November's Bali Trip Report
Jul 8th, 2008 | 12:20 PM
#1
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Joined: Feb 2008
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November's Bali Trip Report
Day 1 - Wednesday:
This was a travel day with an afternoon flight from Singapore to Bali.
The flight was really easy - we flew Singapore Air, which was very nice. The flight took a couple hours and we were served a meal and had seatback entertainment to help pass the time.
When we arrived in Bali, the immigration process was easy. Visas on arrival are US$25/person. I had heard of issues people have had with getting change in ruppiah and being shorted, so we took a US$50 to cover both of us and didn't have any issues.
We also had US$100 bills to exchange for ruppiah once we got into the country. The exchange rate for US$100 bills is better than for 50s and 20s. There are plenty of exchange counters just passed immigration with decent rates.
Our hotel was the Bali Spirit Hotel in Ubud (http://www.balispirithotel.com/), which was great. We had arranged for a driver from the hotel to pick us up at the airport, which was very convinient. The drive to Ubud took about an hour. When we got there, the people at the hotel were really great. Check in was easy, they brought us a welcome drink, and then showed us to our room. We had dinner at the restaurant, which is open air and overlooks the river.
The rooms at the hotel are in 4-plexes, 2 on the ground floor and 2 on the 2nd floor. The ground floor rooms have patios and the 2nd floor rooms have balconies. Our room was 2nd floor and had a nice balcony with comfy chairs and a little table. The room itself was reasonably spacious (esspecially after the cramped room in Singapore) and the bathroom was great - open air shower, plenty of room, etc.
Day 1 - Thursday:
I had come down with something at the end of our stay in Singapore and still wasn't feeling well, so we hung around the hotel all day. They have room service with the same menu and prices as the hotel restaurant, which was great. It was very nice to order in breakfast and then sit out on the balcony to eat. The gardens in the hotel are really beautiful.
If you are going to be sick and away from home, this was not a bad place to be - comfrortable, beautiful, good food close at hand
Day 3 - Friday:
After breakfast at the hotel, we took the shuttle into Ubud proper to wander around. I still wasn't feeling top shape, but wanted to get out and about. Ubud is pretty busy, but really interesting. We saw the palace and some other things. There are zillions of shops selling wood carvings, jewelry, fabric, clothing, etc. Plenty of shopping for those who are so inclined.
We had an uninspired lunch at a little place - there were apparently plenty of good places to eat, we just weren't on our game.
We caught the shuttle back to the hotel, relaxed a bit, and then went swimming. The pool was great - plenty of places to hang out, a swim up bar, and then plenty of lounge chairs.
Later we had massages. The hotel has massage pavillions overlooking the garden, which was really nice. My husband had a standard hour massage and I had the mandi lulur (something like that) which is a massage, body scrub, and soak in the tub with flower petals and aromatherapy oils. All very good, although I was a little cold during the body scrub part.
Dinner at the hotel restaurant - lots of choices both Indonesian and western and the food is pretty good - and then we turned in early.
More to come...
This was a travel day with an afternoon flight from Singapore to Bali.
The flight was really easy - we flew Singapore Air, which was very nice. The flight took a couple hours and we were served a meal and had seatback entertainment to help pass the time.
When we arrived in Bali, the immigration process was easy. Visas on arrival are US$25/person. I had heard of issues people have had with getting change in ruppiah and being shorted, so we took a US$50 to cover both of us and didn't have any issues.
We also had US$100 bills to exchange for ruppiah once we got into the country. The exchange rate for US$100 bills is better than for 50s and 20s. There are plenty of exchange counters just passed immigration with decent rates.
Our hotel was the Bali Spirit Hotel in Ubud (http://www.balispirithotel.com/), which was great. We had arranged for a driver from the hotel to pick us up at the airport, which was very convinient. The drive to Ubud took about an hour. When we got there, the people at the hotel were really great. Check in was easy, they brought us a welcome drink, and then showed us to our room. We had dinner at the restaurant, which is open air and overlooks the river.
The rooms at the hotel are in 4-plexes, 2 on the ground floor and 2 on the 2nd floor. The ground floor rooms have patios and the 2nd floor rooms have balconies. Our room was 2nd floor and had a nice balcony with comfy chairs and a little table. The room itself was reasonably spacious (esspecially after the cramped room in Singapore) and the bathroom was great - open air shower, plenty of room, etc.
Day 1 - Thursday:
I had come down with something at the end of our stay in Singapore and still wasn't feeling well, so we hung around the hotel all day. They have room service with the same menu and prices as the hotel restaurant, which was great. It was very nice to order in breakfast and then sit out on the balcony to eat. The gardens in the hotel are really beautiful.
