Day 15 and 16...saving the best for last

Our trip here is quickly coming to an end.  However, we have had some of the best experiences of the trip.

On Monday, the day started with my daughter and I having a bit of a mini-spa day at Sang Spa 2.  I had the first "four handed" massage of my life, and I must say, this is a sensory experience like no other.  It is something that any massage affecianado should do at least once in their lifetime.  My daughter had a very nice mani/pedi.  The location of the spa is excellent...close enough to walk from the main street of Ubud, but far enough to be quiet and peaceful.  A very tranquil experience.  Staff was friendly and warm.  The spa itself was clean, with nice towels and showers for washing off the oil after a massage.

My daughter and I then had lunch at Kue...the same place we had tried a few days earlier.  We both had amazing chocolate desserts.  We both also had vietnamese spring rolls...mine with tofu and hers with beef.  Total cost for everything was 135,000 rupiah, which I thought was a very fair price.  All the food was delicious.

My gluten free chocolate almond torte....21,000 rupiah

My daughter's chocolate mousse cake...as good as it looked.  23,000 rupiah.

We then continued our day with jewelry making at Chez Monique.  The class meets at Sunarta's family compound.  It was a little confusing as to where this was, so I called Sunarta when I thought I was close.  Rather than telling me I was on the right street, he drove his scooter down to me and personally escorted us to the compound.  We were warmly greeted with a hug and big smiles.  He is the nicest guy!

We were given our choice of water or coffee, and set about designing our pieces.  We both settled upon a pendant for a necklace.  It took us both some time to figure out the design, but once we did, the "manufacturing" process was pretty straightforward, aided as we were by Sunarta and his assistant.  It was well worth the cost of 400,000 rupiah each as we left with many memories, and a silver pendant.  It will serve as a reminder of my wonderful Bali vacation for years to come.

The design for my pendant

Working on my piece

Final polishing of my piece

Women carrying their offerings to temple on Sunarta's lane

We returned to the villa, and had a nice dip in the pool before dinner.  Tonight, the chef prepared our choice of salmon or chicken, along with rice, veggies and the green papaya soup.  Dessert was our choice of chocolate mousse or banana cake.  Being a chocoholic, I chose the mousse.  :-)

Tuesday dawned to rain, our last full day in Bali.  My son and I had a very early start as we were doing the Lobong Cooking School class.  We met Sang Made at the Payangan market at 8:15, which required that we leave our villa before 7:30.  I wrote a review of this for Trip Advisor, and I won't repeat eveything here, but suffice to say, this was an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G experience.  My son and I were the only two people in the class, and we were hosted by no fewer than 10 members of the family.  Talk about attention!  We got to participate fully in every aspect of the preparation of the meal we ate.  But, this is far more than a "cooking class."  It provided rare insight into Balinese history and culture, information which was infused throughout the day.  Our hosts were beyond generous with their time and talent.  All questions were answered, and we had many.  If you only do one thing in Bali, this is it, in my opinion.  All this and the BEST meal we had while in Bali.  Total cost for my son and I was 825,000 rupiah.  The whole experience lasted from 8:15 until about 1:00.  Talk about value!

Ferns...we ate a salad made from these.  Delicious!

Fruits from the market

More fruits...some even that I recognize!

The ingredients laid out before we chopped, mixed and cooked

Yellow fin tuna salad...yummy.  I think this was my favorite thing we made.

Chicken sate

My son and I with Chef Dewa

The family matriarch making an offering in the family temple

My son and I with the family matriarch.  She was a delightful person.

We were taken back into central Ubud, where we met our villa driver.  It was back to the villa to begin the sad task of packing for our return trip.  We had one more dinner that evening at the villa (greek salad,  spring rolls, and some sort of chicken dish, with ice cream for dessert).  As usual, it was excellent.

The next morning came too quickly, and we were soon on our way to the airport.  Before we left, all the staff assembled to wish us farewell, and we settled up the final bill.  Again, for those who might be interested, our share for 5 days (eating most meals at the villa) was around $350, or about $70 a day for the four of us. No complaints about that at all!

