The Mrs wasn't felling well all weekend and we thought we'd skip the long drives to various parts of Bali and visit Ubud and only Ubud. We got a driver who took us around for ~5hrs + for IDR450,000.
There was a few 'To Eats' in Bali, Duck/Beef/Babi, and this being Sunday, it was off to Pasar Tradisional Payangan to have freshly roasted Babi Guling. This was around 30mins from where we stayed and several stores were selling the same stuff and we looked like the only tourists around. The stores didn't speak English at all.
There was a few 'To Eats' in Bali, Duck/Beef/Babi, and this being Sunday, it was off to Pasar Tradisional Payangan to have freshly roasted Babi Guling. This was around 30mins from where we stayed and several stores were selling the same stuff and we looked like the only tourists around. The stores didn't speak English at all.
The only store with a proper signage. We ordered from another store though.
This doesn't look like much, but the pork was all soo juicy and moist, almost like sous-vide chicken breast! Spicy, yes it was oh-so-spicy...but goood... The best Babi I've ever had! During the billing, they used dollar notes to show how much I had to pay. I did glance at other locals and it was quite clear I was paying the tourist price at 30,000 IDR per plate (around SGD$3), it's not a huge sum for us but a likely 100% mark up.
The view of the market,
Next we wanted to see rice terrace and maybe coffee plantation and the driver took us to
Ceking Sari Luwak Coffee.
The establishment was immaculate and felt even more welcoming than the Singapore Zoo, there's someone attached to us to guide us in to introduce the place, show us every bit of the coffee making. We were surprised that entrance was free and wondered for any traps to lead us to pay a lot during exit.
The establishment was immaculate and felt even more welcoming than the Singapore Zoo, there's someone attached to us to guide us in to introduce the place, show us every bit of the coffee making. We were surprised that entrance was free and wondered for any traps to lead us to pay a lot during exit.
The famous civet cat's poop. Smells like...
Yes this was free too. A sample of all their flavoured coffees and teas. The charge a couple of bucks if you want to try the Luwak's coffee (which I did and it was more aromatic)
The rice fields circled with several giant swings.
Plenty of bird cases and other instagrammable stuff too
Cue(drone shot)
Cue(drone shot)
Nearby to Ceking Sari Luwak Coffee, there was the Tegalalang Rice Terrace which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There was entrance fee paid on a booth across the road and the site itself didn't have any entrance? The place also look run down compared to Ceking. The Giant swings looked much more unsafe too. The Terraces look great from certain angles. It was rather disappointing.
The ribs made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain and other critics. Great ribs but I found the sauce a little heavy. A small portion would do !
It was back to the Villa for some R&R.
Further research was to find the perfect sunset location in Bali. The driver didn't know what we wanted. From google, we found https://beradadisini.com/2017/05/18/my-latest-sunset-spot-in-ubud-bali/ but turned out that cars can't get anywhere near this location. As with our Villa, (no cars allowed for the last 400meters), this location was missed and we head to town for some shopping and dinner.
A final menu to have was Sop Buntut. An oxtail dish famous in Bali amongst muslins. We were careful not to ask for this amongst the majority Hindu-Balinese. We found this https://hujanlocale.com/ offering modern twist on Bali cuisine. Yes it was sublime!
This caps off the last night in Ubud for us!
Grumps from missing out sunset the day earlier, the hunt was to find a sunset spot in Ubud. Campuhan Ridge Walk seems to be the choice sunset location in Ubud, with tours leading to spend a good morning walking this.
Fortunately, we were literally ~1km+ from the start of the Ridge walk! We woke up at 530am to try to get to the Ridge for sun rise!
Fortunately, we were literally ~1km+ from the start of the Ridge walk! We woke up at 530am to try to get to the Ridge for sun rise!
Hello Sun!
The Ridge, it was rather cloudy and the sun would peek through and hide through other times.
Look for Ibah Spa @ Warwick Ibah on google maps, turn left here and you'll get to the start of the walk!
Tasting the Macro functions of the Huawei.
Street.
Street.
The sun was shining one site and cloudy on another..making this Panorama rather unique! This is the walking portion leaving from the main road to the Villa.
A group of dogs would hang around this particular alley. Here's foxy posing in the lovely morning light while the Huawei does an auto HDR to capture the moment!
from there it was a fuss free ride to the airport, paying the driver 300K IDR. Only issue was being ripped off by the airport porter who picked out our luggage and little hurried and dragged us thru the terminal and demanded a tip. On hindsight we should have ignored but then we didn't want any issues withour holiday.
Here's a final stab a Bali food with the Nasi Champur from inside the airport lounge. Pro tip: pay with all your small change and balance using your credit card and poof, no weird change left from a holiday!
Here's a final stab a Bali food with the Nasi Champur from inside the airport lounge. Pro tip: pay with all your small change and balance using your credit card and poof, no weird change left from a holiday!
And the balance was a great view getting out of the Volcanic Island of Bali and their beautiful neighboring islands! Till the next time, Selamat Tinggal!