If you are going to be sick and away from home, this was not a bad place to be - comfrortable, beautiful, good food close at hand
Day 3 - Friday:
After breakfast at the hotel, we took the shuttle into Ubud proper to wander around. I still wasn't feeling top shape, but wanted to get out and about. Ubud is pretty busy, but really interesting. We saw the palace and some other things. There are zillions of shops selling wood carvings, jewelry, fabric, clothing, etc. Plenty of shopping for those who are so inclined.
We had an uninspired lunch at a little place - there were apparently plenty of good places to eat, we just weren't on our game.
We caught the shuttle back to the hotel, relaxed a bit, and then went swimming. The pool was great - plenty of places to hang out, a swim up bar, and then plenty of lounge chairs.
Later we had massages. The hotel has massage pavillions overlooking the garden, which was really nice. My husband had a standard hour massage and I had the mandi lulur (something like that) which is a massage, body scrub, and soak in the tub with flower petals and aromatherapy oils. All very good, although I was a little cold during the body scrub part.
Dinner at the hotel restaurant - lots of choices both Indonesian and western and the food is pretty good - and then we turned in early.
More to come...
Jul 8th, 2008 | 02:48 PM
#6
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 13,616
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Day 4 - Saturday:
The hotel offers several tours around Bali focusing on different interests. We reserved a tour to go visit a few different local artists and to go to the Uluwatu Temple on Nusa Dua. The hotel provided a car and driver - the car was part of a fleet of small vans that the hotel owns. They are pretty comfortable and the seats sit high enough that we had a nice view.
Our first stop was in Mas to visit some wood carvers. This was really neat. It is a family operation and we got to talk quite a bit with the head of the family - he was very knowlegable about the wood and made a good presentation. There were several people working and we watched them for quite awhile. They have a shop displaying their work for sale. Tons of absolutely beautiful pieces. And we bought a few things - of course
Next stop was Culuk for silversmiths. This stop wasn't nearly as interesting. It was basically a big shop with a few people making jewelry out front. We had someone showing us around, but she wasn't very informative about the process. We did buy a few things and she was really good about helping us find what we were looking for in the shop though.
We also went to an artist cooperative where painters display their work for sale. We really liked the traditional style of balinese painting - very detailed and precise.
Next stop was lunch at Jimbaran Bay. The restaurant was one on a stretch of ocean side restaurants - we had a table on the sand, which was neat. The food was just ok - grilled seafood with rice - so since all the restaurants in that area had tables on the beach, I think any one would give the same experience. There weren't a lot of people around, so we had the beach almost to ourselves.
The final stop on the tour was Uluwatu Temple in Nusa Dua, in the very south if Bali. To get to the temple, you walk down a path where some monkeys live - they are mischeivious monkeys who apparently will take your sunglasses and things if you let them. We didn't have any trouble though. But then unlike other people, we weren't feeding them, trying to pet them, and so on - LOL.
The temple itself is incredible - on the edge of a high cliff with a shear drop to the ocean. I believe the temple was built in the 11th century. Tons of carvings, beautiful flowers.
The one draw back of the tour is that our guide/driver was pretty quiet and I was hoping for someone more chatty who would tell us a lot about the area. Our guide was happy to answer our questions, but he didn't volunteer much.
Once we got back to the hotel, we swam in the pool and then had dinner. The hotel has a bar with a pool table, so we went and played for awhile after dinner. No one else was at the bar, so it wasn't staffed, but someone did come by to see if we needed anything and then said if we needed anything else, to call the restaurant on the hotel phone and they would bring over anything we wanted.
Day 5 - Sunday:
It started to rain early in the morning and when we got up, it was raining pretty hard. It was our only day of inclement weather on the whole trip, and I was actually quite interested to see the gardens in the rain BUT we had a bike tour scheduled that day. I wasn't sure if we should cancel, but the tour information said they have wet weather gear if needed, so we decided to go for it.
We went with Bali Eco Tours, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. We had 3 other people, a couple bike guides, and the driver, so a really managable group. They drove us to a restaurant overlooking Mt Batur for breakfast - balanese pancakes, fruit, and coffee. The views were incredible. Then we went to an agriturism place to learn about coffee production, cinamon, tea, fruits, etc. We got to taste different coffees and teas - some in our group even tasted Cafe Lewak (not I though). And there was a shop to purchase spices and things, such as a bag of saffron for about US$8. Then we got our bikes and rode through several villages on back roads - all downhill, no traffic. The scenery was gorgeous and the people we met were very nice. Kids ran out to the road to say hi and give us high fives Lunch was at an open air restaurant next to beautiful rice fields. The whole place was indescribably beautiful.
The last stop was the Monkey Forest in Ubud. This place has tons of monkeys and lush gardens. A lot of people were feeding the monkeys and letting them climb on them. I wasn't particularly pleased about the monkeys though, but it was ok. I am just not comfortable with such close contact with animals that are supposed to be rather wild.
