Holiday in Ubud

One day me and my husband decided to have a one day holiday to run away from our busy life to a quiet and peaceful place. The choice is Ubud. It is only 1 hour drive from Kuta and we thought we should entertain ourselves sometimes, stay in a hotel, eat in the restaurant and enjoy the hotel as a guest. Since we are hotelier we only enjoy our hotel as a staff.

We went to Ubud early in the morning as we have to do some inspection to some hotel near Ubud center to fit our budget before we decided to stay.
The first hotel we went to is Tegal Sari hotel. Their room are nice, large and have a beautiful view of the rice field. The standard bungalow priced Rp. 350.000 per night including breakfast and tax, but unfortunately the hotel is fully booked. L

The next one is Panorama hotel. Their room is nice too, Deluxe room is only US$ 35 and standard room US$ 30. the room have a ricefield view too. I kinda like this hotel but my husband don’t. He don’t like the way some staff look at us like we are coming from outer space. Yes, off course I understand. We are hotelier, we know what they think about us and my husband don’t like it.

So we move to the next hotel, Green field hotel. This is a nice small hotel too. They have a new villa build in the middle of rice field. We saw the villa which is very nice Balinese style villa. The price is US$ 85. In Kuta or Nusa Dua area a villa like this could cost you about US$ 200. So this is villa is cheap with a 5 star facilities inside the room. However it is still too expensive for our budget. The receptionist then offered a standard room on the second floor which is cheaper at only US$ 25. We saw the room which is ok for a standard room and we have the rice field view too from our balcony. The room has aircon, minibar, shower, telephone, tea and coffee maker and a queen size bed. So I think this room is fine. We decided not to waste the time to look for another hotel again so that we can walk around Ubud center or just relax at the pool.

We have lunch at Warung Enak, just next to the hotel. We sat on the second floor to enjoy the view. The service here is like 5 star. They gave us a cool towel upon arrival and complimentary crackers for starter. We ordered our meals and enjoy the crackers. My husband even ask for more because the cracker is good. Eating here is cheap. For two plus drink we spent only Rp. 66.000 (about 7 USD). We decided just to stay in the hotel to relax, my husband have a nap in the room while I went to the pool to enjoy my spa. There were nobody at the pool except the therapist who was waiting for me. The therapy massage I choose is just good (plus cheap, only USD 10), the massage bed is open air and have the view to rice filed which is soooo relaxing.

At night we went for dinner at Bebek Bengil, one of the famous restaurant in Ubud for Balinese food. The restaurant is just perfect, set in a secluded garden and rice field view, plus torch light along pathway, make it look romantic. We sat in a private table and ordered their signature dish, Bebek Bengil. It’s a crispy duck served with rice and vegetables. We eat until we feel so full. The duck is crispy and soft and delicious too.

We don’t eat any dessert because we want to try another restaurant. We have our dessert at Lotus Café at Ubud center. The restaurant is surrounded by Lotus pond, lots of Lotus. The ambience is very nice but I think the food and the service is just so so.. nothing so special.. My husband don’t like it, me too. We wish to have a drink at the bar, but most bar seems empty so we decided to go back to hotel.

The next morning, we have our breakfast served at their restaurant. With a full view to the ricefield that is so calming makes our breakfast special, because we usually eat breakfast in the rush at home with no view. After breakfast we take a walk to Ubud art market before checking out from the hotel. On the way home I thought, what a short vacation. I need to do this more often, beside I don’t have to go to far, we have all we need for holiday here in Bali.