10 Days in Bali - Days 6-10 part 1

Leaving our lovely accommodation in Seminyak we moved to Ubud for a change of scenery. Along the way we visited Taman Ayun. A large temple to the west of Ubud, I think that it may get the title Royal Palace.

A moat and a wall prevented closer inspection

Scene at Taman Ayun

From there we made it to our new accommodation at Suly Resort. This place was fine, my only minor criticisms are that it was a little too far from the centre to walk to Ubud and they needed a pop up toaster at breakfast time! The resort does have a shuttle bus service which we did use but found it more convenient to organise our own taxi. But I did spend some time in their lovely pool and enjoyed talking with the hospitality students who are employed around the resort.

The better of the two swimming pools.

Unfortunately PeaPa had picked up a cold and that limited our travel experiences a little bit. But it was certainly good for her to have a couple of days rest as she works long hours 6 days a week. Holidays are not just about seeing everything and doing everything sometimes doing nothing is good also.
However we did get out and about. We engaged a friendly taxi driver, who ended up becoming our regular driver for most of the days. He had a nice clean taxi, was a responsible driver and spoke sufficient English to be able to explain some of the sights that we saw.
Our first trip was to the nearby Goa Gajah temple. Known as the Elephant cave it is a site that now encompasses the cave, a surrounding temple and walks to other temples and waterfalls. We spent a couple of hours there and I even managed to get PeaPa to take a walk along some of the paths.

Entrance to the Elephant Cave

Inside the cave

Children play in the pools outside the Cave. Sacred water.

On our walk around the temple

That particular drive also took us to a Coffee Plantation which makes the Luwak Coffee. In this process the ripe coffee fruit are eaten by a small animal and the beans extracted from the faeces before cleaning drying and roasting in the normal way.

Two baby Luwaks. Pooper scooper required.

According to those who know best the enzymes acting on the coffee beans removes some bitterness and alters the taste of the final product to make it the "best" coffee in the world. Personally I find that you can do more damage to coffee in the roasting, grinding and boiling processes that far outweigh any small benefit from an animals gut.
But who am I to know. The driver insisted that we go there, he was obviously on a commission, but neither PeaPa nor myself were very interested. I sampled their teas out of politeness.
That ended our first outing, the driver dropped us at a restaurant in Ubud and we made our way back to the resort later.

The Bludger realises that he needs a 3rd post for the rest of the trip.