Bali 2024 - Day 3 (March 15)

Our home is further from town than we usually stay, and with my swollen feet, the walk is just too long. So this morning, we had Made take us into town. We were hoping to order more Pink Gecko labels, but the place we ordered from last time is out of business, so Made dropped us off so we could go wander.

New Market Sign

We walked down to the market to check out the changes, and to shop, of course. The Ubud market has been rebuilt and sanitized since we were last here. This means higher rents, which in turn means higher prices (and it's not as interesting). I've always been a pretty good bargainer, but this time the prices were starting so high that I felt like my counter-offers would be insulting. Tourist-quality sarongs that I have always been able to get for 20,000 now start at about 150,000, and the good ones are even higher. I walked away from most of the pieces without buying. We did end up getting a backpack, a sarong, a shirt, a pair of pants, and a carved and painted wooden gift for someone back home for a grand total of 415,000 (about $27.00).

Tempura Spinach

We went on down the road a bit and had lunch at Nomad. The complimentary starter at Nomad is a plate of tempura spinach leaves. They are crispy and delicious. For our meal, I got Satay Ayam and Ibu got the grilled chicken (with iced lemon tea and soda water, of course). 172,100 ($11.35) Very tasty and lovely presentation.

While we ate, there was a woman outside the restaurant selling tourist stuff. At one point I accidentally made eye contact and she spent the rest of our meal trying to sell us stuff from afar. Makes me glad that we didn't opt to sit at street level.

After lunch, we let Made know we were ready. He picked us up and we were off to Celuk to visit Suwarsa silversmiths. The silver price has gone up considerably in the last few years, and while the local prices are still great compared to retail in the U.S., you can no longer get the incredible deals we used to get. We're having a couple of chains made and they are costing us about 4 times what we would have paid a few years back. Ibu did a bit of shopping for herself, then we headed back home.

Fried Chicken

Dinner this evening was at Warung Ting Ting, about a five minute walk from home. I got Mie Goreng Ayam and Ibu ordered the fried chicken. The mie goreng was a bit salty and Ibu's chicken looked like frozen breaded patties. The chicken came with a little salad, rice, and ketchup. 104,500 ($6.89) for dinner with drinks (diet Coke and soda water). Service was kind of weird - he asked us what we wanted to drink, then stood there waiting for the rest of our order instead of getting our drinks and coming back. I need to learn how to say "we're thirsty".

Diet Coke is on most menus, but I have yet to see that silver can anywhere. When you order diet, you get Coke Zero, which is apparently quite different. I guess I'm glad I don't drink the stuff. Bubbly water is bubbly water, no matter where you go. 😆