Bike Tour In Ubub, Bali, A Fantastic Way To See Ubud

I started 2013 in the way I like! First to Bangkok then to Bali for some me time. =))

Bestie invited me to bunk in with her at Bali and bf promptly bought me air ticket to send me off. Whee... And it is to Ubud this round in Bali.

Since I had the daytime free to myself, I signed up for some activities to get to know Ubud, Bali a little better. And one of it was the bike tour organised by Bali Eco & Educational Cycling Tour.

It was a pleasant start with prompt replies to my emails to ensure a beginner like me can handle biking in a foreign land.

I got picked up by the tour really early at 7.15am to have breakfast with a view... of Mt Batur, an active volcano.

The whole group was of a comfortable size of only 10 people.

It was a simple meal to start the day and the view was gorgeous. If only bf was with me...

The black soil area is where the lava flowed from Mt Batur's last eruption in 2000. The friendly guide went on to tell us a bit more about this area and also the spiritual significance of the calm lake besides Mt Batur.

Next up was a short educational tour about some Balinese native spices and plants and also a brief history of how some other foreign spices like Vanilla came to being on this sunny island.

Coffee Luwak Beans On The Left Looking Prettier

We were introduced to a live civet cat that poops out the very expensive Coffee Luwak beans. We were told that the coffee beans is foreign to Bali, hence, it was by accident that the civet cat ingest these beans and poop them out. 

Shortly after, we had a break and was given a tray of samples of ginseng coffee, lemongrass tea, Balinese coffee etc.

The guide managed to find a big spider out of nowhere and showed it to us. Reminds me of uni days. 

Just as I thought that the tour felt more educational and cultural, we were driven to pick up our mountain bikes for the real cycling deal. 

It was a breeze cycling as it was mainly downhill on wide roads.

We stopped by a Balinese family house to take a look. 

The guide went on to introduce their way of life and how this family makes their living by producing bamboo products.

The next part of cycling was through the padi fields; Something I was really looking forward to.

We rode through these fields with the blue sky above. 

See how beautiful it is....

The only problem for me was that the cycling path was a tad too narrow. It was more of a psychological issue when I cannot see where the edge of the path was. I was moving slower than usual and before I knew it, I was in the waters after going over a broken concrete patch. Talk about embarrassment. Thank goodness all I got was a refreshing soak for both my feet with no injuries. 

Then came the uphill stretch where a true bike beginner like myself had to dismount and push all my way uphill. There was a guide behind the last person (yours truly) and he offered to push my bike when he saw me struggling. But I managed to get through it, and boy, what a work out it was on my first day in Bali.

We rested under a 500 years old Banyan Tree where the guides brought out bananas for snack. The whole time, there was a van following us, except for the stretch through the padi fields where it couldn't go. So, no worries if you don't have much stamina like me, which is highly unlikely. :|

At this juncture, we were asked whether we wanted to continue with a 40mins downhill cycling route or a 40 mins uphill one.

Of course I opted for the downhill route where a van would be waiting to send us uphill for lunch. We were handed cool towels at the end of our ride too. The bulk of the people opted for the challenging uphill route.

This is the view from the van with the rest working out hard under the hot sun. 1 person gave up midway and the guide took over her bike. 

Before long, we arrived at the lunch venue and the uphill cyclists streamed in one by one, totally drenched in the humid weather. 

The tour ended with a delectable lunch. I can't decide whether this lunch or the one from my cooking class is better. 

Either way, it was a fantastic way to start my holiday in Ubud, Bali. For 360,000IDR, I really like this tour. The whole program was well paced and totally enjoyable. Despite me falling into the waters, I had a really good time that day!

Santi Mandala Villa & Spa, Bali Ubud Review

I'm doing this review at Santi Mandala's restaurant now. Thought I better write whenever I can as I'm traveling faster than I can spare the time to blog these days. And it's so good that it's raining in hot Bali now. :P

Well, you see, my best friend signed up for a yoga retreat and since her hubby didn't come along this round, she invited me to stay with her in Bali, Ubud. I've always wanted to visit Bali Ubud and preferably stay at a villa facing the padi fields, so I grabbed the chance and accepted the invitation with less than 2 week's notice. As it's a free stay, I'm not complaining even though this villa isn't surrounded by the  padi fields! ;)

At least I have this bunch of padi keeping me company at my table now. Haha..

