The first part of the trip would actually be Kris, MOH and myself – with Debra joining us later. While MOH planned the itinerary (with some approvals from me, of course), there were much worry about traveling with friends whom I had never traveled with before. The usual thoughts – would the itinerary be suitable? How easy-going are we all? Would there be awkward silences? Would there be too much PDA (on our part that is!)? Would some feel left out? Ohh… the list goes on. I'm sure all of us have had our fair share of Travel-Zillas!! :P
Well, the worrying all amounted to nothing. As Kris put it – to be good travel companions, when one says “follow your itinerary”, they follow through and have fun instead of following-through and bitching about it. I guess it is important that the group you travel with are in-sync somewhat – always prepared for adventures and always ready to explore something new. Most importantly, is keeping an open-mind and with that, keeping options opened and using the itinerary as a guide (so we do not miss all the good food places!!) and not something to abide by strictly!
Kris & Debra proved to be really great travel companions (and hoping they feel the same about MOH & I!). They were sporting and conversations never ran out. I think Kris and I had a bit more of a “crazy streak” – as in, we really did let ourselves go during the holidays – taking endless photos (much to Debra’s annoyance!), eating non-stop (more me than Kris), rolling around in the giant waves at Double Six Beach… basically, just making sure we had 100% fun. We’ve worked hard and this is time to de-stress, yes? Of course, Kris wasn’t so impressed with the 6.30am wake-up call for a morning swim nor the “power walks” – I will never hear the end of this! Anyway.....
7th October 2010
Kris, MOH and I touched down in Bali and was promptly greeted by Agung, our driver who would be ferrying us to Ubud. The ride was uneventful but of course, spirits were high since we had only just arrived and we had more than a week here! Hooray! Bali had always been a favourite spot for MOH and I, simply because aside from all her charms and the extremely warm and friendly locals, here was where we fell in love, had our first kiss and coming full cycle – held our wedding. We make it a point to get into Bali at least once a year.
We arrived Ubud Inn at around 2.30pm. The Ubud Reader’s & Writer’s Festival was on-going when we arrived and I was disappointed that I would be missing it even though I was right there in Ubud. Nevermind, there’s always a next time! This also explained the full-house situation for almost all the resorts in Ubud! After checking-in we were starving! We took a walk out to The Laughing Buddha for lunch and agreed that lunch was good – because we were so hungry. After lunch, we immediately got down to business – SHOPPING! We went to the Ubud Market and finished our souvenir shopping right there! Talk about efficiency! For some reason, time just flew by when we were shopping and by the time we took a long walk back to the hotel, it was almost time to get ready for our dinner. But of course – there’s ALWAYS time for a quick dip in the pool.
The pick-up service from Warung Murni came to pick us up for dinner. At Warung Murni, we ordered the Sate Lilit for sharing and I had the Mee Goreng while Kris and MOH both had the Nasi Goreng. Kris soon discovered that MOH was the Nasi Goreng King while I was the Mee Goreng Queen. Almost every meal – as long as it was on the menu, we’d order the same thing. Not for the lack of trying other stuff – but I love noodles and I especially love the Indonesian noodles so I am going to eat as much of those as I can whilst here!! So far, for this trip, Murni’s Mee Goreng turned out to be the 2nd best. You’ll have to read on to find out who served the best Mee Goreng for me this time around. By the way – I do not order my Mee Goreng as it is. It is always “tak mau sayur, tapi Cili banyak-banyak!!”
Our plans to get to the Gianyar Regency night market was scrapped due to rain. We ended up asking the driver to drop us off at Jalan Hanuman instead. We strolled the streets of Ubud under the light drizzle and found a place for desserts – Buntute, where we had cakes and drinks and listened to a Bob Marley lookalike doing his thing on stage. After that, it was back to Ubud Inn for much needed sleep!
8th October 2010
I woke up really rather early and I went out for a morning walk by myself while the two boys continued snoozing. The air was crisp and cooling and it was a really nice walk because the entire town was still asleep! I came back in time for our breakfast at 7.30am (again, a timing which to Kris & Debra was murderous!) at Ubud Inn. The spread was simple – which augurs well because it meant that we could eat more for our mid-morning tea! After brekkie, we walked to the Ubud Market again – this time to get garlands for Leticia and Tjun Hong – the soon-to-be-wed (of course, at the time of this article, happily married already!) as we were meeting them and their entire jing-bang at Ibu Oka’s for lunch. We customized two lovely, lovely garlands for them.
