Surprisingly the Malaysian 777 we flew to Bali in was a much comfier aircraft and if it wasn’t for it being a much older aircraft, the delays and the slightly unwarranted hype about Malaysian Airways last year, which lead to an impending sense of doom for most of the flight, I would say it was a pleasant 3 or so hours to Denpasar.
It was a little busier in immigration and customs then I would have hoped, but seeing as we were in a holding pattern for around 30 minutes before landing there was obviously a few flights hitting arrivals at the same moment. Watching the plane repeatedly bank away from our intended direction did very little for my sense of impending doom!
To make a change for the better the next part of the journey was with a friendly and chatty taxi driver who pointed out the sights and sounds of both Denpasar and Bali itself as we weaved our way down the ever narrowing roads heading north to the small town of Ubud where we were to begin our stays.
When we arrived at the Alaya Ubud Resort Hotel we were invited for our first of our complimentary daily afternoon teas after check in. Although we had arrived about an hour late the staff brought us drinks and cooked up the small tray of sweet items that were a saviour after traveling all morning. As we were led to our room we were told that we had been upgraded to the top spec of room free of charge and although we had always planned for Bali to be more of a holiday than “traveling” the Alaya surpassed all of our expectations, it really is a paradise.
The evening was spent relaxing and sampling the local specialty: Crispy Duck!
As we had suspected might happen before going to bed, Nicola had managed to develop a nasty cold in the night so our plans for an early start were changed in favour of a bit of a lie in to recoup lost sleep. After breakfast we headed to the pool and spent a relaxing afternoon with the pool almost to ourselves. Afterwards we went for a walk around the local streets before dinner and bed, as we became aware just how shattered we really were!
Today, with Nicola felling better, we took the 10 minute walk to the Ubud Monkey Forest where for a nominal ticket price you are able to walk around the local Temples in the Monkey Forest which, as the name suggests, is also home to a horde of trouble making monkeys. If it’s your thing, you can buy some bananas and spend the day getting molested and abused by gangs of the little monkeys who can not only smell any food you might have, as the signs warn you, but also seem to be able to smell your fear. Luckily we made it out without being mauled, mugged or murdered by the small critters.
After watching the mauling of other tourists which included a German woman almost having her camera stolen off her by a monkey a twentieth of her size we felt that some retail therapy was in order. As such we headed into the main part of Ubud where, aside from a little bartering, we saw a few of the old communal temples.
We returned just in time for a quick nap by the pool before our last afternoon tea was served. We had planned to eat out but owing to the tropical weather rolling in we opted to have our balcony insect proofed and dinned on our own private balcony overlooking the paddy fields. It was a great chance to reflect on the last couple of days and to be honest, I am struggling to see how we are going to beat this!
We’re now all packed up and ready to travel a little north tomorrow for a night’s stay at an Elephant Safari Park.
A Ginger Down Under
16th June 2015