Our return air trip was noteworthy only for being extremely long.  We left Bali at 1:00 pm, and landed some 22 hours later in San Francisco at 8 pm the same day.  We had a fair amount of turbulence all the way from Hong Kong to San Francisco, and it was difficult to get any sleep because of it.  We stayed one night at an airport hotel (fine), and were to leave for Minneapolis at noon the next day.  Unfortunately, mechanical problems with our plane delayed us for about 5 hours...we didn't arrive home until nearly midnight.

We have a few days to recover from the jet lag before the real world returns on Monday morning...a good thing as we all find ourselves exhausted and a bit out of sorts.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip and one I will long remember.  I hope someday to return to the beautiful island of the gods.

Days 10 to 14

My first update in several days.  Days 10-12 were spent at Agung Bali Nirwana, but it rained most/all of these days.  We managed to make the best of it by enjoying quiet time reading on the patio, and having massages.  Not a bad way to exist if you ask me.  We also enjoyed watching HUGE waves and the wind was incredible.  One evening the waves were so massive that we were forced out of the restaurant by the waves crashing into the restaurant!

On Friday morning, we left Agung Bali Nirwana, headed for our final destination, Villa Bukit Naga in Gianyar.  The trip was beautiful along the way, but we also saw quite a bit of road damage from the rainstorms of the prior days.  We were told the roads over the mountains were closed by mud slides, so we went again along the coast...past Amed and Candidasa.  All together, it was perhaps 3 hours drive, made a bit longer by the fact that we had some trouble finding the villa.  Finding it was definitely worth it, though!  It is by far the nicest place we are staying at this trip, although all three places have been special in their way.

Upon arrival at the villa, we were greeted by the staff and given the tour...after touring all the villas, each family selected the rooms they wanted and we settled in.  My family got the master bedroom (which has an attached child's bedroom), and a second king sized bedroom...this one with a gorgeous outdoor shower.  The plan was for my son to have the second king bed, my daughter to sleep in the child's room (oversized twin bed), and for my husband and I to share the master.  It hasn't worked out quite the way we planned....my son wanted someone with him (my husband) and my daughter quickly crawled into bed with me.  Some photos:

Door to the master bedroom

Staircase to the master bedroom

Indoor dining

 Breakfast outside....

Outdoor seating area off the master bedroom

Pool

Child's bedroom off master

Master bedroom dressing area....truly stunning...

Master bedroom....with my daughter

The first night, we had a Balinese Rice Table for dinner....if the skills shown during that meal were any indication, we are in for a treat with this chef!

The next morning, the women in our group had an early start as we had 9 am appointments at the Iman spa.  I have been looking forward to this treatment nearly since we began planning this trip...the famed Nyomen was to be our therapist for an "intuitive" massage.  I am pleased to report that it was every bit as good as I thought it would be.  Indeed, it may well go down as one of the best massages I've ever had...and I've had a few.   I also had a facial, and while this was "ok" it was not nearly of the caliber of the massage with Nyomen.

After our massages, we had lunch at Bridges in Ubud.  It was "relatively" expensive by Bali standards, but for the quality we received, it was still a great value...I had a beet and goat cheese soup and some delicious calamari.  Total cost was around $17 US.  But, it was San Francisco quality...and had I been there, I would have easily paid much more than that.

We spent the afternoon visiting the Bali Bird Park, which was small, but very well done.  Many amazing birds that I had not seen before.  We then returned to the villa and then enjoyed a lovely dinner.  This time, we had pork ribs and tuna steaks.  Yummo.

On Sunday, my husband and I went for an early shopping excursion into Ubud....mostly to have a llook at the various arts and crafts produced in this area.  We also stopped by the Monkey Forest...the monkeys were cute and numerous.  We also enjoyed the garden like atmosphere of the forest...no monkeys jumped on us, but then we heeded the advice of not having bananas or anything else that they might find interesting.  We did see one mama with a pair of tiny babies...awfully cute.