More window shopping and as we anticipated, a stop for mid-morning snacks at this place called Kafe. The ambiance was really quite nice and the cakes were not bad. I even had a scoop of the Sesame Ice-cream! Yums. Then, we walked back to Ubud Inn. Here’s where it got rather interesting – while passing Monkey Forest, I was robbed – by a bloody huge monkey. I was just only warning Kris and MOH to guard their belongings as the monkeys would likely snatch them when this huge-ass monkey came charging at me. Within seconds – he had snatched one of the garlands away and I was left there with a torn plastic bag! Oh – Kris and MOH just stood there laughing :P Well, what to do? The groom will have to go without the garland then :P I picked a bunga raya from Ubud Inn for the groom instead. That will have to do!
Leticia’s entourage arrived a lot earlier than the agreed plan so we hurriedly checked-out from Ubud Inn and joined her at Ibu Oka’s for lunch. It was really too packed and honestly, the babi guling here wasn’t that great – at least not for me or MOH. So far, the best babi guling we had in Bali was still the one served at our wedding in Kayumanis. Juicy, tender and flavourful! Anyway, after more photos, photos and photos, the bride & groom had coffee with us (this would be the 4th meal/drink break within half a day already!!) and after catching up some, Kris, MOH and myself left the lovebirds to do their thing while we left to check-in to Maya Ubud Resort & Spa.
The resort was ….. lovely! However, I can’t say the same about the service. It just lacked….. the personal touch. And it wasn’t nice to keep guests waiting for a room without notice – even after the room was ready! But I guess, running back-to-back 100% occupancy can do that to you so perhaps, it was just our luck. By the way – this stay of ours – where Kris and ourselves had one villa each for one night is courtesy of Journeys For Two – the Managing Editor and the Editor were clearly enjoying the fruits of their labour!
Without wasting much time, we walked over to enjoy the Jungle Luxe poolside. This was really rather breath-taking and the views were serene. For anyone wanting a wedding surrounded by lush nature, this should be the spot! Anyway, we all had a great time at the pool – which also marked the start of our “Bali’s Next Top Model” photo shoot session for the trip! *grin*. Let’s put it this way – we were all on a holiday and we were all not camera-shy – as long as the photos do not fall into the wrong hands! (FB here we come!!)
Afternoon tea was served at the Terrace and I went a little overboard with the cakes as after all that swimming and posing, I was starving!! We walked around the resort for a little bit before going back to our separate villas to enjoy the facilities there. The bath tub was huge – which was great. For some reason, MOH and I always enjoy our “deep meaningful” chats whilst in the tub.
Dinner for us was at Bebek Bengil’s – and we were not disappointed at all with our food. Cripsy Duck as well as Bebek Bertutu. After dinner, we took a 25 minute drive to Gianyar Regency to venture the local night market – Pasar Senggol. For all of us, this was our first time in Gianyar and this was pigging-out final round for the day. It was really gluttony when just right after dinner, we still had babi guling, sate lilit, sate kambing, fried chicken and bakso at Pasar Senggol. OMG indeed!! The babi guling – I have to say – was the best!!! So it had officially knocked the Kayumanis’ one off the top position now. Gianyar is said to be famous for its babi guling and for people who traveled into Gianyar and left without trying the babi guling, it is said that they hadn’t been to Gianyar! The bakso was good, the sate was good…. Mmmmm….. YUMMY.
MOH and I are really pasar malam junkies and wherever we travel to, we always love venturing into the local night markets. We know here is where the best local food can be found – as long as you have a strong stomach for it! Of course, I was delighted that Kris was as much a pasar malam foodie as I was!! This Gianyar trip was well worth it and glad the weather was favourable!!
After Gianyar, it was straight back to the villa for our second night in Bali – in a second hotel in two days.
2 comments:
fuiyoh so detailed! i will do a leticia and print out at some point haha!
Ubud is nice and yeah pasar malam is a must if there is one in places we visit!
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