Shopping and coffee drinking Ubud style

It's easy to forget sometimes as you are walking around Ubud just how pretty everything is as there is so much beauty everywhere.  A simple shop will have a beautiful floral decoration outside or a pile of offerings carefully crafted with many coloured flowers displayed.  Even the shops have their wares presented beautifully - all brightly coloured items either clashing in a very attractive way, or clothes arranged as per the colours of the rainbow.  I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy this as I've yet to come across another British tourist - Dutch, German, Australian and American yes, but no Brits at all - where are they all?

Rachel came by after breakfast and we went out for a wander looking in some of the funky shops and also stopping off for a few coffees and drinks along the way.  First of all we went to Tutmak Coffee Shop where Rach had breakfast and I had a couple of iced coffees and a lemongrass and ginger drink and Kiran had....a very long nap on the comfy cushions.  

We then wandered past Hibiscus Bar which isn't a bar anymore and is actually a cushion shop

If your image of Ubud streets is purely based on Eat Pray Love, you'll be amazed at how much more chaotic everything is - there are *loads* of motorbikes everywhere, loads of offerings all over the place including the floor, random dogs and lots of people offering Taxis and in a way that makes it sound dirty "Nice massage very good price".  Here is a typical picture of the street

I like the chaos and the noise and the random blend of smells - rubbish and litter, incense, spicy cooking, a different blend of incense, and the general smell of tropical vegetation.  

There is loads of art everywhere in Ubud which is really interesting to look at - here is Rachel outside an art shop along with some slightly more random examples!  She's also wearing a slightly different baby carrier - Kiran seemed very comfortable and did quite a lot of sleeping whilst we were walking around.

We walked around a few more shops including a very plush shop with awesome, but very expensive children's clothes - it had some bird boxes outside.

Then it was off to Bar Luna for lunch which had some comfy cushions which helpfully were transformed into a soft baby prison for Kiran to stop him crawling off and falling onto the floor!

And of course we needed dessert so we stopped for some very reasonable sorbet at an icecream shop about £1 per scoop.  Rachel (and Kiran!) had passionfruit sorbet and I had lime sorbet.

We walked back in a circuit and past BAWA which is a sort of RSPCA equivalent.  Rachel adopted her cat Queenie from them, but she told me a rather worrying story where she reported a dog that had lots of puppies, and then another litter and they came to take photos of it and then instead of taking it away, came back and dropped off some more puppies for it to be a surrogate mother to!

We then walked past Monkey Forest and saw a couple that had "escaped" (Rachel is a bit immune to them as she sees them a lot - they probably seem a bit like squirrels to her!)

After all the walking around we were all hot and bothered so decided to go back to the hotel to cool off with a dip in the pool.  It was also a chance to give Kiran his first swimming lesson!  Maya apparently howled the first time she was in a swimming pool, but Kiran loved it!  He splashed around, smiling and laughing and even splashed other people in the pool!

So here is what I managed to spend some money on in the course of our shopping trip:  A lovely dress/long top and some aromatherapy spray - very refreshing in such a hot climate.

So Rachel then was picked up about 4.30pm and I went for a nap and then headed back to Bar Luna for dinner - apparently it's supposed to be a fairly social place for travelers  but at the moment, I'm the only one here and have been since the 4 people telling stories of getting drunk in Bankok and dropped off at a police station by a taxi driver left about 30 mins ago...I have to say though, I am enjoying my own company for a change and it's nice to be able to slow down and enjoy just doing very simple things like eating and drinking - slowly....  Bar Luna is famous for "literary" stuff and they do readings etc and so their menu is peppered with references to literature and so it's only right that for my dinner I had a "Graham Greene Salad" (I didn't even eat the bread - I'd be a rake if I lived here permanently!  

A busy, lazy Balinese day

Just like a kid at Christmas, I didn't end up being able to sleep until about 2am last night as I was very excited to be here.  

This is the gorgeous view from my room window.

Breakfast was served between 7am and 10am so I set the alarm for 8am and made my way down to the dining area.  Breakfast was simple - pineapple, papaya, watermelon and orange (with a green skin) and an egg sandwich, but it was all very tasty and served in lovely surroundings.  

The guy cleaning my room came over and returned my key asking me 

"How long are you staying?" 
"12 days"
"12 days here?  That is too long"

Certainly customer service honesty there - either that or he was trying to sell me a tour!

