After the ten-week internship with PwC, I was incredibly excited because Chelsea and I had booked tickets to have a five-day holiday in Bali just two days later (on July 19). But I tried to contain my enthusiasm because the period was one full of uncertainty. The airport had closed for days before due to the ash cloud from Mount Raung. I was fearful that it would affect our plans. Thankfully, the trip went by without a hitch!
I’m going to write about the trip ‘cos I enjoyed it so much and frankly there’s nothing too interesting to post on this blog these days anyway. Will be backdating the posts to match the day being covered.
Here goes!
Departure
Woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to head to the airport. Our flight to Bali was quite early, at 7:20am. It was a good time because we would reach Bali by 10am, and then we will have the rest of the day free. The sucky part, of course, was the going-to-airport-early part. My parents were nice enough to drop me off, and I reached the airport at 5:30am feeling quite very excited.
Met Chels and her parents and we had breakfast at the Terminal 2 McDonald’s (too bad there’s no Toastbox in T2). Soon after that it was time for us to take the plane ride down to Bali (thankfully the airport was still open)! I used to look forward to plane rides, especially before my exchange, but my enthusiasm has dampened, especially with budget flights. So it was just 3 hours in a metal container spent watching Korean videos with Chels.
Arrival into Bali
Then we reached Bali! Remember the first thought that came to mind as we touched down was “Wow those waves look quite big”. Passed immigration kinda quickly and we met up with the driver who will bring us to our first hotel somewhere near Ubud. The ride is not the cheapest, at IDR250k (which is around $25), but for the convenience and peace of mind we felt it was okay. (We would find other ways to save money later during the trip!)
Leaving Bali airport thinking how green the airport was (and how warm ‘cos no air-con)
On the way out! “Start of trip” face
Headed towards Ubud
Reaching our Hotel!
Ride there was pretty uneventful. Crowded streets (with congestion nearly everywhere) and warmish weather. A hour or so later we reached our first ’boutique hotel’ – Mandala Desa. Along the way we saw rice paddy fields, and as we approached Mandala Desa I was somewhat disappointed to see dried-up stalks of rice paddies. According to the driver, this area was recently harvested, and because Bali had three harvest cycles a year (compared to an average of two), it was quite likely that we saw… nothing special. Thankfully, we had the (only) room on the second floor so we could see more of the fields.
We chose this place because we wanted somewhere that was relatively value-for-money, yet being as villa-like as possible (a villa in Ubud or its surroundings proved to be too expensive). This place fit the bill – it had very good reviews on TripAdvisor, seemed off the beaten track (it was twenty minutes to somewhat touristy Ubud), had great views of rice paddy fields (which was what we wanted), and was a small place (with 4 rooms). It was owned by a dutch lady called Jacinta and she (and her staff) welcomed us the moment we entered the property. The property itself was in Batuan, a small agricultural town/village. No tourists around (except us).
Immediately the perks of staying in a small place was apparent. No need to do check-in – our luggages were carried off to our room and Jacinta brought us around our room, showing us where things were. As the door opened I remember (in addition to the cool air-con) smelling a scent of frangipani, which was not too surprising after seeing how many frangipani flowers they placed in the room. They were everywhere. So nice. The best part of the room, in my opinion, was a water dispenser in the toilet. By the end of our stay we used more than half of the 19 litre water container. Saved us a lot of money.
And I haven’t even mentioned the view from our balcony. I loved it. It was not the prettiest thing, but it was broad and large enough. We soon agreed that everything we saw in the trip reviews and photos were accurate – nothing was exaggerated… the reviews were right.
They served us our welcome drinks which was some tea from their garden, and some delicious kueh. We were quite hungry so that helped us relieve our hunger.
Chels in front of the comfy four-poster bed
Frangipani everywhere… including on this ‘woman’
Bathroom, clearly taken at night, hahaha
Welcome drink, kueh and COLD TOWELS.
Decided to bring the welcome stuff outside because it wasn’t too hot and we could enjoy the view!!
Our view from the balcony. In the foreground is the harvested crops, and in the background (the green), some other crops. Looks nicer in real life. The black dots are kites in the sky.
The ‘shared’ pool. ‘Shared’ because frankly, when you use it, you’ll be the only ones using it
Lunch time
Soon it was 1pm and we decided to take the free shuttle service to Ubud to have lunch. Since it was a small accommodation, they try to put everyone who wants to go to Ubud on the same car so that the driver did not need to make multiple trips. Again, they were flexible in dropping us off anywhere in Ubud because there were few people. On the ride there was a grandma/granddaughter pair from the Netherlands who were staying in Mandala Desa for 2 weeks (wow!) and a couple who mostly kept to themselves.
