RHKKMKs---Just to be copy cats
Sep 18th, 2014, 07:24 AM
#41
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Love John Hardy jewelry! Have fun shopping there.
Bob, I would never fit your mold of travel. I'm not a pool person (not a swimmer at all). What would you schedule for ME during those hours at the pool? haha
Bob, I would never fit your mold of travel. I'm not a pool person (not a swimmer at all). What would you schedule for ME during those hours at the pool? haha
Sep 19th, 2014, 03:58 PM
#45
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The John Hardy factory tour was very interesting. they employ about 650 people, 450 in actual production. everything is hand wrought. many pieces of silver and gold are truly tiny and are joined to make magnificent jewerly. After the tour, which Karen had pre-arranged via e-mail, we were escorted to the showrooms. They are located in a fabulous bamboo building with a soaring ceiling--maybe 3-4 stories. The girls had a blast picking out items... This is quality merchandise and the prices reflect that. Gold items were priced at 30% off on this day. I forced K to leave behind a lovely $9800. gold bracelet... WHEW!!!
Following the shopping we were invited to sit down to a lovely lunch with some of the staff under an open aire roofed area. All foods were prepared in a "green way", not using any fuels, only fire. The whole focus of JH today is 'green eco'.
Jeane is seeking some furniture for her office, so putu took us to an amazing "old" wood shop. Actually it is a huge, and I mean huge, open air "museum" of old pieces... large doorways, chests, buckets, odd roots fashioned into pieces of furniture, tables, carved doors---really amazing. Jeane and Putu conferred with a designer to develop what she wants. Putu was an amazing help for her each step of the way. They also do custom which Jeane may take advantage of.
We made an ATM stop and then dropped the girls off in central Ubud on Hanuman street for about 4 hours of retail therapy.
The guys returned to the hotel and hit the pool for a couple of hours.
We met up again at about 7PM at Nomad restaurant, on Ubud Main St. where we had a so so dinner, but tons of fun. The girls were hot as H, but some Bintang beers, mixed drinks and plenty of water soothed them a bit. By 9PM, Karen was fading fast, even falling asleep at the table so we called for the hotel car. The girls all hit the shower upon our return.
The day had been quite warm, maybe 80 with some humidity.
K was up at 6 and enjoyed the tranquility of our porch overlooking the huge rice paddies.
About 7, the monkeys could be seen over the wall on the next property. there were perhaps 40 of them. they were running thru the grass with our security guard keeping them moving and away from our buildings and pool.
K hit the pool while i caught you up to date.
Today we will share breakfast again with the 6 of us on our porch at 8:30. Putu will come for us at 10 and we will head north to Lake Bratan and a visit to the amazing Temple on the Lake, plus some other stops I expect.
The 6 of us are having a great time together with lots of travel talk, decent food, many drinks, and so many laughs.
Thank you Fodors, as it is because of your Asia Forum that we all met and have become good friends.
Following the shopping we were invited to sit down to a lovely lunch with some of the staff under an open aire roofed area. All foods were prepared in a "green way", not using any fuels, only fire. The whole focus of JH today is 'green eco'.
Jeane is seeking some furniture for her office, so putu took us to an amazing "old" wood shop. Actually it is a huge, and I mean huge, open air "museum" of old pieces... large doorways, chests, buckets, odd roots fashioned into pieces of furniture, tables, carved doors---really amazing. Jeane and Putu conferred with a designer to develop what she wants. Putu was an amazing help for her each step of the way. They also do custom which Jeane may take advantage of.
We made an ATM stop and then dropped the girls off in central Ubud on Hanuman street for about 4 hours of retail therapy.
The guys returned to the hotel and hit the pool for a couple of hours.
We met up again at about 7PM at Nomad restaurant, on Ubud Main St. where we had a so so dinner, but tons of fun. The girls were hot as H, but some Bintang beers, mixed drinks and plenty of water soothed them a bit. By 9PM, Karen was fading fast, even falling asleep at the table so we called for the hotel car. The girls all hit the shower upon our return.
The day had been quite warm, maybe 80 with some humidity.
K was up at 6 and enjoyed the tranquility of our porch overlooking the huge rice paddies.
About 7, the monkeys could be seen over the wall on the next property. there were perhaps 40 of them. they were running thru the grass with our security guard keeping them moving and away from our buildings and pool.
K hit the pool while i caught you up to date.
Today we will share breakfast again with the 6 of us on our porch at 8:30. Putu will come for us at 10 and we will head north to Lake Bratan and a visit to the amazing Temple on the Lake, plus some other stops I expect.
The 6 of us are having a great time together with lots of travel talk, decent food, many drinks, and so many laughs.
Thank you Fodors, as it is because of your Asia Forum that we all met and have become good friends.
Sep 19th, 2014, 10:41 PM
#46
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Sigh.... Wishing I was there....thanks for the updates, sounds like great fun. 
