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“...we were concerned that Kev the Kea would be stolen...” |
It normally takes a wee while to find cheap accommodation in Ubud but the first place we went to offered us Rp35,000 per night. Taking Hanna's advice we looked around and found a cool homestay for the same price. It had awesome, intricate Balinese decorations and a crazy old lady. Wandering Ubud we came across an interesting restaurant that had a view over a little garden. A pity that the meal wasn't up to the price, in fact we found street food that was cheaper and tastier about 15min down the road.
On getting back to the homestay we were confronted by the owner (we had bargained with a boy) because the price was too low. She wanted to kick us out but we got one night at the cheap rate. The first thing we did in the morning was search for new accommodation. It took a little while but we found an incredible place, Sawah bungalows. This place us a real treat and if you're in Ubud, stay there. Being the low season we bargained hard - Rp80,000 went to Rp50,000, then finally Rp35,000 with breakfast. What a score!! It is set in the middle of rice paddies, away from the road. A narrow concrete path was all we had to ride on, but Sean navigated it without incident (although he was close a couple of times). Our room was upstairs with a balcony and beautiful views, the best place we've stayed in so far.
By now we needed breakfast so we went to the market to pick up some fruit. Bananas, lychees, mangosteens and salak (or snakeskin fruit) for the rip off price of Rp 30,000; we should have bargained lower. To compliment the fruit we found a warung that sold a porridge with onion and chicken in it. We visited the Monkey Forest Santuary (Rp10,000 pp) where we saw monkeys all over the place. Sean even had one climb up on him to inspect his rain jacket. It looks like a plastic bag and the monkey must have been hoping there was fruit in it. Initially we thought it must have been going for the fruit inside the day bag on Sean's back, then we were concerned that Kev the Kea would be stolen from the outside pocket!
The first temple we visited was Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati, located behind the Lotus Cafe. Indonesia was a Hindu and Bhuddist country from the seventh century but converted to Islam through Muslim traders in the sixteenth century, except Bali. The majority of Bali is still Hindu and this was a Hindu temple. We couldn't actually go inside but it was beautiful from the outside. Two ponds with lotus flowers led up to the intricately carved entrance.
Ignoring the darkening rain clouds, we rode our scooter to Goa Gajah (elephant cave) located just outside of Ubud. It was built at least 700 years ago for and was rediscovered in the 1920s. The outside of the cave has some wonderful carvings on it. We were both wearing shorts so to look respectable, we donned sarongs and sashes. It had started raining by now but this didn't dampen our spirits as we were guided around. It isn't hugely impressive, but worth a look. Just watch out for the guides who ask for a donation then say "people from France gave me Rp20,000 yesterday". Having already paid an entrance fee of Rp6000 pp, we offered Rp500 which was turned down.
On our way back to Sawah Bungalows we took a wrong turn down a oneway street and found an old lady selling dumplings in a palm sugar sauce sprinkled with coconut. They were so good, but we never found them again. The owner of Sawah Bungalows also had a warung (more than a stall, less than a cafe) so we stopped off there to get out of the rain and we were treated with es campur, tue Indonesian version of halo halo. Yum. We were really enjoying Indonesian food. She even ended up cooking us dinner which we ate on our balcony. We fell asleep to the tune of insects.
We really wanted to buy something to remember Bali and Indonesia by, so on Saturday morning (after our complimentary breakfast of Indonesian sweet coconut cakes) we went back to the market. Beautiful pashminas were bargained down from Rp80,000 to Rp25,000, but sadly our budget was RP20,000 and no one would go lower (turned out for the good). Hint: head to the markets early (we were there about 9-10am) and they'll give you good prices ("morning price") because their first sale is supposed to bring them good luck for the rest of the day
previous travel blog entry
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