Bali for a month - Ubud

We arrived in Ubud and found the rain had stopped which was nice.  We booked into Cendana Resort on Monkey Forest Road.  We have stayed here before and quite like the central location.  My daughter Abby met us there and she and Sam had one room while hubby and I had the one next door.  We were quite close to the second pool which is salt water and overlooks the rice fields and is next to the restaurant.  The verandah has a lovely comfortable day bed on it as well as 2 chairs and table.  The only minus is our rooms dont have a fridge.  Everything else seems great.  The girls ordered room service for dinner and hubby and I went to Rai Pasti a lovely cheap little restaurant on Monkey Forest.  The thing I love about staying central is we can walk to restaurants and wander around and come back to the hotel easily.  Later that evening Abby took us to the CP Lounge near the soccer field and actually right next door to Cendana.  This is one of the main late night spots in Ubud.  It was fun but not that exciting or am I just getting old?

Next day is New Years Eve and Abby leaves for the airport around 11.00.  Her 2 months in Bali are over.  Our time in Ubud was so lovely, we shopped, found new restaurants, tried many yoga classes, went riding on our scooters, tried out salons and had lots of massages.

French restaurant in Hanoman Street.  It looked so lovely each time we walked past that one day we decided to try.  Sam did not like her Caeser salad as the anchovies were in the dressing so she could not eat it.  I had quiche of the day and it was delicious.  Not cheap however.  

 

Three Monkeys Cafe on Monkey Forest - this is one of our favourites...I had delicious black rice pudding with coconut cream, mango and banana for breakfast one day.......

Kue bakery with cafe on top floor - main street (The palace road)  we had a feast here one day of chocolates and could not eat it all.

My black rice pudding.

 

The very comfy day bed on our verandah.  

New Years Eve we relaxed during the day and I got my hair washed and straightened for about $5.00 and the girl did a lovely job of it.  Got my nails done at the same time.  Sam and I had lunch today at Pertiwi restaurant and both ate some greasy chips which were not that nice, we also both ate plain rice for dinner at our hotel....hmmm we both ended up sick by the next morning.  We had diner by our pool and relaxed and went out about 10.00pm to the Cinta Bar for a few drinks and a chat to the barman and manager there who we know quite well after coming here now for about 7 years.  Just before midnight we wandered up to the XL Lounge on the soccer field to watch the fireworks.  Went off for about 20 minutes, and a little scary when some of them went sideways!!  

Next morning Sam comes to our room about 5.30am to tell me she has been sick during the night.  I sympathise and tell her to have a panadol and a drink of water and I will come see her when I wake up later.  As I get back into bed I realise I now feel sick also.  So New Years Day I spend in the spare bed in Sams room with her.  We lay in bed for the next 24 hours moaning and groaning and taking panadol and trying to sip water.  She was sick several times that day whilst I just lay in agony.  We dozed on and off, turning the air con on and sweating then shivering and turning it off.  We managed to sychronize quite well.  Hubby had a touch of the runs so he spent his day quietly also but was able to go out and eat and have a massage. 

During the night I finally got up and decided I would be sick but before that I passed out on the bathroom floor.  Luckily I was sitting at the time.  Woke up with my face on the tiles and then threw up.  Stumbled back to bed then a bit later sat up in bed and felt I was going to faint again so stayed in bed and fainted there as that was a bit safer.  I awoke however and had to run/trip/fall into the bathroom again and made it just in time.  I felt so bad that I wanted to call hubby on the phone but I could not even do that as I was so weak.  Made it to the next morning and we both decided we felt a bit better. Not well enough to eat but we could drink water and read and relax for the day without feeling sick.  So after 48 hours we were back to normal.

Komang friendly barman at Cinta Bar

Gardens outside our room at Cendana

 Friendly 17yo students who we met through my daughter and took them out to dinner so they could practice their english!!

My meal - best tofu curry and brown rice......and cost about $3.00 at Devilicous in Jl Gootama

 

Inside our room at Cendana

Lovely bath.  Had one when I was recovering and it was just what I needed.

Hubby left on the 7th and we moved to Greenfields Hotel for our last week in Bali.

