The Ubud Tour & Down The Mountain to Seminyak

Day 11 – All Around Ubud
The morning started with us getting ready for our tour and then packing up the rest of our stuff up for the room move. With suitcases ready for pickup, we headed up to the restaurant for breakfast. Again I got the American option, as did K, deciding that the continental option was underwhelming. Promptly at 8:15 we made our way downstairs to the lobby and found our guide already waiting for our 8:20 departure. Astawa (of Ubud Friendly Driver would be taking us around the central part of the island today to see a number of sights.

Astawa was very friendly and talkative on the way to our first stop, both giving us information about the Ubud area and himself, but also asking us about ourselves. The first destination was to see some traditional Balinese dancers. Making our way to the seats, it was clear that the audience was 100% tourists and their guides. The show itself was interesting, but a little odd. The costumes were very intricate, and the story was clear thanks to the English guides we received, but overall it wasn’t my favorite experience.

From the theatre our next two stops were at a silver jewelry shop and then a place that specialized in weaving. Both places were total tourist traps and I’m sure there are financial incentives given to the tour operators whose clients make purchases. We did not; instead we focused on the small workshops they had showing the traditional way these items were made. Later in the day we would stop at a similar places specializing in painting and woodcarving. At that stop there was a man hand carving a very intricate design into a large wooden sculpture with hand tools, and all of the pieces inside were pretty amazing.

The next stop was at a traditional Balinese house. From what we were told, this was literally some family’s home that they had opened up for people to tour through. It was a mini maze of pathways and buildings. Astawa explained the typical family dynamic and how the cultural traditions led to the multiple buildings and standardized layout. All the houses along the row had the same brick wall and entryway, and multiple low and little roofs, which made up each compound. The structures were basic and without many of the basic amenities.

After completing the tour our next scheduled stop was lunch. However, since we weren’t taking too much time at the tourist traps, we had time to make an extra stop and went to a huge waterfall. It was a very hot day; so many others had the same idea to come visit this great swimming spot. Astawa led us to the stairs down to the basin at the base of the waterfall, but had recently hurt his ankle, so we gladly made the trek solo. Quite a few steps later we made it down to the small path that led to the rocky “beach.” The waterfall itself was very impressive, falling from quite a distance in an amazingly picturesque location. Not having the best footwear (sneakers) for water, we didn’t hang around for too long and after several minutes of taking it in we started the hike back up.

Lunch was at Dewa Malen, a restaurant almost exclusively filled with tourists (a common theme). Even with the previous night’s meal of duck, this place was known for their crispy duck, so ordering seemed to be the prudent thing to do. The meal was very good, actually much better than I expected given the tourist-only nature of the place.

Refreshed and ready to go, we were off to our next spot: the wood carving shop mentioned earlier. From there it was a bit of a drive to a coffee plantation. Walking in we were met by another guide from the plantation that would be taking us around. One of the cooler things we saw there was a pineapple plant. Now some may think that pineapples grow on trees, or may not have given it any thought at all. However, they grow out of a stalk from a ground plant. After a few pictures we were on to the rest of the tour. We saw some coffee trees (though no cherries), and some cocoa trees with pods attached. From there it was time to sample a number of coffees and teas (12 total). Most were pretty tasty, although a few we skipped after a sip each. The only non-complimentary sample was of Luwak Coffee, something that Indonesia is famous for. This beverage is made with only a select type of coffee bean. The Luwak is a cat-sized animal that lives in the region. It enjoys eating coffee cherries (the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean), and in the wild picks out the ripest ones. When the animal eats the cherry, the bean isn’t broken or damaged, and the bean “passes” through intact. However, while passing the bean goes through a kind of fermentation that mellows the flavor and is supposed to make it a much better cup of coffee. This “Catpoochino” as they marketed it was 50k IDR (about three-fiddy US for South Park fans).

(a luwak and our coffee)

The coffee was pretty good, and the experience was certainly worth the several dollars. We talked with our guide and asked if he had drank it, and he mentioned that he’d had it once during their training, but that it was far too expensive for him.

(coffee roasting and grinding)

The coffee plantation was our last scheduled stop, but because we hadn’t been buying anything (or loitering around the stores) we still had some time before our drop-off. Astawa asked if we wanted to go see the volcano at the center of the island, and we quickly agreed. The roads were windy and steep as we made our way higher and higher. After quite some time we finally made it up to the rim of the crater. Being at a considerably higher altitude the weather was much cooler than what we’d become accustomed to. The volcano itself consisted of a huge crater (several miles across with a lake and small towns), and then the mountain rising not quite out of the center.

It was much more windy than elsewhere on the island, and after taking in the views under the clear blue sky, K and Astawa were getting a little chilly so we headed back to the car.

Winding down the mountain roads, we started making our way back towards the hotel. Continuing our chatting, Astawa said that he wanted to take us for one final stop before heading back. About 20 min later we crept around the corner of a busy road, we found ourselves looking out over a valley with terraced rice paddies. This stop was part of one of the other itineraries that Astawa had, and involves a lot longer of a stop to go hiking through the valley. We had time for about 5-10 minutes of walking around and a few pictures before loading back up and heading to the hotel for real this time.

