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.
