10. Ubud Pampering and Cycling Tour
Leah went off to one of the yoga classes we had found the day before and I decided to continue on at the Lynda school of yoga on the balcony again. I kinda feel like things should be relatively priced, you know like the $5 classes in Boca del Toro in Panama. The yoga classes here were about the same price as back home. There's that "no income" person again....eek...:)! Leah went for a wander around and I investigated availability of spa appointments for the afternoon. I found one that could fit us in that afternoon so we went off to have some lunch and then be back for our pick up, all part of the service!
We had booked into Bliss Spa and when we arrived the setting was beautiful. Surrounded by rice paddies, peaceful and serene. My experience was all downhill from there. The wording in the brochure was not correct and not all treatments that we were expecting in our package were included, you had to choose....strike one I tried to explain why I was disappointed and negotiate a discount with some limited success. I was actually reluctant to go ahead but Leah was keen. When I made the booking I had requested separate rooms. Now that we had sorted out what we were getting and how much, they then said there were not separate rooms available...strike two! They did say we would have access to separate flower baths. So we relaxed into our facials and massages which were very enjoyable. Of course then there was only one flower bath available ...strike three! They did offer us a free jacuzzi as a replacement....but of course we had to share that with a whole lot of other people so we declined. I have to say I found the whole thing quite disappointing rather than relaxing and enjoyable. Our driver took us back to the hotel and as we got ready for dinner we got a phone call from the walking tour we had booked for the next day. This tour had been cancelled but we were invited to go on a longer cycling tour. We decided to go ahead and do the cycling tour although Leah was a little reluctant. In amongst all of this, we still hadnt managed to get a confirmation in writing of our boat transfer to Gili Trawangan. Thats okay, we are not going till Sunday and its only Friday night, right??
We got up early and had breakfast in preparation for a big day cycling on Saturday 27 August. We were the first pick up and were expecting a group of 11. Somehow it ended up being just 4 of us. We were joined by an Austrian couple, George and Petra, who were just delightful. The trip consisted of the van taking us to a point up the mountain and then we jump on bikes and cycle down. On the way up we stopped for breakfast sitting on the balcony overlooking Lake Batur and its volcano of the same name. Despite being a little misty it was beautiful and who doesnt love Nasi Goreng for breakfast! Next stop was the Luwak Coffee Plantation where we got to try several different kinds of coffee including ginseng coffee. These were all good. The pick of the coffee was the Luwak coffee which has actually been eaten by an animal called a Luwak and then "processed" by the animal and then made into coffee. Without a word of a lie, if you do a google search on "poo coffee bali" you will find it...:)!! It just tasted like coffee, thankfully. We had a look around the gardens and there were a couple of Luwaks in cages (unfortunately) and then we were ushered into the gift shop.
We finally arrived at our cycling spot and the bikes were in excellent condition, complete with helmets. We had a bit of a spin around the carpark to make sure all was in order and then off we went with our cycling guide. It was a lovely thing to do, riding mostly down the back roads, through or along rice paddies. There were some really sandy tracks that were a little tricky and we had to make sure we didnt lose George who was mad for taking photos and kept stopping along the way. He was probably the best cyclist amongst us so he caught up easily. We stopped along the way to look at temples and visited an art school which was really interesting. While we were there the artist told us about his family and the home that they shared of which the school was a part. We got to see the family kitchen which was dark and basic to say the least. Sometimes its easy to forget how poor some of these people are and how they live compared to us. Petra was telling us about a guide they had taken for lunch and he was so poor he had never eaten chicken or fish before, only vegetables. We continued our ride 'enduring' light drops of rain occasionally. Most of the trip was downhill which made it easy and it could have been loads of fun if we werent restricted to staying behind the guide. It was easy to pick up speed!! We cycled through some beautiful countryside and it was such a lovely way to spend the day. The stops were good for me as my bottom seemed to be bored with being on a bicycle and kept going to sleep....eek! Our last stop was near a bridge and was very picturesque. We were reluctant to get back in the van but we were close to the outskirts of town so in we got. Last stop was for a late lunch. George and Petra invited us on their sunrise tour to the volcano the next day but unfortunately as we were heading to the Gili Islands we were not able to join them. We farewelled them and the van took us back to the hotel.