After wandering the forest, we walked up Monkey Forest Road, stopping to browse the many shops along the way. I purchased a few items, and I'm certain I got completely ripped off price wise, but I truly do not care.  I walked away with things I enjoyed at excellent prices.  :-)  While we waited for our transport back to the Villa, we found a wonderful little chocolate shop across from the Nekker Gallery on the main drag of Ubud...Kue.  My husband and I enjoyed a gluten free chocolate cake that was divine.  Worth the stop for sure!

Yum!

We enyjoyed a light lunch at the villa, and had a bit of a relax before my daughter and I set off on what may be the highlight of the trip for me.  We had made arrangements to spend a couple of hours at an English language school in Ubud.  I had read about this school on the TripAdvisor Bali forum, and it sounded like an opportunity we would remember forever.  It wasn't far from our villa, but the driver had to stop several times to ask local people the location...winding through the back roads of Ubud was an education in itself...we were off where most tourists ever go, and saw the way the people of the area really live.  We were about to declare defeat and call the teacher when we saw a group of children with English language papers in their hands...and sure enough they were students of Ms. Wayan Pasek.  They happily ran ahead to show us their school.

It is hard to describe in words what the afternoon was like.  The children's faces and warm smiles made the long trek from the United States worth it.  This is a special school for them....they attend regular school Monday-Saturday, and yet willingly come for this class on their only "free" day.  They were enthusiastic and attentive...my own children could learn much from their desire to learn in conditions and with materials far less attractive than school children in the United States.

We helped with two different classes...a younger class comprised of mainly 9 and 10 year olds, and an older class of mainly 11-13 year olds.  It was the perfect age range for my 12 year old daughter, who was a bit overwhelmed at first and a bit nervous, but soon found herself immersed in the experience.  What I also found interesting was that many children from the class opposite class stood at the windows and doors during the other class, soaking in all the knowledge they could.  Loved it.

My daughter with the teacher...

The children asked us questions about where we were from, our ages, our family and other similar questions.  They introduced themselves to us, and then it was on with the day's lesson..."The House" and items in the various rooms of the houses.  We got to lead them in proper pronunciation of the words.  They then did a paper and pencil exercise, and we got to be the "teacher" correcting the papers after they were finished.  They gathered around us waiting not so patiently for the chance to have "Mrs Rose" (their words for me) put a little smiley face on their paper.  The whole thing came too quickly to an end...I know it is something I will do again when I return to Bali...and would recommend the same to any other visitor.

We returned the villa for another delicious dinner...chicken curry, vegetables (always an interesting thing!) and mixed sates, topped by a creme caramel for dessert.

Bali ...Days 7, 8 and 9

Day 7 dawned to heavy rain showers in North Bali. Nonetheless, the middle of the day wasn't too bad. The rain let up and we enjoyed a quiet day poolside with massages tossed in during the middle part of the day. The massages here are delivered in the top story of a two story bale, overlooking the beautiful ocean view. I have no complaints about that at all. We have a package rate at Agung Bali Nirwana which includes one massage per adult guest per day. :-)

I managed to get some reasonably decent photos, although because of the overcast skies, they do not show the true beauty of this place. The other amazing thing about this resort is that I have yet to notice any mossies. With mossies supposedly at their peak in Bali during the rainy season, I have been impressed never to have had to apply any repellant. Nice!

Our villa

Painting in the living room of our villa....love the detail!

The view from our villa.  The spa building is on the right in this photo.

The pool.

The next day also started in a rainy fashion. We had planned a road trip to the Botanical Garden, but quickly vetoed that plan as it looked like there could be heavy rainshowers on and off during the day. Some of our group opted for a trip to Lovina, but my family decided to stay put and enjoy a quiet day with the resort all to ourselves. I believe staff outnumbered us at least 2 to 1. This place has a special pace...slow, but beautiful. If this suits you, then Agung Bali Nirwana should be on your list of places to visit. I will say that staff is not as “polished” as they were at Villa Teresa, but they try hard to please. And, they are all local to Samberenting, the village which is home to the resort.

