Bali April 2022 Day 3 and 4
This morning after our walk we have a meeting at 10am with our Indonesian lawyer to sort out the legals re the villa. As with most bureaucratic things in Bali the processes are very complicated and at times don’t seem to make any logical sense but we just have to shrug and do our best to understand and comply.
Yesterday was a very productive day. We started our morning with a very long walk starting up the hill toward Ubud and then north along a ridge into the rice fields. This was possibly our best walk yet both aesthetically and time wise, we needed up walking for 2 hours. On the way back home we dropped in to see an Australian expat couple who have lived in Bali for several years. They have built a house called Zanzibar overlooking the valley that looks back toward our villa. She is an artist and he is a photographer. This was only a short visit to touch base and let them know that we were back. We’ve organised dinner for Saturday.
We had a swim in our pool when we got back to the villa. Purnami was already here cleaning up and organising the villa. Made was waiting for us in his car to set off on our day of searching and looking for furniture and other bits and pieces for Villa Tusk.
Our first stop was a local business named Bianca Interiors where we are considering buying our couches from. We have pretty much decided on a 3 metre long and another 2 metre set of lush couches that are similar to the one that I am sitting on in the picture except they will be in a teal coloured fabric. We’ll also get a poof and an armchair which will all work perfectly in the villa. What we are going for is a balance of old eclectic antique, traditional Indonesian and clean modern. What we have to be careful of is to create a sense of luxury that is a perfect aesthetic balance between the beautifully intricate joglo carved ceiling, the sublime hand poured tiles. our artwork and some really clean streamlined modern furniture. I feel confident that between Georgie and I that we can pull it off.
Next stop was to a very unusual antique warehouse that we came across when we were first starting the villa 2 years ago. It is a treasure trove of junk interspersed with individual pieces that would be hard to find anywhere else. The owner Okta is going to make up a series of frames for us out of old wood. We sat in his chaotic kitchen come office and hopefully worked out what we were looking for. I also found a few gems hidden away that we will use at the villa.
On the way to Okta’s we asked Made to recommend a Balinese warung where we could have a cheap simple lunch. By this time it was about 12.30 pm and I was getting very, very hungry. That’s a whole subject on it’s own. Being on a healthy ketogenic diet in Bali is a challenge. I’m sure that after being here for a while it would be possible to put together all the ingredients in place but it’s only been a few days. Most of the “western” style restaurants near us are vegan and consequently both delicious but full of carbs at the same time. My choice is limited and even further compromised due to my new metal braces and my inability to chew food. We are falling into a pattern where we have a decent lunch in a restaurant and then in the evening I make an omelette at home. The only real fat I’m getting so far is in my morning bulletproof coffee which has butter and MCT oil buzzed into it. This doesn’t spike my insulin and fits loosely within the guidelines of intermittent fasting but I’ve got to do it to get the saturated fat that I need to stay in ketosis. I checked my blood yesterday and it was perfect. Blood glucose 3.9 and ketones 3. It couldn’t be better.
Now back to yesterday’s lunch at the warung in Kedewatan. It was fabulous. 2 black coffees and 3 plates of food for $6. We paid that much on the morning before for 2 black coffees on our morning walk the day before. The only problem was that a) it is useless trying to ask the staff whether there are any carbs in the food, absolutely no understanding and b) most soup stocks and sauces have some sort of sugar in them albeit a small amount. I found a guy a couple of mornings ago who is going to make me a sugarless pho next Monday. The amazing thing is that as soon as I unwittingly eat any carbs or sugar I get instant cravings for sweet food as well as becoming ridiculously hungry. Overall though we are doing OK. Georgie is eating healthy rice dishes and curries and I’m doing my best. We aren’t snacking and definitely are not overeating.
After we finished our delicious but very inexpensive lunch we drove down the hill to Kerobokan which used to be mainly known for it’s prison but is now also home to many homewares and furniture showrooms. A perfect place to find interesting, eclectic modern and traditional bits and pieces for the villa. We went to another furniture showroom belonging to Bianca Interiors where we found 6 very modern dining chairs for our glass table and got some good ideas for other pieces of furniture. for the villa. We also found a huge stone statue and pot business that was all outdoors and 50% off full price. We will definitely purchase a whole lot of stuff from here for our garden, bathrooms and even a few pieces for inside. The last port of call was a business called Razor which we have been searching for from 3 years ago. They used to have a big showroom in Ubud but that mysteriously closed in 2019, now we know why. We found mirrors, tables, knick naks, lights, old chairs …. so many pieces to choose from. By now it was peak hour and poor made had to battle with the traffic back up the road to Penestanan where I had to make a quick trip to the Bintang Supermarket to purchase a few items for dinner.
This morning our walk took us past Moksa and into the rice fields again but in a whole different direction to the last 3 morning walks. We found this one in August 2019 when we were staying with our dubious friend, Gillian who attempted to get us temporarily hooked on 10 “are” (an are is 10 x10 metres) of land at the southern tip of Penestanan. It’s a long story but all I will say here is that we got unhooked and escaped. We walked through the land on the way back home and it is still full of rice fields and a living testimony to not getting sucked in to a well practised sales person and their white lies. Later in the morning at 10 a.m we had a meeting with our lawyer who is helping us set up a legal entity to officially rent out Villa Tusk. We learned heaps about the idiosyncrasies of the Balinese legal system and it’s complexities. Somehow we have become liable for somebody else’s tax bill ! We also got lumped with the unwelcome information that we will be forking out 11% of our AirBnB money in government taxes which are similar to our Australian GST. At 12.30 p.m I had an appointment with a dentist in Sayan, which is the village next door to Penestanan. I had a mishap with my braces and she had to make a slight adjustment in co-ordination/liaison with my dentist in Melbourne. This didn’t take long and only set me back $50. At 1.30 I met Georgie and had such at Warung Mendez. Finally I found a restaurant that could make a decent soup stock. I got really excited and tried too negotiate to buy a big pot for my fridge at the Villa.
At 4.30 we finally had our first massage for the trip. Last time in Bali we discovered a massage place next to Murni’s Warung near the Tjampuhan Bridge. They don’t do the best massages in Ubud but at $10 an hour the massage is well worth the time and money.
We finished of our night with a walk into Ubud and a simple meal at an old favourite restaurant, Casa Luna where we met and spoke to a gorgeous Balinese girl named Novi.
Tomorrow will start with a walk and then morph into a trip to the Moksa Saturday Organic Market where I will stock up on supplies for the next few days.
