Arrived in Ubud. I stayed at the Tegal Sari Hotel. The hotel is in an ‘L' shape & the newest rooms where I am staying (super deluxe rooms 19 - 24) are located at the bottom part of the ‘L' in 3 x 2 storey buildings. My gorgeous room overlooks rice paddies as far as the eye can see, only 3 steps from my patio. Lots of ducks & rice farmers who smile & wave (not the ducks). The rice paddy in front of my room has just been harvested, so is now a pool of water, but still lovely to look at, especially when the ducks come by for a swim! Also got serenaded by frogs at night.
The rooms are so clean. One morning I saw a houseboy with a can of mortein spraying the ants on the patio! The towels are nice & white too.
I had room 19, which was on the ground floor & had a double & single bed and a step down is a comfy sitting area, desk with tea & coffee making facilities & minibar. In the bathroom is a corner bathtub with a handheld shower nozzle, a separate shower with a huge shower rose (fantastic water pressure) & the toilet. You can sit in the bath and look out the window to the fantastic view. The room upstairs (room 20) has the same set up, except it as just one bed - queen size - a four poster with mosquito netting. The patio was large, with 2 chairs & a small table. To the left you can watch the most fabulous sunsets above the monkey forest, with the setting sun reflecting in the water of the rice paddies. Simply magic!
The hotel staff are fantastic - very friendly & nothing is too much trouble. They always have a big smile on their faces! You can choose to have breakfast in their tiny restaurant or delivered to your room.
They have a free shuttle service to Ubud anytime of the day & will pick you up in Ubud too. They will also take you the nearby Balinese dance venues too. Excellent service! I am definitely staying here again next time, but I will book earlier so I can stay longer in a super deluxe room again.
A couple of days before I left home, I sponsored a Balinese child through the Helen Flavel Foundation. It only costs $120 a year to sponsor the child and that pays for their education, uniform, books & medical attention if they need it. The full amount goes to the children - she absorbs the administration costs herself.
I was going to spend exactly $120 on a bottle of duty free perfume, so took this as a sign that this is money earmarked for a greater cause. I emailed Helen with a query about making the payment & she emailed me back & invited me to the opening of the Helen Flavel Learning Centre in Singaraja which was taking place 4 days after I arrived in Bali. She also rang me the following day & organized a sponsor child for me, emailed a picture of her & told me I could meet her on the day of the opening. Wow, I was so excited!
The drive to Singarja was going to take about 2 hours from Ubud, so I had organized the same driver who drove me to Ubud to return the next day at 7am to take me. I liked his new, clean car & I also read on the forum that he had family in Singaraja, so he could visit them while I was at the centre. At 7am the next day, the brother of the driver arrives in an oldish 7 seater van with a friend, to take me. I was asked if it was OK if the friend came with us - so I said yes, not really having a choice! I was quite annoyed though, because the driver did not contact me to tell me his brother was coming instead of him or to ask if I was OK with it. I would have preferred to be driven in a car for the bumpy, winding drive through the mountains to Singaraja. I wasn't given a choice & it was too late to organize alternate transport. At least the van had aircon. The driver was quite a nice chap, but this really was beside the point.
The mountain drive was a bit torturous (for me!) but some lovely views. At one stage I saw a family of monkeys sunning themselves on the side of the road. I had driven this road myself in a rental about 13 years ago when I went to Lovina. It was a white-knuckle drive, let me tell you! The road has been widened & is in much better condition now.
We arrived at the learning centre right on 9am. I had to walk up a laneway that was crowded with local people, who made a pathway for me as if I was royalty or something. I was greeted & escorted to a quadrangle where the ceremony was just about to begin. I slipped into a chair (not unnoticed as I would have preferred) & Helen greeted me as one of the exalted guests, which was a tad embarrassing! There were about 10 other foreigners there, plus some government officials,teachers, foundation organisers & a few hundred locals!
A Balinese dancer, in a monkey costume did an amusing dance, concluding with the delivery of some scissors for Helen to cut the ribbon to officially open the centre. Then we went into one of the 3 classrooms & squished into student-sized chairs with half desktops attached that I could have worn if I stood up, as it was rather snug! A few speeches over & some light refreshment given - I ate something shaped in a ball with sesame seeds on the outside - sweet but no idea what it was! We adjourned into a nearby shady clearing where the guests sat in chairs (mine sank into the damp soil) to watch the festivities.
There was another Balinese dancer, a girl this time dancing with a fan. Then the games started. There was a sack race, where the kids had to remove the sack & dance to music whenever they heard music playing, & jump back in & hop towards the finishing line when the music stopped. Very funny!
Then they had a game where oranges had been strung from a beam & coins stuck into them. The kids had to get the coins out with their teeth. Unfortunately the oranges had been smeared with a black substance that transferred onto their faces as they worked at the orange. The other local children thought this one was hilarious.
There was a tug-of-war with the 'helpers' versus the locals & then the ‘helpers' versus the tourists!
Finally, there was a game for the men that involved tying a cucumber from a piece of string around the waist so it dangled just above & between the knees. The men then had to swing the cucumber so that it hit/pushed a half-filled balloon - a bit like soccer. They weren't allowed to use anything else to move the balloon except the cucumber. Alot of hula action going on with this one! The local children were also delighted with this game with much laughter & encouragement given.
Shortly before noon, I met Ketut - my sponsor child. She was tiny, even though she's 11yo. She had a huge smile which lit up her face & an interpreter translated for us. She thanked me as I gave her a present - a packet of pink hair accessories in its own plastic handbag, & a lipstick & nail polish for her mother (who wasn't there). We had our photo taken together & I promised to send her a copy. Just before I left, Helen gave me my official photo & bio of Ketut plus a certificate of appreciation for being there for the opening ceremony. I was quite chuffed.
On the way back to Ubud, we stopped off at the temple on the lake, on Lake Baratan near Bedugul. It was very picturesque & I got some great photos. Well worth the Rp 10,000 entry.
Whilst there, I turned ‘tacky tourist' by having my photo taken holding a mongoose for Rp 20,000. A mongoose looks a bit like a short haired raccoon, except bigger & brown in colour. It was a tad smelly, but tame. A bit later when I was walking back, the same guy was feeding his mongoose & offered to take my photo holding a humongous iguana. I touched it first to see if it would bite, but it was very docile. The guy offered again, except this timed for free, so I caved. The iguana felt like autumn leaves - dry & crinkly. I drew the line when I was offered a huge fat python to string around my neck, but I did pat it & freaked out when I felt its muscles move under its skin. Ewwww!
I had lunch at the Pacung Indah Restaurant, perched on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vista of rice paddies, plantation crops & mountains. Very beautiful, & my nasi goreng was a tad yummy too! I offered to buy a meal for the driver & his friend, but they said they ate at a vendor while I was looking at the temple on the lake.
I was tired now, so I asked the driver (whose name I cannot remember) to take me back to my hotel - we arrived back at 3.30pm. I went had a little lie down which extended into a sound sleep for about 2 hours!
We had been so lucky with the weather. It had rained quite a bit the previous 3 days, but this day was glorious sunshine throughout with the most stunning sunset yet again.....
To be continued........