We were pleased to see on our arrival we had received a confirmation for our boat ride, to be signed and faxed back of course, and that they would be there to pick us up at about 8am! Success at last, with persistence and calm nerves. That evening I managed to get my legs waxed which they really needed. You know its time when the hairs are blowing in the breeze as you walk along. It was a caramel wax which I had never had before. It seemed to be effective, although I felt a bit like a toffee apple by the end of it. And it had that sweet sugary smell that you just want to eat...! Then a trip to the yoga shop which Leah had found but no purchases were made but they did have lots of interesting stuff. We ended the evening with another delicious meal and caught the last half of the football at one of the bars. St Kilda, Leah's team was playing and had a good win.
We had booked into Bliss Spa and when we arrived the setting was beautiful. Surrounded by rice paddies, peaceful and serene. My experience was all downhill from there. The wording in the brochure was not correct and not all treatments that we were expecting in our package were included, you had to choose....strike one I tried to explain why I was disappointed and negotiate a discount with some limited success. I was actually reluctant to go ahead but Leah was keen. When I made the booking I had requested separate rooms. Now that we had sorted out what we were getting and how much, they then said there were not separate rooms available...strike two! They did say we would have access to separate flower baths. So we relaxed into our facials and massages which were very enjoyable. Of course then there was only one flower bath available ...strike three! They did offer us a free jacuzzi as a replacement....but of course we had to share that with a whole lot of other people so we declined. I have to say I found the whole thing quite disappointing rather than relaxing and enjoyable. Our driver took us back to the hotel and as we got ready for dinner we got a phone call from the walking tour we had booked for the next day. This tour had been cancelled but we were invited to go on a longer cycling tour. We decided to go ahead and do the cycling tour although Leah was a little reluctant. In amongst all of this, we still hadnt managed to get a confirmation in writing of our boat transfer to Gili Trawangan. Thats okay, we are not going till Sunday and its only Friday night, right?? 
We got up early and had breakfast in preparation for a big day cycling on Saturday 27 August. We were the first pick up and were expecting a group of 11. Somehow it ended up being just 4 of us. We were joined by an Austrian couple, George and Petra, who were just delightful. The trip consisted of the van taking us to a point up the mountain and then we jump on bikes and cycle down. On the way up we stopped for breakfast sitting on the balcony overlooking Lake Batur and its volcano of the same name. Despite being a little misty it was beautiful and who doesnt love Nasi Goreng for breakfast! Next stop was the Luwak Coffee Plantation where we got to try several different kinds of coffee including ginseng coffee. These were all good. The pick of the coffee was the Luwak coffee which has actually been eaten by an animal called a Luwak and then "processed" by the animal and then made into coffee. Without a word of a lie, if you do a google search on "poo coffee bali" you will find it...:)!! It just tasted like coffee, thankfully. We had a look around the gardens and there were a couple of Luwaks in cages (unfortunately) and then we were ushered into the gift shop.
We finally arrived at our cycling spot and the bikes were in excellent condition, complete with helmets. We had a bit of a spin around the carpark to make sure all was in order and then off we went with our cycling guide. It was a lovely thing to do, riding mostly down the back roads, through or along rice paddies. There were some really sandy tracks that were a little tricky and we had to make sure we didnt lose George who was mad for taking photos and kept stopping along the way. He was probably the best cyclist amongst us so he caught up easily. We stopped along the way to look at temples and visited an art school which was really interesting. While we were there the artist told us about his family and the home that they shared of which the school was a part. We got to see the family kitchen which was dark and basic to say the least. Sometimes its easy to forget how poor some of these people are and how they live compared to us. Petra was telling us about a guide they had taken for lunch and he was so poor he had never eaten chicken or fish before, only vegetables. We continued our ride 'enduring' light drops of rain occasionally. Most of the trip was downhill which made it easy and it could have been loads of fun if we werent restricted to staying behind the guide. It was easy to pick up speed!! We cycled through some beautiful countryside and it was such a lovely way to spend the day. The stops were good for me as my bottom seemed to be bored with being on a bicycle and kept going to sleep....eek! Our last stop was near a bridge and was very picturesque. We were reluctant to get back in the van but we were close to the outskirts of town so in we got. Last stop was for a late lunch. George and Petra invited us on their sunrise tour to the volcano the next day but unfortunately as we were heading to the Gili Islands we were not able to join them. We farewelled them and the van took us back to the hotel.
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