Rachel then messaged to say that she was coming over and arrived with Made and the kids.  Maya was very excited about her belated birthday presents including Hello Kitty balloons and a Hello Kitty book and Kiran was happy to just try and bite the balloons.  Maya was very keen to go swimming so we wandered down to the pool and Maya was very happy and confident in the water and trying hard to get Rachel to go towards the deep end!  

We went back to the room and got changed (Maya into the green dress my Mum bought her which definitely fits and will do for a while!) to head out for lunch and Rachel put Kiran in the sling which looked very comfortable.  I can definitely see why these are favoured from walking along Ubud streets that are uneven with holes - Maya found some of them pretty tricky to navigate with her little feet.

We went to Three Monkeys Cafe and I had a Nasi Goreng which was beautifully served and very tasty and Rachel took the advantage to have some western food and had a Greek Platter.  It was all very tasty and there were some lovely patient waiting staff who brought out some fish food so that a mischievous Maya who had been carefully throwing decorative stones into the pond could feed the fish instead!  

Maya and Kiran were both pretty sleepy at this point and so I carried a sleeping Kiran back to the room and Maya went in the sling with Rachel.  They didn't do a great deal of sleeping, but we sat outside my room on the porch playing with toys and drinking Balinese coffee and persuading Maya that she didn't want to go running off down the steps as there was a big snake down there (she doesn't actually appear to be afraid of anything, so this was not as successful a deterrent as you would imagine).  I am in much admiration for Rachel being able to look after a very spirited 2 year old who is not afraid of anything (real or imaginary) and a very happy baby boy who launches himself towards perilous drops off the side of the steps given half a chance, I would be totally exhausted, but Rachel seems to be taking it in her stride and Maya and Kiran are both happy and lively children.  (Kiran has the most amazing shy grin that he does when you smile at him - it's gorgeous!

Made came and picked Rachel and the kids up and I went for a snooze and watched the end of Eat Pray Love and then headed out for dinner at about 8.30pm.  I went to Bumi Bali which was totally empty which worried me a little, but the food was lovely - I had a special for 130000 rupiah (about £8) which was a starter of cramcam - spicy chicken soup, duck with rice, vegetables and satay sauce and then for dessert - Godoh - banana fritters.  They weren't massive portions, but I was totally stuffed - the hot weather must be a good appetite suppressant!  I had a glass of Balinese rice wine too which was nice, but did taste a bit like the tea and raisin wine I attempted to make under my bed when I was 14.  I went into Bumi Bali as they seem to have Yoga classes, cookery classes and also some very good deals on  spa packages - traditional Massage, facial, hair cream bath (!), manicure and pedicure with polish for 4.5 hours in total and only 320000 rupiah plus 15% tax - about £22!

I then went to buy some more provisions in the form of drinks including grape juice and a couple of cans of Bintang (avoided the Tebz - tea & soda which does actually look like something I should make myself try!).  I popped into the restaurant attached to my hotel for a coffee (was contemplating venturing solo into a bar, but they were either full to the brim and very loud with live music or completely empty - neither of which appealed to me in my still sleepy and jet lagged state of mind.  Will do something more exciting tomorrow, I have promised myself)  

Sorry there are no pictures on this blog post, after a very successful first night of internet, it's been much more intermittent and temperamental today and also I forgot to transer my photos onto the netbook (the lead is back in the room, I'm in the breakfast area sat next to the wifi router!)  I'll update the post when I have better wifi connectivity!

Update - pics are all on now!

3 Airports, 2 flights and 1 lovely hotel in Bali

So I probably should go to sleep as in Balinese time it is about midnight, although in the UK it's about 5pm.  

My journey started with an East Coast Mainline journey from Leeds to London on Tuesday evening which only took 2hrs 15, was very comfortable and allowed me to play with my Netbook as though I was an important business person (I actually used the 16 minutes free wifi to mostly go on Facebook!)

I arrived into London Kings Cross and then made the journey back to see my parents travelling to Hampton Court Station - as the crow flies this is 12 miles and took over an hour!

It was really nice to catch up with my parents and my Mum made my favourite dinner - Aubergine Stew for when I arrived back at 10pm on Tuesday evening.  I spent the next day with my parents until my Dad drove me (and my Mum came too) to Heathrow Airport which is about a half hour drive.  I was worried about checking in my bag as I was limited  20kg and had a lot to bring over for Rachel plus lots of presents from me and my Mum.  I snuck in with just a little over and got through security with my bulging clear bag of toiletries.  

There was time to kill and I was a bit hungry and so I treated myself to Yo Sushi! which was very tasty, but I just ate off the belt to save time and wished I'd had a bit more time for some Ramen or Moochi.  

