Bali-rific Day 2

Day 2 of our glorious honeymoon. 19:50 In Bali right now, to get Vancouver time just subtract 15 hours. Technically we are a day ahead but everything is so relaxed here it feels like a day behind.

On to the details....

We both woke up stupid early, like 4:30am.  I guess that's what we get for sleeping on planes and trying to deal with the time change. The hotel room is nice so we don't feel trapped in a prison cell.  Great balcony with a great view of a small Rice patty and surrounding buildings. A brief conversation with some older Austrailian travelers enlightened us to the fact that 25 years ago, when they started coming to Ubud, none of the buildings we see now existed as it was all rice patties and trees anyway....

Balcony looking right

Balcony left

We left the hotel at around 7am starving for both food and Bali life, since we asked for breakfast at 8am we took to the streets. Small shops, though closed at this time, consumed both sides of the street. Cars and scooters wizzed by as the locals were on their way to work or play.  As crazy as the traffic is I would gladly walk down the road rather than the 'sidewalks' which are no more than fancy slabs used to cover the irrigation streams on either side of the road. It doesn't smell like sewage makes it this far, but I'm no Bali plumber.  The sidewalks are a constant challenge. Quick and steep drops, acting as large steps when coming from the opposite direction, frequent holes and other distractions like trees and wide grates.  I'm pretty nervous about my ankles in most situations, but so far no issues. Just make sure you don't get caught up being too much of a looky-loo and watch where you are going.

So we had to kill about 2 hours before breakfast so we just walked as far as we felt comfortable with. Every 8 to 10 feet there would be a different shop, hotel or restaurant. A lot of the shops repeat the goods for sale, hotels attached to restaurants, with most hotels hidden down alleyways to keep the frontage for shops. We saw about 3 Minimarts, 2 laundromats, 1 pharmacy, and about 2 clinics during our hour long walk in one direction.  There was no doubt that this area was definitely catered to tourists, but it  gives you a comforting feeling that helps especially on the second day.  I suppose the more familiar you would get with Bali the more these things would takeaway from the experience.  So if we comeback I`ll complain about all the tourist specific stuff then :-)

Early Morning in Ubud

We did find a few of the restaurants on our list to visit so that was great.  We also got to experience Ubud without the hoards of tourists and merchants catering to them. This was definitely a good thing. Starving and back at the hotel we had a great breakfast. We were a half hour early from what we told the hotel the night before, but no complaints or fuss from the staff.  The breakfast was great and a perfect size. I don't think I could ever get bored of hearing us referred to as Ms. Christina or Mr. Allan.

After breakfast we had some more time to kill before our 10am massage. We decided to walk in the other direction, which took us past the spa anyway. More closed shops, challenging sidewalks and temples, lots of temples.  This was our first pass of the Monkey Forest, and the name is not misleading.  Even just on the edges the monkeys were out looking for food. After talking with some locals we were told the best time to visit the forest is late afternoon. When the rest of the world has fed the monkeys and they are far less aggressive. As Christina was getting skiddish with the monkeys we did encounter, I had no problem taking the advice.

Monkey Forest entrance

Christina can probably elaborate on the massage experience better as my notes are as follows: we showered,they rubbed us, added oil and rubbed some more, added some gritty stuff with more rubbing, then more goo with more rubbing, then shower.  It was a very relaxing experience but did it actually get my knots out and soothe my airplane contorted muscles, not really. Mentally I was super relaxed but my muscles were missing the working of an RMT.  Hopefully this is the worst I get as being a picky westerner.

Spa grounds

So super relaxed we headed over to the Dirty Duck Diner. The specialty is half a duck all crispy with a few different sauces. I'm not a big duck fan but it turned out pretty well, and of course a bottle of Bingtang. I was a little more adventurous with the sauces than Christina, which varied from 3 different kinds of hot.

Post Spa

Dirty Duck with extras

Not wanting to fill up right away we headed to another watering hole to get the most out of our day. It was called the Paradise Cafe and required us to walk up some large stairs to even see inside.  Once we climbed the steps we could see it was worth every stretch of the ham string. The view of the monkey forest and the rice patties was amazing. So I ordered a BLT and a Coke, which tastes different in Bali,  and took in the view as long as we could. Back to the reality that is the sidewalks of Ubud,  we headed back to the hotel for a much needed swim.

View from our table

Post swim was drinks and dinner. Drinks first at a forgetful place with happy hour and seating right on the strip.  A few shops back towards the hotel and we stopped for dinner at the Lotus Lounge. We mixed up the menu with some European - pizza - and a local favorite mie goreng. I really liked it and Christina has become obsessed. So much so that I am pretty sure we will be eating it once a day for the rest of our trip.

Tired after day 2

With both of us struggling to carry on a conversation it was back to the hotel and bed. I think we turned in just after 8 pm.

Lots more to write but that will have to do for now. The view on the balcony here is amazing and its getting close to dinner time.