My husband and I decided to take the 300 meter walk into the local village to see what was there. The answer is “not much.” LOL! We did draw the attention of many local villagers, which tells me they don't see too many Western tourists in these parts. They were all friendly, and the children delighted in trying out their English on us. “Hello, how are you? What is your name?” They would deliver these lines and then laugh with the most winning smiles imaginable.

The third day dawned a bit more promising, and we decided that today was the day for our road trip. We drove about 90 minutes before stopping at the Gitgit waterfall...this is actually three different waterfalls, and we saw the lower most falls, which is allegedly the tallest of the three. On the way, we passed many hawker stalls, and I got caught up in the unique crafts and fabrics. I ended up with two crochet tops (total about $13 US) and two batik sarongs (again, about $13). My husband purchased a dressing gown, although I am not entirely sure why. Of course, the same can be said of my purchases...not sure what I will do with any of them. At least they were inexpensive. I may use the sarongs as wall hangings.

We also passed a picturesque rice terrace. So beautiful. We stopped here to enjoy a soft drink. Some pictures of the walk and the falls.

Rice terraces

Gitgit and my daughter

Guardian of the small temple near Gitgit

We then traveled another 30 minutes uphill to reach Bedugul and the Botanic Gardens. This is a very large place, full of interesting tropical plants. It also contained the Treetop Adventure park, which is a ropes course with varying degrees of difficulty. Much to my daughter's chagrin, they made them work through the courses in order from least to most difficult...she made it to the second highest level before ran out of time...a good thing because I am not certain my heart could have withstood her traversing the so-called “black” course. It was scary enough on the one she did complete. My son stopped one course before his sister...he was not quite as fearless as she was. I sense mountain climbing in her future! Again, much to my surprise, we encountered no mosquitos at all in the gardens. It was significantly cooler at that altitude though so perhaps that explains it...I would say it was around 72 degrees, which to me was a nice respite from the extreme heat and humidity of Bali. Our friend from Singapore found it too cold, however, and was bundled into her hoody.

My son on the tree top adventure course

My daughter...you can see her white shirt high in the middle of the photo

Cheerful chap in the garden...

Our visit to the gardens complete, we next stopped for lunch. I will use my best Minnesota speak and say “that was interesting.” It was one of those lunches you feared was going to come back to haunt you, especially after you saw the rats traversing the beams above your head. Ugh! I completely lost my appetite. So far, so good on anyone becoming ill from the experience.  To top it off, it was also quite expensive for what it was.  It cost about 330,000 rupiah, with no drinks.

We had one more stop before we headed back down the mountain, and this was at the water temple called Ulan Danu Beratan. This is my favorite temple so far, I think...situated as it was on a lake under one of Bali's volcanos. Beautiful. The sun peeked through just long enough to get some nice photos, and then a hard rain began to fall.

On the way back, it was pouring down rain. And, we got behind a large (and slow moving) truck. With the extremely curvy mountain roads, there was no way to pass and it took quite some time to get back to Singaraja. It was on this road, however, where we spotted the first monkeys of our trip to Bali. They are quite small...with the largest being around the size of a dachshund, and the babies being impossibly cute and tiny. We have heard them at our resort, but not spotted them. The kids seemed pleased with that.

We stopped in Singaraja at a harbor cafe and had a banana pancake. To me, it was nothing terribly special...ok, but that's about all. I was anxious to get back to our resort. It had been a long day, and not being terribly fond of long car rides, I am happy to spend the next day or so doing nothing by the pool except reading and enjoying the tranquility of this place.

Bali Day 5 and 6

Day 5 was planned as another chill day for us at Villa Teresa. We started the day with what had become our standard, Nasi Goreng, a fresh juice drink, fresh cut fruit, and coffee. Nasi Goreng is a typical Indonesian breakfast of fried rice (sometimes with chicken, sometimes pork) with a fried egg on top. It sounds a bit odd by American standards, but actually is a great way to start the day. As for the fruit, we have tried a bunch of new things for me … dragon fruit (white flesh with many small seeds that look like poppy seeds) and mangosteen (purple fruits with a white fleshy center that you eat) being my favorites. The mangosteen has an odd texture (think of an overly ripe clementine) but is incredibly sweet and delicious.

