The third and final installment of our trip saw us heading up to Ubud. We'd previously stayed at Alam Shanti and absolutely loved it. We decided this time to book a villa at Nefatari Exclusive Villas. We arranged for Nefatari to pick us up from the Novotel in Tanjung Benoa as I wasn't really sure where the property was. As described on their website, it's located in the village of Singakerta - to the west of Nyuh Kuning. At the moment, there's not a lot around the villa except a few other villas. It will be interesting to see if this area develops.
The check In process was a breeze and after acquainting ourselves with a few of the cats that live at Nefatari, we were shown to our villa and given the run down on how everything (basically the keys, the lights and the a/c) works. I can't recall how many villas there are in the complex, but there weren't many. Maybe 8 or so. The villas are all self-contained compounds with high walls around them, so there are no views, but certainly plenty of privacy. We had a 2 bedroom villa for 4 nights. Each bedroom had a very comfy king size bed with an attached bathroom. Outside in the courtyard is a decent sized swimming pool and an outdoor kitchen with refrigerator and dining area. The room rate included breakfast and afternoon tea brought to the villa. The afternoon tea included these green pancakes with palm sugar which I became quite fond of.
You might want to skip this bit if you don't like football. On the day we arrived, it was AFL grand final day, so I dropped off the bags and headed into Ubud to find somewhere to watch the game. I ended up at Lobong Café near the soccer field on Monkey Forest Rd. The place was packed, mainly with swans supporters who certainly kicked up their heels after the siren. After trudging outside to find a driver to take me home, I remember thinking that I've waited 32 years for another Richmond premiership, so one more year shouldn't kill me. I was also trying to find somewhere in Ubud to watch the NRL grand final the next day but couldn't find anywhere that was showing it. A guy at the bar said you couldn't get it in Udud as it was on Setanta and I'd have to go back down to Sanur if I wanted to watch it. I don't know if this is correct or not, but I've still not seen that game. We ended listening to it on the ABC app on my phone through our little speaker whilst swimming in the pool. What a world we live in.
As per my previous JBR postings, I'll just give a quick summary on dining and activities:
Café Wayan - had lunch here once. A popular café on MF Rd owned by the people that run Alam Shanti. Nice food and lovely gardens. Some very nice pastries that you can take away if you wish.
Taco Casa - good Mexican food. Only small but popular so probably book ahead if you need to eat at a specific time.
Havana - went here with the kids after dinner at Taco Casa to watch the dancing. Turns out that the Cubans enjoy their white rum cocktails. Not at all well the next day. Damn tacos.
Breakfast at Kafe - nice food. Wouldn't recommend it for anyone with unruly children (like mine). Beautiful organic food. A little pricey. I was the only person there not wearing yoga pants.
Leka Leke - went there to see the Kecak Dance. Sadly it wasn't on due to some ceremony taking place. Disappointed for the kids who wanted to see it. Saw the frog dance here last year and the kids wanted to come back. Nice food though. Very attentive service.
Naughty Nuris - really keen to try this place as I love ribs. It was very crowded when we got here and we were going to have to share a table. Wife wasn't keen. A frank exchange of views took place. We moved on.
Tropical Bale - we came here after Naughty Nuri's was passed over. We sat down at the back overlooking a nice rice field view. Then the power went out. I can't be certain but I may have uttered an audible obscenity. The owner brought over a round of free drinks. Hmm not such a bad place after all. The food was pretty good. The service was a bit over attentive - I'm never sure whether they really want to make sure you enjoyed your dining experience or are fishing for a big tip. My wife tells me I'm a big cynic (it's true). We walk down to Bintang supermarket to get a driver home. On the way I check out the posters for the writers festival. I wonder where Nick Cave is staying - I can't picture him in a Bintang singlet. Maybe a black one.
Went on a trip to Bedugul to Treetops and the lake. Nice day but wasn't overly impressed by Treetops. Could do with a bit better maintenance and a few more staff. After this went to Lake Bratan. I'd never been up here before. I enjoyed it up until I saw one of those places where you can get your photo taken with animals. This time I saw the sticky tape around the snakes mouths. Time to go.
Went for a walk from Nefatari into Ubud one day. You walk through the village of Penestanan. Highly recommended - plenty of warungs, art galleries to take in with hardly anyone else around. When we were in Penestanan there were quite a few police and village officials around so I thought something was going on. Shortly after a bit of a parade of sorts came around the corner and it didn't stop for about 20 minutes. There must have been thousands of people all dressed in very elaborate colourful ceremonial dress. Of course this was the day that we didn't have either the camera or a phone to take a photo. Very surreal. We ended up walking into Ubud.
Overall we enjoyed our time at Nefatari and in Ubud. Last year we stayed at Alam Shanti and if I had to choose between the 2 I'd probably head back to Alam Shanti. So we sadly packed up and headed to the airport for our trip home. The trip down was a good reasonably quick one. Check in was relatively hassle free. We went to the Premier Lounge to kill a bit of time. I had a foot massage. My wife went back downstairs and bought a duty free watch. The kids enjoyed watching the planes take off and land from the outside area. Then it was time to board. To save a bit of money we flew via Perth which was considerably cheaper than directly to Brisbane. We had good seats in row 3 (behind Business) so a little bit more legroom than normal. A very pleasant trip arrived a bit early and the flight was just over 3 hours. Through customs without any problems. Now we had to get over to domestic terminal. A big coach pulled up to take people to the long term carpark. 2 people got on. Then something the size of a Tarago came to transfer the 100 or so people to the domestic terminal. We decided to grab a taxi. A lovely welcome - the taxi driver stank, was rude, had the you know whats about the small fare and couldn't (wouldn't) change $100. I was hoping to check straight in and head to the Virgin lounge before our flight. Check in counters weren't opening for another 2 hours. Had a meal at the Dome in the terminal. It was the dearest meal of our trip - lol. If you are considering this flight home through Perth, I'd recommend getting a car for a few hours and maybe driving down to Freo for dinner as the Perth Airport wasn't much chop. Finally got on our flight and watched Foxtel the entire way. I can never sleep on planes. Finally home to Brisbane after nearly 3 weeks away. We have planned our next trip for January 2014 for my wife's 2nd annual 39th birthday.
Hope I Haven't bored you. Pls ask if you have any questions.
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