Bali 2013 - Day 8

The rain woke me up this morning, bright and early at 6:00 a.m.  There has been a fair amount of rain, considering it is the dry season.  After this morning's sprinkle had passed, we walked to Sari Bamboo for breakfast, only to realize we didn't have enough money to eat.  Jake decided he wanted to eat cereal at home anyway, so he went back to Londo.  Macaela and Ibu walked down the path and down the Campuhan steps to Sama Sama to change money.  They don't have the best rate, but they are the closest.

So now, with full wallets, we headed back to Sari Bamboo and had a wonderful brunch.  We've kind of gotten into a two-meal-a-day habit, since we've been eating "breakfast" so late.  Afterwards, Macaela went back to Londo to hang out with Jake.  Ibu and I walked back up the road and checked out a few little shops and restaurants along the way.  We continued down the hill and across the river into the village.

Somewhere along the way, we decided to make our way through the village and back home by way of the jungle path.  It has been five years since we've made this walk and things have changed a bit - not to mention that our memories have gotten a bit foggy.  So we steered by intuition.  When we weren't sure about our next move we stopped at Vespa Cafe for a cold drink.  We each ordered an iced tea for about 20,000 each, and while we thought the place was nice and had a good bathroom, the tea was not that great and definitely not worth the hefty price tag.  But the tea did refresh us and perhaps lifted the brain fog a bit, because we emerged from Vespa pretty sure about where we needed to go next.


Talk about change!  The jungle "path" is now a road, and where once there were only small private homes and a few secluded rentals, there are now immense villas, a couple of expensive hotels, shops and restaurants.  The traffic is still mostly on foot, but motorbike access is easy.  Close to home we found a new hotel property which has only been open for 10 days.  Ubud Heaven Villas is lovely, and in a couple of years when the screening vegetation grows in, it will be even better.  They already had guests when we were there, although their restaurant was not yet open.  We asked to look around and a nervous young man named Wayan showed us a one bedroom and a two bedroom villa.  Each villa has a complete kitchen and a small pool.  These rent for $250 and $460 per night, but they're set up for long term rentals.


After our tour of Ubud Heaven, we made our way back home and rested for a while.  I had promised Jake a home-cooked burger meal and we figured tonight was a good night to do it, so we took our supplies out of the freezer to thaw.  We were running low on snacks and stuff, so I called Made for a ride to Bintang Supermarket.  I'm used to big American bikes, not little Balinese motorbikes, so I almost knocked Made over when I got on his.

I tried to hurry at the store, because Made had come directly from playing badminton and had not had a chance to go home yet.  But while I was shopping, I realized that some of the things I was buying had BOGO deals on them.  So I shopped carefully, making sure that I was picking up the right free items.  Well, it doesn't work the same as in the U.S.  I ended up paying for all the items I put in my basket, and I had to go to the information desk to get my free items.  Except when I got there, they told me they were finished.  I did get a free milk to go with our cookies, but I had to surrender my receipt.  I think next time, I'll ignore those deal signs.

So back home to cook dinner.  I made sauteed onions, fried the bacon and cooked the burgers.  It was sort of like cooking at camp, but in a kitchen.  It was a good dinner, but I won't buy those pre-made burgers again.  Everyone liked them but me, but I just couldn't finish mine.  The flavor was very different!