We puttered away the morning by the pool and reading...somehow all that activity made us hungry enough for lunch. We had a large platter of fried calamari and chicken curry over rice. The chef makes some of the best calamari I've ever had. :-)

After lunch, the chef offered us a cooking class in the making of peanut sauce. We had this with several of the meals we had, and the kids just loved it, eating it by the spoonfuls. We wanted to learn how it was made. While the chef as quite correct in saying it was easy and quick, the difficult part will be in replicating some of the ingredients in the midwest. I KNOW that they are not carried in the local grocery stores, although perhaps the Asian markets have them. I will make the attempt though because it was delicious. It consisted of raw peanuts (easy), garlic (easy), sweet soya sauce (probably available at the Asian market), oil (easy), chili peppers (easy), lemon leaves (not easy....particularly as they come from a specific type of lemon, even smaller than the key limes), turmeric root (looked like a tiny yam...the chef said turmeric powder could be substituted), cardamom root (this will be tough and is NOT the same as the ground seeds we use in baking), and candle-nuts (these tasted a bit like raw almonds, and the chef said they would work fine as a substitute). All of the ingredients are cooked in hot oil in a wok for 5-7 minutes, the lemon leaves are removed, and the remaining ingredients are ground into a paste by adding a bit more oil. Delicious!

I had a reflexology treatment and the “only in Bali” creme bath, the latter being an avocado hair treatment and head massage. Both were delivered by an impossibly small woman with impossibly strong hands. I had to keep asking her to reduce the pressure! As is typical with reflexology, it was not relaxing during the treatment, but you feel fantastic after wards. And, my hair has never been softer or smelled better. :-)

Since it was our last dinner at Villa Teresa, we went a bit over board on ordering. We started with spring rolls (a HUGE pile of them), had a seafood soup (I forget the name, but it was Thai in nature, with lots of lemon grass), and tuna cooked in banana leaves. For dessert, we had traditional Balinese black rice pudding. I can't say that this was my favorite dish, but it was interesting.

The next day dawned beautiful at Villa Teresa which made leaving that much harder. We settled up our bill (about $800 US for the 5 days for seven people, including all food, all drinks, laundry and the car/driver). I don't think you can complain about that! Worked out to about $100 per person. Considering the quality, it was a downright bargain.  I took a few more photos to remember the incredible detail in the decorating and design of the villa:

Our next stop on the trip was Sembirenteng in the north of Bali, at the small resort Agung Bali Nirwana. The drivers from there were to pick us up at 11:00, but apparently there was a mix up in communication and they didn't arrive until nearly 1:00. A bit frustrating, but only a small glitch. Once they arrived, we quickly threw the luggage in and we were on our way. We were told it was about a 3.5 hour drive (maybe 110-120 kilometers), but it ended up taking about an hour more than that, and we arrived around 5:30 pm. We were slowed down by a traffic detour caused by a cremation ceremony in Keraboken. I think we were traveling about 1 km per hour at that point. Very slow. We stopped once for a bathroom break, and that was (as they say) “an experience.” Traditional pit toilet. We also stopped in Candidasa for snacks, and learned something interesting. The food prices there at a a local “mini mart” were significantly less than at the Carrafour in Seminyak. Unlike in the US where smaller towns seem to command premium prices, the opposite seems to be true here.

The trip along the coast was stunningly beautiful, with much of the drive through jungle like rain forest. We saw many village temples, women walking with large containers of coconuts on their heads, and rice terraces climbing up the sides of tall mountains. Bali is beautiful away from the cities and congestion of the south.

We eventually turned off the main road to reach our resort...it appeared we were going to drive straight into the ocean, when literally about 15 feet from the shoreline we turned into our resort. It is lovely. I didn't get any photos then, and so far this morning, it is pouring down rain, so no photos yet. I hope to get some later today and will add them then. The resort consists of dining bale, a swimming pool with an infinity edge looking over the ocean, a massage pavilion, and three separate villas, one for each family on this leg of the trip. All the villas are identical, and consist of a large outdoor patio, perfect for reading, a smaller dining bale, living room, kitchen area, and three bedrooms. The master has a shower large enough for 6 people (no kidding!). We are happy.

