It was a looonng drive into Ubud from Seminyak. It took about an hour and a half (and cost us about $25--basically a trip from Milwaukee to Madison; not too shabby), but we made it...our hotel is a little different from our last. We drove deep into the rough terrain and rice paddies (I hope I'm spelling that correctly) and finally came upon this beautiful rustic hotel. I'm not going to lie, I was getting a little nervous on our drive in... It's gorgeous actually. It's a lot like being in a cabin in the rainforest!! We hear frogs at night and have beautiful landscapes of rice paddies :) Our hotel is called The Jungjungen. They offer tea between 3 and 6pm and bring it right to your room! Rob and I enjoyed a couples massage which was quite interesting! haha the women actually got up onto the table to massage your back/neck and butt!! hehe! There was also a stomach massage--never experienced that at Neroli! :-P and the scalp massage was quite intense. Very great technique though and now I understand better as to where the Ayurveda techniques come from--which is what our massage therapists learn! We enjoyed warm water with lemongrass, ginger, and honey afterward in our "tea room"--it was fantastic! The breakfast in the morning was outstanding! Huge portions and water, juice, and coffee/tea are served with your meal as well!
~~~OH! I wanted to mention in one of these entries that you don't really realize how truly
good tap water is until you are without it for a week. I mean, you can wash your hands, brush your teeth, shower, clean your food, and drink it in America. Here, it is also available of course, but DON'T EVER ingest it. Unfortunately it is not good for you, at all. Rob and I have to brush our teeth with bottled water and of course I am a freak of nature, so I am very careful when I'm showering to make sure I don't get any in my mouth--crazy, I know, but I do not want "Bali Belly." I also question everything that I come into contact with, ie: tea, coffee, any fruit that could've been washed in water...I just want to be sure. :-P A lot of places use filtered water even to make ice for your drinks now too. They of course don't want to lose tourists...but there are still those places where people even use opened bottles, refill them with tap water and resell them....
always check the seal! :-P haha okay enough now... ~~~
This morning we got a shuttle into the city and started at Monkey Forest which was AMAZING!!! So fun and the monkeys are adorable! We did a lot of shopping through the markets and on the streets-- I found out that I am TERRIBLE at bargaining...oh well, I can't help it. In some sort of way I feel terrible if I'm like, "nahh $10 is too much, how about $1?" haha! But I'm seriously terrible at it. Rob tried to bargain for me, but then I intervened and said, "oh okay, we'll take them!" That was probably the only time that Rob and I have had a disagreement on this trip!! HA! But it was fun. We stopped along the way at Cafe Lotus--Christy and Jason, sad to say it, but what do you think is right next to this restaurant now??? A STARBUCKS!!!!! I was ecstatic, but also felt bad. Isn't it crazy how 10 years can change so much? We of course stopped in at Starbucks and it actually came at the right time because shortly thereafter it started to pour! It rained most of the afternoon. It was fine for a while to enjoy some coffee and read our books, but then we wanted to see more. So we bought some ponchos and booked it back outside in the rain. I decided to get a manicure while Rob enjoyed a beer at Cinta bar & grill. An hour long manicure was $8--pretty incredible! The women was nice, but spoke very little English. Rob made friends with the bartender and I met up with him afterwards and we shopped some more and then ate a wonderful dinner at Casa Luna. It was truly fantastic and GREAT food! We spoke a lot with the waiter. We asked him a lot of questions because we wanted to know a little more about the culture and the city. Apparently about 20 years ago most of Ubud was rice paddies, now it's hotels, shops, restaurants--all for tourists. He said that slowly they will continue to lose more and more of the rice paddies and soon they will need to import rice which is sad to him; he is only 21 years old mind you. I don't know that I was worried about anything that deep at 21 years old, granted I realize that I have every possibility at my fingertips, but it just puts things into huge perspective! We finished up there, had a little more shopping to do and then had one more drink before we called a car to pick us up.
I had wanted to stop and see Ketut Liyer (from Eat, Pray, Love) but I guess his health isn't so good. They think because of the demand in visitation since the book/movie...
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| Us drinking our tea in our very own sitting room, after our massages. |
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| Watermelon juice! And it tasted like a freshly blended watermelon! |
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| I chose this dining spot for breakfast just because I wanted to sit cross-legged on the "floor"! :) If you also notice, we are practically eating outside!! |
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| Monkey Forest--so incredible! |
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| A Mama with her baby. (Sorry it's sideways) |
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| STARBUCKS BALI!!!! |
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| A beautiful temple right behind Starbucks and Cafe Lotus. They were setting up for a dance at dusk. |
Well friends....it is sad, but our journey ends tomorrow as we'll be heading home late tomorrow night. :( We booked a car to see some coffee plantations, rice terraces, a temple(elephant cave), and a waterfall before we leave, but I really DO NOT want to go home :( :( If you ever get the chance to come, it is truly spectacular!! We both have learned so much and have TONS more to share with you upon our return!! Lots of lovies to all!! xoxo
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