bookchick

All right, smart alecks, the "incubation" took about 9 months, but the time that had elapsed from my father driving my mom to the hospital to my own arrival here on planet earth was a total of 21 minutes!

So Bob has now been rendered a snoring uni-ped. Can't wait to see how many "parts" of Kimball are working by the end of this trip!

BC

DonTopaz

<i>Can't wait to see how many "parts" of Kimball are working by the end of this trip!</i>

I'll be staying out of <i>that</i> discussion, thank you.

barefootbeach

You were smarter about the luggage "helpers' than we were...caught us off guard because we didn't encounter them in Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam. Had to tip them...and then had to tip two guys who "helped" us to our prepaid taxi!

Glad you have a good view of the rice fields at Alam Shanti. Our view from Komeneka Bisma was of mud and water....no rice. We enjoyed Terazo too and glad we missed the beer bottle trick.

There's something about room service pizza that's so comforting when you're tired!

janev

Bob, if you have time please, could you let me know about the new Lumbung house at Alam Shanti? After reading about Gangga & Yamuna we really had our heart set on one of those for October, but maybe Lumbung is also nice - even if a bit far from the pool?

kmkrnn

We will see if they will let us see the Lumbung house. As to the fields... they have 3 crops a year and we have just hit the middle of a cycle not the begining. It is restfull to see they lovely green out there.

We walked up Monkey forrest rd yesterday and did a bit of "shopping". Stopped into the Ka Jane Mui where we were to stay with the Pandas. I told beth if left me with a "grey" feeling. It needs some maitaincence around he edges, but is right in hte middle of things. Right across the street from the Komecka (?sp). I did manage to buy 3 more pairs of flip flops at my favorite shoe store before dinner.

Gpanda

I told the waitress to drop the beer on him, not next to him. There goes her tip.

Tengohambre-he would never admit it if he made a mistake. It's more probable that the Alam Shanti had him on their watch list and changed the scenery to mess with his mind. Why should I be the only one doing that.

I can just see Karen buying more shoes. Bob and I get to talk a lot while she and Beth closely examine every pair in a store. I always wonder "what are they looking at?" and "what is actually going through their minds?" Perplexing.

rhkkmk

as karen has said we spent about 1.5 hours on monkey forrest road looking at some of the shops....in my mind the scene along MF is deteriorating---perhaps a result of the recession... some very nice shops, but lots of junky ones seem to be creeping in... i was disappointed really....

the first thing karen looked at was a slim silk neck scarf for 3,650,000 rp or north of $350. who said bali is cheap... btw, it seems inflation has hit here---prices seem to be up about 20% in 2 years at first glance anyways..

our dinner at terazo, across from the ubud palace, was comfortable and delicious.... i had a piece of baked or grilled chicken saltambuko (sp) with sweet potato gnochi and bacon wrapped green beans---the beans were "finished" so instead i had a delicate spinach (not spinach wrapped, einstein), 2 bintang beers (plus a beer foot bath).. all this was followed by a delicious apple crisp...
K had a spicy shredded chicken with a coconut curry sauce and rice--- huge portion. 2 bintangs and a scoop of mango sorbet.... about 450,000 rp... very leisurely dinner al fresco.

after dinner, the restaurant called AS to send the car for us and it arrived in about 15 minutes.

another early nite... bed way before 10, maybe even 9:30 (panda hours)...


Friday May 21

up by 6:30.... K did internet... i layed in bed until she was finished. think whale on a giant hard surfaced slab...


we sat around for a bit and finally ordered breakfast about 8:30: basket of brown bread toast... delicious whipped up pineapple juice.. coffee and green tea... musli with honey, fruit and yogurt (me)... 2 poached eggs (K)... veggie omlette (me--even better than yesterday--lots of sprouts)... fresh fruit for K... out of this world and again served nicely on our porch overlooking the rice paddies..

after breakfast i caught up on the internet... good news my new bi-pap may now be sent to me fed-ex... our youngest daughter came through yet again with arrangements.

we have hired a driver for this PM ($10/hour) to take us around town a bit including some silver shopping... i need a sim card, a bali road map and K wants some coffee and cream pacs that beth discovered here two years ago... just easier to have the car and driver really... also hope to visit a market near celuk that laarista told K about...

