Bali Art & Nature

It is Day 2 of our 3-generation of women/girls' trip to Bali. The sky was overcast which made the day cooler for us but I was worried about rain/ thunderstorm. We were very lucky that it didn't rain at all despite the overcast sky throughout the day. 

We had our buffet breakfast at the restaurant at 8am and most tables were Westerners except for one - Japanese. We were the only other Asian table. Guess Desamuda Village is more popular with Westerers lol. The buffet spread was quite limited but the Egg station was good. At 9am, we set off for our day trip with our driver and guide, Susila. 

First stop was the Ubud Art Villages of batik weaving, gold and silver, and woodcarving. The processes of making batik, silver and woodcarving were explained at the respective villages. We didn't buy anything from the villages as we felt they were much too commercialised and expensive. 

My mother and the girls at the silversmith village

Our monkey found her monkey friend lol

Second stop was Ubud Royal Palace and Ubud Market. We took a quick look around the palace before crossing the road to the Ubud Market. My mother bought a few pieces of batik and the girls bought souvenirs for their classmates. It was such a chore bargaining. :S Both my mother and I were really bad at it and we thought our father should be here instead. He is the bargain king in the family lol. I didn't get anything and I felt so empty lol :P 

Ubud Royal Palace

Ubud Royal Palace

Ubud Market - stall selling wood carvings

Pretty wooden plates at Ubud Market

Art pieces at Ubud Market

Third stop was Mount Batur and Lake Batur. We had our buffet lunch (pretty late at 2pm) at Suling Bali, Mt Batur. The restaurant faced Mt Batur which was pretty cool and the climate was also much cooler on Mt Batur. The buffet spread was not extensive or fantastic but served its purpose in filling hungry stomachs.  However, as it was overcast, Mt Batur and Lake Batur were not very clear. :( 

Lake Batur

Mt Batur and Lake Batur 

Us with Lake Batur in the background

Fourth stop was Alam Bali, a coffee plantation. The girls were both excited and disgusted to know how coffee luwak was produced lol. We were given a sampler of the different teas and coffee to taste and we were enticed to buy a 500g pack of lemon tea by its delicious taste from the shop lol. 

The making of coffee luwak

The sampler (from left to right) - cocoa, coffee ginseng, ginger tea, lemon tea and bali coffee

Marieann and I outside the shop (see the big bag of lemon tea in my hand?! lol) 

Fifth stop was Tegallalang Rice Terrace. The girls were amazed to see and know how rice is grown. I am really glad that the girls are learning new knowledge on this Bali trip. :) 

Sixth stop was our crispy duck dinner at Laka Leke. I wanted to try this restaurant which had quite a high rating on Tripadvisor. We arrived at the restaurant at 5.30pm. As we only had lunch at 2+pm, we ordered just two dishes to share. We shared a Famous Crispy Duck (IDR 83,500), a Spaghetti A La Funghi (IDR 45,000) and a Tom Yum Kun (IDR 43,500). The duck was really delicious, I thought it was better than Dirty Duck's lol. We took a couple of photos at the lovely green rice terrace which were in the restaurant's backyard. :)  

At the entrance of Laka Leke

At 6.30pm, our drive and guide sent us back to Seminyak which was 1.5 hours journey from Ubud. We arrived back at Desamuda Village at 8pm. We had a long tiring day and were really glad to be home lol. Tomorrow is another day, full of fun for the girls I hope lol. 

Bali: Eat and Play

We would be out the whole day today for our day trip. Since our guide would be coming at 9am to pick us up, we had our breakfast at 8am. We could choose to have either American, International, Continental or Indonesian breakfast. We chose both the American and International breakfast which included fruit salad, fruit juice, cereal, yogurt, toast, eggs (cooked to our preference) with bacon/mushroom/tomato/potatoes and coffee/tea. We were so full that we could hardly walk but what a good start to the day lol.

Us at the villa restaurant

Scrambled egg white with salad. YUM!

Fluffy pancake. Delicious!

