Monday was my last day in Ubud; time went way too quickly. After my breakfast of coconut and banana crepes, with the requisite watermelon juice, I had a Green Tea Scrub scheduled at Lily Spa. Another few hours by the pool, then I had to dash off to do some quick shopping. Ubud has some wonderful boutique shops. Generally, I spend more time scoping each of them out and comparing prices before actually buying things. I truly wasn’t in the mindset to look at dresses, art or jewelry for the most part this time around. I went into a couple of jewelry stores on a mission to find a present or two; ended up with tanzanite (though not cut as beautifully as it could be) and ammonites. Had a beer at L.O.L. and questioned the bartender about an Italian restaurant that A. had requested that I drop his presents off at. The bartender’s girlfriend just happened to work at the main branch of that Italian restaurant! With my shopping done, I returned to the hotel with the intention of packing A.’s presents up and heading out to the Italian restaurant to drop them off. For the 4th (?) and final time, I asked the reception area if they had a package for me from A. The guy was new, but looked around a bit and said “No.” Ahh well, I’d given it my best shot. I went up to my room and took a refreshing shower before planning to head out again. In the middle of my shower, someone began knocking on my door and repeating “Madame! Madame!” over and over. I threw a towel around myself and ran to the door. What do you know?! It was the guy from reception holding a box with my name on it! He said that the box had been up high on a shelf and (obviously) no one had bothered to look up there for it. I was so surprised, relieved and happy! I immediately ripped the box open and found the percussion-type instrument that A. had made. In fact, it was his own personal one, which was slightly different from others that he’d made to sell and for other people. The bell-like (?), gong-like (?) tones that it makes are quite pleasing. I took a picture of the instrument, downloaded it to Facebook, tagged him on it and captioned it with “Look what they finally found!” I also sent him a private message saying that he wouldn’t have to go ballistic on them when he returned from Italy. Since the box had been safe at the hotel the entire time, I decided to pack my presents to him in the same box, with both of our names on it, with his local telephone number on it and with a card attached. It was no longer necessary to drop the presents off at the Italian restaurant; I left them at reception, letting them know that he would most likely be picking the box up by the end of November.
By then, it was time for a late lunch. I went in search of a place called Warung Garasi, reputed to be inexpensive and good. Although supposedly owned by Italians, only local staff were around when I showed up. The place was cute with a Vespa theme going on throughout. Seats at the “counter” overlooking the outside were makeshift Vespa ones. Tabletops were inlaid with screws and other things found in a toolbox. I ordered ayam goreng with chili sauce, steamed rice and, yes, more watermelon juice. The food WAS good and inexpensive, certainly more than I could finish.
Back at the hotel, I decided to begin packing a few things. Depending on how late I stayed out that night or how much alcohol I drank, packing probably wouldn’t be high on my list later that night.
For dinner I went in search of my favorite Indonesian food – sate lillit, grilled minced fish mixed with spices served sate-style on lemongrass stalks. I went to 2 or 3 places where I’d eaten it before, but it was no longer on the menu. I had to have it, though, as I was off to Thailand in the morning and probably wouldn’t find it there. Luckily, Casa Luna still had it. Believe me, I savored it! While strolling around after dinner, an Aussie woman approached me and asked whether my dress had been bought in Ubud. Nope, it came from The Big Easy! We were having an interesting conversation, though, so decided to go to The Laughing Buddha Bar to continue. We had a few drinks there while listening to Ubud’s version of Tina Turner, an energetic local woman with a pretty good backup band.
My BFF
Table tops at Warung Garasi
All Tuckered Out Somewhere in Ubud