Back at the hotel it was time to relax, even though most of the time had been spent sitting in the car, we still felt like just sitting around our new pool (not as nice as our previous one), until it was time to get ready for dinner. For “agreeing” to move rooms, we had been offered with a complimentary dinner at the hotel restaurant. The menu looked ok, and I ended up going with the Bali set menu which included corn fritters, a salad with chicken, then a satay plate, and finally black rice pudding (made with black rice, not dyed black). The food was decent, but certainly not nearly as good as what we had been having in town. The other disappointment was that while it had seemed to be indicated that drinks were included when we “accepted” the offer, this was apparently not the case. It wasn’t a big deal since they weren’t very expensive (as compared to US hotel drinks), but felt like we weren’t getting what was advertised. Earlier that day Astawa was telling us about a local spirit (arak, basically a rum) from the island that that was mixed with coke and lime, so I decide to grab two of those with the meal. The drink was tasty, but honestly with the coke and lime, I’m not sure how much I’d be able to distinguish it from a normal rum and coke in a line up…

Back at the room, we lay around for a bit before deciding to take advantage of the private pool (since we’d be losing that amenity in the morning) and sat outside in the warm water looking out over the dark fields in the distance. It was very relaxing as there were basically no manmade light, and really the only noises were coming from the birds and other animals. Starting to prune, it was time to hop out and call it a night.

Day 12 – Legian Luxury
On our last breakfast of the stay, we decided to take advantage of room service to have our meal on our patio. The food arrived quickly, and was no worse for wear as compared to what we had been getting in the restaurant. It was a nice, relaxing start to the morning. Post-breakfast we packed a little before spending some more time in and around our pool. We had to check out at 12, and we planned on making every last minute count. Luckily the hot sun dried our suits while we were getting ready to head out, and we were at the lobby at about 11:58. Our driver was waiting to drive us down to Seminyak, a more touristy portion of the island right on the beach.

The drive down was long with quite a bit of traffic, and took about 2 hours to make the 20-mile trip. Along the way we chatted with the driver about different things about the US and Bali and some of his recommendations. I had only been to Indonesia briefly before (just a quick stop in Jakarta), so it was interesting to learn a bit more. One of the more surprising conversations happened after we got much closer to Seminyak and started to see a lot more western influence. There were malls with all of the international brands, car dealers, the works (we must have missed most of them on the way in). When we passed a huge (multi-story stand-alone) McDonalds K asked if it was popular, and he said that it was very popular (as was also evident by the full parking lot). However, it was a luxury and that not many local people could afford it. I knew that Indonesia was not a very rich country, but this was quite shocking to hear.

Our new hotel was night and day from the last one. Rather than a small rustic-looking resort, The Legian is an imposing luxury hotel. Our car doors were opened for us, and we were told not to worry about our bags as one of the hotel receptionists led us inside. We were quickly brought a refreshing cold towel (similar to the hot towels that some airlines present before meals) and glasses of a ginger lemongrass iced tea. It was only then that I realized that when the receptionist greeted us she had said “Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Lastname,” rather than asking any information from us. My guess is that they knew about when we were arriving and where we were coming from and must have asked our driver. That little detail was a sign of great things to come. The whole check-in process was great, as we didn’t have to leave the plush chairs and our drinks. All the paperwork was brought directly to us.

We were guided up to our room and given a quick tour of the features and amenities. Our luggage had beaten us upstairs, and no sooner had our guide gone when there was a knock on the door. As a welcome treat, the hotel had sent up a chocolate cake and a bottle of champagne for our honeymoon celebration. It was a very thoughtful gesture, and seeing as it was lunchtime, we decided that it would be a shame to leave them sitting around getting warm (and flat for the champagne), so it was best to make that our lunch (along with some chips from the free mini bar).

After “lunch,” it was time to sit out on the deck and take in the magnificent views of the beach and ocean. I had picked this hotel as it is one of the few in the area that are on the beachside of the road. There are a number of hotels overlooking the beach, but many have a street in between, and that didn’t sound like luxury to me. The cake didn’t hold us for too long and around 4 we headed down to the complimentary tea service at the restaurant by the pool. Two cups of tea (and a few finger sandwiches) later we felt like heading out for a walk along the beach.

Taking a left off the hotel steps we headed down the warm sand. The beach was busy, but not overly crowded. Getting closer to the waterline we let the warm wave water wash up to our feet and calves. We walked at a slow place, heading down towards the more crowded public beach areas. However as we got closer we encountered a rogue breaking wave that ended up soaking my right side. Luckily my phone was in my left pocket so there was no harm done other than being quite wet. We decided to turn around at that point and made our way back to the hotel at the same pace.

By the time we’d washed off the sand, gotten back to the room, and dried off/changed, it was getting closer to dinner. Not wanting to go straight there, we set out and popped in to a number of little stores on a roundabout route to the restaurant. I’d found some really good reviews for a cheap duck place called Gapet in what seemed to be some sort of market/food court thing. The set up was strange, a large tent with small restaurants all around the perimeter. The restaurants had indoor seating, but there were also a large number of mismatched tables and chairs under the tent. We decided to sit outside, and enjoy our ice cold Bintangs while waiting for our food. My duck was delicious, and since there had been a few items on the menu that I’d had a hard time deciding between I knew we’d be coming back here, to which K was completely onboard with as well as her meal was equally tasty.

Not wanting to call it a night yet, we walked onward towards the main square (and shopping mall). Again, all the luxury brands were out in full force, and we heard predominantly English (though with an Australian accent) being spoken. After a quick stop at a pharmacy we started the walk back to the hotel. Arriving at the room we found that the turndown service had already been performed. This included turning down the bed and leaving pairs of slippers on each side, but also leaving out a little treat (which varied from night to night but were little bon-bons or the like), and lighting a candle in a hurricane lantern out on the deck. Sitting outside we ate our treats and had a drink by candle light while just being able to make out the waves that we could hear clearly crashing on the beach. Eventually we had to start fighting our eyelids and it was time to blow out the candle and head to bed.

Cheers,
-N