The guides on this trip were great though - very chatty, lots of information, plenty of jokes and fun. Also really interested in answering questions. One of the highlights of the trip.
Next up - AMED!!!
The hotel offers several tours around Bali focusing on different interests. We reserved a tour to go visit a few different local artists and to go to the Uluwatu Temple on Nusa Dua. The hotel provided a car and driver - the car was part of a fleet of small vans that the hotel owns. They are pretty comfortable and the seats sit high enough that we had a nice view.
Our first stop was in Mas to visit some wood carvers. This was really neat. It is a family operation and we got to talk quite a bit with the head of the family - he was very knowlegable about the wood and made a good presentation. There were several people working and we watched them for quite awhile. They have a shop displaying their work for sale. Tons of absolutely beautiful pieces. And we bought a few things - of course
Next stop was Culuk for silversmiths. This stop wasn't nearly as interesting. It was basically a big shop with a few people making jewelry out front. We had someone showing us around, but she wasn't very informative about the process. We did buy a few things and she was really good about helping us find what we were looking for in the shop though.
We also went to an artist cooperative where painters display their work for sale. We really liked the traditional style of balinese painting - very detailed and precise.
Next stop was lunch at Jimbaran Bay. The restaurant was one on a stretch of ocean side restaurants - we had a table on the sand, which was neat. The food was just ok - grilled seafood with rice - so since all the restaurants in that area had tables on the beach, I think any one would give the same experience. There weren't a lot of people around, so we had the beach almost to ourselves.
The final stop on the tour was Uluwatu Temple in Nusa Dua, in the very south if Bali. To get to the temple, you walk down a path where some monkeys live - they are mischeivious monkeys who apparently will take your sunglasses and things if you let them. We didn't have any trouble though. But then unlike other people, we weren't feeding them, trying to pet them, and so on - LOL.
The temple itself is incredible - on the edge of a high cliff with a shear drop to the ocean. I believe the temple was built in the 11th century. Tons of carvings, beautiful flowers.
The one draw back of the tour is that our guide/driver was pretty quiet and I was hoping for someone more chatty who would tell us a lot about the area. Our guide was happy to answer our questions, but he didn't volunteer much.
Once we got back to the hotel, we swam in the pool and then had dinner. The hotel has a bar with a pool table, so we went and played for awhile after dinner. No one else was at the bar, so it wasn't staffed, but someone did come by to see if we needed anything and then said if we needed anything else, to call the restaurant on the hotel phone and they would bring over anything we wanted.
Day 5 - Sunday:
It started to rain early in the morning and when we got up, it was raining pretty hard. It was our only day of inclement weather on the whole trip, and I was actually quite interested to see the gardens in the rain BUT we had a bike tour scheduled that day. I wasn't sure if we should cancel, but the tour information said they have wet weather gear if needed, so we decided to go for it.
We went with Bali Eco Tours, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. We had 3 other people, a couple bike guides, and the driver, so a really managable group. They drove us to a restaurant overlooking Mt Batur for breakfast - balanese pancakes, fruit, and coffee. The views were incredible. Then we went to an agriturism place to learn about coffee production, cinamon, tea, fruits, etc. We got to taste different coffees and teas - some in our group even tasted Cafe Lewak (not I though). And there was a shop to purchase spices and things, such as a bag of saffron for about US$8. Then we got our bikes and rode through several villages on back roads - all downhill, no traffic. The scenery was gorgeous and the people we met were very nice. Kids ran out to the road to say hi and give us high fives
Lunch was at an open air restaurant next to beautiful rice fields. The whole place was indescribably beautiful. The last stop was the Monkey Forest in Ubud. This place has tons of monkeys and lush gardens. A lot of people were feeding the monkeys and letting them climb on them. I wasn't particularly pleased about the monkeys though, but it was ok. I am just not comfortable with such close contact with animals that are supposed to be rather wild.
The guides on this trip were great though - very chatty, lots of information, plenty of jokes and fun. Also really interested in answering questions. One of the highlights of the trip.
Next up - AMED!!!
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Jul 8th, 2008 | 07:02 PM
#8
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 784
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Enjoying this as I was there a few weeks ago and do intend to do a report very soon .
Interested at your mention of saffron .I bought a bag in Ubud at the market plus vanilla pods .Customs and quarantine in Australia allowed the vanilla pods but not the saffron which they advised was actually saffron petals not the all important stamens . I have bought the real thing before but was not diligent about it this time and ought to have known better but they were cheap .
Looking forward to Amed .
Interested at your mention of saffron .I bought a bag in Ubud at the market plus vanilla pods .Customs and quarantine in Australia allowed the vanilla pods but not the saffron which they advised was actually saffron petals not the all important stamens . I have bought the real thing before but was not diligent about it this time and ought to have known better but they were cheap .
Looking forward to Amed .