Santi Mandala Villa & Spa is situated about 25 mins away from Ubud Town Centre by car. Hence, it's a quiet and relaxing place that's away from the crowd. It's also rustic and surrounded by lush greenery.

We arrived late at night with the hotel transfer arranged by Santi Mandala at 250,000IDR one way.

You'll come through this bridge before arriving at the hotel lobby below.

Some days, the locals will come by here to catch fishes in the late afternoon.

And here are some pictures of the hotel grounds.

Full of greenery and peacefulness, it's definitely a place to come for rejuvenation. They also conduct biking, hiking, cooking and yoga classes for those interested.

View Of Pool From Across The Bridge

It's a quiet villa without many guests and much noise in the daytime. Probably it's because of the distance from Ubud Centre and everyone is out and about during the day or chilling in the comfort of their rooms.

Infinity Pool

View From The Pool

The room is comfortable and well worth the money. It's rather private and integrate nature into its design.

The villas each come with a main door to a small garden leading to the room. We stayed in the Garden Villa which was the most basic one available at less than 150SGD per villa per night. My friend paid only 130SGD per night for this stay.

The Romantic Bed

The balcony opens up to the view of the pool and faces the east so that you'd be able to catch the beautiful sunrise.

Welcome Fruit Basket

The washroom was great with an open air shower and a bathtub overlooks the hills down to the pool. People may actually see you when you get out of the bathtub or when you're using the loo if they look hard enough. Just draw the curtain and all problems solved.

Although I really love the open concept of this bathroom, this place does have a lot of insects and even mosquitoes! The sink itself will  have at least 7-8 insects unlucky enough to be trapped by water droplets and drowned when we get back every evening.

And the worst thing is geckos do climb in!! Eeekks!!! It gave my friend a hard time falling asleep every night.

Breakfast is available at the restaurant daily and it's a good thing they change the menu everyday.

Now, there's 3 things I really don't like about Santi Manda Villa. One is the lack of wifi in their basic rooms and it's only available daily from 7.30am to 10.30pm at the restaurant. I know this would help in giving you no choice but to disconnect and relax. But hey, I don't need to disconnect to relax and enjoy nature. And even so, they should at least leave it on the whole day because the restaurant area is open and people who need to hook up to the net can still drop by at night.

The second thing is the transport to Ubud Centre. It can be quite a pain in the ass. They only have shuttle services out at 10am, 2pm, 4pm,8pm  and 10pm. The return service is half an hour later. So, if we need to get out or get back at a different timing, we'd have to pay 80,000IDR. And if you're located just a short walk of 15 mins away from the town centre, you'll need to pay a total of 100,000IDR which I found ridiculous. We almost had to do that for our massage appointments every night in the town centre as Santi Manda; Villa Spa closes at 6pm!! But some spas offer transport at a much better rates. Some spas and day tours even do pick up and drop off for free!

I'll review the different spas and day tours I went to in Ubud in my other posts.

Lastly, the food isn't fantastic. And Balinese food can be really tasty. The first time we ordered Soto Ayam and Tom Yam Goong, we almost died from overdosage of salt!!

This afternoon, I was craving Yum Woon Sen from my Bangkok trip a few days back and just had to order this.

It was oily and bland but after asking for some lime and soya sauce with chilli padis, it tasted better. Maybe it was because I asked them to make it less salty...just in case.

I then asked the waitress to recommend a Balinese dish that is good. So Ayam Bakaka so it was and it was delicious! Once again, I highlighted that I didn't want a salty dish.

Overall, Santi Mandal Villa and Spa is really a value for money place to stay in Ubud. Especially so if you don't intend to go to the town centre much. But then again, I wouldn't want to eat at the villa every night.  I'd rather venture out for some good Balinese food.

Oh and regarding the geckos, my friend spotted a huge one crawling across the wall the first night and freaked out after that. After that, we saw another 2 and had to get the staff to remove 1 last night 'coz it took over our bathroom. :|

At night, little frogs come out to play and mosquitoes are present even with the insect repellent available in every room.

So, if you ain't afraid of these creepy crawlies, insects included, and love nature, this place will be ideal as a value for money and peaceful villa in Ubud, Bali. As for myself, I rather try a new hotel the next round.