The two HMs lazing on the restaurant daybed after a sumptuous breakfast lol

Our guide, Susila, arrived promptly at 9am and off we went for a full day of activities. First stop, rather spontaneous and not in our list of TTD, was the souvenir shop! Haha. We spent close to an hour there and everyone came out of it with shopping bag(s) full of goodies, namely peanuts! NO joke lol. :)
As we continued with the journey to Ubud, we made another spontaneous addition to the itinerary. We wanted to try suckling pig lol. Susila was really good and on the spot, he helped us to replan and rearrange our itinerary schedule. Now we were off to have the first installment of our lunch, suckling pig at Ibu Oka, Ubud. :)
We arrived just as the restaurant opened at 11am. We ordered a special (Rp30,000): rice, vegetables, pork roll, fried meat, sausage with pork skin; a separate (Rp50,000): rice, complete meat with soup; and Roasted Pork skin (RP40,000). The dishes were delicious! A tad spicy for me but still delicious. :)




After our lunch (part 1), we drove on to Mount Batur and Lake Batur, Kintamani. As it was on higher grounds, the temperature was a lot cooler and it felt quite comfortable. The scenery was beautiful.

Mount Batur

Lake Batur (crater lake)




We moved on to visit Batur Temple or Ulun Danu Batur Temple. We wore sarong before we entered the temple grounds. This temple, built in 1926, is the 2nd most important temple in Bali.





For the third time today, we had a spontaneous stop at the coffee plantation and spice garden lol. The plantation person explained to us how the kopi luwak coffee or civet coffee or "cat poop" coffee is processed. The gourmet coffee is made from the ripest coffee berries which has been eaten by and passed undigested through the digestive tract of the civets. This process takes place only in Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and Bali resulting in kopi luwak coffee being the most expensive and rare coffee in the world. Indeed it is expensive! A 60g bottle of kopi luwak coffee (for my mother) costed me S$35! :P


The coffee sampler set - chocolate coffee, ginseng coffee, vanilla coffee, lemon tea, ginger tea, and two different types of black coffee

Photo with our friendly guide, Susila

After the plantation, we rushed to our lunch (part 2) at Bebek Bengil, dirty duck diner as it was close to 2.30pm. On the way, we took a quick look at the rice terraces. It was really a quick look, out of the car, took the photo and back in the car haha. We arrived at Bebek Bengil just before 3pm for our lunch. The restaurant is right next to padi fields and has a really nice, traditional ambiance. The food was sumptuous! We ordered 2 sets of Balinese Smoked Duck (Rp187,000 per set for 2 persons, need to order 24 hours in advance) and a set of Crispy Duck (Rp82,000). We were so full that we couldn't finish the food and had to pack one of the whole smoked duck home as supper lol.
At the rice terraces before our Crispy Duck lunch


Balinese Smoked Duck: whole duck smoked with spices wrapped in Beatle nut leaf, served with Balinese sate (satay), vegetables, steamed rice and 2 fruit punch (each set is for 2 persons)

Crispy Duck: half a duck steamed in Indonesian spices, then deep fried, served with salad, rice and Balinese vegetables

The padi fields surrounding the restaurant


We were off to the last place on our itinerary, Tanah Lot Temple. It was really crowded because a lot of tourists come here to watch the sunset. We took some photos of the temple before we settled at one of the cafes to watch the sun set. The sunset was a really lovely sight. :)

Tanah Lot Temple at low tide




Our shadows lol


The sun setting








We returned to our car very quickly after the sunset before the traffic jam. We managed to get back into Seminyak around 7.30pm. As we were really full, we decided to do some shopping instead of having dinner. We asked our guide to drop us at Supermarket Bintang Seminyak where we bought some stuff and we shopped at the shops along Jalan Raya Seminyak. :) It was 9pm when we returned to our villa and we had a light dinner with our whole smoked duck from lunch lol.
It has been a long and tiring day but really enjoyable. We had lots of good food and good laughs on our day trip. :) Tomorrow is a day of pampering for us.