Dinner was ordered off the menu, but was nominally priced. We had two banana milk shakes, 2 large Bintangs, 1 small Bintang, spring rolls, chicken sates (with rice and veggies), a seafood platter with rice and veggies, chicken sandwich with fries and mie goreng. Total bill, including service charge was 300,000 rupiah (roughly $33 US). Can't complain about that at all. I would say the food isn't quite to Villa Teresa standards, but is more authentic (they aren't holding back the spices here), and quite adequate. Beautiful settings make up for any flaw in the food. :-)

Off to bed, to the sounds of waves crashing along the shore....

Bali...day 3 and 4

Our third day in Bali was a hang and chill day.  We deliberately have planned days of no activity so that we don't get too tired to enjoy the fact that this is a vacation.  We had a leisurely breakfast, followed by a vigorous sit, lunch, more energetic sitting, a massage to wind down from all the activity, and then dinner.  LOL!  The plan worked perfectly.

We had Nasi Goreng for breakfast and lunch, to use up some of the Babi Guling from the night before.  And, we had some sort of pork curry dish for dinner.  We asked the chef to get creative and whatever it was, it was great.  A person could get used to living like this!

The massages we had were not the best ever, but also not the worst.  We could have gotten them less expensive in town, but there is something to be said for not having to move from our villa, and being able to listen to the sounds of the ocean, with a great breeze, while being massaged,  It was heaven, and worth the $15 US it cost me.  My daughter opted for a mani/pedi, which looks nice.  She felt pampered and special...again, worth the cost.

Nothing other special to report from day 3, except we had our laundry sent out...I am happy to report it smells as wonderful on it's return as I had been led to believe it would be.  The package smelled heavenly when it was opened....plus, my sport socks were IRONED!  Who does that?!?!  We are being spoiled beyond belief.

Day 4 dawned to pouring rain.  I have no idea how much rain, but it was torrential for several hours.  We had planned to visit two temples with Ketut, and wondered whether that was a good idea given the rain.  We called him and his response was "it always rains in Bali...we go."  The rain began to let up a bit, and at 9 we headed off to Megawi.  On the way, we passed many local temples, with the "full moon ceremony" under way.  Fascinating.  The colors and music were almost a sensory overload.

Megawi itself was also amazing.  We paid 15,000 rupiah each to enter the ground, and spent a good amount of time wandering the grounds, photographing the many intricate statues and carvings scattered around.  Some photos:

We returned from Megawi in time for lunch...fried calamari and sates with peanut sauce.  Another yum!  The men in the group then spent the afternoon by the pool, while the women returned to Seminyak for some shopping.  We went back to Carrafour, and this time I spent about $35 on various cosmetic products (at a fraction of their Costco prices US), another dress for me ($15), more snacks for the kids, and some tonic water.  We got an exchange rate of 9160 Rupiah per USD today (up from 9115 a couple of days ago), which makes shopping here a true pleasure.  After Carrefour, we went to another pure clothing shop where I got a sarong for my husband ($9) and a small (but adorable) gift for my daughter's best friend...I will not reveal it in case she is reading this blog (sorry, K!).  Sarah was very happy with her selection, however..

We raced back to the villa to pick up the boys and head out to Tanah Lot for sunset.  We got there just in time, and my friend with the better camera got some real keeper for photos.  Mine aren't bad, but nothing like hers.  My husband proudly wore his sarong and Putu, the chef at the Villa, shared his headgear and sash with Andy, and he got the total native look.

We then returned to the villa for another dinner made by the chef...Kung Pao Chicken, Gado Gado with peanut sauce and rice.  For dessert we had chocolate cake (yes, we went western!) and fruit. Yummo.   The rain, which had let up for the afternoon and sunset, started again, and I drifted off to the sounds of the rain and the ocean.  Ahhhhh.