I have discovered the yummiest cafe and bakery in Central Ubud! Its a place called Casa Luna. This bakery serves a delicious range of fresh bread, pastries, cakes, and more. Its the perfect place to just chill and people watch while sipping on a Cafe Latte. The Balinese people are very nice and the customer service is excellent. Way better customer service in Bali than in Saipan. Why is that?
Anywho, the highlight about this Casa Luna is that it offers Balinese cooking classes. Everyday of the week is a different meal that is taught. The first thing you do is tour the Ubud market place for your ingredients and then head back to the restaurant where Janet de Neefe teaches you how to cook an authentic Balinese meal! This is a must do in Bali if you love to cook! I am enjoying eating out here more than shopping =)
The sun finally came out today and I decided to be lazy and relax by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Good news is that I finally ran into my friends, Rebecca and Ben, and we had dinner together with some other friends at a place called The Lotus Cafe. It was so nice to see familiar faces in Bali.
A few words about this restaurant is that the food wasn't all that and it was pricey. The only thing I enjoyed was a traditional Balinese dance show that you can see right in the back of this restaurant. The dance show is called Chandra Wirabhuana. Great entertainment and exquisite costumes! Loved this show.
Day 7:
My friends and I decided to go on a three hour 45 km mountain bike excursion from the top of Kintamani all the way down towards Tegalalang. I was suppose to meet my friends at their hotel at 8:30 am but I was late! By the time I got there it was 9 am and they had already left. The tour company sent a young fellow to shuttle me up the mountain on a moped! This was the only case where tardiness paid off because I had a blast riding on the back of the moped racing up the curvy roads like the locals do.
By the time I got up there Rebecca, Ben, Autumn, and Ana had just finished their breakfast on a terrace that had an amazing view that overlooked the active volcano Mount Batur and the lake. I was so glad that I came up here again because last time I came up it was too cloudy to see anything.
Now keep in mind that I thought this was suppose to be an easy downhill and fun bike ride. I only came to Bali with my flip flops. We started down the road and passed through a lot of traditional villages and through the countryside. The kids from the villages would come out and give us high fives as we zipped on by!
They were so cute. It was beautiful scenic ride until we hit this steep hill that looked exactly like Navy Hill. We had to walk our bikes all the way up this hill. We tried to race through some muddy pathways but ended up walking in the mud. Normally I wouldn't be complaining about this but I didn't exactly have the right shoes and gear. Wish I had my bike here.
To make a long story short I was racing and peddling really hard up this one hill. My bike chain popped off and my foot crashed against the street. I'm only wearing flip flops mind you. Ouch. I stopped and realized that I bashed my big toe really bad that it was bleeding. They ended up taking me to the hospital so I wasn't able to finish my bike ride =( This bike ride was fun but it was alot more technical than I thought.
So the damage was that I didn't quite break my big toe. I just really bruised it and 3/4 of my toe nail practically was hanging off. The doctor had to yank the broken part off. That part hurt really bad. So now I'm walking around with a white big bandage on my big toe=( So sad. But the good news from my doctor is that I will still be able to dive!
I'll spend New years Eve in Ubud tonight with my friends and then make my way up towards Tulamben and the Gili Islands in a couple days. Until then, Happy New Years! Cheers to a new chapter and exciting adventures to come in 2008. So far this was the best year ever!!
