we decided not too book accommodation for ubud until we got there, which jess was a bit worried about, but our sing ken ken (no worries) attitude prevailed and we set off with half a map, a full bottle of water the trusty toyota kajang. after selecting the worst radio station we could find (think 100.1 curtin fm but much, much worse) we set off in the general direction of ubud. with my awesome navigational skills we managed to stick to the road until it left the map. after that it was all guess work and we were all on the lookout for signs. when there were no signs we guessed and found our way to Goa Gajah temple. we were all inappropriately dressed, according to the street vendors who tried to sell us numerous sarongs. we got to the entrance and were handed sarongs along with our tickets. i felt bad about not buying sarongs off the street vendors but i didnt feel so bad after realising they lied to us!once inside a guy approached ross and started chatting, explaining about all the temples. us girls wandered off, but ross being the super nice approachable (dare i say gullible) guy that he is got stuck with the guide who tried to rip him off afterwards.
once back on the road we realised we had been travelling in the wrong direction, and once we turned around we promptly found ourselves in the heart of ubud. gael had the lonely planet guide ready looking for cheap accomodation and we headed for a nice looking hotel. when we got there they told us the price was double what the lonely planet said and we were a little disheartened. we set off down the street looking for other hotels and they either had no air con and no fans and no pools or were way too expensive. by this stage everyone was grumpy and we headed for the centre of town where ross and gael had stayed last time. we pulled up out the front of a small hotel and decided that we were staying there and that was that. turns out the place was cheap AND had aircon and a pool. we set out to a warung (restaurant) for dinner and went to bed early.the next day we spent walking around ubud looking in markets and artsy shops. we had the most awesome lunch at a tiny warung overlooking the rice paddies. it was run by a family and they were so lovely! jess, gael and i went for manicures before dinner and sat by the pool. ross was the only one game enough to go swimming; it was green and getting greener by the day. we went for dinner at another warung. all the food here is so good you can go anywhere and get a great meal! we were a bit bored with ubud and we had one more night before we headed to mu, so we decided to get up early with ross the next day to watch him surf and head back to legian. we were all in bed by 9pm for a 5.30 start.
the alarm went off early and i walked outside the room to find a coffee waiting for me on the verandah. ross had run across to the circle k (like 7/11) and got us all coffee to help get away on time. we packed into the car and were off before the sun came up.
it was awesome to be able to see bali wake up. so far we had only seen the touristy aspect, with lots of vendors pushing in our faces saying 'you look, you buy!' we drove past the morning markets and got to see the balinese buying their veges and meat for the day (i will forever have an image of a chicken losing its head). we were heading to pererenin - the beach ross showed us earlier. he said he knew where he was going, but we still got lost and asked the guy in a circle k which way to go. he said left, so ross went right. when we got to the dead end ross admitted he was wrong and we went the way the circle k guy said and ended up at the beach. we had an awesome breakfast overlooking ross surfing. after waiting the required 20 minutes between eating and swimming we braved the beach. the waves were massive (i'm sure theres a more technical term that ross would use but they were pretty freaking big) and we were scared of getting hit by rocks and surfers so we didnt stay in that long.
after ross had had his surfing fix we headed back to legian to the lumbung sari, where we stayed before. we checked in and had nanna naps before heading to seminyak to do some shopping. we were all running low on clean clothes and decided it was cheaper and easier to just buy a few more t shirts! after yet another nice dinner we settled in for the night ready to head to mu's and a few relaxing days.
we left for Mu's late afternoon, and all of us were pretty happy to have had another night at the Lumbung Sari. we had a driver take us to Bingin (which is where Mu's is) which was about half an hour away. i started to wonder just where and what Mu's was, when we were off the road and driving down a tiny beaten track, seemingly headed for nowhere. we eventually pulled into a little driveway, unloaded our things, and walked through a little gate. this was the last of the littles.. the whole place opened up before our eyes, and we were looking at a beautiful grassed area with palm trees and frangipanis, followed by a pool that seemed to fall right into the ocean. i was so amazed that i was speechless. as we wandered through, i was marvelling at the biggest of all the 'huts' or bungalows, and to my surprise, we stopped there and the man put our bags down. it was ours!! we were then greeted by a balinese lady dressed in a beautiful sarong and she gave us welcome drinks that was actual homemade lemonade.. mmm! its really hard to describe our bungalow. it has the most amazing structure, and every part of it has been hand made but using the wood and bamboo of bali and nothing is squared off or altered. its two stories and completely open. the showers are basically under the stars, with a few strategically placed walls and screens. the furniture is the most beautiful handcrafted wood, and everything you look at makes you wonder how someone could have done that by hand.
so as we were walking around Mu, i was oblivious to something that was barrelling towards us. we turned at the sound, and this huge labrador bounded up to us. she was followed by a more regal dog who strutted around, and then a slightly plump sausagey dog. the labrador - who is my favourite- is called Manise, which means sweet in balinese. a few times a day she rumbles along and wreaks havok on all the guests. she is wicked to hang out with, she reminds me a bit of Stolly, who i miss like crazy.so we spent an entire day the day after we got here doing absolutely nothing. ooh i forgot, the dinner that night was AWESOME! everyone sits at a big table and all the balinese ladies had been cooking all afternoon. i know because i saw them. we had millions of satay sticks with delicious beans and rice and salad. i ate 13 satay sticks, and thought i had done pretty awesomely, untill ross counted his, rather discreetly, under the table. he whispered the number to ange because he didnt want all the other people to know he was a glutton, and ange then repeated in a big shriek 'TWENTY SIX?!?!?!' yep. he doubled me. bastard.
so we did nothing but read the day after that, but when the sun was going down we headed to the beach and down the cliff face and ross got out the fireworks he had bought at the supermarket and we fired them all into the night. dont worry mum and catherine, they were only little ones! and we are trained profesionals! for dinner we had delicious fish and a pesto pasta. thankfully all of the meat is always on separate plated, so gael and ange dont have to worry. the dessert was icecream with pure raspberry sauce...all right!
today we got up early and had another complimentary breakfast which consists of: a bowl of fruit salad, a chocolate and plain croissant -the owner of Mu is french- homemade bread with eggs however you like, coffee or tea, paw paw and pineapple jam -ange loves the paw paw- and a freshly squeezed juice of your choice. its awesome. after breakfast me and ross decided we needed to check out something called the 'flying fish' we had to get a ride out to a different beach, where they do all sorts of things like paragliding and jet skiing etc. we hopped on our backs in a large blow up boat like thing, and looked at each other in excitement and fear. a little balinese guy who had the minute before asked all three of us girls to go out with him, got on and the speedboat that our boat thing was attatched to took off. we were going along thinking oh yeah this is wicked, and then the boat we were lying in took off into the air!! it was massive!!! ross was going mental with excitement and we flew higher and higher, the only thing stopping us from flipping being the tiny balinese boy who was crawling all over the back keeping it stable. its was so much fun!
sorry for such a long blog, we've been having so much fun here! gael and ross are really awesome to travel with and we have all been having the best time together :)
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