Bali 2014: Day Nine – Ubud = Food, Drinks, Relaxation

Saturday 15 November 2014

Woke up to a bit of an overcast morning this morning but so far no rain.  Slept so well last night, as I mentioned yesterday our room at Gerhana Sari 2 was a Fan-Only room and we were worried about a lack of air-con.  We were both really comfortable and didn’t feel overly warm all night.

Today’s plan is pretty chilled out – we have booked in to the Chez Monique Silver Class and beyond that not much else planned.

BREAKFAST

But first things first – as always – time for some breakfast.   Breakfast was included in our room rate at Gerhana Sari and when you see the tiny little room that Wayan and Made work from and make breakfast from you will be amazed!  The menu is not huge but contains plenty of food to fill you up for a day of exploring.

Sidenote: There is food aplenty in Ubud, I would advise against overeating at breakfast because seriously you will want to explore and enjoy the wide variety of tastes available!

We both opted for the Eggs on Toast which also came with a fruit platter.  I know when you look at it you might think that isn’t enough food, but it was just enough to fill you up!  And well prepared by the Wayan in his tiny little kitchen.

SILVER CLASS

After breakfast we got changed and headed out, our main plan for the day was the Chez Monique Silver Class.  We had visited Wayan last time were in Ubud and thoroughly enjoyed the experience so decided to head back and make some more jewellery.

Chez Monique have a store in the middle of Ubud on Jl. Dewisita however the classes are held up the road in their family compound on Jl. Sriwedari.  If the weather is ok you can easily walk up to the class – alternatively just catch a taxi.  We decided to walk up the weather was nice and it was still relatively early in the morning so was nice to watch the village waking up and people going about their business.

Once you arrive at Chez Monique walk through the entranceway and head towards the back of the compound, and you will come across Wayan and his team of staff.

The classes cost Rp. 450k ($45AUD) and that includes a piece of jewellery that you make.  Definitely make an appointment as they can get quite busy.  And also allow yourself at least 2-3 hours here so you are not rushed.  Wayan and his team will offer you assistance and guidance in choosing a piece to make and also in working on your jewellery.  They are also experts at “fixing” your work to make sure it looks reasonably good.

I haven’t got a creative artistic bone in my body so for me I just enjoy the experience and also the time spent talking to Wayan and his staff.  Having a nice piece of jewellery at the end is more about creating a nice memory piece than a fine art masterpiece (at least that is how I will validate my wonky looking dress ring!).

Make sure you have a go at polishing your silver work – it is great fun.  Like I said the finished piece is more about creating for yourself a small memento of your time – or if you are talented and gifted in the artistic sense you will be able to create a special piece of jewellery.

LUNCH

So after we finished up at Chez Monique we headed back down to Ubud Town.  The walk back was a little warmer but still quite pleasant.

We were not super hungry for lunch so popped into Café Havana on Jl Dewisita for a couple of quick drinks and to sample their lovely Tapas Menu.

If you are not particularly hungry I would definitely recommend their tapas plates; we have been to Café Havana a few times before and have slowly worked out way through the tapas plates….they are all good (and great value)

All the meals were cooked and presented beautifully – the servings are just big enough to satisfy you but leave you a little bit of room for more! Dangerous stuff!  All up for meals and a couple of drinks the bill came to Rp. 325k ($32AUD).

MASSAGE & SHOPPING TIME

So all this excitement had me in need of a massage – I went for a walk up Jl. Dewisita and grabbed a massage at a small place on a side street (sorry I forgot to write down the name), overall the massage wasn’t too bad from memory it was about Rp. 70k for an hour

Meanwhile Danielle went shopping at Bali Harum (Rp. 30k) and Blue Stone Botanicals (Rp. 210k).  From Blue Stone she purchased a few of their lip balms as well as some of their essential oils.

AFTERNOON TEA

Given we were at the top of Jl. Dewisita can you guess where we ended up for Afternoon Tea???  Yep the same place we had “dinner” last night – Caramel Patisserie & Café.  Always refreshing when you walk into a dessert restaurant and they go “you were here last night weren’t you?”.  I will give the staff their credit, they asked what we had last night and then gave us recommendations on what we might like this afternoon.  We made our selections (and also chose to wash them down with another Vietnamese Drip Coffee) and retired to the upstairs balcony to watch the afternoon traffic.

As with last night the quality of the food here is top notch – they really have a genuine passion for their craft and it shows in the presentation and also the professionalism of their staff.  All up “afternoon tea” came to Rp. 125k.

DINNER

Seriously after all this food today how can we still be hungry?  I decided a good walk would help us work off afternoon tea (and lunch) and we might be hungry for dinner.  I had read some good reviews online about Taco Casa and wanted to go check them out.  They are at the south end of Ubud on Jl. Pengosekan, which was about a 1.2km walk from Caramel (perfect distance to work up a hunger).

The great thing about Taco Casa is they make virtually everything from scratch, their tortillas, dressings, enchilada sauce – all from scratch and no MSG or preservatives.  We were not really hungry but after reading their menu decided to stop in for a quick bite.

What an amazing flavour, everything tasted so fresh and the salsas had a lovely flavour.  Nothing too hot and spicy just nicely prepared meals.  We had a couple of drinks as well, Passionfruit Margarita and Havana Mojito – all up the bill came to about Rp. 320k.

Taco Casa is a little walk out of town so might be better to grab a taxi to get you there, personally the walk isn’t that bad – it is only about 300m from Cocos Supermarket.

POST DINNER MASSAGE

After all that food and walking today we decided to give our feet a nice relaxing treatment so on the way back to our room we stopped off at Pondok Frog Spa & Guest House.  They are just a short walk down Jl. Wenara Wana (towards Monkey Forest).  These guys were fantastic we got the Bali Touch Reflexology Massage which was a 1hr reflexology massage followed by a lovely salt and lime scrub – Rp. 100k each is not cheap for reflexology but I can honestly say it was one of my best reflexology treatments I have had in Bali.

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Well that just about did it for the day, we headed back to our room and read a few books while sitting out on the balcony at Gerhana Sari.  A reasonably action packed day today – seriously can’t think about eating anything for at least 12 hours….

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Thanks for following along with the trip report and blog.  Please feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think of these posts, also if you have any questions you would like answered about Ubud or Bali in general happy to try and help.