It’s been a minute since I posted about my trip. It has been amazing, so much better than I could’ve imagined. If anyone is thinking of going to Bali, GO! I LOVE it here and can easily see myself coming back again and again. I wish it wasn’t so far away, but that means that I will have to come for longer I suppose.
Komaneka at Bisma was WONDERFUL and I can highly recommend it. Komaneka also has 2 locations on the main road, but the Bisma property is the newest and from what I understand, the nicest. The other 2 would probably nice, but without the views that you get over the rice terraces at Bisma. Service was AMAZING and prices were outrageously low — 5 pieces of laundry for $5.00 (my only cash cost at the property since all 5 nights were booked using points!).
Food in Ubud was incredibly inexpensive and SO SO good. Think delicious chicken satay with rice and dumplings as an appetizer for under $10.00! My most expensive meal was at a restaurant called the Sayan House, which is about 1.9 miles from the main town (one goes there for the views at sunset) and it was $25.00, which included a ginger and pork belly salad as an appetizer and 2 tacos as a main plus one fruity drink and a bottle of water. Extremely reasonable given the quality of food and setting.
The traffic in Ubud is crazy (and I say this living in the 3rd worst city in the world for traffic). I’d book a hotel / villa / guest house within walking distance of most things unless you want to sit in traffic for very, very, very long periods of time. Or rent a
scooter. When I went to the Sayan House I took a GoJek scooter (Uber in Bali); the ride was 2 miles and it took 22 minutes, and that was with my driver going on the side of the road and down the middle of the road to pass cars. In a car it would have taken about 45 minutes.
In Ubud I took a cooking class which was excellent and also did a bike tour which was also excellent. I also used my driver (Made in Bali, who was highly recommended on FT) to take me to the Basakih Temple (the largest in Bali), waterfalls and an amazing swing location (swings in Bali are big business and you’ll find them in many, many places). I enjoyed daily massages (foot or head, neck and shoulders) and a manicure. Foot massages are around $5.00 for 30 minutes. I also visited the Sacred Monkey Forest, which was so much fun. I am already trying to think when I can come back again and how long I will stay.
After 5 blissful nights in Ubud (I was sad to leave), my driver brought me to Uluwatu. Along the way we stopped at Kato Lampo waterfalls (incredible) and the Bali Zoo (wish I had more time here). I’m now staying 6 nights at the Umana LXR (booked using HH points — 5th night free + 1 FNC). The villa is so big it seems like a waste of space for 1 person. The bed is luxurious, must be Frette linens (I *must* buy some at some point in my life) and plush pillows. I’m in a garden view villa (no upgrades available), but I have a view of the ocean. An excellent use of points, the only issue is there isn’t anywhere to go while here (except the Uluwatu Temple at sunset, which is apparently famous and therefore VERY busy, so I’ll have to take a GoJek scooter again!). The gym here is quite nice with modern equipment, though it was a sweltering 78 degrees, which makes having a good workout difficult for me, but I persevered and left looking like I just got out of the shower lol). Breakfast included for gold and diamond HH members, 25% off laundry and 15% off restaurants; I’ll use the $200.00 resort credit on my new Aspire (upgraded from the basic in July) to offset meals (last night dinner + a small bottle of water was $24.00).
A few pictures:
getting into the swing was scary (you have to climb up 4 steps of a staircase on wheels, which they pull away before they start pushing you, but once you start swinging you just hope for the best!)
At the swing park — very scary climbing up and down the rickety ladder up to the ‘nest’, but the pictures were worth it lol
They always paid out quickly too which is why this bums me out.
