been any street in downtown Kuta
by the looks of it.
We visited friends at the Tjhampuan hotel(spelling) in udud, beside
the chaumpuan river, lovely place, felt like you were right in amongst the rain forest.
We ate at:
Warung Enak...Good
Lamak..good,but too bloody expensive.
Three Monkeys, less than half the price of Lamak and just as good.
Laka Leke...good
Tropical bale, good, but the Haute cuisine lacked a bit in flavour. We had recommended to our friends to try Minami japanese rest. just
down the road ( which we didn't end up going too.) and they said it
was superb...:o( oh well....
Pizza bagus, top notch Pizza, plus they have a gourmet deli next door
to it and they had some lovely cheese, meats and breads at good prices ( which i could not resist).
Casa Luna, Great atmosphere, lovely food, well presented. They had
a jazz band playing downstairs, the place was packed!.
All in All a great time in Ubud...next stop Amed....
Cheers S