I flew with Singapore Airlines who were very polite and the food was really good, they also were kind enough to feed me some red wine so that I felt a bit more relaxed and sleepy for my first ever flight by myself.  I was intrigued by the uniforms of the stewards and stewardesses - which is a  sarong kebaya in batik material I'm guessing to incorporate traditional dress.  The different colours of the different batik designs designates different levels of seniority.  I liked them much more than what you usually see on Ryan Air etc, I'm less keen on the title of the page Singapore Girl it seems a bit chauvinistic as the guys have different colour ties that designate their seniority too.

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I didn't really get to see much of Singapore Airport as I literally had time to walk off the plane through the airport, get on the "sky train" to a different terminal before I was queueing up to get on the plane to Denpaser. 

On the first leg of the flight I watched - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which I actually really enjoyed.  It was sweet and romantic, without being saccharine or flippant.  There was a great cast of actors and actresses which helped and I have to say that I really do love Dame Judi Dench.  I also love how in the film Maggie Smith brings Hobnob biscuits, Branston pickle and HP sauce with her, but they won't let her take her pickled eggs on the plane!  On the second leg of the flight I watched Ted - not really my thing - I can summarise the plot for you as follows - talking bear that swears and smokes weed + Mark Wahlberg + kidnap and rescue of bear + a bit of relationship turmoil.  Far too predictable and not enough novelty to make up for this for my liking - still it did pass the time.  I also used the online game to learn some Indonesian phrases like "dua" - two and "Mobil" - car and most impressive "supermarket" - Supermarket.  I also bought The Hunger Games before leaving Heathrow and at first glance it reminded me of Battle Royale so far 5 chapters in, there are a lot of similarities, I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished.

Arriving at Bali Airport in Denpaser was fine, but it took over an hour to get through customs, immigration etc.  My friend Rachel and her gorgeous little baby boy Kiran met me at the airport gate and then we grabbed some drinks and her husband drove us all back to my hotel Sagitarius Inn which so far is lovely.  The room is a little basic, but for less than £20 per night it's perfect and has breakfast and free wifi included.  The grounds are really beautiful and I'll take some pictures when it's light as the flowers and plants are amazing.  Here are a couple of dodgy pictures of my room - sorry, but I'm very tired, better ones at a later date!

I got in, showered and then ventured down Monkey Forest Road and bought some bottled water, crazy additive only available in Bali Rhino drinks and some cheese and chocolate bread (don't know why, but it is tastier than it sounds!) - all of this was 300 000 rupiah which is about £1.93.

So now it's late and I've not had much sleep over the last few days I think I'll switch off the fan and listen to the sound of Ubud to get me to sleep.

Food, Craft, Medical Procedures, Indie Night and More Crafting

So I've had a very eventful and extremely stressful week.  The beginning and end were certainly better than the middle, which I can't go into here, but hopefully will be able to share in the future as a totally horrendous and almost seemingly impossible fictional story.  

So I started off the week in Angel as a very grateful guest of my friend Kate who was putting me up on Sunday night as I had to meet with a client in London on Monday to discuss a candidate short-list.  In payment I took her out for dinner at a gorgeous French restaurant which we went to the last time that I visited.  I highly recommend this restaurant - Le Mercury.  

I had poached pears with walnuts and blue cheese to start. For my main I had some really rich duck breast with some incredibly well cooked cabbage and beautiful creamy mash.  And for dessert, I had a very decent crème brulee. 

To burn it all off the next morning we got up bright and early and went to Virgin Active Angel, met one of my other friends Rachel and did a hardcore session of Circuits for 45 minutes.  It certainly woke me up and I felt much more energised for the day (although I did end up aching muchly afterwards).

On the train ride to and from London I occupied myself by practising the embroidery that Hayley had been teaching me last weekend and I started to make up the kit that she had bought for me (for 50p from Embroiderers Guild).  I used my friend Gemma's blog post who had also made the same kit up  as a guide to help me know what I needed to do.  The train guard was very confused by how I had managed to avoid stabbing myself.  The kit was based on a child's drawing and reminded me of this amazing post about children's drawings made into toys

Here are the finished results which I gave to my husband instead of a birthday card.

On Friday I had the not particularly pleasant (but at least not painful) experience of a Colonoscopy.  (I'm writing this in reassurance of anyone that might have to experience this in the future) There is thankfully nothing wrong with me, but more of a check-up, but I deliberately didn't google this before going in as I didn't want to scare myself.  