Same here ref the Asia forum Bob, I have met some wonderful people on this board who I now see "in real life" and would consider good friends too
Same here ref the Asia forum Bob, I have met some wonderful people on this board who I now see "in real life" and would consider good friends too
Sep 20th, 2014, 02:41 AM
#47
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Sidebar:
As Linda was taking a bath in the open air shower this morning one of the monkeys that Bob had witnessed earlier jumped up onto the ledge as she was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. When she opened her eyes she was face to face with the monkey and let out a blood curdling scream which of course scared the monkey off. Lol, only in Bali.
We too are having a blast with our good friends Bob, Karen, Jeane and Craig who we have met through Fodors. Life is good.....dinner time
Aloha!
As Linda was taking a bath in the open air shower this morning one of the monkeys that Bob had witnessed earlier jumped up onto the ledge as she was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. When she opened her eyes she was face to face with the monkey and let out a blood curdling scream which of course scared the monkey off. Lol, only in Bali.
We too are having a blast with our good friends Bob, Karen, Jeane and Craig who we have met through Fodors. Life is good.....dinner time
Aloha!
Sep 20th, 2014, 04:06 AM
#48
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Ditto the sentments about meeting some really nice folks from the Asia forum. I consider many of you to be good friends. I enjoy our annual GTGs in Boston (which we are missing this year) and Honolulu, as well as chance meetings in Bangkok, Singapore, Texas, LA, etc. What a great group of fodorites!
Peter, I hope Linda is OK after her monkey encounter! Yikes! I'd let out a scream too!
Carol
Peter, I hope Linda is OK after her monkey encounter! Yikes! I'd let out a scream too!
Carol
Sep 20th, 2014, 12:13 PM
#53
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This thread is getting me so excited as this will be our first visit to Bali! We arrive Alam Shanti October 25th, thanks to recommendations from this forum. We have booked Putu as well Now I'm noting your recommendations for good eats and shopping, hopefully including a visit to the John Hardy factory 
Not wanting to intrude on your vacation, once you're returned home and are settled in I would appreciate any other tips you might have. We'll spend 6 nights at AS. We have Putu for 2 days...should we let him plan our time or can you advise some highlights?
Our last day Putu isnt available so his partner will pick us up early afternoon until he takes us to the airport for our 9:30 flight to Singapore. I need to figure out what to do that afternoon and where to have our last dinner in the direction of the airport. any suggestions would be appreciated.
Looking forward to reading more on your thread. Enjoy the rest of your time.
Les
PS I don't want to highjack your thread but I didn't know if I should post as a reply here or start a new topic
Now I'm noting your recommendations for good eats and shopping, hopefully including a visit to the John Hardy factory Not wanting to intrude on your vacation, once you're returned home and are settled in I would appreciate any other tips you might have. We'll spend 6 nights at AS. We have Putu for 2 days...should we let him plan our time or can you advise some highlights?
Our last day Putu isnt available so his partner will pick us up early afternoon until he takes us to the airport for our 9:30 flight to Singapore. I need to figure out what to do that afternoon and where to have our last dinner in the direction of the airport. any suggestions would be appreciated.
Looking forward to reading more on your thread. Enjoy the rest of your time.
Les
PS I don't want to highjack your thread but I didn't know if I should post as a reply here or start a new topic
Sep 20th, 2014, 02:57 PM
#54
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if you want to go to John Hardy email ahead and do the program we did. It really makes you appreciate the work that goes into his collections. Lunch is fun also.
It is6:30 am and I just had 2 monkeys having sex on our balcony. Can't beat that for pre breakfast excitement! The guard has finally come and is shooing them away. This is the fist am the guard has not been more aggressive than the monkeys. They do try to keep after them.
It is6:30 am and I just had 2 monkeys having sex on our balcony. Can't beat that for pre breakfast excitement! The guard has finally come and is shooing them away. This is the fist am the guard has not been more aggressive than the monkeys. They do try to keep after them.
Sep 20th, 2014, 06:58 PM
#55
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above was from karen..
let putu plan for you... tell him the things you might like... moving around is very slow.
uluwatu might make sense on your last evening with dinner on the beach... fish only. or dinner at the village restaurant in sanur.
bali belly hit me just now.. first time.. it must have been the oily noodles at lunch yesterday.. quiet day for me today, others (3) are going white water rafting in putu's village--350,000rp each ($30).
WE ARE HAVING SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN. It should be illegal for any 6 people to have so much fun.
the monkey show was quite large this AM before 7AM. K caught a video of it and will try to post.
let putu plan for you... tell him the things you might like... moving around is very slow.
uluwatu might make sense on your last evening with dinner on the beach... fish only. or dinner at the village restaurant in sanur.
bali belly hit me just now.. first time.. it must have been the oily noodles at lunch yesterday.. quiet day for me today, others (3) are going white water rafting in putu's village--350,000rp each ($30).
WE ARE HAVING SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN. It should be illegal for any 6 people to have so much fun.
the monkey show was quite large this AM before 7AM. K caught a video of it and will try to post.
Sep 20th, 2014, 07:48 PM
#56
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Great breakfast yesterday AM---yogurt, honey and musili, scrambled eggs, fresh orange juice, breads, green tea for me... others had the open face crepe with honey and bananas, fruits plates with the best ever mango, coffee, other juices, omlettes, etc... lots of laughs.
