Bean Traveling...

June 4, 2010

Ubud - Day 1

Met up with Carl and Kristin this morning, pool side. We are all leaving today, so we just lounged around and swam until my ride came at noon. As we neared Ubud, I was a bit worried because it wasn't looking terribly exciting. In fact, it looked pretty boring, lots of walls, nothing in the streets etc. Then we rounded the corner and headed down Monkey Forest Road and I was in love with Bali again! Tons of little shops lined the streets, spas, restaurants, tourists and MONKEYS! All I really needed were the monkeys to make the entire trip worth while. My hotel was right around the corner from the Sacred Monkey forest, so there were always monkeys on the property, stealing fruit from the breakfast buffet!

Del, from Whiterock, had sent me a text message that morning letting me know that they were staying in Ubud for an additional night so they wanted to meet up for dinner. I puttered around town, exploring my new surroundings. I found the spa I was looking for and booked an appointment for later that afternoon. It was glorious. $10 for a 1hr full body massage. A fantastic way to start the back half of my trip. It was so good I booked a second massage for the next day.

Del and Tina met up with me at my hotel and took me to a lovely restaurant called the Wayan Cafe. It looked like a regular cafe from the front, but the back of the restaurant was all open gardens and fountains with private pagoda's for dining. I had the Nasa Goreng Mana, which was served in a half pineapple shell. Delicious, followed by the black rice pudding. Del and Tina are heading to a butterfly garden tomorrow and unfortunately their ride is taking them back to the south of the island afterwards. One of the managers at the Wayan joined us for a while and arranged for her husband to take me there once she found out that I couldn't go. It sounded a bit sketchy at first, but I went with it, since I really wanted to see this butterfly garden.

So far, Ubud is a pretty cool place, but I do sort of miss the beaches.


~Bean