Our flight landed to pouring rain and darkness…needless to say we were hopeful that we would wake up to better weather. The hotel was located in a quieter part of the Nusa Dua area and was a bit less crowded. We arrived in our room at the Grand Mirage with a lovely birthday welcome and then decided to walk around the hotel a bit and grab a drink. We booked the all-inclusive package and found it to definitely be worth it since we enjoy drinks by the beach. When we woke up and opened our shutters we were delighted to see a beautiful sunny day so we made our way to the beach and for $17 USD rented the cabana for the day which included a cooler with ice, coconut drink, and fresh fruit.
The next day we had booked an all-day tour to Ubud with a great driver Ketut. We did not want to hit the IG places with long lines and tons of people and he did a fantastic job of giving us exactly what we wanted. We started our day visiting the Tohpati Batik Art Village where I bought a cute purse and the comfiest pair of flip flops. I had told him that I collect mortar and pestle’s so we stopped at a woodworking shop where we found a few fun items to take home. Next, we visited the Puseh Batuan Temple before heading into Ubud.
We arrived in Ubud just in time for lunch. Ketut took us to D’Alas Restaurant which has a fantastic territorial view and I was so excited to see that they had a swing. I had decided that most likely I would not find a place to swing since everything I had read said the lines were really long. So imagine my surprise when I was able to walk right up, bill the $14 USD activity fee to my lunch bill and hop on the swing! Totally made my day and to top it of lunch was delicious!!
After lunch, we were excited to go to the Bali Pulina Luwak Coffee Plantation. For those of you who have not heard of Luwak coffee, here is the Wiki description “Kopi luwak is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. It is therefore also called civet coffee. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet’s intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected.” We enjoyed the coffee flight and my favorites were the Turmeric Tea and the Ginger Coffee, these both came home with me. To be honest the Luwak coffee was more of a novelty although I did bring home my dad some to try.
We then arrived at the core of Ubud and found it to be incredibly busy and filled with tourists. It was starting to rain so most of the stalls in the market were closing but we spent about 20 minutes buying a few souvenirs and some mangosteen (our new favorite fruit that we discovered in Singapore). Ketut had found a spa for us nearby so we could freshen up before our dinner reservations at Locavore. I had found out about this restaurant on a FB group I am in. I did some research and realized that it was voted #22 in the world by TripAdvisor travelers…so we had to check it out. The island’s Michelin-starred restaurant is known for its wildly creative menu that celebrates locally-sourced ingredients while utilizing classical European cooking techniques. It offers a 19-course tasting menu in either a Locavore or Herbivore option. This was possibly the best meal I have ever had! Just keep in mind that we made reservations 4 months in advance. I have captioned each picture, calling out my favorites.
We decided against diving in Bali because the best locations were too far from where we were staying so instead we chartered a boat from Bali Rizo Charters for the day. We felt a bit like royalty with 4 handsome young men as our crew for just the 2 of us girls. We asked them to bring a bottle of Rum along with Mango and Guava juices (this was an extra cost). We spent the day basking in the sun in Penida, Ceningan, and Lembongan Island on a float attached to the side of the boat with drinks being handed to us as needed. We jumped off the top of the boat into the crystal clear waters, ate Salmon Teriyaki Lays potato chips (quite yummy), swam to a cave which in peak season hosts beach parties, and overall just had a fabulous day in the Bali sunshine.
For the next few days, we did some shopping for souvenirs, sundresses, and jewelry and we rented the cabana at the beach and visited the spa. We found a lovely spa just down the street from our hotel, Home Spa Nusa Dua and spent quite a few hours here over the course of the next few days. For about $30 USD you can spend 2.5 hours enjoying being pampered. I had the aftersun treatment, twice…this is a cooling cucumber wrap with a massage.
If you have read all three installments of this trip you will see that we had the time of our lives…of course, knowing us, we will start planning our 2021 trip soon.
Happy Travels!