Putu was in reception at 10.
we headed first into ubud to The Threads of Life shop... one of the finest quality textile shops in bali---a women's co-op really.. very fine quality. very fine quality prices too. girls each got a few things. must have spent almost an hour there... it is on a lovely flower decked lane off of ubud main street opposite Ary's restaurant. shop is on right at end of lane.. lots of other shops too.
we headed out of town towards lake bratan, but we never made it... stops along the way... first was the giant banyon tree (ho-hum), next was a coffee grower's demo area where some tried ARAK, the national moonshine, and all tried coffees and teas, plus chocolates... i bought mocha tea--like hot chocolate, and spicy tea--tingles in your mouth from ginger.
From there we drove along some beautiful narrow roads in the midst of rice country---oh that unique green color of young rice plants... photos of a woman planting new rice plants, bright field of yellow giant marigolds (used for ceremonies), other red flowers and more rice plants in various stages. all along the way are little family religious markers in the fields.
Eventually we came to the 'small temple on the pond'. The larger temple is on a hill behind the pond. As it happens a religious ceremony would take place there about 1:30 so we hung around for that. Eventually several trucks arrived loaded with people in costumes and fancy dress, a small band with lots of drums, umbrellas, tall banners, offerings, etc. great photo experience... "THE REAL BALI" for sure. Just the perfect experience we wanted peter and linda to have.
Now we were hungry---ok, so i am always hungry. we went to a "local" spot beside a rice paddy and had rice, noodles, etc with drinks for lunch... they also had fresh fish if you wanted it direct from the stream and then killed and immediately cooked over a fire---no thanks..
we bagged lake bratan as it was 1.5 hours further drive and returned back to AS for a swim at 4.
We had dinner res at Terazzo in town at 7. Most of us had tenderloin (Australian beef, not as tender as US but very tasty) with pots and veggies---$16. good drinks and good desserts... we were noisy and had tons of fun. 900,000 rp per couple, included was a bottle of wine, some vodka, a beer and several bottled waters.
All slept well.
Breakfast today on our porch again at 9. A cast of thousands decends with trays of food.
Lazy AM, some swimming and relaxing.
At 1PM, J&C and K are going white water rafting... I am hanging out and P&L are having AS massages (reasonable in their spa).
Tonight we are returning to Dolce Arancia for dinner at 6:30. Clearly this is the best restaurant we have been to thus far and I think will be the highlight of the food experience this trip, except maybe our BBQ at Pook's next month.
Time to hit the pool..
Putu was in reception at 10.
we headed first into ubud to The Threads of Life shop... one of the finest quality textile shops in bali---a women's co-op really.. very fine quality. very fine quality prices too. girls each got a few things. must have spent almost an hour there... it is on a lovely flower decked lane off of ubud main street opposite Ary's restaurant. shop is on right at end of lane.. lots of other shops too.
we headed out of town towards lake bratan, but we never made it... stops along the way... first was the giant banyon tree (ho-hum), next was a coffee grower's demo area where some tried ARAK, the national moonshine, and all tried coffees and teas, plus chocolates... i bought mocha tea--like hot chocolate, and spicy tea--tingles in your mouth from ginger.
From there we drove along some beautiful narrow roads in the midst of rice country---oh that unique green color of young rice plants... photos of a woman planting new rice plants, bright field of yellow giant marigolds (used for ceremonies), other red flowers and more rice plants in various stages. all along the way are little family religious markers in the fields.
Eventually we came to the 'small temple on the pond'. The larger temple is on a hill behind the pond. As it happens a religious ceremony would take place there about 1:30 so we hung around for that. Eventually several trucks arrived loaded with people in costumes and fancy dress, a small band with lots of drums, umbrellas, tall banners, offerings, etc. great photo experience... "THE REAL BALI" for sure. Just the perfect experience we wanted peter and linda to have.
Now we were hungry---ok, so i am always hungry. we went to a "local" spot beside a rice paddy and had rice, noodles, etc with drinks for lunch... they also had fresh fish if you wanted it direct from the stream and then killed and immediately cooked over a fire---no thanks..
we bagged lake bratan as it was 1.5 hours further drive and returned back to AS for a swim at 4.
We had dinner res at Terazzo in town at 7. Most of us had tenderloin (Australian beef, not as tender as US but very tasty) with pots and veggies---$16. good drinks and good desserts... we were noisy and had tons of fun. 900,000 rp per couple, included was a bottle of wine, some vodka, a beer and several bottled waters.
All slept well.
Breakfast today on our porch again at 9. A cast of thousands decends with trays of food.
Lazy AM, some swimming and relaxing.
At 1PM, J&C and K are going white water rafting... I am hanging out and P&L are having AS massages (reasonable in their spa).
Tonight we are returning to Dolce Arancia for dinner at 6:30. Clearly this is the best restaurant we have been to thus far and I think will be the highlight of the food experience this trip, except maybe our BBQ at Pook's next month.
Time to hit the pool..
Sep 20th, 2014, 11:05 PM
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It all sounds fabulous. Not that I am jealous, well may be a little, since I am loving my time in Romania. Would love to be with you all and hopefully when all of us return to the States we can have a GTG.
