Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,880 per AUS $
Today's weather: Rain, rain and more rain
I woke up at about 7:00 today and was disappointed to hear rain falling on the roof. I was really hoping to get out for a walk this morning to see what was around. Instead, I dozed off again until about 8:00 and hoped that by the, the rain would have stopped. It didn't. We all decided to stick to our plans of going into Ubud Centre today. Mikhala and I got dressed and headed to breakfast which was a small buffet. The food was good but some of it, like the noodles and potatoes, was cold. All that needed to be done was to put the lids on the buffet trays. Nevertheless, we enjoyed what we had. We grabbed a couple of umbrellas from reception and headed back to the rooms just as Courtney and Sami were leaving to meet us. We headed back and sat with them as they ate.
The weather wasn't improving so we headed back to one of the rooms and hung out until the first shuttle bus was coming to take the hotel guests into Ubud. It was an easy 5 minute drive. We were dropped at the usual drop off zone just across from the markets. They were our first stop. It had been over a year since last time I came into Ubud, when the markets were big and smelly so I was pleased to learn the smelliness had gone. We strolled through the markets, stopping to look at this and that but only a few things were purchased. Sami bought a headed bag for herself and a similar clutch for a friend, Courtney bought one for herself and Mikhala got herself an elephant ring.
We then headed down Monkey Forest Road, stopping at Gelato Secrets for some ice cream. Yes, we had ice cream at 10:30 in the morning. This is the same ice cream stall that is in front of Hardy's in Sanur and sometimes has some exotic flavours. I settled on a scoop of white chocolate and salted butter caramel. Both were delicious and I could have happily had a other scoop.
We continued on our way down Monkey Forest Road, carefully watching our steps on the dodgy foot path. It's not in very good knick.
We made our way to the Pandora store, and each planned on buying ourselves a little something until we discovered that it's actually more expensive than in Australia so we all left a little disappointed. We went next door to a shop called Accesorize, where I grabbed a few items like an anklet, and some bracelets.
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| Colours of Ubud |
We weren't too impressed with the shopping along Monkey Forest Road and found that so many of the shops had the same things. We've all agreed to go back tomorrow afternoon to explore a different area for shopping. When we'd had enough, we decided to go to Cafe Wayan for lunch, which was recommended to us by Yuda. It was a lovely setting, with a huge garden at the back. We ordered springrolls for a starter and they were so delicious that Mikhala and I ordered a second serving. For our mains, I ordered Bakmi Goreng, Mikhala had chicken satay and Sami and Courtney shared a pizza. We were all happy with our meals, which were very filling. Our bill came to about $40. The toilets here were also lovely and clean and despite the huge sign on the floor, Sami found herself asking where they were.
By this time, the weather had cleared up a bit. Because the traffic was really building up, we decided to walk back to the pick up/drop off zone and get a driver from there to take us back to the hotel. He asked for 50,000 Rupiah which is the same as what the hotel charges for drop off outside of the allocated shuttle times, so we were happy with that. It was raining again when we got back. We had our spa appointments for 3:00 but Sami had somehow hurt her back and mine was a bit sore so I headed to reception to see if we could change it to 2:00. No problem. We soon headed to the spa, which has a beautiful view over the valley. We got comfortable and the massages began. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with mine. The girls were professional, not talking throughout the treatment, but mine was firm to the point of painful. A couple of times, housekeeping were at the rooms close by and Sami and I were a bit concerned that they'd be walking in on our massages as we had been asked to remove our bras. Besides being a bit noisy, they didn't disturb us. All we could hear besides them was the rain on the roof, an occasional thunder rumble and a rooster crowing somewhere nearby.
When our massages were finished, Mikhala and Courtey arrived for their facials. Sami decided to stay and get one too, but regretted that decision after when she remembered she didn't like people touching her face. While the others were enjoying (or not enjoying) their facials, I FaceTimed mum and a friend before they came back.
As the weather had not improved, much to our disappointment, I had called reception to ask for a DVD player. It arrived very quickly and got set up, but we were having problems with the TV. It liked to turn off by itself after about a minute and wouldn't turn back on for 5. Not very convenient for watching a movie. We called reception again and once again, very quickly, someone arrived to help. The boys spent some time fiddling before assuring us it was fixed. Great! We started the movie again and, whoops, the TV turned off. We decided to leave it for a while. Sami and Mikhala decided to go down to a local chemist to get some pain relief for Sami, which cost her about $2.
When they returned, I headed down to the restaurant to order some drinks and chips for us to have in the room (there's no room service menu in the room?) I found one of the boys who had "fixed" the TV and let him know it wasn't working again. He was straight on his walkie talkie and him and a friend came in and just took the TV away. They were back again so quickly with a different TV which worked perfectly. Problem solved.
The DVD worked well and everyone enjoyed it, except me because I was busy having a nap. We chilled out for a while longer in the room. Sami decided that she may have to miss out on our white water rafting tomorrow because she was unfortunately in a bit of pain from her back. She was alright with this, as she's done it before and would prefer to have a lazy day, taking it easy, than to hurt her back more and have to miss out on other things during the trip.
It was time to start thinking about dinner. I suggested we go to Naughty Nuri's for their famous ribs and the girls were all in agreeance. The restaurant is about a 5-10 minute walk away, but it was raining again (surprise surprise) so we decided to get a driver. The hotel driver wasn't available, but just as the reception was going to call another driver, one pulled up to drop off some other hotel guests so we jumped in there and got dropped at the restaurant for 10,000 Rupiah.
When we arrived, it looked quite busy but the wait staff were all sitting at a table chatting. When they noticed our arrival, they gestured for us to sit down. Courtney, Mikhala and I all decided to get the famous ribs, but Sami decided on a burger instead. Courtney and Mikhala's ribs arrived quickly, but 10 minutes later when mine still hadn't come, I reminded one of the waitresses. They thought we had only ordered 2 serves. Not happy, because the ribs looked delicious, but they quickly brought me the next serve off the BBQ. Sami's burger arrived not long after.
In anticipation for the ribs, I had prepared myself with napkins in a make shift bib. The girls thought I looked silly, but hey, at least I'd be clean. The ribs were indeed delicious, with lots of sauce and well cooked. I dug right in with my hands, getting sauce on my fingers and face, but that's the fun of ordering ribs. We all loved our meal, which came to about $45.
After paying it was STILL raining, so we once again got a driver to take us first to the nearby Bintang Supermarket before dropping us at the hotel. We grabbed wart bottles, a new toothbrush for me, some chocolate and more pain killers and deep heat patches for Sami's back. We returned to the hotel and got settled in with the chocolate for another movie.
After the movie, it was time for bed. We're up early for white water rafting with Sobek tomorrow!
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