I was up kind of early on Saturday, not wanting to to wait too long to leave Ubud. Quite frankly, the longer I wait to leave Ubud, the more difficult it is. I didn’t have a driver, so simply walked outside the hotel to find a couple of guys hanging out there. They asked if I needed transport and quoted me a price of 300,000 for Seminyak. Yeah, I could probably haggle for 250,000 if I took the time to check more drivers, but… best be on my way. My bags were ready, so the driver asked where I was going in Seminyak. I gave him the name of the hotel and told him the general vicinity. Anyway, the address and phone number were on my itinerary. Naturally, once we arrived in Seminyak, we tried calling the hotel to get directions, but there was no answer. The driver ended up calling his brother, who was more familiar with the area. With his help, it didn’t take long to find the place.
The hotel, whose name will remain a mystery, was beautiful. The place was new and had only been open a few months. To ensure availability for me in the future, it must be a secret for now!!! There are only four rooms and a pool in an enclosed space. The guys who work there are super sweet and didn’t complain a bit as they lugged my bags upstairs! Even though the photos on-line were accurate, the serenity and tastefulness of my room still blew me away. Believe me, after settling in, I wasn’t even in a hurry to go out and do much of anything. My growling stomach was what prompted me to finally venture out again.
There’s a new place on Dhyana Pura called The Dusty Café. It’s gotten very good reviews and was walking distance from my hotel. I wandered over there to find that it’s two-stories. Though the downstairs was rather busy, I sat upstairs and was the only one up there the entire time. They serve breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I went with the “Art Car,” a beef burger with salad, fresh tomatoes, sautéed onion, emmental cheese and mayonnaise; it also came with fries. Fresh strawberry juice was the perfect accompaniment. The burger was big, juicy, perfectly cooked and tasty; loved it!
Next on my agenda was a glass of Vernaccia at Seminyak Italian Food at the Double Six Hotel before my 90 minute massage at Spa Bali. A glass of wine in the heat and humidity certainly relaxes one before a massage! Once my massage was finished, I still had time to walk down to the beach and grab a drink at Champlung while watching the usual gorgeous sunset. A duet was singing, but I couldn’t hang out for long. I needed to get back to the hotel, freshen up and race over to Island Café for dinner.
Back in October, I’d stopped in at Island Café briefly to look at their menu, which seemed like a basic menu to me. Since then, many reviews on TripAdvisor stated that it has great Italian food. I dashed over, only to discover that they had closed early because they hadn’t been that busy. If I’d have been there perhaps half an hour earlier, I could have had dinner there! The guy outside was very chatty, though. He advised me to be careful with my purse because there were purse snatchings in the area. What?! In the area behind Ultimo?! He said that a couple of women from China had been walking in the evening with a child when someone ran up and grabbed one of their purses. They were upset, but couldn’t speak English well, so it was difficult for them to explain exactly what happened and what the person looked like. I thanked the guy for his concern and promised to be back earlier in the evening on the next trip. With that, I held tight to my purse and walked off in search of another place for dinner.
I glanced in at Ultimo, but it was packed, of course, on a Saturday night. I’d been hoping for something a little quieter. I’d had lunch at Ginger Moon before, so thought it was time to try dinner there. My dinner consisted of 4 shu mai dumplings (pork & prawn steamed dumplings), 3 ayam pelalah half moon steamed buns (filled with grilled, shredded chicken) and a watermelon slushy. The shu mai were good, but the half moon steamed buns were extra yummy, though slightly messy to eat delicately. Ending my Saturday night with a few drinks seemed like the thing to do, so it was down the block to Chandi. My drink of choice was a Young Coconut Vanilla Rumballi (vanilla infused Bacardi rum, young coconut water and vanilla bean sugar). The drink was very nice and the garnishes almost made it too pretty to drink; should have taken a picture of it! I finished with a Bintang at Ultimo, then was back in my room a few minutes prior to midnight.
“Art Car” Burger & Fries from The Dusty Café
Another Beautiful Seminyak Sunset
Ayam Pelalah Half Moon Buns from Ginger Moon