The reality was that I was fortunate enough to be referred by the NHS to The Spire which is a private hospital in Roundhay.  I don't believe that I received any particularly higher medical expertise or treatment, but I had my own private room and after the procedure was served a very tasty tuna sandwich with a garnish and a pot of tea.  There was also free wifi and a TV.  

I was given two Enemas which weren't as scary as I thought and certainly less painful that some things I've experienced in hospital examinations.  What was more painful was the embarrassment of having to walk up to the theatre in my dressing gown (fluffy and with stars all over - not embarrassing  and my only pair of slippers - a horrendously kitsch pair of elf style Christmas themed slippers - mortifying!)  The procedure itself was not painful, but more uncomfortable and probably the most off putting thing was lying on my side and being able to see in real time an Embarrassing Bodies style view of my own insides.   I have to confess that I did shut my eyes at  some points.  The good news was that I wasn't given a sedative before the procedure and so I was able to head out to join my colleagues on a night out leaving do.

We started off our night at Lazy Lounge where I was warned by helpful bar staff that a Gin and Tonic would cost £8, so I opted for a nice glass of Prosecco which was on happy hour offer at £3.50.  We then walked up to BRB on Call Lane and had pizza and a few more drinks before heading to Elbow Rooms for a few games of pool.  I'm *awful* at pool, but do have an odd ability to sneak in the occasional fluke shot and managed to pot 2 balls at once in opposite pockets at one point.  A few people started to drift off home and so some of us walked over to Mojo (where my WI Buns & Roses  originally used as their meeting place) and I had one of my favourite cocktails an Amaretto Sour.  We made a swift exit when a couple of over amorous ladies were chatting up some of the guys and we went next door to Verve.  Both bars played some really good music varied Indie and rock music, so I made the suggestion that as it was getting later (about half midnight) we could head over to Leeds Met Student Union and go to Fuel which seems to be the new name for Star which I went to every Friday night that I possibly could when I was a student from about 1999 through until I graduated in 2001 (in fact I discovered evidence of my frequent attendance when tidying through some boxes yesterday evening in a scrap book with 13 old tickets stuck in for posterity)  Impressive that it's only gone up to £5 from £3 in the last 10 years!  

We were out quite late and the night got mixed reviews as it's not the usual haunt for a bunch of recruitment consultants.  Star was a pretty straightforward formula cheap entry + cheap drinks + loud music + dark dank room + students and Fuel was similar with an addition or  Cirque de Soleil style rope acrobatics, pyrotechnics and more video screens.  Nonetheless I think that the general feedback was positive (I certainly had a good time) and in summary I remember dancing to Rage Against the Machine, Blink 182 and even this...

PS. Check out the lyric translation here - it's amazing!

Saturday was a much lazier day of crafting on the sofa whilst watching repeats of Sex and the City and The Bill.  I managed to finish off my Pumpkin Head Felt Zombie from the workshop that I did at Buns & Roses last year so the Standard Zombie has a friend.  

I then put my skills to good use - my boss has 3 boys and they all wanted the same cuddly pig toy for Christmas so I offered to help them differentiate by sewing their names in their favourite colours.  I suggested the ears, but she reckoned that (as they are boys) this location would be better - what do you think?  

Living La Vida Cocoa!

So I might just have mentioned before that I'm on the committee of Buns & Roses WI which is a lot of work, but really good fun.  This evening for example we had a chocolate making workshop courtesy of York Cocoa House which was brilliant.  Unsurprisingly our workshop was fully booked and so we had 34 lovely ladies together to make and enjoy some lovely chocolate.

First of all we got to taste the chocolate we were using which was gorgeously creamy milk chocolate.  This was then made into a ganache (chocolate + butter + double cream heated to boiling point, poured over and mixed together).  We piped out the ganache into what can only be described as "dollops" and then they went to be cooled.  We then tempered some more chocolate for using to make chocolate lollies and dipping our ganache to make truffles.  What do you think we used to melt the chocolate?  I can bet that you weren't thinking hair dryer!  Surprisingly this worked really well and we used melted chocolate to make lollies which we decorated with orange, lemon and strawberry flavoured chocolate buttons - yummy!

After making a lot of mess "shaping" the ganache and then dipping in chocolate we then put our creations into  plastic presentation bags (sampling quite a few along the way thank you very much!).

Laura from York Cocoa House was a great presenter, really engaging.  And I think it was great value for money - £12 for members and £15 for non members.  My friend Jenny also started off the evening really well by giving me some fudge that she'd made for me to try.  

I also have finished my embroidered art picture and so Hayley very kindly stretched and stapled it onto a frame for me - here is the finished article.