The driver dropped us off at our first stop, which was to try Bali’s ‘famous’ duck (or bebek in Indonesian). There were two places that ladyironchef recommended, and we decided to head to Bebek Tapi Sawah Restaurant. Apparently the Balinese are famous for the crispy duck but we didn’t get it in the end (oh no!). I had the “legendary” Balinese smoked duck and Chels had the grilled duck.
It was delicious. Very spicy however. The meat from the duck just peels off so easily and the flavours in their marinade fit the smoky taste so well. Here was where we saw green rice paddies up close – this one clearly was a manicured garden for tourists, not a working field for farmers. Many tourists are here, especially Indonesian Chinese who are doing some domestic travelling. This was also one of the more pricey meals for our trip, but it was definitely a good start!
Chels going down the steps – we were going out to Ubud!
Our first view into Bebek Tepi Sawah
Decided to get some juices while we wait for the food to arrive – it took a while
Happy us with food and nice painting behind
My lunch – smoked duck. Doesn’t win prizes for looking good but it definitely was yummy
Chels looking very excited for lunch! She had smoked duck
Close up of rice grains, made me wish I could see a field full of these from my hotel room
Walking around Ubud
Following lunch – which was late by the way – we needed to find our way back to the pick-up point, which was vague. It was at a Coco Supermarket somewhere near Monkey Forest Road. A quick search on Google told us that we were quite far away, but we didn’t really know where the supermarket was.
So we walked. Turned out to be not the wisest choice.
The roads were not really meant for walking. It was pretty apparent after a while because the two of us were the only ones walking next to the road. Add that with incredible congestion, with motorcycles going onto the ‘pedestrian’ pavement, we realise we were quite stuck. But there were no taxis around and so Chels trudged on with me. (It reminded me of our long walks on our US trip too)
Along the way we walked past many, many shops selling art pieces and wood sculptures. Ubud was described as the cultural place of Bali (contrasting the beach in Kuta) and it was quite cool to see ordinary people just doing extraordinary work with their paintbrushes and knives. We stumbled into this place called ARMA Museum, ultimately not entering the museum but walking around the grounds (which was also a resort). Took a break there, as well as some photos. It was in the resort that we saw other tourists.
Soon we made it to Coco Supermarket which was a relief and joy. Wanted to celebrate with Magnum ice cream (because it’s cheaper everywhere else in Southeast Asia than in Singapore) but there were no price tags so we decided not to. By the time we got to Coco it got significantly more touristy, with many angmohs walking on the pavements (which have improved in condition). There were more accommodation places (these are the expensive ones) and touristy things like money changers and massage places. We had a bit more time so we walked to the fringes of the Monkey forest, which we decided not to go in because it seemed touristy and the monkeys seemed very naughty (from the reviews). Plus, not as though never see monkey before.
Impressive wood carvings of lions
Outside the ARMA Museum ft. Balinese architecture
Cool stream in a shady part of ARMA resort
Pond of lotuses
The “for show” padi fields look too nice!
Chels at a significantly less congested part of Ubud
Kids on a procession along Monkey Forest Road
Us outside the Monkey Forest
The roads leading to Monkey Forest had sculptures of… monkeys
Back to the hotel
The ride soon came and we headed back to Mandala Desa. By the time we were back it was nearing 6pm and the sun was beginning to set. Jacinta asked us if we wanted to have afternoon tea. Being the average Singaporean I was initially quite hesitant ‘cos I thought it would cost some money (and we were not too hungry yet). She must have sensed that and she told us it was complimentary. So okay lor. (HAHAHA)
We asked for the tea to be served at the balcony. Bali is surprisingly cooler than Singapore – especially when you are in the shade. Maybe it’s the village and the agricultural nature of the place we were staying in, because the beach was quite hot (later on). At night it cooled down to 22, 23 degrees.
So we had some nice lemongrass tea (grown from their garden) and some really good, moist pandan cake as we (sort of) saw the sunset. It was quite gorgeous, just too many clouds. We went downstairs to explore the property and took photos. Was surprised to see goats and horses owned by them, in their backyard. Must be there for some kids to play with.
As the immediate area around the hotel didn’t have any food places (purely villagers and their houses) we decided to have dinner in the hotel. Room service! My first time. The prices of the food were reasonable – around $4 to $7, and their service was great too. We had our meals in the room, and they were very courteous and help us set our table nicely and so on. Almost like villa, I guess… hahah.
A farmer out in the field. That’s one of the perks of non-touristy places – you get to see the ‘real’ day-to-day life of people living here
Sun sets over the rice fields
Chels with a frangipani flower in her hair, very pretty hehe
Horses, lambs…
… and even a cat
Our yummy afternoon tea served in the evening (haha)
MOIST PANDAN CAKE WITH SHAVED COCONUT. And frangipani flower.
Quite a good dinner – I had chicken while Chels had seafood curry, in the comfort of our room
Since we had a long day (waking up early), we slept quite early too. Watched a bit of Modern Family and that’s it.
Day 2 coming up!
Swee Life 