Bali Adventures Day 5

Mikey opening the doors of our new resort room

Today it was time to leave Kuta and head off up to Ubud. We were all sad to leave Bali Garden as we have had so much fun and the resort is so relaxing and so close to everything.

We had a quick breakfast and then packed up our bags ready to go. We all headed up to the reception and on the way up we had the cleaners say goodbye to us and say that they were sad to see us go. They are so adorable!!

Ross and Narko

Ross paid for our stay and organised a driver to take us up to Ubud. We got Narko who was very chatty and friendly. He told us about his 2 daughters who are 12 and 17 and we asked him if he lived in a compound style residence which he said he doesn't as he lives in Kuta so he is actually living in an apartment which is just 2 rooms.

Narko was a great driver and offered to take us to a few places along the way to Ubud. First he took us to see a silver place where we were able to observe the balinese making the jewellery and athe hostess there talked us through the process. After the guide we were taken out the back where they had all the finished products that we could purchase if we wished. I found some super pretty 'moon face' jewellery which I named after Moonface from the Enid Blyton books that I love. Ross bought me the moon face pendant and ring to match as our anniversary present. We ended up spending about $200 there.



While we were driving Narko asked Rahni what she liked to do and we told him about her great art skills so our next stop Narko took us to a Batik art teacher who showed us what he makes there and also gave Rahni a little lesson in drawing Batik designs for free. Once again they had a shop attached so we all wandered through there and we purchased a batik purse, a very nice scarf/shawl for Rahni amd Ross got a gorgeous batik cloth that can be used as a table cloth, sarong or bed throw.

At the coffee plantation

Our next stop was to a coffee plantation where we got to have a personal guide take us through the plantation and show us all the different plants grown and also the luwaks which are part of the cat family and eat the coffee berries. The luwaks poop the berries and this is used to make the coffee beans. They were very cute but the kids didn't like seeing them in cages. I believe they let them roam free when they are not showing them at the plantation but i'm not entirely sure.

The guide we had was a very happy guy, always smiling and he organised free trials of all the coffee and tea as part of the tour for free. The only one that cost money was the Luwak coffee which was $5 to try. Once again we were shown into a shop attached to the plantation. After trialling the tea and coffee Rahni and I decided that the mangosteen tea was the best so we purchased that and Ross grabbed some coconut coffee. We asked our tour guide if he loved his job as Ross said it looked like a wonderful place to work but the guy said he doesn't get paid enough for the hours he does. We gave him a $10 tip and he was so grateful it was lovely to see.


Before we got to the new hotel Narko stopped in at a little mini mart so that we could grab some mosquito repellant as we were heading into the hills and knew there would be many of the little buggers. We also grabbed a few snacks and then we finally arrived at our new and extremely nice hotel, Manyi Village Ubud...........

Before our driver left we booked him for the next day to take us to Bali Safari & Marine Park which he had told us all about on the car ride up and we were all very excited to see.




The hotel was a bunch of villas completely surrounded by gorgeous looking rice fields and we had 2 bedrooms in our villa divided by a lounge room and private pool. We were pretty much in heaven. We all took photos and quickly unpacked. The ride had made us all tired and hungry so we headed out for a walk up the road to get a late lunch at the local 'Warung Padi Organic'. On the way up the road we were stopped by a balinese guy who was selling bone statues. We didn't want any particularly but he was begging Ross so much that Ross just found it easier to buy some from him and get him on his way. So we got 2 statues for $10. While this was going on it started to rain heavily so we rushed up to the warung and we were greeted by staff with umbrellas for us which was lovely.


At the Warung we lost power a few times whenever they started the blender to make our drinks. They were so apologetic but we were happily enjoying being out in peacefulness and listening to nature that we just didn't care about a little electricity issue. The restaurant was very quiet as we were the only guests but we enjoyed our time there. I had crispy duck for lunch which was hard to eat as it didn't have much meat on it but the skin was so delicious and crispy it didn't bother me so much about the small amount of meat. Mikey chose satay chicken which ended up being way too spicy for him, Rahni chose a club sandwich and Ross was happy with his Nasi Goreng which came wrapped in a leaf.



For the remainder of the evening we sat outside our villa watching the locals burning on the rice fields and then watching the awesome lightning show from the thunderstorm. I did end up going inside as it got later and hundreds of bats were swooping above us. I know now that they probably would have just left us alone but if you know me you know that in my mind they are all blood sucking creatures just waiting to play in my hair!!