Bali 2013 - Day 1

Upon arriving at our hotel, Puri Saraswati, at 2:00 a.m., we asked for a wake up call for 7:00.  We were afraid of sleeping most of the day away, and we really don't want to waste any of the short time we have here sleeping.  Not to worry, 6:00 found me awake and ready to go.  Macaela and I were up and on the porch when Putra, one of the hotel staff, came down the path.  We exchanged greetings and he invited us to visit the temple that was attached to the hotel grounds.  It was still some time before breakfast would be served, and the rest of the family was still sleeping so we donned our temple garb and went to check it out.

The hotel is owned by the royal family, and the temple is one of their family temples.  I don't think I've seen any other temple adorned with so much gold.  Due to the early hour, we had the place to ourselves, with the exception of a man quietly going about his cleaning duties.  I'll post more on this later.

We were back in the room in time for our wake up call.  We all showered and gathered our stuff and headed to breakfast.  Everyone was starving, so the generous breakfast that is included with our rooms was greatly appreciated.

We have found that the only way to really get into the Bali schedule (being 12 hours off from our usual) is to hit the streets and walk.  With the hotel's excellent location, we had easy access to the market and downtown in one direction and Campuhan and Penestanan in the other.  We walked down Jalan Raya Ubud and checked out a few shops, then headed into Penestanan to visit friends.  Our stop at Londo found nobody home, and lunch time was approaching, so we continued down the path to Ibu Putu's Warung.  Nothing has changed here.  Ibu Putu's smiling face still greets you, and the basic menu of traditional favorites is still the same as it has been for years.  We all had iced lemon tea, the kids and I had chicken satay with rice, Jake and Ibu had carrot salads, and Ibu had french fries.  All this for only about $14.

After lunch we shopped our way back to the hotel and called Made to make arrangements to pick us up later.  The kids wanted milkshakes, so we stopped at Coco Bistro nearby for drinks.  I don't recommend this place.  It was expensive, service was slow, and the milkshakes were small and thin and the kids said they tasted like they were made with UHT milk.

Hurried back to the hotel, and got there just as Made was arriving.  His shock at seeing Jake, who was a little kid five years ago, had him almost speechless.  Made took us to purchase cell phones.  Everyone else in the world can bring their usual phones to Bali and purchase a sim card, but not us.  Cell phone companies in the U.S. (except AT&T) don't work that way.  No matter, we got two cheap phones for about $52 including pulsa, which is the Indonesian equivalent of minutes in cell-phone terminology.  (It doesn't really equate to minutes, and I don't understand it, but that's how it is.)

We chose to go to Nomad for dinner because we had enjoyed it so much last time.  Unfortunately, it was a disappointment.  Of course the prices have gone up, but along with that the service was not as attentive, and the food not as good.  But it was filling, and we were ready to head back and end a very long day.