In our previous trip to Bali, we had paid a visit to Mt. Batur, an active volcano in Bali's Kintamani region. We decided to revisit the place this time - it would be educational for Madam and a new experience for our helper. But in my quest for making the visit "different" from the last time for the husband and myself, I searched for restaurants in the vicinity that would be of interest.
Most folks go to the viewpoint in Kintamani to take a look at Mt. Batur and the lake around it and have lunch at the only proper restaurant there. So I was looking for something different from that. In my search on the internet, I found out that there is a floating restaurant right on that lake. According to the folks at the villa, it is apparently a little known secret simply because it takes a longer drive to get there vs. the viewpoint, and the road itself wasn't supposedly the best. But a floating restaurant sounded awesome, so we decided to check it out!
The drive to Kintamani was beautiful - it was mostly away from the touristy routes and yet, presented some lovely sights like the famed terraced farms (the big steep ones, different from the ones next to our villa), the pristine, non commercializes parts of Bali and finally the volcano and the lake at a distance that we caught from the "viewpoint" area. We then proceeded to the floating restaurant and I realized that roads were not at all bad as the folks at the villa made it out to be - clearly standards for roads are different for Indians and Balinese people.
Anyway, coming to the point, the floating restaurant and the view it presented were beautiful (once again, the pictures do no justice)! And the weather was cool and breezy and just about perfect.
And what topped that view? The food! We gorged on a lot of things but my personal favourite was the nice & spicy fried fish that came with two awesome sauces and some cut onions with lime, chillies and coriander which was simply the best! We all agreed that this was the best food we had in Bali this time - especially given how cheap it was!
Back in the hotel, we lazed about for a while, had some ice lemon tea and some local snacks and then went out to the Ubud centre one last time. We walked around, shopped a bit and got ourselves another round of local Balinese cuisine. This one, unfortunately, was nothing to write home about, however, we were very entertained by the fact that the staff were all glued to the TV watching a melodramatic Hindi soap dubbed in Bahasa Indonesian. Not only were they glued, but they were ooh-ing and aah-ing because seems like the hero just returned to the heroine after a bout of disappearance. To make the experience even more Indian, this Balinese restaurant also served "Indian Chai".
Back at the hotel, I helped myself to a glass of wine, watched a few more fireflies, read my book and tucked myself in happy at the thought of a holiday well spent.
359 more to go.
Most folks go to the viewpoint in Kintamani to take a look at Mt. Batur and the lake around it and have lunch at the only proper restaurant there. So I was looking for something different from that. In my search on the internet, I found out that there is a floating restaurant right on that lake. According to the folks at the villa, it is apparently a little known secret simply because it takes a longer drive to get there vs. the viewpoint, and the road itself wasn't supposedly the best. But a floating restaurant sounded awesome, so we decided to check it out!
The drive to Kintamani was beautiful - it was mostly away from the touristy routes and yet, presented some lovely sights like the famed terraced farms (the big steep ones, different from the ones next to our villa), the pristine, non commercializes parts of Bali and finally the volcano and the lake at a distance that we caught from the "viewpoint" area. We then proceeded to the floating restaurant and I realized that roads were not at all bad as the folks at the villa made it out to be - clearly standards for roads are different for Indians and Balinese people.
Anyway, coming to the point, the floating restaurant and the view it presented were beautiful (once again, the pictures do no justice)! And the weather was cool and breezy and just about perfect.
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| Mt. Batur as seen from the floating restaurant |
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| The floating restaurant |
Back in the hotel, we lazed about for a while, had some ice lemon tea and some local snacks and then went out to the Ubud centre one last time. We walked around, shopped a bit and got ourselves another round of local Balinese cuisine. This one, unfortunately, was nothing to write home about, however, we were very entertained by the fact that the staff were all glued to the TV watching a melodramatic Hindi soap dubbed in Bahasa Indonesian. Not only were they glued, but they were ooh-ing and aah-ing because seems like the hero just returned to the heroine after a bout of disappearance. To make the experience even more Indian, this Balinese restaurant also served "Indian Chai".
Back at the hotel, I helped myself to a glass of wine, watched a few more fireflies, read my book and tucked myself in happy at the thought of a holiday well spent.
359 more to go.
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