Holiday Special: Day 5 in Bali, Indonesia! (April 2015)

Casual Brunch, retreat to Ubud and Babi Guling! Today I bring you day 5 from my week long holiday in Bali! Day 5 was a relaxing day much like the previous day except that we moved from our beach side hotel in Kuta to our Villa room in Ubud which I booked through Airbnb! Ubud which is known as the cultural and arts center of Bali, it also is much more peaceful and so easy to get around on foot. 

We were also very satisfied with the accommodation we booked as the compound looked like a lush jungle and was gorgeous. Despite being a far from Ubud's center by foot, we had transport which took about 10 minutes one way from our accommodation that would send/pick us up as long as we told them 30 minutes in advance.

Check out my (first two days here) where we visited the beach and (day 3 and 4 here) where we went snorkeling and had a seafood dinner on the beach! For those keen on my travel post when I visited (Krabi, Thailand see here!)

Continue below for the full post!

Holiday Special: Day 5 in Bali, Indonesia! (April 2015)

Day 5 started off slowly and relaxed! We headed back to Kitchenette a few minutes walk from our hotel and waited about 15 minutes until we could order from their all day menu!

I had a super fresh and zesty home made lemonade and my boyfriend opted for a nice warm latte!

As most of the days in Bali I wore powder, gel eyeliner and some blush! Also during the entire trip I wore Disco Blue shimmery polish from Clio on my fingers and toes! I brought the bottle for minor touch ups the whole week!

Fried chicken sandwich with purple cabbage slaw and home made cajun spiced kettle chips! Both the sandwich and chips were amazing! The bread was buttered, grilled, with mayo, lots of fresh vegetables and the chicken cutlet so juicy and seasoned. The chips were so crisp, puffy and yummy!

I ordered the 'Theodore' savory galette which is a thin buckwheat crepe that came with pepper sirloin beef, ratatouille and mozzarella cheese! Despite the crepe being so thin, this was really big and was nicely filling and something new to me!

Check out the size of just half of the fried chicken sandwich my boyfriend ordered!! It was massive!

He really needed to squish the sandwich really hard before biting into it!

By afternoon our driver from our accommodations in Ubud picked us up and after about a two hour drive into the heart of Bali we arrived at our humble, peaceful and gorgeous place! In the waiting lobby area there was his cat that was super friendly!

She was nice enough that I could hold her, pet and rub her like crazy. I really like handling cats but they aren't always the friendliest back!

The super lush greenery that covers in inside of the entire compound!

Gorgeous pink blossoming water lily! Love how peaceful and clean these flowers look!

Inside the compound, after walking past some garden jungle type space and passing private villa houses which were also for rent we passed this pond like space towards our room.

After the walk way and greenery, we reach the dining area of the compound where they serve breakfast and you can order food all through the day and night if you'd need! The menu was small and the food sometimes took a while but was lovely nonetheless!

The shared long pool which was really pretty and we took a dip once during the day and once in the night when it was super cold!

Isn't this a gorgeous site to wake up to every morning? I really wish I had a private pool!

In the mornings, a pool cleaner rids the pool of leaves that fell in and also pumps in additional water into the lower half of the pool which is all the way in the back several feet below the bulk of the pool.

Followed the other resident cat to the pond where she took a drink! Look closely! One of the bigger fish swam up to the spot where she was drinking! It wasn't just a coincidence as the fish stayed and stared at the cat for some minutes!

Here's a peak into our 'villa room'. The design is very modern, clean and everything looks large and wide. Really loved the pieces of art around the room although we did have issues such as not having enough water when taking a shower and the warm water running out in less than 10 minute! There was no way in hell you could even fill up a third of the large tub before the water was freezing cold!

The spacious layout of the bathroom half of the room! Although very pretty the accommodations were very basic without a television or even a mini fridge.

A large hand painted modern looking piece by the huge bed! I really wished the be was actually smaller so there was more walking space around it! Also the blanket could have been newer and thicker! The room we got had quite rustic but drab looking and feeling bedding.

A small side table on the right of the bed, space for hanging and stacking things in the back. The photo on the right is the view from the left side of the bedroom looking into the bathroom in the back. Overall the room was very nice but if the bedding had been more new, thick and soft and the water actually ran warm long enough for a short shower it would have been perfect! Otherwise the facilities and services provided by the place we stayed at was great.

Not the best shot but this is what the front of our room looked like! There are dark curtains inside to draw for complete privacy!

The sight from our room, loved having a pool right in front of us! In the future I totally will book a place where we have totally privacy and a mini pool!

For our first evening in Ubud we went in search for the famous 'Ibu Oka' which is a franchise of shops that sell the local Babi Guling or roasted pork! We settled on this small outlet of theirs in the heart of town, although they had sold out of the crispy skin by the time we made it for early dinner at around 5:30-6!

Babi Guling at Ibu Oka: The dish that most people order is the 'special' which is a set one dish meal that comes with all the different types of pork meat, fried chunks, sausage, crispy skin, stewed meat and stewed vegetables on rice. They also sell every component of the special meal separately if you want to order an extra portion.

Babi Guling Special set meal at Ibu Oka without the crispy skin and sausage as they were out of stock by the time we visited them! We went another day to the other outlet near by just to enjoy the skin! In order to ensure your roasted pork set comes with the skin do visit them for breakfast or lunch!

 We decided to stop by a really recommended place called "Casa Luna" which had really nice seating on two floors. We sat downstairs and it was cool and really peaceful with a handful of other people having their dinner or drinks.

Casa Luna besides being a restaurant also runs a cooking school! For those staying for a longer period of time or who wish to plan ahead, they'd be a good choice for those keen on learning local cooking or taking a tour related to the cuisine.

Their freshly home baked items! All very affordable priced between about $3-5! On retrospect I wished I ordered something else more unusual than what I did as it was only okay and I could have made it at home!

Unfortunately we had JUST missed their happy hour arriving just after 7pm! However they had some really nice cocktails and my boyfriend's 'Coconut Killer' cocktail was the BEST coconut cocktail ever. No pina colada came close the entire trip and I wished we had gone back for more cocktails!

The really cozy interior of the first floor of the restaurant! It's so relaxed and rustic looking at night!

The front of the restaurant, you can see the desserts all stored in the display fridges! The place is actually really large with a downstairs seating which we were led to!

I ordered the lime tart after my first choice was sold out for the day. I was expecting something tangy, fresh, citrusy and creamy but it turned out to be more like a lime crumble and the majority of the tart was not creamy or soft at all but more like a soft cake which was more dry and less flavorful than I'd like.

My lime hibiscus ice tea and my boyfriend's coconut killer cocktail! The tea was okay, more limey than I'd like with no trace of the hibiscus but I was fine with it! The coconut killer on the other hand was a freaking bomb!

That was day 5 of my Bali holiday which I took back at the end of April! It was basically a super relaxed day, getting settled into Ubud and discovering how gorgeous it was filled with cafes, shops selling local paintings, jewelry, clothes and more! For those who only have a few days to spend in Bali and you're not the beach and party type but would prefer a retreat totally consider just staying in Ubud!

Check out my (first two days here) where we visited the beach and (day 3 and 4 here) where we went snorkeling and had a seafood dinner on the beach! For those keen on my travel post when I visited (Krabi, Thailand see here!)

Have you stayed in Ubud while in Bali before?

Do you like eating whole roasted pork?

Let me know!

Feel free to comment!

Thank you!