RETURN TO BALI

On a whim, we decided to go back to BALI. This would be our fourth visit to the little Indonesia paradise (see previous visits: HERE, HERE and HERE) and this time we decided to stay in the little artistic mecca of UBUD. One difference, we decided to splurge a bit and stay and a somewhat "nice" place called The Mansion Resort & Spa which was actually just outside of Ubud.

We arrived 90 minutes late due to a delay in our flight (side note: Air Asia does not serve booze and their seats are tight - boo). Luckily our Hotel pickup was still there waiting for us and we took the 60 minute drive to Ubud in good spirits chatting with our Driver. We arrived at the Mansion and it was beautiful, an old mansion retrofitted into a hotel with three pools, villas, restaurants and spanning grounds. Michelle had secretly upgraded us to a Villa (off season promotion - stay 3+ nights, upgrade to a Villa for free) which was awesome but when we got to the room we were greeted with an open air bathroom (minus 1 point for Gryffindor) and a big spider on the wall (minus 2 points - Gryffindor out). Needless to say, while we ate a late dinner in the restaurant, the staff moved us to a different room (again ground floor but enclosed bathrooms and only one massive cockroach that Michelle valiantly fought to the death). With that, we tucked in for the night.

For our first full day, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and explore Ubud as I had only seen it once on our first visit to Bali for 45 minutes or so. After breakfast, we took the complimentary shuttle into town and started walking the busy streets of Ubud. Now don't get me wrong, I like Ubud but people call it "the Artistic Capital of Bali" when really it should be called "The Tourist Trap of Bali"! While there are cool temples, bars and restaurants and some unique pieces of arts, 60% of the entire town is all selling the same paintings or sculptures in the same style of storefront, it's still beautiful but its a disappointing observation nonetheless. We walked, drank and ate our way through Ubud until the late afternoon. We then shuttled back to the hotel, had a dip in the pool, Michelle had a foot massage and then we taxied back into town.

It was time to cross off one of my Bucket List goals by eating crispy duck at most famous restaurant in Bali, the DIRTY DUCK DINER. Basically, you get a half duck crisped up and served with a variety of sauces, it's a bit weird having an half carcass on your plate but trust me, it was delicious! A Bucket List Success! Afterwards we headed to the Laughing Buddha Bar to hear some great Salsa Music and chat with some travelers from the Netherlands. A great night!

The next day was for Balinese touring and that meant, we were hooking up with Meta. Now Meta is a tour guide that Michelle met when she went to Bali with Chad. They met up again when Michelle returned to Bali with Michelle Dall and because of all the good times, Meta and Michelle have become friends. She's a sweet Balinese girl whose studying Hospitality and getting in with one of the big hotels on the island but in the meantime she works for her father's tour company. Meta and her dad (who doesn't speak a lick of English) picked us up at 10am and we were off to three big destinations: Coffee Plantation, Lunch at the Volcano and the enormous Mother Temple.

We are both fans of Balinese Coffee and no trip to Bali is complete without a stop at one of the many Coffee Plantations. They are a bit touristy but its still cool to sit down, try a bunch of different coffees and enjoy the scenery. Our favorite is the Ginger Coffee and yes, I have tried Luwak Coffee or as it is commonly known as "the weasel poo coffee"... very earthy. Next stop was Mount Batur, one of two major Volcanoes on Bali. There is a string of restaurants on a hill that overlooks the valley of lava devastation and the Volcano itself, again touristy and the food is only so-so but the scenery is epic.

Final stop was the immense and beautiful Mother Temple, a grand and ornate structure of worship that goes up a hill, meaning there's lots of stairs. You have to wear a sarong to enter (no showing leg skin dont' wanna offend the gods) and its a solid 15 minute walk up various stairs and hills to get to the top. Once there, it's awesome... that is until I saw the friggin' huge spiders that are everywhere. These were honestly the biggest spiders I have ever seen outside of captivity (bodies of small lighters and legs as thick and long as toothpicks). Needless to say I got cold and sweaty right away (I am an arachnophobe) and immediately made my way back down to the bottom but ofcourse all I could see was tons more spiders. After that, it was the long ride back home. Once back at the Mansion, we settled in for a long massage at the spa and a quiet dinner at the hotel.

We woke up, packed, ate breakfast and then Meta picked us up to take us to the airport. All in all, it was the perfect relaxing weekend. We had great weather, we got massages, we ate great food (I tried Tempeh for the first time and loved it) and we got to see an Indonesian Band play amazing Salsa music! On the downside, I finally saw my first real big tropical spider but I wont let that ruin the positives of our trip, Bali was great and you can view our pics HERE!!!