Trip Report Asia 2013: Day 19: Ubud

Ah our first morning waking up in Ubud again.  Feels like home.  Slightly annoying the ladies working the rice paddies waking us up at about 6am with the wonderful melody of them banging two bamboo sticks together to scare off the snakes…. ah Feel the Ambiance!

Anyway how can you sleep in with such an amazing view.   Caught up on emails and current events and downloaded the pictures from the camera all whilst awaiting our friends for breakfast. 

We had decided to take breakfast up on our balcony this morning – such a troubling choice to have to make.  Plenty of room here for 4 people at breakfast although it did look like it took the whole staff team to bring all the dishes in.

After breakfast we decided to walk into town to check out Ubud proper – it is a short walk from Alam Jiwa into Ubud, you take the little bypass around the monkey forest, its a motorcycle path so just be aware of the locals buzzing past you.

It was still a little early so we just did a little shop up Monkey Forest Road until we got up near the Soccer Field.  Our friends were a little tired and in need of a drink so we popped into the wonderful Cafe Havana!

This is a great Cuban Themed bar/restaurant on Jalan Dewi Sita – and well worth a look.  I usually avoid Gimmicky places but this joint is wonderful.  The food was really great, we just ordered off their Tapas menu and shared some Empenadas, Fituras de Yucca (Sweet Potato Fritters), Prosciutto Quesadilla, and some Garlic fries.  All really well presented and tasty.  I can highly recommend this place. 

We stuck around for a few rounds of drinks – the cocktails here are also pretty good value as well. 

As a weird side-note: Make sure you check out the Toilet (I know…) it has to be one of the most stylish toilets I have seen anywhere, especially Bali, That toilet had an awesome atmosphere – I know how totally odd that sounds but please just trust me – its probably something you are going to just need to check out for yourself.

After stuffing ourselves silly with food and drink we headed off to our activity for today which was the Chez Monique Silver Making Class

Chez Monique Silver Jewellery

Chez Monique have a store in Ubud on Jl Dewi Sita but they also run classes in making your own piece of Silver Jewellery.  The classes are conducted in their family compound just outside of Ubud.  You can walk there from the main road but it is a bit of a walk and might be worth just grabbing a taxi to take you.

This is such amazing fun – for about 400k ($40AUD) you can create your own Silver Pendant or Ring.  The silversmiths will help you with selecting a piece and also getting you started.  Allow yourself a good couple of hours to make a piece! Staff are always on hand to help you out (As well as kind of “fixing” up any minor mistakes you might make). 

I decided to make a dress ring and my wife a pendant – I was totally happy with the result and it means even more knowing that I made it myself.

It is amazing how much work and fine cutting skills are required to form these designs – the staff make it seem so simple! I think after about 2 hours you slightly get the hang of it!

My dress ring was much easier to make, no cutting just forming the design on the silver – such the easier choice….

Does have the added advantage of keeping everyone quiet and occupied for quite a while.  You are well provisioned with cold water to keep you comfortable.

The final result – my dress ring.  I was so happy with how it turned out – all the little imperfections are so cool and unique to me. So nice knowing I am the only person in the world with that EXACT ring – others may have copied the design but they all will look slightly different.

This was the pendant my wife made, really great work on the cutting there, each of the leaf holes in the centre had to be cut as well as the general outside pattern.  Lots of cutting!!!

A really great way to spend some time and all up our pieces only came to 400k each.  If you choose something a little more complex you may have to pay a little more if you need more Silver, but just ask them first up and they will let you know.

Our friends headed back to the hotel to have a rest – it was a little bit warm today! and that walk up from Ubud town was a little hard.  We headed back into town and grabbed a quick massage at Magic Fingers massage on Monkey Forest Road.  This place I went to last year when we were in Bali and even though it has the dodgiest name in town actually is really professional and gives a really great massage.  I paid 90k for a 1 hour massage.

We were still a little early for dinner so stopped off at L.O.L Bar for a couple of quick pre-dinner drinks while we waited for our friends to join us from the Hotel.

Cafe Wayan – Dinner

Dinner tonight was always going to be Cafe Wayan – we fell in love with this place last time we were here and wanted to come back.  It is also owned by the same family who own the Alam Hotels.  From the road the place looks rather tiny, but it stretches way way back – we finally made the back of the restaurant this time! 3 attempts in the past and had yet to find the back wall.  The layout is really cool cause you never really get a sense of how full or empty the place is, you really can only see the people around your area.

Service is always quick and attentive, and we have yet to have a bad meal here.  We got some assorted Entrees to get us started.

Who doesn’t love a meal served in a pineapple?

After dinner we jumped the shuttle bus back to the Alam Jiwa – the other benefit of the restaurant being associated with the Alam Hotels is they will gladly shuttle you back to the hotel for free at the end of the night.  If not don’t worry the standard rate for a taxi is about 50k so not a major drama to jump in one of the taxis on the street.

Early to bed – tomorrow morning is our next day tour with Fredy.

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