View from our room 202 at Greenfields....I am in heaven!!!

Pool was just near our room.

Our room 202.  Loved it.....

I was very impressed with Greenfields.  It is next to Tegal Sari which is also nice I have stayed there before as well.  I like the location in Hanoman street, lots of restaurants nearby. Our room had a fridge, was cleaned daily, 2 bottles of water provided daily, wifi in our room (a bit of luck as they did say it only available at lobby or pool area), rice fields in front of our room, lovely furniture, air con, big bath.....love...love..loved...it...

 I walked quite a lot and to walk around to Monkey Forest Road was only about 10 to 15 minutes and you get to see lots more.  We did hire scooters so it was no trouble to go anywhere.  We had to buy a rain jacket as it did rain nearly each afternoon but only heavy a couple of times.  From Greenfields I could walk to the Yoga Barn for yoga which was handy.  I also did some yoga at another studio called Radiantly Alive which was also good. My daughter spent a lot of time in the room reading or watching movies so I had lots of time to myself to explore and walk and shop.  

taken from our verandah.  If it rained a lot they came and let this blind down.  

                                                 The Yoga Barn and the lawn area.

One of the down stairs studios at Radiantly Alive. 

We spent one night at Candi Dasa just for a change.  I will include that in the next and last blog.

Christmas at Villa di Sawah

We all met up at Villa Di Sawah which is owned by my friend Doreen.  It is very close to Umulas and Canguu area.   There are 3 king size bedrooms with ensuites/lounge area/dining/extra bathroom/pool and comes with a security guy called Koling who lives in his own room behind the kitchen/laundry.

Pool and looking towards the three bedrooms.  Small deck for sunbaking.  Behind the pool is the lounge area which leads onto the dining and kitchen.  Its only a small villa but quite well designed. Very open plan as lots of the villas are in Bali.  

main bedroom

i did not even get to have a bath!  I really must make myself next time I am here.....get so carried away when I am Bali sometimes I forget to relax and enjoy my surroundings....

looking into the dressing room with heaps of wardrobe space and drawers.  I could not fill them all with my few clothes.

part of my outdoor bathroom - it was huge 

bath and outdoor shower. 

Wayan the lovely villa manager cleaning the pool of leaves for us. He had been to a ceremony so was in his more traditional dress.  

Wayan is the villa manager and his wife Komang cooks breakfast and any other meals if you request her to.
The villa has one bike which guests can use but as Doreen was with us we hired our own bikes as the villa is at the end of a lane and a bit hard to get too.  There is a taxi stand at the top of the gang which is convenient but we prefer to ride ourselves in Bali as the traffic jams tend to get too much for us.  There is a short cut through the rice fields which comes out on Jl Petitenget so we used that a lot to get to Seminyak area and restaurants in Petitenget. It takes about 15 minutes to get to Petitenget.

We called into Sarong and confirmed our booking for Christmas evening.  Haven't been here before but decided as it was Christmas we would treat ourselves and all dress up.

There are some night markets very close to the villa and we found ourselves getting our dinner there quite a few times after a long busy day out.  Chicken satay with peanut sauce and rice was only about $3.00 and it was so nice.  Nasi Goreng was a similar price.  All done nicely in take away containers.

Hubby at the night markets on his first night in Bali.

Bought a yummy banana crepe for dessert here.

Cooking up something at the night markets.

The chicken satay man very nice guy.  Think we came back 3 nights in a row......

On Christmas morning Abby and I went into Bintang Supermarket to get some supplies to make a nice brunch.  We got lost on the way home as I had forgotten the short cut to the villa.  We rode around and around for probably an hour before we rang Doreen and asked Koling to come and find us.  I had to give the phone to a Circle K shop assistant to talk to him to tell him where we were and explain that we needed him to come and find us to show us the way home.  Koling's english is not the best so it was quite difficult.  Eventually though he found us and escorted us home....we were a long way from home......I took better note of the map and shortcut from then on and didnt have any more problems.....

