We flew into Bali last Friday morning about two hours ahead of Phil's dad, Klaus and his wife, Cornelia who were dropping by for 5 days after a four week trip to Australia. Which meant that we got stuck right into our favourite Bali places whilst showing Klaus & Cornelia around. It was really nice and energising - I think if left to my own devices, I would have slothed around for a couple of days, but instead we went out for lovely breakfasts at my favourite places - Warung Ocha and Cafe Bali - and headed up to Ubud for two nights at the gorgeous Sawah Sunrise in the middle of the rice fields. It was a great visit, although jetlag saw me napping for a couple of hours every day while poor Phil couldn't get to sleep at all!
We visited the monkey forest in Ubud and watched the adorable baby monkeys chase each other around. Also a highlight were dinners at Sari Organik, an organic restaurant in the middle of the ricefields near our accommodation. Not only is the food healthy and delicious, but we sat and ate with a chorus of nighttime sounds (frogs, geckos) in the background and a sprinkling of fireflies in the rice fields which was spectacular! They are open for dinner, but close pretty early and on our last night we stayed so long that the staff actually came over and said that while we were welcome to sit and talk until the morning, they were going home. And they did, leaving us to slowly walk back in total darkness along the path home kept company by the fireflies.
Back in Legian we shopped and walked by the beach and went out for dinners and they made the most out of the plentiful massage opportunities here. It was so lovely to see them and we were really touched that they made the (frankly pain in the ass) trip to Bali from Singapore on the way home to Germany.
The visit was over in a flash and come Wednesday afternoon, Phil and I were on our own again for the first time since early December! We caught up on things like haircuts and some DVDs and are now going to spend the next three weeks in Bali chilling out and doing a few things we haven't yet done... One of which was to visit Warung Asia for dinner, a well-reviewed Thai restaurant very close by. So we went on Thursday night and it was great... Until yesterday morning when I realised something I ate had not agreed with me at all. Cue a whole day Friday spent on the couch watching DVDs. Ah well, no biggie! Although it is rather cruel that since I have been detoxing since we arrived back in Bali (no booze, no caffeine, no meat, no sugar), I managed to get sick from vegetable freaking soup!!
As promised (to myself), I have finished my list of European highlights below:
Hamburg highlights:
- Visiting the Hamburg fish market at 7.30am, especially because it was our first snow, and first 8.30 am German beer!
- Realising that Hamburg had about fifteen different Xmas markets and walking through several of them on the edges of the beautiful Alster lake
- Spending time with Phil's grandmother and her signature apple cake
Mougins highlights
- Making home craft Xmas decorations out of leftover wrapping paper
- Xmas Day as it should be - sleeping in, big lunch, little walk, lazing around
- The fab French champers; mumm, veuve, Moët, anyone??
- Day trip to Italy - San Remo is divine!
- Shopping in Cannes
- Blue skies and 16 degrees every day!!
Baden Baden highlights:
- Soaking in the hot springs for hours
- De kleine knappe bar - our local bar complete with beers from a monestary and cheerful, friendly locals
- The deer stew - OMG if you'd tasted it, you might move there
- Crazy NYE rockets and fireworks (nearly setting Phil on fire!)
Munich highlights:
- The Rattlesnake - the supercool rockabilly bar where there is a train set up to deliver tequila shots to the band
- The mega-Boss shop - Phil in suits. Need I say more?
- Lunch at the Schneider Weisse beer hall - a place where a dish of five sausages and sauerkraut is an entree!!
- Our last group dinner at Kloister Andechs, a monestary that has been brewing beer for hundreds of years. They serve pork knuckle and pork belly. German Heaven.
- Posted using happy memories!
Location:Jalan Padma Utara,Kuta,Indonesia
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