BTW, ain't khun pook doing a fabulous job keeping us on top of the bkk situation!!!

so now i am off to swim for a couple of hours... the weather is bright sun, in the 80's and humid... pool water is warmish but refreshing too...

note on AS... this is a fine establishment, comfortable, quiet, secluded, accessible and convient to downtown ubud....but it is sort of a natural place... the windows and doors shut but not entirely tightly--- gaps exist at every junction---for instance from my desk i can see our main door and all along the hindge side of the door there is a 1/2" gap, which of course allows some critters to join you inside... there are small bugs on the floor sometimes too, and an occasional ghecko runs by--usually outside.. we find no mosquito problem inside... AS lights coils near your doorway at night to deflect bugs...
i guess what i am trying to say is that this is not a sealed western hotel setting... at $150++ including breakfast, this continues to be a steal... there are less expensive rooms too, down to $95++.

jane we will check out the new building, but i think it is occupied... you would be hard pressed to do better than gangga however, or as a 2nd choice yamuna (our current room).

We love AS....

dgunbug

Bob - Enjoy your beautiful weather. Hanoi is now 100-102 degrees. Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk and the humidity...need I say more!

filmwill

Karen, curious if you got to see any of the rooms at Kajane Mua. I agree--the front side of the hotel (street-level) is dismal, but the villas themselves were just stupendous. I'd say probably the best place we stayed in our entire trip.

Agree with Bob, that Monkey Forest Rd is, well..a bit of a monkey forest. Never been there before, so couldn't comment on the deterioration, but it felt like Coffee Beans were about to pop up at any second.

BTW, David LOVED Terrazo. One of his faves, but, me, I thought it was just okay. Although I really did dig the ambience.

Don't forget to try Sari Organik!

Keep it coming, Needhamites! We're waiting for more!

rivet

Enjoying the details of your trip. Mangoooosteens! Yum.Yum.

We have amazing Gangga booked for Nov and also one of the smaller rooms for the girls. I wonder how that will work - do you think our daughters will be allowed to join us at the private pool for Ganggha/ Yamuna? Or will we have to join them at the other pool if we want to sit/swim together?

janev

Thanks for your reply Bob. Gangga & Yamuna are already booked for 7th-11th Oct, only Lumbung is an option.

Love to hear all about any good shops there & your final restaurant recommendations.

Nywoman

"They" say a laugh uis good for your health. Am laughing so hard that I am afraid the neighbors will complain soon.

Great report and of course the comments that are priceless.
Keep enjoying your trip.

bookchick

A veggie omelette with lots of sprouts???? OMG, I think someone is moving to Cambridge when they return to the USA! Be careful, Bob, if you're wearing Birkenstocks when the next beer drops, there may indeed be blood and/or broken bones! Next thing you know, we'll hear of Bob asking Gpanda if he can borrow Gpanda's "red star" hat! And Bob may start asking questions like which wines go best with granola. I'm going to lie down now. I simply can't get my head around this one.

