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Ubid, Bali: Our own private Villa and an Indonesian cooking class Jun 29, 2005

Ubid, Bali: Our own private Villa and an Indonesian cooking class:

Dave

While exploring Bali we found some unbelievable resorts that are definitely some of the nicest in the world. The island is filled with rivers, beaches, rainforests, and five star resorts and private villas that take advantage of all of the natural beauty here.

We knew that while we were here we wanted to go stay at one place that was typically Balinese, and a bit further a field than the tourist centers of Nusa Dua and Kuta Beach where most hotels are concentrated. With this in mind we started searching the island for areas that were famous for spas and villas, and came across a community called Ubid.

Ubid is away from the coast in the mountainous rainforests of Bali, and is filled with boutique hotels that you would read about in Travel and Leisure or Wallpaper magazines. Celebrities and stars from around the world come here, from Nicole Kidman, to John F. Kennedy Jr. Unfortunately as we started searching through guidebooks and online we found out that a lot of these places also had a price tag to match their reputation ranging from $300 US a night to tens of thousands a night for villas at some of the most well known resorts. (also all hotel rates have an extra 21% in taxes and service charges here!)

After a lot of searching however we found one place that sounded just like what we were looking for and it has been fantastic. Alam Puri Resort and Art Museum is a small boutique hotel with just 12 villas. With private pools for each individual villa, views of the rice paddies, a river running through its grounds all set among a rainforest in a small village just 20 minutes from Ubid it is really a perfect place to get a taste of what makes Bali so well known and such a sought after tourist destination.

We ended up going for one of the Royal Villas, which at $150 a night is one of the best deals we have found anywhere on this trip. It's much more than we have been paying for many of the fantastic hotels we have stayed at around Asia, but well worth it for what we are getting. Our villa has two stories, its own gardens, a great kitchen, and every amenity you could want. We even have our own private infinity pool, where water runs over the edges and back in through a fountain, so it is made to look like our pool stretches out into the rainforest. All day and night you can hear the sound of the river, and the birds and animals of the rainforest surrounding us.

The two nights we have spent here have been amazing. When we checked in we mentioned that we would be interested in taking an Indonesian cooking course, and asked if the hotel staff knew where we could take one. Although this is not something they normally offer here at the hotel, they suggested they could have one of their chefs come to our room and make dinner with us the next night. We asked how much this would cost and they insisted that we not pay any extra for this. They said that here at Alam Puri they wanted to make all guests happy, and if a cooking course would be of interest to us then they would put one on for us and include it in the room rate. We could not believe it they would not even let us pay for the ingredients, insisting they would be happy to do this. Just offering to arrange for a cooking course was generous enough, but then to do it for free was really unbelievable.

The menu we settled on with the chef included a spicy beef noodle soup, and one of the most famous Indonesian/Balinese dishes - Nasi Goering, a spicy fried rice with meat and vegetables. We also selected satay presented on lemongrass sticks and completed the meal with a dessert of fried bananas with palm sugar.

When the time came for our cooking class, not one but two chefs arrived at our villa along with a waiter and a translator. The ingredients they brought along were all very fresh, and they went to great lengths to explain how each stage of the meal was prepared, explaining first and then letting us make as much of the meal as we wanted to. Between each course the two chefs would leave, and the waiter and translator would serve our meal at a candlelit table overlooking our private pool, with the sounds of tropical birds and evening frogs' songs surrounding us. I don't think there is any way possible the dinner could have been any better, from soup, to dessert to our swim under a star filled sky when we were finished.

The town of Ubid and the surrounding countryside have also been a highlight of Bali. The fields are filled with rice paddies, and prayer flags blowing in the wind. Being a Hindu area the local people believe in many different Gods, and the island is filled with intricate and beautiful temples dedicated to all of them.