Day 12: Departure Day

We knew this day would have to come at some point – the end of the holiday.  Fortunately though our flight out this evening wasn’t until just after midnight.  So we would have a fair chunk of day to tidy up and get everything sorted.As we did yesterday – we again had breakfast at our room – today we opted for the more Western options.  As usual it was presented so well.  It is almost like Bali knew we were leaving today, the sky is a little dark and grey – the only time in this whole holiday we haven’t had clear blue sky in the morning.

Our final Bali breakfast – Banana Pancakes, Fried Eggs, Fruit Salad, Mixed Bread, Juice, Tea and Coffee. Going to be sad to leave this and go back to making our own food again!

Check-out from the hotel is not till 12pm; again something they get right in Bali, it meant we didn’t have to rush this morning, we could take our time having breakfast and then take our time backing all our shopping into our bags.  Trying our best to invoke some anti-gravitational skills to make it weigh less than it did!

After we had packed we said our farewells to this lovely room – vowing that we would return again.  We checked out of the hotel and the staff agreed to keep our bags safe for the day while we shopped around Ubud one last time.  So off we headed in the hotel car once again for the last time to head into Ubud Town.

You can never grow tired of the traffic and sights of the streets of Bali – things that back home in Australia would seem crazy – just seem to work here in Bali.

No real plans for today – my back was pretty sore, something I am totally 100% blaming on the shopping and walking yesterday – so I didn’t want to walk too much today.  We wandered up to Ubud Markets because apparently even though she had almost 10 hours of it yesterday my lovely wife hadn’t purchased everything she wanted – and we also remembered (with like 6 hours to go) that we hadn’t actually bought many gifts for friends and family back home.

This is a little street that runs up from Dewi Sita to the Ubud Markets – lined with some lovely little stores and great small Warungs. We didn’t stop to eat but some of them looked really tasty.

After wandering through the markets and enduring the joy of the “…one more!” from the sellers we ventured out onto one of the small little streets that runs south from the Market down towards Jl Dewi Sita.  There are yet more silver shops on Dewi Sita so you really need to find yourself a Daddy Daycare if you wont be able to handle that.  Thankfully the shops all have good ledges out the front which create a virtual man seat to keep me comfy while the wife shopped.

Cafe Havana – looked pretty cool and some great music coming out of there. Next time I will stop for a few drinks.

I did spot Cafe Havana across the road though which looked really nice – so next time I might stop in there for a couple of drinks.

After the lovely massage I got yesterday at Magic Fingers (still a dodgy sounding name) – my wife joined me for a massage, this time she opted for the facial – and I got the Healing Massage.  Again one of the best I have ever received.

Her last order of business prior to departure was another hair treatment so she headed off down the road and went to Bliss Salon on Monkey Forest Road (it is just nextdoor to Kenko’s Reflexology – so guess what I did for the hour?).

The car to the airport was due to pick us up at about 7pm tonight so we needed to have a quick early dinner and then head back to the hotel – I know we should have tried somewhere different but we couldn’t help returning to Cafe Wayan for an early dinner.  The service is so good and the food so tasty that it was an easy choice.  I think by this point the staff were starting to remember our faces because most of our regular wait staff came past and said hello and had a chat.

We walked back to the hotel, taking the Motorcycle Path round the Monkey Forest for the last time, enjoying the sights and sounds of tourists being hunted down by monkeys! and wandered back through Nyuh Kuning Village back to the Alam Jiwa.  We were both pretty quiet – neither of us wanted to leave – this little island has an amazing way of getting under your skin, of making you forget about all the worries of home and just relaxing.

Some of the other rooms at the Alam Jiwa – All have great views of the Rice Fields.

When we got back to the Jiwa I wandered around and took some shots of the place and then we sat in the waiting area having a great chat with some of the staff.  Including the lovely older gentleman who I am sad to say I didn’t write down his name, but he was amazing playing his harmonica showing us pictures of his family and keeping us entertained.

The small river running through the centre of the Hotel, this carries water from the Eastern Rice Fields to those on the Western Side. Watch your step at night if you have had a few too many.

In our room we had left various things that we didn’t want to take back to Brisbane, including about 3 bottles of Bintang and various junk food – the guys who were working brought them out to my wife and asked if we meant to leave them and she said “yes…you guys can have them if you would like” – well you should have heard the cheering – they were so excited, they told her that they had planned to throw themselves a little party tonight with all the goodies we left them.  If I had known that I would have stopped at the store and bought them all a few extra.

The lovely pool area at the Alam Jiwa – you can actually have Breakfast at the pool area as well – which we might have done if we have another night or two.

Well the car arrived – we headed to the airport – the road wasn’t too bad tonight, I was worried about the traffic so I got the car to be there really early but I needn’t have worried – I think we were at the airport about 3.5 hours early so had to wait about 30 minutes before we could check into our flight.  The benefit of being first in line though was that we were allocated the Emergency Exit seats! Yay! such a nice treat to be able to stretch out a bit on the flight.

Bali Airport departures is a lot of “fun” it is certainly not the most modern and efficient of airports – the lines to get through Immigration were a little crazy and surely could be improved a bit.  But we made it through and got to the departure lounge.  The final security checkpoint as you go through to the plane was funny, the officer looking through my carry-on bag spotted the 8 Satay Blocks I was taking home, he laughed and showed the other staff member “…good choice – very tasty!” – even Airport Security here have smiles on their faces!

Our Final Sunset – The sun setting over the Alam Jiwa – and setting on our first trip to Bali.

Post-Holiday: Well we are home now – back after our lovely 12 days in Bali.  I didn’t know what to think before I went to Bali, being a place Aussies flock to I thought it would just be one big drink fest and didn’t know if I would like it.  Wow were we wrong, there is so much to see and do in Bali once you scratch the surface and get away from the hustle of the Kuta beach areas.

I can also confirm that less than 9 days after landing back in Brisbane we have already booked a return flight – so stay tuned for 2013 I will again be blogging – we are heading the Kuala Lumpur for 3 nights before flying to Singapore for 6 nights to enjoy the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix (if you have read from the beginning this shouldn’t be a shock to you – this will be our 3rd Singapore GP) – then onto Bali for 14 nights – and this time taking some close friends with us so that we can show them the magic that Bali has given us.

A massive thank you to all the contributors on TripAdvisor.com.au – without your help I wouldn’t have enjoyed this trip to Bali as much. A magical destination that we can’t wait to return to. I am sure there is some inspirational quote “…don’t be sad to leave, be happy that you were there” – or something like that. I will miss Bali – but will see it again in 2013.

Thanks to all the people who have been following along on these blogs, your positive comments have been most welcome and I hope that I have given you all some tips suggestions to help your holidays be better.  Stay tuned for more blogs – I am going to add some of my own destination guides to some of the other places we have visited.