BC

DonTopaz

And maybe a raw food restaurant in Need'em.

rhkkmk

jane--- we did visit the two new buildings today... i honestly was disappointed but karen liked them both...

let me explain: the entrance to AS is down a very narrow long driveway.. first is the spa as you enter... then you drive past a couple of service buildings or staff houses... then you come to the small open air lobby....you register there.. and most of the rooms are there, except for the new pool which is slightly further down the drive/lane all by itself on the left (not much shade has grown yet).... the new buildings are quite a ways further down the drive up on a rise on the left overlooking several rice paddies.

so----i don't like the placement of the new pool-- inconvenient to all rooms and the new buildings are too far imo.... neither of these are reasons not to come to AS however..

karen will add her two cents tomorrow.. she likes them...

rivet-- lucky you... you will love it.. the kids will be close by and probably the phone will work between both rooms... they can share the pool with you... its a fab bennie i feel and worth the extra $$... the pool is all self-policing i believe... as long as you are not from cambridge there should be no objection...

we are quite tired but i will finish off today...

the driver ended up at only $5. per hour, so he got a 30% tip... we had him from 12 to about 4:30.. some of the tip was because i had no cash on our airport run to tip him..

we accomplished all we intended for the afternoon... K bought a ton of silver jewerly at pra pen in celuk, the silver town.... lovely stuff and reasonable...

we finished the day at the one of the local markets--- we were late so most was closed.. K will supply the name... she bought 5 pair of very cheap shoes....

a quick swim when we got back to the hotel---so refreshing...
asked for the car for 6:30 but it was busy until 7... we met a nice young british couple in the lobby. We were going to cintra on monkey forrest rd for dinner and they were going to the same area so we sharred the car. in the end we invited them to join us for dinner... they were just as good company as MRS panda... steaks all around and green mashed potato for some of us... basil mashed---very weird...

this couple are in the new building and quite like it...

car came for us and the couple decided to return with us... we showed them our room and pool and they really liked it..

K is asleep already... me too in 2 minutes...

we have putu tomorrow starting at 10.... we also must change rooms for the next 2 nights... goodbye private pool...

there are a number of ceremonies around for the next several days... its a big holiday... putu will share some of them with us both saturday and sunday... sunday we will go to his village for the ceremony there... should be interesting and fun!!

ekscrunchy

I'm happily following along but I have to admit I am a bit dismayed at the picture I now have of Ubud. Is the town now so large that you need a car and river to get around?

Last time I was there, I remember staying at a place called some thing like Monkey Forest Lodge, which was about two rooms in a house owned by an Australian woman. It was just about the only hotel on that stretch of the road in the early 80s!

Are there high buildings now in Ubud?

Glad to hear there is a nice, unchilled pool! How large is it? (Do some research in between shopping and eating!!!) Most of all, have fun and continue to keep us posted.

Kathie

In spite of the veggie omelet with sprouts, calling the basil mashed potatoes weird clearly indicates there will be no move to Cambridge in the near future.

bookchick

Kathie, that may be reversed if Bob ever drinks a basil gimlet. I drank my first one in Cambridge a couple of years ago at Bouchee, and I am now truly in love.

BC

Gpanda

There's no way we'd let him move to Canbridge. NO WAY! We have a few conservatives, but they're very rich. The veggie omlet was clearly an ordering mistake. He probably ordered a side of bacon.

Plus, he takes a car to cross the street. His hiring of one gives no information on the size of Ubud.

Imagine, you're a pleasant couple from England enjoying your vacation in Bali and you're attacked by a Yank trying to save a few Rupiah by sharing a car. Good manners kept them from chasing Bob off as they would have wished. For this they were nrewarded with tedious conversation for what must have seemed like an eterninty.

DonTopaz

Good grief, what is a basil gimlet?

I recall some years ago (the Ervin Committee had just gone on summer recess after having heard from JW Deam III) my accompanist and I were somewhere in northeast Spain, en route from a circular trip thru Europe to a circular trip thru No Africa, when one of us decided to tried to order a vodka gimlet at the (very modest) hotel's (equally modest) bar. What we lackd in language skills, we made up for in ignorance: it never occurred to us that gimlets were as common as kangaroos in Spain. We wound up with some lime juice and beer in a glass, and it wasn't bad.

But back to Ubud. I think I'll hold on to memories of makeshift shrines in front of tiny shops or the taxis parked in front of them. And the colors and smells of the spice markets. And the music, and the woodcraft.