Winter 2019 - 39. Last 3 Days in Bali

39.  Last 3 Days in Bali

Breakfast Would Be Brought to Our Veranda. Only 2 Tiny Windows so Room Is Dark

We are moving within Ubud to Aura Bisma. All of our bags are packed but are still at Uma Sari. The 2 hotels are only about a 10-minute walk from each other, so we thought; let’s walk over to see what time we can move into Aura Bisma.

The lady greeting us was very nice and told us our room was ready… Great!  We stepped inside the room we were assigned and looked around and it was hot in there. So we turned on the A/C…and hot air blew out of the A/C. Well that will not do, so we asked if they could fix it. The lady who greeted us said we could have

Pebbles All Over the Bathroom Floor Would Be Hazardous at Night

another room…but this room was on the 2^nd floor, no elevator… and it was very small to boot and had no A/C. Hmmm, now what do we do?  Ah, the lady said, we have one more
room for you…but when we walked in it was as big as a closet and the A/C was also doubtful. No! That will not do, either. Can’t you fix the A/C I asked the lady?  Well, she said, she is only the housekeeper, the owner will come later this afternoon, why don’t I come back and talk to the owner later?

Beautiful Gardens at Samhita Garden Hotel

It is now noonish and Carol and I have to make a decision. We excused ourselves to the lady and had a chat outside in the street. We were ‘homeless’ in a sense. No way would I stay in a hot box with just a token A/C that does not work properly. Bali is in the tropics and I am spoiled! Ah, I did make a mistake at Uma Sari by not taking our reservation to the end… but who knew there was this big holiday sneaking up on us?

Bird of Paradise

So Carol and I walked around a bit and we looked at 2 more places just across the street or near Aura Bisma. We needed a hotel room for the next 3 days. The 2 places we checked out near Aura Bisma were both sub standard, we did get spoiled by being at Uma Sari for so long. 

We finally found a Hotel but this is a semi-posh place. Very fancy and geared more to the European or American taste. The name of this hotel is Samhita Garden and it was just a few doors over from Aura Bisma. Except… the price for the room was now more on the American level at US $70 per night. Well, for 3 days, this is where we went. We lived very fancy for the last 3 days in Bali. 

Inviting Pool at Samhita Garden

We walked back to Aura Bisma and gave the lady the room key back, telling her we will NOT take the room. We will come back in the afternoon and talk to the owners and we would like our money back. She was a bit shocked but nodded her head. OK, so now we walked back to our first hotel Uma Sari for our suitcases and Agung, bless him, drove us and our bags to our latest dig, the Samhita Garden Hotel where we paid a bit more, but lived like kings.

So that was our moving day, from Uma Sari to Samhita, with a ‘not so good’ stop at Aura Bisma.

Fresh Croissants for Breakfast in the Garden

The people at Aura Bisma were nice enough, but their idea of accommodation is Balinese. They do not understand the concept of a spoiled American brat like me. When we went back that day in the late afternoon the gate was closed at Aura Bisma. There was nobody available to talk to, remember this is Bali, they have rubber time. We went back the next day and the owner repaid me the money I had given her. Naturally she was not happy, nor was I, but all is well that ends well. Aura Bisma is a nice enough place, they just need to get with the program. A/C is important. A/C is more important really than Wi-Fi and/or breakfast.

Fruit Plate as the Start of Breakfast

So let’s chat about Samhita, here is a link to the hotel. 

We had a very clean, very properly maintained place. Breakfasts were included in the price we paid. Room service was available, of course and so were excursions if we wanted them for an up-charge, of course. The breakfast here was much more elaborate than at Uma Sari but then…we paid more per day.

Huge Bathroom at Samhita Garden

I looked at Samhita Garden as dessert after a meal. While we had a fine time at Uma Sari (Uma Sari felt like family), Samhita was the icing on the cake. Yes, we paid more than 3 times as much as at Uma Sari, but… it’s only for 3 days, so who cares.

We goofed off for the last 3 days. We walked now more to the main street of Ubud, since Samhita was much closer to the shops and restaurants. We ate in more fancy places like the Café des Artistes, which is a very nice place. For the last 3 days we kind of lived it up. We loved Bali as you can tell. Oh, sure you can spend tons of money in Bali, you can have the finest of the finest, but then… will you see the real Bali

Our Veranda. Lots of Light in This Room

living on the high end?  I am not even sure ‘I’ saw the real Bali; I might have seen the middle class, definitely not the poor sections. Our time in Bali flew past, I learned a lot and no, I did not become religious but I also did not make fun of their belief system. For Bali, Balinese Hinduism works great, more power to them. 

We used our new room at Samhita to the fullest. The A/C was great, the breakfast very nice and the people like all people on Bali, smiled easily and often. 

Walls Are Lined With Art at the Cafe des Artistes

I would certainly recommend Samhita if you want to spend this kind of money for a room. As you can see from the link above, we were on the lower end of what Samhita has to offer.

A Coconut Drink and the Local Beer - Bintang