After traveling all the way to East Java and climbing two enormous and breathtaking volcanoes, it’s time for the real honeymoon to begin. We traveled down to the little town of Ubud, Bali. It is one of Bali’s major arts and culture districts, extremely suitable for designers and artists from all over the world. Ubud is also famous for the Monkey Forest of Ubud but rest assured that this resort is far from it and no naughty monkeys nearby to bother you on your vacation. The resort sent over a warm and friendly chauffeur and after a warm and short introduction, we were ready to hop into the car and were on our way to Ubud.
After about half an hour drive, we have reached our lovely resort – The Ubud Village Resort & Spa. Located slightly further from the main road and surrounded by lovely rice fields, this makes it a perfect hideaway for couples and honeymooners that offers peace and tranquility. The rice paddy terraces are set within luxuriant landscaped tropical gardens. You can see greens almost everywhere you turn. There were even cute little ducks around the paddy field waddling about. The coconut palms, manicured lawns and lotus ponds, give this resort an incredible feeling of the perfect place to nurture your piece of mind. It is a retreat style boutique resort designed for relaxation, invigoration and peaceful contemplation. Fancy words, but yeah, that’s how it feels like.
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Upon reaching, we were greeted by their extremely friendly and accommodating staff. One of them introduced us to the lobby staff and sat us down. We were offered a welcome drink at the lobby as one of the staff entertained us. He went through our entire itinerary of our Honeymoon Package and we were allowed to set all the time for our activities to our likings. Everyone was just filled with smiles and warmth. It felt incredible.
After settling all the paperwork and choosing our activities for the next few days, we were then brought to our private honeymoon villa. Along the way, we were introduced to their different facilities, surroundings and then our villa. Our villa had this beautiful Balinese wooden door and upon opening, there was a welcome note that bore my name. We were then greeted by two beautiful masseuses that gave a wonderful and comfortable foot massage. It felt like they had magical hands and it felt like I was already flying above the clouds.
Our villa had this beautiful layout of a king sized bed facing our private pool. At the back of the bed, there was the work table overlooking the same direction with that same spectacular view. Behind the bedroom, there’s the luggage area attached with a gigantic mirror and beautiful sinks. The washroom and the shower area is located here as well as the gorgeous bath tub that is located outside behind the villa. For honeymooners, the hotel staff will prepare your bathtub decorated with rose petals awaiting for your arrival. A little cliche, but it’s a once in a lifetime thing anyways. I love it!
At our private pool, there were two chairs and also a beautiful and huge patio just for relaxation. I can just imagine myself lying there and reading a good book while my wife is splashing away in the pool. After wowing through the entire villa, it was time to settle into the villa.
Our first plan was to hop over to the resort restaurant for our daily afternoon tea with homemade pastries. We were served with their fantastic varieties of Balinese pastries in beautiful presentations. While the waiter were introducing each of the pastries, Fann was scanning through each of them. Then she asked if there were any Klepons for tea? The waiter told us that it would take some time for the chef to make Klepons. So after consulting with the head chef, the waiter came back to tell us that they would make Klepons specially for us the next day during our breakfast. How amazing is that? Fann was so thrilled. The pastries served during tea tasted absolutely fantastic. The portions were just right and what’s better is that you get to was it down with their delicious Red Rice Tea with an addition of their famous Balinese palm sugar.
After tea, we went for the 2 hour massage at the Kama Karana Spa. They had a wide range of treatments to choose from. I didn’t know what ours were but it sounded like it was the best in the list. Now, having to choose which spices to use for the massage was a massive headache for me. Apart from Jasmine, I didn’t even know what the other were. So I chose one with my eyes closed, having fate choose for me. After 2 hours of massage, scrubbing, and breathing all sort of relaxing fragrances, we came out like new human beings. I can’t even remember how standing on ground felt like. It was just simply amazing. We were then offered some biscuits along with tea. We took our time as we described to each other how amazing it was. We then went back to our villa and what happened next surprised us.
Our villa were lit up with loads of candles, all the way from the main door to the bedroom. Also, there was this table setting right beside our private pool which looked absolutely romantic, complete with plates and flowers and wine. After a while, a waiter came and asked if we were ready to start our candlelight dinner. Hell Yeah! He sat us down at our table and we were having our beautiful and delicious dinner in our own villa. Everything seemed so perfect with the full moon just right in front of us. It was spectacular. I’m sure Fann enjoyed herself as well. She couldn’t stop smiling and it was great to see her that happy. Enjoying Bali, the honeymoon and especially enjoying all the food.
Another of our highlights during our stay at the villa, was the long awaited cooking class. Fann is a huge fan of cooking and she’s been eager to learn some new tricks to boost up her cooking skills. The cooking class included in the package lasted for a few couple of hours. Fann saw in the brochure provided that there was another more expensive cooking class that she wanted to attend. That one included a trip to the Ubud Market in the morning to learn and purchase the ingredients and learning more additional sauces and ingredients preparation. So, we told the hotel staff that we wanted the upgrade. Of course, there was some additional charges, but who can put a price on a happy face of your own beloved wife right?
The next day, we had to meet with the chef early at the lobby right after breakfast for our morning trip to the market. He took us around but with limited english, he introduced us to each of the vegetables by just reading out the names. I was a little shocked, because the way of just naming vegetables like a game show without further elaboration on what the vegetables or ingredients are for just isn’t convincing for someone who comes from Malaysia. It wasn’t at all helpful and I felt a little cheated. Fann also didn’t feel that it was of any use to her and it felt like we woke up early just for nothing. After the trip there, we went back to the hotel and lodge a complaint that it wasn’t worth the additional money we paid for. Fortunately, the manager apologized and told us that they would not charge us for the market trip and we could revert the cooking class package back to the original plan. We were relieved.
During the cooking class, Fann had a great time with another chef. She taught her a couple of delicious Balinese dishes. There was my favourite Soto Ayam, the Red Snapper wrapped in banana leaf, Stir fried morning glory and lastly Pisang Rai (A dessert made from banana). I wanted to help out but my allergies were acting up and my hands were swollen, so in order to not contaminate the food, I took photos of my wife cooking up a storm with the chef. Here are the results:
The food was pretty amazing. I was impressed with my wife’s first Balinese dishes. Speaking of food, the breakfast provided by the villa is quite impressive as well. We had quite a variety to choose from. All came with fruit juices and I just couldn’t resist the awesome and delicious croissants. Everything was just so perfect!
The hotel also provides free shuttle service to the nearby Ubud main road where all the arts and culture is situated. It’s great to take a stroll around Ubud and see what’s so special about this place. Not only are the streets filled with paintings, it’s also the centre of lots of good food too. The famous Babi Guling Ibu Oka is situated right here in Ubud as well. Another interesting place you could visit, is the Ubud Starbucks. Unlike the other Starbucks elsewhere, the one in Ubud is situated inside an old Balinese building and decorated with Balinese decors. What’s more, there’s also a nice spot for you to enjoy a view of the old Ubud palace right while sipping your coffee.
It was an amazing experience for us. This was the first time that I have spent so much money just for accommodation. But everything was worth the money, because Fann was really happy and she enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately, we had to move to another resort on the request of the hotel management. We were told to spend our final night at the Puri Wulandari.
Impressed and very happy with the services provided by the staff at Ubud Village, we were happy to have stayed with them. It is one fine place to spend not only your honeymoon, but for a great vacation for the family too if you are looking for a peaceful and quiet place to spend the day.
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