Ubud 2016

Back to the reality of parents honking non-stop for their kids to step out of the house doused out the last shreds of the post travel mood.

The plan was to visit Perth in May was shelved so we went to Ubud instead. The travelling party started with the Kohs and us but the Yongs joined us at the last minute, bringing the group to a total of six. The largest travel group ever for us!

This worked well since we could share the transport fees and order more variety of food to share!

Airfare: Air Asia flight, slightly over RM1,100 inclusive of all the taxes and the service charges, with 20kg of luggage to and 25kg forth. 

Accommodation:

Anahatan Villas & Spa Resort. Booked at Hotels.com for about SGD75 per night, inclusive of breakfast and free wifi. The room was very big with a small hall with TV and a small balcony. The pool and jacuzzi corner were beautiful with lots of foliage around. 

Guests who are into yoga could also make a booking for a session within the compound. This service comes free during the weekdays. This accommodation was pretty deep into the rural area, among the trees and even had a river within its compound! 

By car, it took about 10 to 15 minutes to Ubud city centre. The area was pretty dark from 6pm, so walking to the city centre was not much of an option. The hotel offered an interval shuttle service, all before 5pm, and charged IDR100,000 for pickup from the city centre outside of the shuttle service timing. 

Places of interest:

Hubs and I went to Bali a couple of years ago and visited places like Tanah Lot, Monkey Forest, Jimbaran beach, a volcano, which we've forgotten the name, and saw some really nice paddy fields. 

We thought we covered enough places of interest the last trip, sort of. So, we really wanted to enjoy the accommodation and spend time looking at crafty stuff especially, since we were staying in Ubud. 

Kohs did most of the research and we visited Tirta Empul Temple (aka Temple of Hoy Water), Uluwatu Temple (aka Pura Luhur Uluwatu) and Mount Batur. 

Tirta Empul Temple is a Unesco Heritage site, and an inscription dates the founding of the temple to 926AD. Worshippers are drawn to the temple for the supposed curative properties of the spring water within the compound. 

Take note of an entrance fee of IDR15,000, and proper dress code must be adhered to. A sarong and a sash are issued at the entrance after the payment of entrance fee. 

An inscription dates the founding of the temple to 926AD.



Female is not allowed into the temple during the time of the month. And, for obvious reason, they are strictly banned from dipping into the water during that time too. 

The queue to get into the holy water!

The Kohs took a dip, and filled up a bottle to bless us outside the temple!

As we walked around, we saw this beautiful pale blue pond with bubbling water and lots of water weed in it. I was definitely more intrigued with this pond than the queue into the holy water. 

Bubbling and extremely clear water at one of the ponds within the temple compound.

My favourite within the compound.

Next up, Mount Batur, an active volcano, and its last eruption was in 2000. 

We lunched at one of the restaurants facing the mountain, Grand Puncak Sari Restaurant. The restaurant is located in Kintamani that is 1,500m above sea level, hence offering a fantastic view of the volcano. 

A note of caution: it might be better to spend a little time to walk around the area to look for an eatery with lesser flies. There were so many flies around that it was difficult to eat and swat flies at the same time. The restaurant amazingly did not installed any insect zappers. The restaurant served only buffet, and the bill came up to about IDR150,000 per pax. The food wasn't especially nice, it was perhaps normal at best. A lot of the food was rather cold.

We were sat outdoor and the view was fantastic. I guess we were mostly paying for a good view. 

There were spots along the way up and down to stop for photos but, of course, it was crowded with people since there was no fee.

Lastly, Uluwatu Temple, otherwise also known as Pura Luhur Uluwatu. This temple is believed to be one of the six temples of Bali's spiritual pillars. An entrance fee of RP40,000 applied.

Before departing for the temple, we were warned to keep our sunglasses, earrings, caps and anything that dangle as the monkeys were notorious for snatching away items. I held dearly to my camera. 

Uluwatu Temple reminded me a lot of Tanah Lot's beautiful sunset. The walk from the entrance seemed long because the weather was so hot! The sarong, that we were required to wear, intensified the heat. I was literally dripping with sweat. 

For the record, we saw only a couple of monkeys and nothing disastrous happen. Perhaps they were affected by the heat too? 

The sunset was beautiful with the Indian Ocean as the backdrop. There was supposed to be a Kecak dance but we didn't stay on for the dance because we wanted to be at The Rock Bar for sunset. 

To get to the sitting area, we had to take an elevator but found out later that it was also possible to get to the area by stairs from the other side.

We wanted to get a nice seat by the cliff, but not being the hotel's guests meant we need to have a minimal spending of IDR1.5 million. 

In the end, the staff found us a sea-facing seat. It was another sauna session with almost no breeze but Mrs Koh was still as chirpy as ever (in orange)! 

I guess The Rock Bar is not a place that we would want to visit for the next trip unless we are staying at its hotel. I had pretty high expectation of the place but was mildly disappointed. The heat definitely played a big part. Frankly, unless one is willing to spend and get the by-the-cliff seats, the money can be spent jolly well on something else, like at a nice cafe in Ubud city centre with a wonderful spread of desserts and drinks.

The sunset was beautiful, though.

Food:

Breakfast was a simple affair in the hotel, but they served freshly cooked omelette and sunny side ups. The juice was a tad too sweet for my liking, and the tea too weak. Yes, I am a fussy pot! They served the local food like fried rice, fried noodles and some heavier stuff like stir-fry chicken and veggies for people who take early brunch. There were cereal, milk and bacon too. I was pretty happy with my wholemeal bread and 2 sunny side ups :) Of course, as usual, fruits were served too.

The best food for this trip, personally, was the local food, taken daily by the locals, not those at Jimbaran beach or any of the restaurants that we went to.

Trivia: 

The river is about 10 minutes walk from our room. According to the staff, the water would be crystal clear had it not rained. I did a session of yoga at the platform along the river, and the most amazing thing happened! 

On the third day, while Hubs went breakfast with the gang, I journeyed down to the river in my yoga paws without shoes since I rather not carry anything on my way to breakfast after that. The foot pads were good enough to protect my soles from the sands.

I was at the river at about 810am or thereabouts. Just as I got ready at the wooden platform by the river, a shower of soil and tiny rocks fell upon me! It was followed by some loose branches. I scrambled to my feet and rushed to the stairs leading back to the hotel. The platform was built above the river, and I definitely didn't want to be drifting away in the river, and drowning, if it was an earthquake!

The shower of soil and all continued for a minute or so and stopped. I looked around to see if it could be a snake sliding down hence causing the shower. Then, it occurred to me that it could the monkeys! That was when I heard branches shaking on the other side of the river. True enough, a group of monkeys were frolicking!

So fear aside, I got into proper and started the practice. The area was a little chilling. But I knew once my practice starts, my body would heat up and the chill would not be an issue.  20 minutes into the practice, and as I was looking back to my toes in downward dog, I saw a steam of vapour rising around me!

It felt so surreal watching my body heating up the atmospheric vapour. It's a pity Hubs was not around to take a shot for me.

Conclusion: Somehow, we only spent a good half day at the accommodation, again, similar to our last trip to Bali. My favourite day was actually the day when it was just Hubs and I walking around Ubud City Centre while waiting for the gang to be back from Tanah Lot, and walking down the craft lane not far from Ubud. 

I kind of wish we have spent more a little more time at the accommodation. 
A video of the roaring river in the hotel to end the post: