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Our own little private bemo all the way to Ubud, wasn't the comfiest way to travel for an hour but we arrived safe and sound. When driving through the streets of Ubud there was a good feel about the place, so much we couldn't wait to stay there. We walked down a few alleys looking for somewhere to stay, everywhere seemed really expensive. We expected it to be a little more than what we're used to paying as we were in Bali. At this point we decided that Peter would stay with the bags whilst Lucy would go and look for a room. After walking down a couple more alleys and checking every guesthouse whilst trying her hardest to Bargaining them down Lucy finally got us a nice, clean room that offered Wifi and breakfast. Once dropping our bags we decided to go for a little wander and grab some late lunch, again after looking at all the menu's of the cafes and resturants we knew this wasn't going to be a cheap place to stay. On top of the prices you also had to pay 10% service charge and 6% Gov Tax.. what a bloody rip off!!! We chose a restaurant and had a decent meal, which was good but you didn't get a lot for the money. We decided to head back to our room to try and catch our Parents on Skype.. after spending 2 hours talking to both Lucy's parents & Sister and Peter's Mum we couldn't be bothered doing anything for the rest of the night. Later that night we weren't very hungry and decided we should try and eat cheap after our expensive lunch so Peter just had a pot noodle from the shop, asking Lucy for instructions on how to make it. haha!! The whole point in being in Ubud was to chill out for a bit as we have been constantly moving since we got to Borneo. So the following day we did exactly that, we did nothing apart from try to write a couple of blogs and research a bit more of Oz.. which still to this day isn't going to well. Our breakfast at the guesthouse was very good and a change from having toast every morning, Peter had a pancake & fruit whilst Lucy had Omelette & fruit. For dinner we ate at a very cheap cafe a few doors up from our guesthouse, we tried the local dish of Bakso (noodle soup with vegatables and meatballs.) It was very nice although Peter spoilt his by putting a shed load of chilli sauce in it before even trying the dish. Whilst having dinner the heavens opened.. b***** we had two books with us that we were looking to change.. we shoved them under our jackets and made a run for it. As we were soaked wet through we decided to grab a coffee, well Peter had a hot chocolate in Starbucks...yummy!! Later that night we didn't do much apart from chill out at our room, enjoying a couple of beers and some crisps. The following morning after breakfast we went and booked a bicycle trip for the next day. We also visited Perama to book our transport to and from the Gili Islands. We walked past the monkey sanctuary but had no interest in going in as we have seen enough long tail macaques on our trip. Later we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant over looking some rice paddies. We both chose to have salads, unfortunately these weren't to good as they had loads of avocodo on and were also drowned in a not so nice vinegarette. The next mission for the day.... find Peter a hairdressers. This proved to be quite a task. We visited 5 beauty salons which all advertised hair cuts.... they all said the hairdresser is on holiday or they just said they couldn't do it! We finally found someone willing to cut Peter's hair (or should we say attempt to cut.) That evening we had a very enjoyable time, we went to the restaurant across the road from our homestay. This nice little restaurant was called Devilicious. Peter enjoyed a cheeky chicken kiev while Lucy had a beef skewer with rice. After we then shared a strawberry crepe and carried on drinking a few more bintang beers. :-D Lucy discovered a cockroach in our bathroom when we returned, Peter had to chase it along the wall before a big swing with his trainer squashed the dirty creature. 3-0 to Peter! The day after was the day of our bicycle trip. We woke up to the sound of heavy rain... bloody brilliant. We got picked up around 8.30am by our guide David. He asked Peter 'are you Mr Lucky?'. Peter replied with 'no im Peter!' Peter knew this was our transportation as David was wearing a Bintang Tours t-shirt and that was the company we had booked our trip with. Then Peter realised that the the name on the sheet was Lucy... not Lucky! So David was a little confused we think and asked Lucy... are you Lucky or Lucy? haha. Anyways off we set in the car. There were 3 other people on our trip. Our first stop on our trip was a visit to a coffee plantation. We got to try a few different types of tea and coffee. We also got shown how they make the special coffee called Lemak...........
which is made from beans processed by the civit cats. The cats are said to eat only the best beans and once they are passed through their systems, the beans are collected. It's a time-consuming process and therefore very expensive.
Our drop off point was at Kintamani which is nestled high on a volcanic crater rim. We were meant to be having refreshments whilst having stunning views of Lake Batur and its smoking volcanic neighbour. Unfortunately all we could see was a dazzling thick fog!
Ooohh well... onto our bicycles. We cycled for around 3 hours, all mainly downhill. Apparently completing nearly 40km. We had come on this trip to hopefully see the real Bali. Thankfully we did and we had a great time. The countryside was stunning and the weather turned out really well in the end, with us actually burning our arms and faces as we hadn't packed any suncream. We cycled down lots of country lanes through small communities. Lucy had 'Hello Beautiful' shouted out to her 3 times by young children. Abit into the cycle Lucy realised she hadn't picked the best off bikes as the breaks made a loud grinding noise. She continued on and got to the end safely. We stopped at a local house where 3 families lived. The conditions were very basic and not the cleanest. Really don't know how people manage to be honest... We are very fortunate. Whilst at this house David explained to us why all the locals sit at the side of the road stroking their c*** ! He even demonstrated the art of massaging their c*** . Just to be clear, we are talking about c*** as in the animal and not what men have....
We ended our trip by having lunch at the bintang tours restaurant just outside Ubud. They then drove us back to our accomodation. We would definitely recommend doing this tour if anyone visits Bali.
Later than afternoon Peter purchased some new sunglasses from the market. We did some very good bargaining for these. At first she asked for 200,000 ruppiah (approx £14)... we laughed! In the end we made a purchase at 30,000 ruppiah (approx £2)... We can bargain a good price
Our last evening in Ubud we ate a little restaurant near our homestay, called Blah Blah. We enjoyed a variety of small dishes which we shared. All were served on banana leaves. It was a nice cultural touch. Overall we thought that Ubud was a lovely place and would definitely recommend people to go and have a look.
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