We made Caesar salad, klung kung (which Abby had taken a liking to in Vietnam previous to being in Bali) and a fruit platter.  After lunch we went into Seminyak for some shopping for Dylan as he leaves tomorrow and I had a hair cream bath and a manicure and pedicure in preparation for Christmas dinner tonight.

expensive Caesar salad as the dressing from Bintang supermarket cost more than in Australia and we only used it the once....

Sarong was amazing.  The venue is beautiful, food was exquisite and we could not fault anything , service was excellent.  They have a sharing theme so for the mains we only ordered 5 for the six of us and we shared.  It was plenty.  For the six of us with some cocktails, and entrees, the total was only $220.00 so really it was much cheaper than Australian standards but it was of Australian standard. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed dressing up as we don't usually bother in Bali.  The girls had all got new dresses for the occasion.

sisters in new dresses (boutique mind you christmas present from mum)

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Out the front of Sarong - they had a lovely christmas decorations out the front great for a photo opportunity which we seemed to be always on the look out for with teenage girls....lol

My dress came from none other than "Ketuts" in Legian a lot cheaper than the girls too....

Bar inside Sarong

Inside the ladies was this lovely lounge which presented us with another photo opportunity.

We stopped at Breezes to listen to some live music on the way home then when we got home the kids and I set off some small fireworks we had bought at Hardys in Sanur.  We were in absolute hysterics laughing as each one went off with a bang.  We would put the small firework on the wall near the villa, light it then run and hide behind another wall and wait for the loud bang and the firework to go off.  It was absolutely hilarious and thrilling.  This is something the kids have never done before so it was a highlight!!

Dylan left for Australia on boxing day and Doreen left the next day also.  Abby went back to Ubud so it was just the three of us for a few days.  Managed to fit in a couple of yoga classes at Prana Spa in Kunti 2 near the Bali Deli.  It was more like "Hot yoga" as the room was a large dome shape and very hot.  One class I went too I was the only westerner the class was made up of Indonesian ladies and the instructor was also an Indonesian lady. Met up with a local friend one night at Zappas and he surprised me by singing "Im yours" which has been my fave song for a while.  He is a great singer and it was lovely. He told me he was so nervous he was shaking and cold.....awww so cute...

Yoga room at Prana Spa

One night hubby and I went to Mozaic beach club at Batu Belig beach.  He had met the chef "James" from England each day at the local gym in Petitenget and he had invited us to come to Mozaic to have a look.  The service and quality here was of the same high standard as Sarong or even a bit better.  James sent a couple of complimentary desserts over to us and asked us to stay after for a drink on him as he was finishing his shift.  Lovely guy and would love to visit during the day as the pool area and lounges look so inviting.  We thought this was probably our best meal ever in Bali.  Same owners have Mozaic in Ubud which we have never been too yet. James used to work in Ubud but now he is in Batu Belig.

We enjoyed our time here.  A couple of times we rode into Kuta for some shopping.  You can ride along the beach path from Seminyak right through to Legian and then the back way through to Kuta so its quite an easy enjoyable ride.

We had our last breakfast at Cafe Bali in Seminyak one of our favourite restaurants.

We then booked a taxi from the top of the gang and off we went to Ubud in the afternoon.  We squashed into one small taxi as they had no vans available.  We just made it with one big suitcase in the middle of the back seat between Sam and myself.  The taxi driver was not happy about going to Ubud on New Years eve as he said he would not have a  fare back and to put him in a worse mood it started bucketing down with rain as soon as we set off.  He still made good time as he know lots of back ways to get there from Kerobokkan. The worst part was once we arrived on the outskirts of Ubud it took us 30 minutes to get to Cendana Resort on Monkey Forest Road as the traffic was banked up.  Very frustrating and I have never seen Ubud like that before but apparantly it is like that at Christmas/New Year.

Cafe Bali in Seminyak

We had to visit Mozzarella in Legian another of our favourites.  

Random photo of bruises from when I fell off the push bike in Sanur....My daughter witnessed this and fell about on the ground laughing at me....The bruises are from the handle bar and brake which gouged into my leg and trapped me on the ground.....The bruises on my lower leg are from massages....lol...

Tomorrow we move onto Ubud for our final 2 weeks in Bali......